Predictors of Holding Consumer and Mortgage Debt among Older Americans

Using data from the 2000 Health and Retirement Study (HRS), this study examined the probability of older Americans holding consumer and mortgage debt. The specific objectives of this study were to identify to what extent individuals aged 65 and over hold consumer or mortgage debt and to investigate factors that influence the probability of holding consumer or mortgage debt in old age. The results of logistic regression analysis indicated that older individuals who had larger households, had higher levels of education, were aged 65–74, were married, were Black, and were employed, were more likely to hold consumer or mortgage debt. This study concluded that holding one kind of debt is associated with probability of holding another kind of debt.     

Choices and Challenges: A Qualitative Exploration of Professional Women's Career Patterns

With the rapid changes occurring in the role of work in women's lives, this research project was designed to examine the career planning, career decision making, and work history of women in both female‐dominated and gender‐neutral careers (U.S. Department of Labor, n.d.‐a). A qualitative analysis of structured interviews identified 6 emerging themes: variations of career/family patterns, career encouragers, career obstacles, personal compromises, career changes, and career decision‐making patterns. Insights for strengthening the exploration process and strategies for supporting career management are presented based on the emerging themes.     

Initiating Sexual Experiences: How Do Young Adolescents Make Decisions Regarding Early Sexual Activity?

Understanding how young adolescents make decisions to engage in early sexual activities is vital for intervention efforts aimed at fostering positive youth development and reducing the negative outcomes of adolescent sexual behavior. In‐depth interviews with 42 suburban, mostly White, ninth‐grade adolescents (52% females, mean age=14.1, SD=.45) elicited accounts of their early sexual decisions. We adapted grounded theory methodology to build a model of sexual decision making from the adolescents' narratives. Six dominant categories emerged: contextual factors (relationship and personal characteristics), consideration of risks and benefits, boundary setting, boundary communication, the sexual experience, and evaluation. Our model of early sexual decision‐making processes, developed from the perspectives of young adolescents, highlights active consideration of health and social risks and benefits, as well as the generation of options regarding sexual activity. The model also shows that young adolescents set clear boundaries of sexual limits and evaluate sexual experiences, suggesting a dynamic process of decision making.     

Market Liberalisation,Vertical Integration and Price Behaviour in Tanzania's Coffee Auction

Whether market liberalisation can promote agricultural development in Africa depends on how well existing institutions can facilitate trade by private agents. This article assesses the performance of the Tanzania coffee marketing system after liberalisation and the emergence of private, vertically integrated exporters (VIEs). Increasing producer prices, declining marketing margins, and the continued provision of a useful auction for coffee that is delivered by traders who are not VIEs all suggest a degree of success for liberalisation. The presence of VIEs seems to have provided investment to reduce marketing costs, whilst a sufficient number of competing firms has limited non‐competitive behaviour in the market for coffee that is traded at the auction by non‐VIEs.     

INTEGRATING THE COMPUTER INTO A BUSINESS SCHOOL CURRICULUM*

The results of a study of computer utilization in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford are presented. The benefits and costs of a dedicated time-sharing system acquired by the Business School to supplement the central campus computer facility are discussed. The study showed that the time-sharing system produced many benefits, including improved service and a lower per student cost for computing. The implications of the Stanford experience for other schools are discussed.     

Existence and Uniqueness of Solutions to the Bellman Equation in the Unbounded Case

We study the problem of the existence and uniqueness of solutions to the Bellman equation in the presence of unbounded returns. We introduce a new approach based both on consideration of a metric on the space of all continuous functions over the state space, and on the application of some metric fixed point theorems. With appropriate conditions we prove uniqueness of solutions with respect to the whole space of continuous functions. Furthermore, the paper provides new sufficient conditions for the existence of solutions that can be applied to fairly general models. It is also proven that the fixed point coincides with the value function and that it can be approached by successive iterations of the Bellman operator.     

From State Security Model to Selective + Residual Security Model: Health care regime shift in urban China

Based on the study of welfare states, welfare regime theory (WRT) has been widely applied to international and regional welfare regimes and to specific‐policy comparative studies. However, the health care system has often been neglected in this area of study. The current study promotes a health care regime approach that is influenced by WRT and incorporates analysis of the level of health care de‐commodification and health equity. Three types of health care regimes were identified in the development of the health care system in urban China: the State Medical Security Model, the Selective Medical Security Model and the Selective + Residual Medical Security Model. This approach provides useful policy implications for the health care reform currently taking place in China. In addition, this analysis contributes to theories in the comparative health policy literature.