Cultural filtering in the hiring process and its relationship to welfare reform

In this paper, we perform an initial, exploratory analysis to determine whether firms use “cultural filters” as indirect and direct proxies for human capital when screening potential applicants for employment opportunities. Using data collected from three counties in Washington State, we find that these filters do, indeed, influence hiring decisions. As a result, it may be advantageous for policy makers to consider restructuring welfare policies to account for the effects of these cultural filters.     

Incorporating quality into data envelopment analysis of nursing home performance: A case study

When using data envelopment analysis (DEA) as a benchmarking technique for nursing homes, it is essential to include measures of the quality of care. We survey applications where quality has been incorporated into DEA models and consider the concerns that arise when the results show that quality measures have been effectively ignored. Three modeling techniques are identified that address these concerns. Each of these techniques requires some input from management as to the proper emphasis to be placed on the quality aspect of performance. We report the results of a case study in which we apply these techniques to a DEA model of nursing home performance. We examine in depth not only the resulting efficiency scores, but also the benchmark sets and the weights given to the input and output measures. We find that two of the techniques are effective in insuring that DEA results discriminate between high and low quality performance.     

MULTIVARIATE DECOMPOSITION FOR HAZARD RATE MODELS

We develop a regression decomposition technique for hazard rate models, where the difference in observed rates is decomposed into components attributable to group differences in characteristics and group differences in effects. The baseline hazard is specified using a piecewise constant exponential model, which leads to convenient estimation based on a Poisson regression model fit to person-period, or split-episode data. This specification allows for a flexible representation of the baseline hazard and provides a straightforward way to introduce time-varying covariates and time-varying effects. We provide computational details underlying the method and apply the technique to the decomposition of the black-white difference in first premarital birth rates into components reflecting characteristics and effect contributions of several predictors, as well as the effect contribution attributable to race differences in the baseline hazard .     

Adoption Issues: Preparation of Psychologists and an Evaluation of the Need for Continuing Education

This study is an investigation of the level of preparation psychologists have in dealing with adoption issues and an assessment of the need for further education in treating triad members. A questionnaire was mailed to 497 psychologists randomly selected from the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology who received doctoral degrees between the years of 1990 and 1996. Two hundred and ten psychologists, all of whom were currently treating clients, participated in the study. Psychologists completed a Likert rating of their sense of preparation to treat triad members. The largest group (51%) rated themselves as Somewhat prepared, with the second largest group (23%) rating themselves as Not very prepared. Ninety percent reported they needed more education in adoption, and 81% reported interest in taking a continuing education course in adoption. Of the 210 participants, only 67 reported taking courses that dealt with adoption as part of their formal education. Of those psychologists who reported taking courses that involved adoption, they averaged only 1.3 courses during their undergraduate education, and 1.5 courses during graduate education, while the remaining 143 psychologists received no education in this area. When one considers the proportion of triad members seen clinically, this study suggests psychologists need more education and background information about the effects of the adoption process.     

After the fall: a conflict management program to foster open society

A conflict management program developed to support the transition from a closed to open society in postcommunist eastern and central Europe focuses on the future leaders of this region: adolescents.     

Accountability in action?: the case of a database purchasing decision 1

The increasing prevalence of audit in university settings has raised concerns about the potentially adverse effects of invasive measures of performance upon the conduct of research and generation of knowledge. What sustains the current commitment to audit? It is argued that in order to address this question we need to understand how and to what extent notions of accountability are played out in practice. This is illustrated through the analysis of materials from an ethnographic study of ‘good management practice’ in the deployment of technologies in university settings. The paper examines the ways in which ideas of accountability — involving considerations such as ‘value for money’— inform the practical processes of deciding about the purchase of a new database technology.     

Hands: Visible and Invisible

Theoretical work in linguistics, mathematics, and physics has created changes in academic problem formulation. This meta-analysis presents the nature of the new academic environment using precepts from New Historicism to suggest connections with the New Economy. The marketplace is often the court of last appeal in conflict resolution. This can be as basic as determining a fair price for a goose in a farmers' market to the disposition of pension funds in an international merger. Economist Lawrence Summers provides insights into theory and practice. Game theory leads from John Nash's equilibrium point to modeling in economics. A University of Chicago economist discusses the application of market reforms to Chile. He worked with Chilean economists called The Chicago Boys. A call for unification, which includes economics, follows.     

Social context and adolescent health behavior: does school-level smoking prevalence affect students' subsequent smoking behavior?

This paper examines the links between individual adolescent smoking behavior and actual and perceived smoking behavior in the individual's school cohort. We hypothesized that students enrolled in schools with higher smoking prevalence among students in their grade are more likely to smoke subsequently. We also expected perceived school-level prevalence of smoking to have a greater impact than actual prevalence because the former is a more direct measure of perceived norms. Adjusting for demographics, actual school-level prevalence at baseline (grade 7) was strongly associated with smoking frequency one year later. However, the association disappeared after adjusting for individual smoking frequency at baseline. School-level prevalence did not moderate the association between individual's baseline and subsequent smoking frequency. Perceived prevalence of smoking among grade 8 students and two measures tapping the behavior of smaller peer groups--cigarette offers and exposure to friends and other peers who smoke--were associated with increased risk of smoking.