Asymmetric Forecast Information and the Value of Demand Observation in Repeated Procurement

In many supply chain relationships that continue over multiple periods, information about the hidden properties of the supply chain partners can be revealed throughout the course of the relationship. This article examines how the availability of such information affects the contracting scheme between a supplier and his manufacturer in a relationship that persists over several selling seasons. At the beginning of the first selling season, the manufacturer observes private information about the demand distribution, whereas the supplier who is less familiar with the market is endowed only with a prior belief about the market condition. When the supplier cannot observe the demand realization during the first selling period, she offers a contract that induces the manufacturer to reveal the market condition in the first selling season. However, the opportunity for the supplier to observe demand realization can result in the supplier offering the manufacturer a simple contract that does not induce the manufacturer to reveal his private information during the first selling season. In the latter case, the supplier observes the demand realization and designs the second period contract based on this information. We show that when the supplier chooses to offer such a contract, the manufacturer becomes worse‐off, and it has an ambiguous effect on the performance of the supply chain.     

Supervision of Therapy with Patients Diagnosed as Psychotic

Psychodynamic therapy with psychotics has been reviewed and studied by different analysts such as Searles (1965), Rosenfeld (1988), and others. Nevertheless, there are almost no updated articles on supervision of this therapy. The article addresses this issue and the different aspects of supervision of psychodynamic therapy of psychotics. Therapy-related issues, such as holding, communications and interpretations, differentiation, boundaries, psychotic transference, and countertransference are discussed extensively. We also explore some of the difficulties involved in these processes and the implications for the supervision process.     

The Contribution of Macro-intervention Social Workers to the Success of Volunteer Community Activists

The study examined the contribution of macro-intervention social workers to volunteer activists from the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. Volunteer activists who were supervised by macro-intervention social workers were compared with those who were not supervised. The comparisons related to internal variables (leadership competence and client participation), as well as to external variables (community activity, and representation), and to support from rabbis for community activity. The sample consisted of 62 activists who were supervised by macro-intervention social workers, and 101 activists who were not. The findings revealed differences between the supervised and non-supervised activists with regard to levels of community activity and representation. With regard to leadership competence and client participation, no significant differences were found. Analysis of the study findings aimed to provide new perspectives on the contribution of professional supervision, as reflected in the differences found between the activists who were supervised versus those who were not.     

The Experience of Material and Emotional Hardship in Israel: Do Some Groups Cope Better than Others?

While official poverty measures tend to focus on income alone, measures of material hardship also incorporate aspects of need. Families experience material hardship when they have difficulty paying bills or buying things the household needs, such as food, medicine and medical care. The current study develops four measures of material and emotional hardship and focusses on two groups that have high risks of poverty in Israel, namely Israeli–Palestinians and Ultra-orthodox Jews—Haredim, and compares them with the non-Haredi Jewish majority. Comparing Israeli–Palestinians, Haredim and non-Haredi Jews provides an opportunity to study the intersection of poverty and group membership. Group membership may affect hardship because groups differ in living conditions, poverty histories, social networks, access to resources, and perceptions of needs. The study draws on Israel’s 2013 Social Survey, conducted by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (n = 7438). The findings point to substantial degrees of inequality among the disadvantaged. Although Haredim and Palestinians have similar levels of income-poverty, the study shows that the consequences of low-income in terms of deprivation and hardship are more severe among Israeli–Palestinians than among (Haredi and non-Haredi) Jews. Israeli–Palestinians experience higher levels of material and emotional hardship than Haredim after controlling for household income.     

Who Benefits the Most? The Unequal Allocation of Transfers in the Israeli Welfare State

Objective . This article critically examines contradictions within the Israeli welfare system, and asks how welfare transfers affect poverty for different social groups. Methods . Using data from Israel's 1996 Income Survey conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics, the analysis focuses on households with working-age heads, and compares poverty rates, before and after transfers among three groups: (1) recent immigrants; (2) Arabs; and (3) ultra-orthodox Jews ( Haredim ), distinguishing between couple- and female-headed households. Results . The results show that social welfare policy is more effective in aiding recent immigrants, who are entitled to special benefits, than aiding Arabs. The findings also show that transfers have a stronger effect in reducing poverty among female-headed families than among couple-headed families, thus reducing the gap between these two types of households. Conclusions . Israeli welfare policy reduces poverty, but this effect differs substantially by social group. While formally Israel is considered a universalistic welfare state, for historical and ideological reasons certain social groups, such as Jewish immigrants, have been favored and granted extra benefits, while others, such as Arabs, were neglected.     

Marital Conflict, Children's Representations of Family Relationships, and Children's Dispositions Towards Peer Conflict Strategies

The links among marital relations and children's representations were examined. Forty‐seven children between the ages of 5 and 8 completed the Family Stories Task (FAST) to obtain their narrative representations of family relations and performed a variation of a puppet procedure ( Mize & Ladd, 1988 ) to assess children's dispositions towards peer conflict strategies. Their parents completed a set of questionnaires regarding marital quality. Results demonstrated relations between marital conflict and children's dispositions towards peer conflict strategies in conflict situations. Children's more negative dispositions towards peer conflict and aggressive behavior in the peer conflict scenarios were each associated with more overt conflict behaviors by mothers and fathers, respectively, and more covert conflict behavior by mothers. In addition, children's internal representations of parent–child relations served as a mediator between marital conflict and children's notions about conflict behavior towards peers.     

Mate Selection and Marriage Decision in Bicultural Society: Modern Orthodox Society in Israel

This article addresses courtship and mate selection patterns of young adults who belong to two parallel cultures: traditional and modern. In-depth interviews with 36 Modern-Orthodox Jewish men and women during their first year of marriage reveal unique considerations for mate selection and the dynamic flow between cultural systems. The findings show that dating is marriage-oriented but within a modern context. Although the study participants used modern tools and concepts, the marriage decision itself was bound to strict social norms and traditional expectations. The decision was based largely on rational reasoning, whereas love and personal needs were rarely discussed. The findings highlight the challenges faced by couples with bicultural identity in their transition to matrimony and can support professionals in addressing these conflicts.     

The Take Over of Parent-Child Dynamics in a Supervisory Relationship: Identifying the Role Transformation

The literature on supervision discusses processes occurring in the supervisor-supervisee relationship that are similar to, and have parallels in, a parent-child relationship. This slipping from the one type of relationship into the other can interfere with the process of supervision. This shift to the supervisee feeling like a child and the supervisor like a parent is liable to be the natural outcome of transference and counter-transference. The aim of this paper is to examine the pseudo-parental role of the supervisor, in order to make supervisors more aware of, and alert to, the possibility that their supervision of young workers may slip into a parent-child mode, to identify critical points where parental feelings may intrude on supervision, and to suggest a useful support model that can help prevent this intrusion.     

Consumers' subjective perception of price in times of inflation

This article suggests that inflation blurs the information content of prices, affecting consumers' subjective perception of prices. Preliminary evidence is provided by examining consumers' upper and lower price limits—concepts closely related to price quality perceptions—under extreme inflationary conditions taking place in Israel in 1980. The findings indicate that lower price limit distributions exhibit consistently greater dispersion across three income groups and the overall sample, compared to upper price limits. This effect is attributed to consumers' greater difficulties to provide lower price limits which are based solely on quality judgements, compared to upper limit responses which are partly anchored in more clearly defined budget constraints.