Noninformative priors for the normal variance ratio

In this paper, we consider noninformative priors for the ratio of variances in two normal populations. We develop first and second order matching priors. We find that the second order matching prior matches alternative coverage probabilities up to the second order and is also a HPD matching prior. It turns out that among the reference priors, only one-at-a-time reference prior satisfies a second order matching criterion. Our simulation study indicates that the one-at-a-time reference prior performs better than other reference priors in terms of matching the target coverage probabilities in a frequentist sense. This work is supported by Korea Research Foundation Grant (KRF-2004-002-C00041).     

Why unions support mandated benefits

A complete explanation for union support of mandated benefits must recognize that (1) unions promote the interests of their members primarily by restricting entry into labor markets and (2) those restrictions reduce the competitive advantage which unionized firms realize from efficiently providing fringe benefits. Only by exerting pressure on unionized firms to provide particular fringe benefits and then lobbying government to mandate those benefits at nonunion firms can unions hope to overcome a problem of their own creation.     

BOUNDARIES IN SCIENCE POLICY MAKING:

We simultaneously explore the history of European Union policy on the commercialization of recombinant bovine growth hormone and the sociology of boundary drawing. We argue that, to understand why some boundary-drawing efforts succeed and others fail, we need to be attentive to the relatively stable discursive, organizational, and institutional factors that shape boundary construction. We suggest that attention to two discourses (scientism and social welfarism), the structure of policy making in the European Union, and the institutionalization of particular discourses in World Trade Organization regulations shed light on the E.U.-rbGH case.     

A BLUEPRINT FOR INCREASING THE RELEVANCE OF FAMILY THERAPY RESEARCH

Family therapy research and psychotherapy research in general have been criticized for their lack of relevance to clinical practice. This paper presents a fivestage model that family therapy researchers can follow to increase the relevance of their work for clinicians and other consumers of family therapy research. Using lessons derived from private industry, the research model is based on a marketing and developmental perspective.     

EFFICIENT USER CHARGES IN A RENT-SEEKING MODEL

This paper examines efficient user charges on governmentally provided facilities in the presence of rent seeking. We find that the efficient user charge depends upon the relative slopes of the demand curve for the use of the facility and the corresponding marginal cost curve, as well as the level of rent seeking over the revenue raised. Except for a special case, the efficient user charge is found to differ from the charge indicated by the intersection of demand and marginal cost curves. Examples show that actual user charges on government facilities are often set at inefficient levels.     

FOCUSED SUPERVISION SEEN THROUGH A RECURSIVE FRAME ANALYSIS*

The last decade has seen a dramatic increase in the literature addressing family therapy training and supervision (Liddle, Breunlin, & Schwartz, 1988; Morris & Chenail, 1995; Selekman & Todd, 1995; Thomas, 1994). Most of this literature, however, focuses on theory rather than prctice. This paper presents a study of solution-focused therapy's model of supervision, which we have labeled focused supervision. This supervisory process is conceptualized as a conversation during which supervisor and supervisee engage in a dialogue that mutually shapes the meaning of the experience. This study attends to the actual words spoken and utilizes recursive frame analysis to get closer to the talk of a focused supervisory session.     

Interview with Howard E. Gruber

Howard E. Gruber is currently Adjunct Visiting Professor of Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York. He is one of the world's foremost experts on the creative process. Gruber was educated at Brooklyn College and at Cornell University, Ithaca, USA, where he received a Ph.D. in 1950 in psychology. His interest in the history of science, particularly in the work of Charles Darwin, led to several important discoveries about the creative process and to additional study of developmental psychology in Geneva, Switzerland with Jean Piaget.Gruber taught at Queens University (Canada) and at the University of Colorado, USA. He was Chair of the Psychology Department in the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research, New York and Co-director at the Institute for Cognitive Studies of Rutgers University, USA. From 1983 to 1988 he was Professor of Genetic Psychology at the University of Geneva. He has been a Guggenheim Fellow and a Fellow of the Ford Foundation for Higher Education.Gruber's book, Darwin on Man: A Psychological Study of Scientific Creativity (2nd ed.) (1981) received the Phi Beta Kappa Award for books in science, was recognized by the New York Times Book Review as one of the seven best books of the year, and was nominated for the National Book Award. The Essential Piaget (1977/1995) (written and edited with Jacques Vonèche) is considered the most authoritative anthology of Piaget's work. Gruber's most recent book, co-authored and co-edited with Doris B. Wallace, is Creative People at Work: Twelve Cognitive Case Studies (1989).