Union rents and market structure revisited

Several recent studies give conflicting evidence on whether market power associated with industry concentration is an important source of union rents. Using a 1977 sample of 327 four-digit manufacturing industries, we re-examine the issue with a regression analysis that allows for differential union effects on price-cost margins across three levels of concentration. Large and small firm as well as industry average price-cost margins are analyzed. The results reaffirm those of Hirsch and Connolly (1987), who conclude that the effect of unions on profits is independent of market structure, and thus market power is not an important source of union rents. We find that unionization: (1) reduces industry profits in all three concentration groups with statistically insignificant differential effects, and (2) has a greater negative effect on the profits of large firms than it does on the profits of small firms, regardless of the concentration category. We benefited from the comments of an anonymous referee. Any remaining errors are our own.     

Bayesian Inference Under Partial Prior Information

Partial prior information on the marginal distribution of an observable random variable is considered. When this information is incorporated into the statistical analysis of an assumed parametric model, the posterior inference is typically non‐robust so that no inferential conclusion is obtained. To overcome this difficulty a method based on the standard default prior associated to the model and an intrinsic procedure is proposed. Posterior robustness of the resulting inferences is analysed and some illustrative examples are provided.     

Sociobiology misses the mark: An essay on why biology but not sociobiology is very relevant to sociology

This essay takes the position that sociologists need to pay more attention to biology, but that the biological perspective provided by sociobiology is not the perspective that is the most relevant. The reductionist nature of sociobiology is noted and the treatment by sociobiology of altruism, religion, homosexuality, the maximization of inclusive fitness, group versus individual inheritance, and the genetic inheritance process itself is critiqued. Sociobiology’s strong emphasis on ultimate causation and the denigration of proximate causation is treated as particularly problematic. The paper ends with a plea that sociologists pay more attention to the research that shows the interactional effects of biological, psychological and social processes. Best known for his work on mental illness and on gender and marital roles, he also has published extensively in the area of family, crime, and aging. While an undergraduate student in the 1950s, he was trained in biology and has had a strong interest in biological issues since that time.     

The State of Medical Sociology—A Review Essay*

Birenbaum, Arnold, 1981. Health Care and Society. Montclair: N.J.: Allanheld Osmun. Bowling, Ann. 1981. Delegation in General Practice: A Study of Doctors and Nurses. London: Tavistock Publications. Cockerham, William C. 1982. Medical Sociology. 2d ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. Locker, David. 1981. Symptoms and Illness: The Cognitive Organization of Disorder. London: Tavistock Publications.     

产品"商家设计"的价值

由于商业经营者的积极参与而导致设计过程与设计方式发生改变,是当前产品设计活动中出现的一个新的现象,即产品设计过程中的“商家设计”现象。“商家设计”活动由特定的市场环境与技术条件所催生,其价值不仅在于能够为产品生产企业、产品营销商和产品用户带来现实的利益,同时还在于拓展了工业设计实践的领域,为工业设计应用方法研究提供了新的空间。     

Speaker abstracts

Purpose: There is no consensus on possible benefits and risks of testosterone supplementation. Here we review various controlled studies of testosterone supplementation in aging males.

Methods: We performed a PubMed search using the terms “testosterone/therapeutic use” with the limits “>65 years of age”, “randomized controlled clinical trials”, and “male gender”, starting in 1999.

Results: Forty-three articles have been published since 1999. Some of these studies also included patients in middle-age or younger. Findings reported in these articles were not entirely consistent. After weighting studies by the number of patients, hints are found that testosterone supplementation increases bone mass, lean body mass, muscle mass and hematopoiesis, and improves sexual functioning and perhaps mood, but does not affect serum lipids, cardiovascular parameters, prostate-specific antigen level, or cognition. Considering studies including only men older than 65 years, and in which testosterone supplements were compared with placebo treatment, slightly different results are obtained. In these patient groups, testosterone does not improve sexual function or mood.

Conclusion: The overall benefit of testosterone supplementation for the aging male remains unclear. Any supplementation in men with age-normal testosterone levels only on grounds of subjective symptoms is not advisable.