Socioeconomic,sociodemographic and attitudinal correlates of the tempo of divorce

The association between sociodemographic, demographic, and attitudinal measures and the timing or tempo of marital dissolution over a 14-year time span is examined. Separation is considered equivalent to divorce. Early and late divorce are differentiated by whether the event occurred before or after the average number of years married prior to divorce. Data were obtained on husbands and wives within childbearing years (up to 39 years) in the 1st years of the 1st marriage. A random stratified sample of 610 couples was drawn from records of marriages in a midwestern county between 1972-77. Reinterviews were conducted on 544 couples in April 1985. socioeconomic variables included educational attainment, occupational prestige, wife's employment status, wife's future work plans, husband's attitude to wife's future work plans, total family income, and level of satisfaction with current financial status. Demographic variables are age at marriage, number of children in 1985, marital duration, and desired family size. Attitudinal items were religiosity and gender role orientations (traditionalism, modernism, egalitarianism). Exposure to divorce was not equitably distributed for the 108 who divorced, but this was not statistically significant. The results indicate that those divorced earlier were wives who worked outside the home, worked at more prestigious jobs, planned to be employed throughout married life, and whose father had a higher level of educational attainment. This finding is not consistent with prior research which has shown that favorable socioeconomic conditions lower the probability of divorce. The timing of divorce was affected by the presence of children. Those married at younger ages divorced earlier and couples with children delayed divorcing longer than couples without children. These findings were consistent with earlier research. Catholic wives delayed divorce longer than non-Catholic wives. Males lower in sexual satisfaction divorced earlier. Divorce was postponed longer for husbands with traditional values and wives who had higher scores on egalitarianism. Wives with scores on modernism had earlier divorces than wives scoring lower on modernism. The tempo of divorce was in multiple classification analysis predicted best by wife's employment status and number of children. Cross-classification was not possible.     

The Future of Environmental Justice Research: A Response to Gould and Weinberg

Sociological Forum -     

Determination of recovery effort for a probabilistic recovery system under various inventory control policies

In this study we investigate the desired level of recovery under various inventory control policies when the success of recovery is probabilistic. All the used and returned items go into a recovery process that is modelled as a single stage operation. The recovery effort is represented by the expected time spent for it. The effect of increasing recovery effort on the success probability together with unit cost of the operation is included by assuming general forms of dependencies. Alternative to recovered items, demand is satisfied by brand-new items. Four inventory control policies that differ in timing of and information used in purchasing decision are proposed. The objective is to find the recovery level together with inventory control parameter that minimize the long-run average total cost. A numerical study covering a wide range of system parameters is carried out. Finally computational results are presented with their managerial implications.     

Local Governments Connecting to the Global Economy: Globalization as Catalyst in Governance of East African Cities

This article responds to two questions: first, how are large local governments in East Africa responding to the emerging global economy? Second, is globalization a catalyst in enhancing local governance in Nairobi, Kampala, and Dar es Salaam? The paper is an empirical analysis of strategies adopted by local government organizations in search of meeting challenges brought by a globalization. While there are some similarities in the strategies and processes adopted, the implementation pace varies across the three organizations. At the end, an attempt is made to explain these differences.     

Estimation of nonseparable models with censored dependent variables and endogenous regressors

In this article we develop a nonparametric estimator for the local average response of a censored dependent variable to endogenous regressors in a nonseparable model where the unobservable error term is not restricted to be scalar and where the nonseparable function need not be monotone in the unobservables. We formalize the identification argument put forward in Altonji, Ichimura, and Otsu (2012 Altonji, J. G., Ichimura, H., Otsu, T. (2012). Estimating derivatives in nonseparable models with limited dependent variables. Econometrica 80:1701–1719.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), construct a nonparametric estimator, characterize its asymptotic property, and conduct a Monte Carlo investigation to study its small sample properties. Identification is constructive and is achieved through a control function approach. We show that the estimator is consistent and asymptotically normally distributed. The Monte Carlo results are encouraging.     

The FastHCS algorithm for robust PCA

Principal component analysis (PCA) is widely used to analyze high-dimensional data, but it is very sensitive to outliers. Robust PCA methods seek fits that are unaffected by the outliers and can therefore be trusted to reveal them. FastHCS (high-dimensional congruent subsets) is a robust PCA algorithm suitable for high-dimensional applications, including cases where the number of variables exceeds the number of observations. After detailing the FastHCS algorithm, we carry out an extensive simulation study and three real data applications, the results of which show that FastHCS is systematically more robust to outliers than state-of-the-art methods.     

Realistic Free-Spins Features Increase Preference for Slot Machines

Despite increasing research into how the structural characteristics of slot machines influence gambling behaviour there have been no experimental investigations into the effect of free-spins bonus features—a structural characteristic that is commonly central to the design of slot machines. This series of three experiments investigated the free-spins feature using slot machine simulations to determine whether participants allocate more wagers to a machine with free spins, and, which components of free-spins features drive this preference. In each experiment, participants were exposed to two computer-simulated slot machines—one with a free-spins feature or similar bonus feature and one without. Participants then completed a testing phase where they could freely switch between the two machines. In Experiment 1, participants did not prefer the machine with a simple free-spins feature. In Experiment 2 the free-spins feature incorporated additional elements such as sounds, animations, and an increased win frequency; participants preferred to gamble on this machine. The Experiment 3 “bonus feature” machine resembled the free spins machine in Experiment 2 except spins were not free; participants showed a clear preference for this machine also. These findings indicate that (1) free-spins features have a major influence over machine choice and (2) the “freeness” of the free-spins bonus features is not an important driver of preference, contrary to self-report and interview research with gamblers.