The bidirectional relationship between gambling and addictive substances

This study aims to analyse the co-occurrence of gambling activity and the consumption of addictive substances, such as tobacco, alcohol and drugs. By using a sample of 709 gamblers in Sardinia (Italy), a multivariate probit approach is proposed since it allows simultaneous study of the extent of correlation between the consumption of different substances.

Our findings document that, on the one hand, betting more money leads to an increase in the propensity to consume tobacco in the middle of the game, and, on the other hand, the simultaneous co-occurrence of smoking, alcohol and drugs drives up the probability of getting more involved in gambling activity. Knowing the positive reinforcing effects of addictive substances is the first step towards implementing the most effective prevention and treatment modalities for problem/pathological gamblers.     

Egg and seed removal at urban and suburban forest edges

Predation rates of natural and artificial bird nests in rural landscapes have been the subject of numerous studies, often in the context of proximity to edge. Similar studies in urban and suburban landscapes are lacking. We carried out a study of egg and seed removal at forest reserve edges in three urban and two suburban forests in and near New York City in 1994-1995. Few significant edge effects were found, but this may have been because of the extraordinarily high rates of egg and seed removal. Daily removal rates were higher in suburban sites (eggs, 86%; seeds, 95%) than in urban sites (eggs, 64%; seeds, 88%). Exposed seeds and eggs suffered higher rates of removal than seeds and eggs covered by leaf litter. Despite statistically significant differences among treatments, all of these rates would be prohibitively high if experienced by ground-nesting birds or large-seeded trees (if removal was associated with predation). A survey of the literature suggests that egg predation rates are prohibitively high in cities and peak in suburban sites (at least in this study), then drop rapidly in ex-urban and rural sites, perhaps because of a similar pattern in the abundance of corvid bird predators. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Evaluation of weighted rankings using expected significance level

The use of weighted rankings to analyze complete blocks designs (Quade, 1979) is a practical way of recovering between-block information. A family of old and new test statistics can be generated by this procedure. Selection among these statistics and comparison with parametric and nonparametric competitors are based on expected significance level [ESL] in small designs (3 to 6 blocks, 3 to 5 treatments).     

What if your boss is a woman? Evidence on gender discrimination at the workplace

Review of Economics of the Household - In this paper, we exploit rich cross-country survey data covering 15 European countries over the period 2000–2015 to investigate the relationship...     

Impact measurement and dimension reduction of auxiliary variables in calibration estimator using the Shapley decomposition

Statistical Methods & Applications - In multipurpose surveys several interest variables and a very large number of auxiliary variables are collected. Auxiliary variables are usually considered...     

Job Tenure,Labour Mobility and Wage Profiles

Abstract. The features and the length of the attachment of workers to firms represent a central aspect of the labour relationship. The length of service is an important determinant of wages and of non-pecuniary benefits; it affects internal mobility in the firm, and insulates workers with long job tenure from unemployment. In this paper it is argued that the traditional “spot” labour market Characterization is difficult to reconcile with the existence of long term employment relationships. A number of alternative theories which predict the existence of an employer-worker attachment proposed, and their implications discussed. The relevance of long term employment relationships is then tested using micro-data for the Italian manufacturing industry. An appropriate methodology for the analysis of the duration of employment is developed. and separate “job tenure” equations for white and blue collar workers are estimated. A higher educational attainment - ceteris paribus- appears to increase the probability of a job separation; conversely, a higher working experience, previous to the current job, tends to reduce it. The effect of firm size is negative, as larger organizations seem to favour longer employment spells. Outside opportunities show a strong positive effect on the probability of separation. Finally, conditional on the current wage, the probability of leaving the job increases with the length of time worked. However, when the unconditional outcome is considered, separation decline with tenure; in this case. it is argued, the wage effect more than outweighs the conditional effect. This result is consistent with the predictions of both “specific” human capital and job matching theories.