Identifying Synergies and Complementarities Between MDGs: Results from Cluster Analysis

The MDGs are interlinked: acceleration in one goal is likely to speed up progress in others. Nevertheless, these synergies are not always visible, and may differ across countries. Using bivariate cluster analysis, this paper investigates whether distinct groups of developing countries can be identified, using statistical methods, on the basis of the correlation of changes in main MDG indicators over the 1990–2008 period. Identified groups include: (1) “good performers”, characterized by strong positive synergies in MDGs indicators; (2) “poor performers”, where there are synergies in poor progress towards the MDGs and (3) “partial performers” countries where progress in one MDG went along with regress or stagnation in another. We then study the determinants of cluster membership. While growth in GDP per capita is, unsurprisingly, best able to distinguish between “good” and “poor” performers, a poor institutional framework and deteriorations in the income distribution is a notable correlate of partial progress, thus apparently undermining synergies in reaching the MDGs. In light of the current discussions about the post-MDG system, our results suggest that synergies between MDG progress can be achieved but they cannot be taken for granted. Improving institutional performance and reducing inequality appear particularly important drivers of promoting such synergies.     

Empirical Processes in Survey Sampling with (Conditional) Poisson Designs

It is the main purpose of this paper to study the asymptotics of certain variants of the empirical process in the context of survey data. Precisely, Functional Central Limit Theorems are established under usual conditions when the sample is drawn from a Poisson or a rejective sampling design. The framework we develop encompasses sampling designs with non‐uniform first order inclusion probabilities, which can be chosen so as to optimize estimation accuracy. Applications to Hadamard differentiable functionals are considered.     

Analysis of the determinants of fertility decline in the Czech Republic

In this paper, we analyze the decline in the total fertility rate (TFR) in the Czech Republic during the economic transition. To identify transition-specific features of this decline, we estimate a Heckman–Walker multistate model of the birth process using data from the 1998 Family and Fertility Survey. We find that the negative effect of transition on TFR is mostly driven by a sharply increased influence of higher education, limited ability to combine employment with childbearing and lack of adequate childcare facilities. We also detect a significant role of the increased use of contraception, motivated by both economic and demographic reasons.     

Postamenorrheic versus postpartum strategies of contraception

The postpartum strategy of inserting an intra-uterine device shortly after a birth essentially eliminates the risk of conceiving again before starting contraception but maximizes the overlap between wearing time and postpartum anovulation when protection is not needed. In contrast, the postamenorrheic strategy of delaying insertion until right after the woman’s first menses all but removes overlap with anovulation but allows a chance of conception before start of contraception because sometimes an ovulation precedes the first menstruation. In this paper some algebra is developed and utilized to see which of the two strategies delays the next conception longer. The postamenorrheic strategy is found to have a slight advantage over the postpartum approach for a wide range of fecundability levels, lengths of anovulation, and rates of continuation of IUD. However this slight advantage presupposes that insertions are taking place at the exact time prescribed. When a progressively larger factor of procrastination is introduced, the advantage rapidly passes from the postamenorrheic to the postpartum approach. An explanation for the differing sensitivity of the two insertion strategies with respect to procrastination is derived from the results of an earlier analysis.     

User Beware: Concerning Findings from the Post 2011–2012 U.S. Internal Revenue Service Migration Data

Population Research and Policy Review - The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) makes publicly and freely available period migration data at the state and county levels. Among their uses, these...     

Ethische Kompetenz

From the author??s point of view, the term ??Ethical Competence?? is often used rather vaguely in the field. In a qualitative study of bank managers, preliminary definitions of ??Ethical Competence?? are related to the ??Theory of Planned Behavior?? (Fishbein and Ajzen). This enables the authors to analyze ??Ethical Competence?? more precisely??taking the concept of ??Moral Obligation?? (Kurland) into consideration as well. Factors such as behavioral beliefs (attitude towards the behavior), normative beliefs (subjective norms) and control beliefs (perceived behavioral control) are seen as significant in behavior in morally relevant situations. In addition, the authors formulate a hypothesis concerning the correlation of Ethical Competence and job satisfaction.     

Housing Well-Being: Developing and Validating a Measure

Housing well-being refers to the home resident’s cumulative positive and negative affect associated with the purchase, preparation, ownership, use, and maintenance of the current home, and the selling of the previous home. Housing well-being is assumed to occur when the home is bought with the least amount of effort (purchase), the home is prepared for use to meet the needs of the new occupants (preparation), ownership signals status and enhances the home owner’s financial portfolio (ownership), the home serves the housing needs of the residents (use), the maintenance, renovation, and repair in the home are minimal, least costly, and effortless (maintenance), and the sale of the home is transacted with the least amount of effort and most financial gain (selling). Based on this conceptualization of housing well-being, we conducted an exploratory study to identify the sources of satisfaction related to the purchase, preparation, ownership, use, and maintenance of the current home, and the selling of the previous home. The exploratory study also helped us articulate a theoretical model describing the interrelationships among the housing well-being constructs and their consequence: the perceived quality-of-life (QOL) impact of the home. The exploratory study helped us also to develop survey measures, which in turn were validated through two additional studies involving surveys of home owners in the US and Korea.     

Are Political Economists Selfish and Indoctrinated? Evidence from a Natural Experiment

Most professional economists believe that economists in general are more selfish than other people and that this increased selfishness is due to economics education. This article offers empirical evidence against this widely held belief. Using a unique data set about giving behavior in connection with two social funds at the University of Zurich, it is shown that economics education does not make people act more selfishly. Rather, this natural experiment suggests that the particular behavior of economists can be explained by a selection effect.     

Peripheral Vision: Sensing and Acting on Weak Signals: Making Meaning out of Apparent Noise: The Need for a New Managerial Framework

Doing business in the face of constant change requires a shift from a ‘make-and-sell’ to a ‘sense-and-respond’ framework. This in turn requires four new competencies which require intense attention to what would have been considered the periphery of the traditional make-and-sell company—the customers and environment. The paper concludes by saying it is important to invest in expanding an organisation’s peripheral vision because it will make meaning out of apparent noise; it will extend the number and types of signals that can be sensed; it will drive the development of an ability to transform new signals into meaning; and it enables role-specific management.