Infinite Parameter Estimates in Logistic Regression, with Application to Approximate Conditional Inference

This paper discusses recovery of information regarding logistic regression parameters in cases when maximum likelihood estimates of some parameters are infinite. An algorithm for detecting such cases and characterizing the divergence of the parameter estimates is presented. A method for fitting the remaining parameters is also presented . All of these methods rely only on sufficient statistics rather than less aggregated quantities, as required for inference according to the method of Kolassa & Tanner (1994). These results are applied to approximate conditional inference via saddlepoint methods. Specifically, the double saddlepoint method of Skovgaard (1987) is adapted to the case when the solution to the saddlepoint equations exists as a point at infinity     

Re-familisation of the Czech Family Policy and its Causes

In this paper we analyse the shift of family related policies (benefits, daycare services and labour market policies) from the state-socialist model toward re-familisation in the Czech Republic after 1989. We demonstrate that the policies negatively influence the possibilities for parents—and especially mothers—to balance work and family life. We concentrate on the question of why the government implemented such policies, despite their negative consequences. Our analysis indicates that the communist ideological legacy (disadvantageous conditions for ideology of feminism, poor experiences with the quality of daycare) and the communist economic legacy (pressures on the public budget) have played a major role in shaping post-communist family policies. Our analysis also indicates that this legacy may be beginning to break down as the policies of re-familisation are coming into conflict with the needs and aspirations of the population and policy makers become more and more forced to confront the fertility problem.     

Project agreements and government procurement

I discuss the recent proliferation of mandatory project labor agreements in government procurement, some of the ensuing litigation, and the effects of such agreements on contractors, workers, and the public.     

Efficiency in religious organizations

Churches must realize that the management of their human resources is critical. The U.S. Catholic Church in recent years has been this problem take on even more significance with the apparent shortage of priests. This article considers this problem in light of a relatively new methodology, data envelopment analysis, which compares organizations to comparable best-practice units. The authors conclude that the Church would benefit from a better distribution of priests, both within and across dioceses. They also conclude that the use of deacons and priestless parishes can be effective in some circumstances.     

Political–economic equilibrium when parties represent constituents: The unidimensional case

 A political–economic environment is studied in which two parties, representing different constituencies of citizens, compete over a proportional tax rate to be levied on private endowments, to finance a public good. Although parties know the distribution of citizen traits (preferences and endowments), they are uncertain about the distribution of traits among the citizens who will turn up at the polls. This uncertainty engenders an endogenously derived function π(t ₁, t ₂) giving the probability that any one tax policy t ₁ will defeat another t ₂ in the election. Equilibrium existence theorems are proved, and the nature of equilibrium is compared with the equilibrium that exists when Downsian parties (ones whose objective is to maximize the probability of victory) face uncertainty. Both constituency-representing parties and uncertainty are needed to generate equilibria in which parties propose different policies. Received: 4 April 1995/Accepted: 2 April 1996     

An appraisal of organizational response to fiscally constraining regulation: the case of hospitals and DRGs

Results from analysis of 227,771 discharge abstracts from 68 short-term, acute-care hospitals and from interviews with a stratified random selection of 24 of the 68 chief executives of these hospitals demonstrate that institutions perceive implementation of DRGs as fiscally constraining, especially in light of other resource-constraining conditions (an increase in unemployment resulting in fewer people with hospitalization insurance, in addition to severe cuts in Medicaid rolls and budget). Hospitals responded to DRGs by decreasing the use of affected resources or services available to the hospitalized Medicare patient. In order to survive a more economically stringent marketplace, hospitals no longer protected the traditional core within the Medicare inpatient market. They opted instead to change practices and products at the unregulated margins of the DRG system.     

Colonial science and dependent development: the case of the Irish experience

This paper draws on recent studies of colonial science and of the social function of science in the underdeveloped world to analyse the social development of science in Ireland and, subsequently, the Irish Republic. It is suggested that after the Act of Union scientific activity in Ireland became prized as a cultural practice, largely isolated from its local context and potential local applications. Because of governmentá priorities in the new state and because of the Anglo-Irish character of much of the scientific culture, this isolation persisted after Partition. The recent history of science in the Irish Republic is interpreted in terms of this isolation or marginality.