“Service” Municipal Administration as Part of the Development of Youth Entrepreneurship in Russia

The study offers a development of the social technologies of “service” municipal administration. The consumers’ opinions should be taken into consideration when determining the nomenclature and standards of their provision, which include the quality parameters that the consumers consider important. In addition, “service” relations imply the assessment of consumer satisfaction with the services and the correction of services based on the results of the assessment. Since this interaction implies communication between the municipal administration body and service users, it is necessary to focus on communicative technologies that are capable of providing a full cycle of service development and improvement for young entrepreneurs. Communications should help determine the expectations associated with a service, raise awareness thereof, and involve young people in the decisions related to the provision of services.     

The Alliance Experience Transfer Effect: The Case of Industry Convergence in the Telecommunications Equipment Industry

A central premise of the industry change literature is that firms change their strategic actions when an industry changes. Industry convergence (IC), the blending of boundaries between industries creating competition among firms that previously did not compete, is increasingly impacting many industries and is a salient case of industry change. Acquisitions are an important action shaping the course of IC because they trigger imitation and bandwagon effects further accelerating IC. This paper focuses on why and when learning from alliances reduces uncertainty resulting in acquisitions during IC: an ‘alliance experience transfer effect’. We demonstrate the utility of this mechanism for the substitution‐based form of IC that occurred between the telecommunications equipment and computer networking industries. Our key insight is that when the extent of IC is low there are significant transfer effects but, as the extent of IC increases, firms have access to an expanding volume and diversity of information sources that reduce uncertainty, thus weakening the transfer effect mechanism. We contribute to the alliance–acquisition relationship and learning literatures by demonstrating that the alliance experience transfer effect mechanism explains changes in firm strategic action (alliancing and acquiring) as the extent of IC changes. We also introduce a semi‐convergence perspective by directly measuring the extent of IC.     

社交网络个体活跃行为的大数据分析：从网络外部性的视角

用户是社交网络平台的基石，用户的活跃行为为平台创造内容、带来价值，因而用户活跃度一直是社交网络平台的关注重点。已有研究仅关注用户是否存在持续使用意向或行为，将持续使用行为定义为二元变量，未对持续使用行为细分，忽略了对用户活跃行为的研究。此外，社交网络中用户活跃行为之间有着不可忽视的相互影响，而受制于用户的关系网络数据难以获取，少有研究从该角度对社交网络中的用户行为进行研究。 将持续使用行为进一步细分为个体活跃和沉默行为，从网络外部性视角探讨同伴活跃行为对焦点个体活跃行为的影响以及个体网络规模与活跃行为的关系，并进一步探讨个体间关系强度和个体特征的调节作用。以超过百万用户的真实关系网络、个体特征信息和使用行为数据进行实证分析，通过Tobit模型验证上述关系。 研究结果表明，同伴活跃度和个体网络规模对个体活跃度有显著的正向作用，同时关系强度具有正向调节作用；个体特征在同伴活跃度与个体活跃度之间起调节作用，具体来说，女性用户和年轻用户受同伴活跃行为的影响更强。 从网络外部性的角度探讨用户活跃行为的影响因素，拓展了关于在线社交网络用户持续使用行为的研究和网络外部性测量方式，关注不同节点对于网络外部性贡献的差异性，对今后网络外部性的研究有一定的借鉴意义。基于中国数百万真实用户的数据集，结果更具普适性，同时反映出中国在线社交网络中用户的行为特征，可为今后的研究者提供参考。研究结果可以帮助社交网络平台的管理者更加了解用户活跃度的影响机理以及用户行为之间的内在联系，从而能以更科学合理的方式激发用户活跃度，保持社交网络平台的持续运营。     

A Theory of Time Preference

This article proposes that people generally prefer present consumption to future consumption because their expected utility from consumption (eventually) falls as their mental and physical abilities (eventually) decline with age. Moreover, contrary to the ubiquitous intertemporal formulation with a constant rate of time preference and contrary to three recent theories of time preference that predict decreasing discounting as people age, this article asserts that discounting increases over the life cycle. This hypothesis is supported by data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics as well as evidence from numerous previous studies.     

A monte carlo evaluation of response surface analysis based on paired-comparison data

The use of the logit transformation on paired-comparison data in the weighted least squares analysis of response surfaces for aesthetic qualities of products is discussed. Monte Carlo simulations are employed to investigate the small sample properties of the estimators and test statistics. A secondary objective of the Monte Carlo simulations is the comparison of two transformation procedures. The simulations are of standard-item paired-compar-ison experiments in which ties are not allowed.     

‘Dirty Work?’ Gender,Race and the Union in Industrial Cleaning

The study uses an eclectic framework and through an intersectional analysis and use of narratives explores the meaning of janitorial work, the gender division of labour (GDL), the unions and organizing for janitors engaged in industrial cleaning for a big cleaning company, Pluto, in Toronto. Pluto was organized by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in 2006. The study is based on the organizing drive for Pluto and uses participant observation and interview methods. Intersectional analysis is useful in understanding the worker's perceptions of the racialized, gendered and classed constitution of cleaning work as ‘dirty’ and their resistance to these constructs. We explore GDL in industrial cleaning and the construction of women's work as ‘light duty’ and men's work as ‘heavy duty’. We conclude that union membership is important not only for material benefits of the janitors but also for their alternative identity construction. However, there is a persistence of GDL and gender pay equity is not addressed seriously in the organizing drive or upon organizing.     

‘Business under new management’ — lessons from Canada on regulation of the social work profession

Abstract

In December 1998 the Social Work and Social Service Work Act (hereafter the Ontario Act) was passed in Ontario, Canada marking the effective completion of social work regulatory legislation across provincial Canada. This article outlines the principal features of the Ontario regulations, and summarises the strengths and limitations of the various arrangements which have been implemented across Canada. As moves toward control of the Australian social work profession are contemplated, the implications for such a move are discussed in the light of the Canadian experience.     

Exact and approximate distributions for linear contrasts of means and variances

A Bayesian analysis is presented for the K-group Behrens-Fisher problem. Both exact posterior distributions and approximations were developed for both a general linear contrast of the K means and the K variances, given either proper diffuse or informative conjugate priors. The contrast of variances is a unique feature of the heterogeneous variance model that enables investigators to test specific effects of experimental manipulations on variance. Finally, important-differences were observed between the heterogeneous variance model and the homogeneous model.     

The cost of children. Parts II and III

In this paper the author estimates the compensating variation of income which will be necessary to keep the standard of living of a family constant when a child is born to the family. Various methods of estimation are tried, and an attempt is made to calculate the cost of a child in 1948, after allowances have been made for services provided by the government.