The cost of children: May the collective approach to household behavior help?

The collective approach to household consumption behavior tries to infer from variables supposed to affect the general bargaining position of household members information on the allocation of consumptions goods and tasks among them. This paper investigates the extension of previous work to the case where children may be considered as a public consumption good by the two adult members of a household. The main question being asked is whether it is possible to retrieve from the aggregate consumption behaviour of the household and the relative earnings of the parents information on the allocation of goods between them and children. This alternative approach to the estimation of the ‘cost of children’ is contrasted with the conventional approach based on a ‘unitary’ representation of and demographic separability assumptions on household consumption behaviour. Received: 29 August 1997/Accepted: 26 November 1998     

A breakpoint detection in the mean model with heterogeneous variance on fixed time intervals

Statistics and Computing - This work is motivated by an application for the homogenization of global navigation satellite system (GNSS)-derived integrated water vapour series. Indeed, these series...     

Unions and coal mine safety: Comment

In a recent article in this journal, Appleton and Baker tried to account for the variability in mine injury rates by using several variables, one of which we claim to be an inadequate measure of the climate for safety brought about by unionization. In this paper, we criticize their empirical work for lack of documentation, misinterpretation of analyses, and poor model specification; and their generalizations to global union effects and to specific union practices. We also offer several suggestions that could improve the applicability of future research to decisions about whether coal miners’ unions beneficially influence their members’ safety. The authors would like to thank C. Bise, J. Kiusalaas, T. Long, and E. Ray from The Pennsylvania State University for their suggestions during the review of this article.     

Patterns of Strategic Change in Health Care: District Health Authorities Respond to AIDS*

The literature on strategic change is based mostly on research in the private sector. This paper suggests that change in public sector organizations is equally worthy of study and can offer novel insights. Findings from research into the development of services for HIV/AIDS in NHS health districts are used to illustrate six generic themes in strategic change processes. The first theme concerns the role of context in potentiating change, and in promoting a diverse response in different localities despite unifying government guidelines. A second theme introduces the initiators of change, the ‘product champions’, a less homogeneous group than is sometimes suggested. Although personal status, energy and pro-activity were shared characteristics, individuals differed in style and methods used to attain goals. Theme three highlights social movements as mediators of change. Consumerism has affected both private and public sector industry, but for HIV/AIDS the process has been particularly visible. The mobilising role of crisis comes next. A three phase model is suggested, linking ‘crisis-as-threat’ and ‘crisis-as-opportunity’ theories. A fifth theme concerns changes in organizational culture provoked by HIV/AIDS, and the role played by symbolism - often unpredictable and not easily manipulated by management. The last theme is organizational learning; how learning about HIV/AIDS diffused through the districts, and how well learning generalizes to other issues. In conclusion, it is argued that the study of processes of change in a public sector organization can contribute to general models of strategic change and help to develop organizational theory.     

Modeling American marriage patterns

"This article investigates the application of the three-parameter, Coale-McNeil marriage model and some related hyperparameterized specifications to data on the first marriage patterns of American women. Because the model is parametric, it can be used to estimate the parameters of the marriage process for cohorts that have yet to complete their first marriage experience. Empirical evidence from three surveys is reported on the ability of the model to replicate and project observed marriage behavior. The results indicate that the model can be a useful tool for analyzing cohort marriage data and that recent cohorts are showing relatively strong proclivities to both delay and forego marriage. Consistent with earlier work, the results also indicate that education is a powerful covariate of the timing of first marriage and that race is a powerful covariate of its incidence." Data are from the U.S. Current Population Survey for 1976 and 1985 and Cycle III of the National Survey of Family Growth for 1982.     

Stability and Change in Kindergartners' Friendships: Examination of Links with Social Functioning

Stability and change in kindergartners' friendships were examined based on a typology of profiles (stable, fluid, loss, gain, friendless). Our purpose was to determine whether children belonging to the five profiles differed in their social functioning. The sample was composed of 2353 kindergartners. Reciprocal friendships and social functioning indices were measured using peer nominations collected in October and May of the same year. A series of repeated measures analysis of variance indicated that children in the friendless profile were less accepted by their peers, more shy, more withdrawn, and more aggressive than other children. Moreover, children in the stable profile were significantly more accepted by their peers, more prosocial, and less shy than children in the fluid profile. Lastly, children in the loss profile became less accepted by their peers and less prosocial over the course of the year whereas children in the gain profile became more accepted and prosocial.