Right-to-work laws and union density: New evidence from micro data

Although union density is much lower in Right-to-Work (RTW) states than in states permitting union shops, most studies have found that after correcting for omitted-variable and simultaneity biases, RTW laws do not have independent impact on union density. However, these studies typically use data sets which include certain government, agricultural, supervisory and transportation workers who are not subject to RTW legislation thus diluting the effect of RTW laws. When these employees are excluded from the data set, we find that RTW laws do significantly affect union density in the private sector.     

The effect of unionization on safety in bituminous deep mines

This article examines the impact of unionization on safety in underground coal mines. An accident causation model is used to isolate the effect of unionization from other injury rate determinants. Results indicate that union mines experience more disabling injuries per year than nonunion mines,ceteris paribus. Previous studies attributed higher union injury rates to poor nonunion reporting practices. The data examined here suggest that other factors, including the UMWA’s job bidding system, low productivity, labor characteristics, and other institutional factors contribute to high injury rates at union mines. The authors acknowledge the helpful comments of Michael G. Finn, Clark G. Ross, and C. Louise Nelson. This research grew from work funded under contract DE-AC05-760R00033 between the Department of Energy and Oak Ridge Associated Universities. The views expressed and responsibility for errors or omissions belong to the authors.     

Some theoretical considerations on confidential adoptions part III: The adopted child

In all cases of newborn adoption where placement is made directly into the permanent adoptive home, the adoptive parents become the psychological parents for that child. While adopted children do have separate psychological and genetic parents, the capacity for intimacy, identity, and a cohesive sense of self develops through the consistent empathic attachment between the adoptive parents and the child. We discuss the adopted child's psychological development through infancy, pre-oedipal, oedipal, latency, and adolescence and focus on the child's intrapsychic tasks at each developmental phase. We note how development is different for the adopted child and how this development would be diminished or enhanced by the direct or subtle indirect involvement in an open or confidential adoption. Open adoptions appear to have the risk of serious interference at each developmental phase. Confidential adoptions appear to provide the child with the psychological protection for the unfolding of development. There is a new trend in the field of child welfare toward openness in adoption, which purports to change traditional confidential adoptions. We discuss the crucial aspects of the intrapsychic difference for an adopted child experiencing an open or confidential adoption.And so they wrangled before the King... Kings II, Ch. VThis paper was presented to the National Committee for Adoption Convention, October, 1982; the First International Conference on Pediatric Social Work, August, 1982; and to the Child Care Association of Illinois Convention, April, 1982. All authors have the M.A. degree     

Making MEPA-IEP work: tools for professionals

The Multiethnic Placement Act of 1994 and the Interethnic Adoption Provisions of 1996 (MEPA-IEP) require states to develop plans that "provide for the diligent recruitment of potential foster and adoptive families that reflect the ethnic and racial diversity of children in the state for whom foster and adoptive homes are needed." This paper explores the background of MEPA-IEP, describes the disparate outcomes for minority children in the child welfare system, and identifies agency challenges in finding permanent families for African American children. Tools are provided for successfully recruiting families while following MEPA-IEP and avoiding potentially discriminatory practices in placement decisionmaking.     

Employment among married female college graduates

This paper investigates the effect of attitudinal factors on the employment of white married female college graduates with and without children. A model of the employment status of these women 3 and 7 years after graduation is estimated using data from the NORC longitudinal study of 1961 college graduates. Taste for housework was found to affect the employment of nonmothers only, whereas “child care ideology” affected the employment of mothers. Husband's income had a negative effect on the wife's working both in 1964 and in 1968. Age of youngest child in 1964 had a positive, and number of children a negative, impact on a mother's working in 1964. The negative effect on employment status in 1968 of the birth of a child between 1964 and 1968 was much greater for those women for whom it was a first birth than for those who already had children.     

Buildings as Artifacts: What Are Buildings in World History Telling Us?

Learning about people from long ago and far away poses a challenge for students because such people seem so distant and different. The lack of easily comprehensible text-based primary sources compounds this problem. Using a built environment as a primary source makes people from the distant past more accessible, concrete and exciting. Broadly speaking, a built environment entails all the changes that people have made to a landscape, such as buildings, roads, ways of conveying power and water, and even adaptations of the physical environment such as gardens and parks. Students' exploration of a built environment fosters historical inquiry and visual literacy, provides evidence for constructing a historical narrative, and offers insight into a people, place and time as they investigate not simply the structure, but the perspectives of those associated with it and the cultural and historical context in which it is situated. In this article we draw on our experience with 6th and 9th grade students as we present a guide on how to integrate the built environment as a source of artifacts into world history.     

Innovation management in context: environment, organization and performance

Several decades of research into innovation management have failed to provide clear and consistent findings or coherent advice to managers. In this paper, I argue that this is because innovation management 'best practice' is contingent on a range of factors, and that we need better characterizations of the technological and market contingencies which affect the opportunity for, and constraints on, innovation. I review research on innovation together with relevant studies from organizational behaviour and strategic management, and develop a model which may help to guide future innovation research on the relationships between environmental contingencies, organization configurations and performance. I identify uncertainty and complexity as the key environmental contingencies that influence organizational structure and management processes for innovation.