Labour Market Participation of French Women over the Life Cycle, 1935–1990

Employment histories with multiple spells and time varyingcovariates help identify determinants of labour markettransitions of women in France between 1935 and 1990. Higher educatedwomen were more likely to become inactive, but returned to work also moreeasily, especially when they added work experience. Being married,whether mother or not, induced a rearrangement of time betweenstaying at home and labour, in rendering exit from employment morelikely and return from inactivity to employment less likely. Exits from employment were lessfrequent for mothers of larger families, while return toemployment decreased with the total number of children, in spite of thegrowing financial needs of larger families. Transitions betweenemployment and inactivity increased with favourable economicconditions. However, involuntary exits from employment were moreprobable during economic downturns.     

The Reshaping of Mexican Labor Exports under NAFTA: Paradoxes and Challenges

From the perspective of the political economy of development, this article analyzes the role played by Mexican labor in the U.S. productive restructuring process under the aegis of the North American Free Trade Agreement. By conceptualizing the labor export–led model it dissects three basic mechanisms of regional economic integration: maquiladoras, disguised maquilas, and labor migration. Not only does this analytical framework cast light on the contributions made by Mexican migrants to the economies of the United States and Mexico, it also reveals two paradoxes: the broadening of the socioeconomic asymmetries between the two countries, and increased socioeconomic dependence on remittances in Mexico.     

Local perceptions of socio-ecological drivers and effects of coastal armoring: the case of Moorea,French Polynesia

Population and Environment - This paper presents a transdisciplinary study focusing on the socio-ecological mechanisms at play in the alteration of Moorea’s (French Polynesia) coastline....     

Vertical and Horizontal Inequality in Ecuador: The Lack of Sustainability

We analyse the evolution of vertical and horizontal inequality in Ecuador in the long-run (1990–2016), as well as during and after the recent commodities boom (2005–2014). Using data from censuses, living standard measurement surveys, and employment surveys we show that Ecuador has made significant progress in reducing inequality, particularly since 2000. However, inequality has not decreased further since 2011. We argue that a key factor behind the reduction and ensuing stagnation of inequality is the dynamic of oil revenues, particularly regarding its effect on economic growth and on the financing of redistributive policies. Using the decomposition of the Gini coefficient by income source proposed by Lerman and Yitzhaki (Rev Econ Stat 67:151–156, 1985) we show that during the last decade there has been a shift away from market sources towards sources of income derived from government expenditures. Following the end of the commodities boom, this process is no longer sustainable. Indeed, we show that the underlying causes that led to the change in the sources of income started long before the end of the boom. The temporary shock following the 2008 financial crisis already affected the structure of Ecuador’s public finances and its current account. And, since around 2011, its institutions and labour market indicators have also deteriorated. We conclude that sustainable inequality reductions require improving the current institutions.

     

Child Protection and Self‐Regulation in the Internet Industry: The UK Experience

In the United Kingdom (UK), the number of convictions for offences related to child abuse images fell back following the police investigation dubbed ‘Operation Ore’, but have still continued at levels unimaginable only 10 years ago. However, while government and the internet industry deserve credit for the steps they have taken to reduce the traffic in child abuse images online in the UK, the fact that a number of Internet Service Providers appear to be reluctant to act to block access to it calls into question the effectiveness of the self‐regulatory principle: the idea which has been central to the UK’s overall approach to internet policy since 1996.     

Responsibility in Home–School Relations — Finnish Parents' Views

Finnish parents' views on responsibility in the home–school relations were explored. Responsibility was here understood as responsibility over education and upbringing. The data consist of semi‐structured interviews with 24 mothers and four fathers. In the home–school discourses, parents and teachers were often referred to as partners, and active parental involvement in school life was seen as a key to children's success. However, in some discourses teachers and parents were seen as polar opposites, e.g. teachers as experts — parents as laymen. Few references were made to children's responsibility.     

Divergent pathways: the road to higher education for second-generation Turks in Austria

The article aims to explore immigrant educational pathways in relation to access to higher education (HE) in the Austrian context. Specifically focusing on Turkish youth, the author presents case studies of students who successfully entered HE in spite of their disadvantaged social, ethnic and geographic background. By further enhancing Ball’s distinction (Ball, Reay, and David 2002) between embedded and contingent choosers, the article provides an in-depth understanding of the cultural and structural context in which these students’ educational choices are played out. Finally, reaching out for Turner’s (1960 Turner, R. H. 1960. “Sponsored and Contest Mobility and the School System.” American Sociological Review 25 (6): 855–867.10.2307/2089982[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) notion of sponsored mobility, the article reflects on how the process of early selection reduces the opportunities for immigrant youth to access seemingly open and free HE.     

Decision Making and the Price Setting Newsvendor: Experimental Evidence

We present an experimental study of the price‐setting newsvendor problem, which extends the traditional framework by allowing the decision maker to determine both the selling price and the order quantity of a given item. We compare behavior under this model with two benchmark conditions where subjects have a single decision to make (price or quantity). We observe that subjects deviate from the theoretical benchmarks when they are tasked with a single decision. They also exhibit anchoring behavior, where their anchor is the expected demand when quantity is the decision variable and is the initial inventory level when price is the decision variable. When decision makers set quantity and price concurrently, we observe no significant difference between the normative (i.e., expected profit‐maximizing) prices and the decision makers’ price choices. Quantity decisions move further from the normative benchmarks (compared to when subjects have a single decision to make) when the ratio of cost to price is less than half. When this ratio is reversed, there is no significant difference between order levels in single‐ and multi‐task settings. In the multidecision framework, we also observe a tendency to match orders and expected demand levels, which subjects can control using prices.     

Comparison of conflict of interest policies and reported practices in academic medical centers in the United States

The authors reviewed the conflict of interest policies of 9 academic medical centers in the United States and interviewed members of the Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) and Conflict of Interest Committees (COICs) at those institutions. They found that many institutions used processes for reporting and managing conflicts of interest that were more decentralized than the processes described in their policies. Also, most institutions had no clear and comprehensive policy to guide investigators regarding disclosure of conflicts of interest to potential research participants. Considerable differences in understanding of conflict of interest policies were observed between IRB and COIC officials.     

Families' values and attitudes regarding responsibility for the frail elderly: implications for aging policy

This study examines the norms and values associated with care to disabled and frail aging parents, in particular those with regard to the sharing of responsibilities for care between families and formal services, and this within three age cohorts in Quebec, Canada. It is based on a telephone interview of 1,315 people. Factor analysis yielded four factors: (1) family responsibility; (2) uncompromising family obligations; (3) acceptance of services; (4) distrust of services. Analyses of the data indicate that all three age cohorts consider that families have responsibilities for their aging family members, at the same time that they score very high on the acceptance of service scale. This article discusses these seemingly paradoxical results and their implications for aging policy.