Live together: does culture matter?

Review of Economics of the Household - This paper studies the role of culture in determining the decision to live together (as a married or unmarried couple). To examine this issue, we utilize data...     

Occupational Structure and Employment. An International and Interregional Comparison

ABSTRACT: This paper attempts to describe past experience on the occupational structure and employment in order to better understand what has happened both in major developed countries and in different parts of Italy over the last 20 years. After a brief resumi of other studies on this subject, the occupational structure of the major OECD countries and of the Italian province is examined. The results of a discriminant analysis carried out indicate that the polarization theory can be considered valid only for industry, but not for the entire economy. Some traditional occupations result as having a positive link with employment development, whereas high-tech occupations are not significant, or have a negative sign.     

Analysis of the workload of bank tellers of a Brazilian public institution

During the last decades there have been many changes in the banking sector organization. It has been also observed the mutual growing of musculoskeletal and mental disorders. This study investigated the workload of bank tellers at a Brazilian public institution. It was performed the Ergonomic Work Analysis (EWA). Three employees participated in this study. During the analysis process, three research instruments were applied: Inventory of Work and Risk of Illness, Yoshitake Fatigue Questionnaire and Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire, beyond the realization of footage recordings and the self-confrontation. The results indicated the existence of an excess of workload on the evaluated workstations, mainly in relation to mental order constraints, that overlaps the physical aspects. Thereby it was found that the employees tend to adopt strategies trying to reduce the impacts of the excess of workload, in order to regulate it.     

Who is watching? The market for prostitution services

This paper presents an economic model of prostitution that differs from the existing literature in that it makes no restrictive assumptions regarding the gender, pay, and nature of forgone earning opportunities of prostitutes and clients, and applies the same behavioural hypotheses to both. Our model gives a central role of stigma and reputation effects to both clients and prostitutes. We discuss demand, supply, and equilibrium results, indicating the possible effects of different policies on the industry and its different markets.     

Reward Preferences of Pathological Gamblers Under Conditions of Uncertainty: An Experimental Study

Among many personality traits, impulsivity represents one of the most important traits associated with pathological gambling. Empirical research has highlighted the multidimensional nature of impulsivity, which includes different heterogeneous traits and behavioral tendencies. The present study experimentally examined reward preferences of pathological gamblers under conditions of uncertainty using the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Furthermore it also examined the relationship between impulsivity, time perspective, inability to tolerate delay in gratification, and risk-taking. The present study is the first to simultaneously examine all these variables simultaneously in a sample of pathological gamblers (n = 54) and healthy controls (n = 54) from Italy. All participants participated in the BART and were also administered Italian versions of the South Oaks Gambling Screen, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, the Consideration of Future Consequences, and the Monetary Choice Questionnaire. Analyses revealed that compared to HCs, PGs were more risk prone on the BART, and reported elevated levels of impulsivity, steeper discounting rates and a shorter time perspective. All the measures correlated with the gambling severity and strong correlations between the BIS, CFC-14 and BART were observed. Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that impulsivity and risk-taking were strong predictors of pathological gambling.     

Self-help for stress and burnout without therapist contact: An online randomised controlled trial

Interventions designed to reduce stress and burnout may be costly and access is limited. This study examined the effectiveness of a self-help book, using Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to target stress and burnout in a randomised controlled online trial without any therapist contact. Participants were recruited through a newsletter of a health insurance company. Participants (N?=?119) who reported at least moderate levels of stress were randomly assigned to an immediate intervention (n?=?61) or a waitlist group (n?=?58). Measures before and after the intervention assessed stress, burnout (primary outcomes), depression, well-being, emotion regulation (secondary outcomes) and ACT-specific constructs. Compared to the waitlist group, participants in the immediate intervention group reported lower stress and burnout and higher psychological flexibility at post-assessment. Effects between groups were large for stress (d?=?0.9), moderate to large for burnout (d?=?0.5–0.8) and large for psychological flexibility (d?=?0.8). All primary and most secondary outcomes and ACT processes continued to improve in the 3-month-follow-up period. Results suggest that an ACT self-help book without any therapist contact is effective in reducing stress and burnout for various occupations. Thus, it may provide a cost-effective public health intervention for reducing stress and burnout.     

Marital Quality Assessment: Reviewing the Concept,Instruments, and Methods

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate which instruments have been used in marital quality research since 2005, and the concepts underlying each measure. We conducted a literature review in the following databases: PsycINFO, PubMed, Web of Science, and BVS. The review included 91 studies investigating 21 instruments. Half of the scales were multidimensional, but the most used instruments were unidimensional, except for the DAS. Most measures had exploratory evidence of construct validity and did not provide a definition of the construct under evaluation. Theoretical development is needed to address the problem of largely subjective, empirically based measures. We suggest network models can help to develop new measures and to provide a fresh understanding of the construct and the dynamics of marital relations.     

Sweet death: indigenous labour exploitation in the San Martín de Tabacal Sugar Mill,Salta, Argentina

During the national consolidation process in Argentina, throughout the nineteenth century, a new map of local power was designed based on appropriated territories and the consolidation of ‘internal frontiers’ denominated ‘desert’ by hegemonic discourses. The indigenous presence was denied discursively, yet military crusades of extermination, and a very massive process of labour incorporation of these groups was forced in order to develop the incipient agribusiness activity in certain areas of the country. This article explores life conditions and resistance strategies developed by the indigenous kolla communities, victims of the exploitation performed by the owners of the San Martín de Tabacal Sugar Mill, located in Salta, northwestern Argentina, throughout the twentieth century.     

The passing of the Rex

This paper takes as its point of departure the ethical problematization of debating both sides – having students argue both affirmative and negative on a debate resolution – in order to highlight the role of communication as a cultural technology of liberalism. It argues that debating both sides contributed to the cultural governance of cold war liberalism by separating speech from conviction to cultivate the value of debate as a method of democratic decision-making. The valorization of free and full expression as a pre-requisite for ‘decision by debate’ prepared the ground for dis-articulating debate from cold war liberalism and re-articulating it as a game of freedom that contributes to the moral education of liberal citizens. In so doing, debate becomes a global technology of liberalism creating exceptional subjects by circulating the communicative norms of deliberative democracy.