How majorities can lose the election Another voting paradox

We show that due to free riding of potential voters facing positive voting costs, the proposal with the highest number of supporters can still be the most likely to lose a binary election. Received: 17 January 2001/Accepted: 10 June 2002 Financial support was provided by The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). We thank an anonymous referee for useful comments.     

Model-based segmentation of spatial cylindrical data

ABSTRACT

A new hidden Markov random field model is proposed for the analysis of cylindrical spatial series, i.e. bivariate spatial series of intensities and angles. It allows us to segment cylindrical spatial series according to a finite number of latent classes that represent the conditional distributions of the data under specific environmental conditions. The model parsimoniously accommodates circular–linear correlation, multimodality, skewness and spatial autocorrelation. A numerically tractable expectation–maximization algorithm is provided to compute parameter estimates by exploiting a mean-field approximation of the complete-data log-likelihood function. These methods are illustrated on a case study of marine currents in the Adriatic sea.     

Measuring the Integration of Immigrants: Critical notes from an Italian experience

This paper describes an instrument developed in Italy by the ISMU Foundation to measure the level of integration of immigrants present in the country. The instrument consists of an index based on data collected by means of a structured questionnaire. The paper first describes the technical characteristics of this instrument and the main results obtained from its first, experimental use with the administration of over 12,000 interviews in Italy. There follow some critical notes on the limits and potential of the application of synthetic indexes in the analysis of migratory processes, and particularly in study of the integration of immigrants.     

Challenging Europe’s external borders and internal boundaries. Bosnian Xoraxané Xomá on the move in Roman peripheries and the contemporary European Union

ABSTRACT

This paper explores, from an ethnographic standpoint, the mobility of a Bosnian Romani community in relation to the xenophobic and anti-Romani discourses that are pervading contemporary Italian and European society in the time of the so-called migrant crisis. The analysis focuses on some so-called Xomá families who live dispersed among illegal shanties in the Rome and whose movements and social network protract into other Italian and European cities. The question of mobility is addressed both in terms of local movements within the Roman peripheries and of wider transnational trajectories. Romani mobility appears as a tactical response to processes imposed from above that challenges the forms of governmentality related to the policing of borders and the production of boundaries of the EU and its member-states.     

Dependence Structure of Spacings of Order Statistics

Let X_1:n ≤ X_2:n ≤···≤ X_n:n denote the order statistics of a sample of n independent random variables X₁, X₂,…, X_n, all identically distributed as some X. It is shown that if X has a log-convex [log-concave] density function, then the general spacing vector (X_k1:n, X_k2:n ? X_k1:n,…, X_kr:n ? X_kr?1:n) is MTP₂ [S-MRR₂] whenever 1 ≤ k₁ < k₂ <···< k_r ≤ n and 1 ≤ r ≤ n. Multivariate likelihood ratio ordering of such general spacing vectors corresponding to two random samples is also considered. These extend some of the results in the literature for usual spacing vectors.     

Making the Transition from Welfare to Work: Employment Experiences of CalWORKs Participants in the San Francisco Bay Area

ABSTRACT

This study describes welfare-to-work participants in the San Francisco Bay Area, support services, experiences with the CalWORKs program, and predictors of employment status in the wake of welfare reform. Findings indicate that many are working and more Stayers and Recidivists than Leavers are using food stamps and Medi-Cal. Multivariate analysis reveals that race and financial supports were the significant factors contributing to employability, defined as the ability to secure employment despite the need to supplement earned income with welfare payments. To help people stay off of welfare, case management services are needed to help participants maintain employment and increase job skills. In addition to expanding our understanding of human behavior within the social environment of poverty, implications for practice and policy are identified.     

Influence diagnostics on the coefficient of variation of elliptically contoured distributions

In this article, we study the behavior of the coefficient of variation (CV) of a random variable that follows a symmetric distribution in the real line. Specifically, we estimate this coefficient using the maximum-likelihood (ML) method. In addition, we provide asymptotic inference for this parameter, which allows us to contrast hypothesis and construct confidence intervals. Furthermore, we produce influence diagnostics to evaluate the sensitivity of the ML estimate of this coefficient when atypical data are present. Moreover, we illustrate the obtained results by using financial real data. Finally, we carry out a simulation study to detect the potential influence of atypical observations on the ML estimator of the CV of a symmetric distribution. The illustration and simulation demonstrate the robustness of the ML estimation of this coefficient.     

The International Evolution of Italian and Chinese Districts: What Role for Lead Firms?

The paper stresses how Italian and Chinese small and medium enterprises (SMEs) internationalize according to different approaches. Indeed, in the former case firms may move abroad because they follow the so-called lead firms that act as a meta-national body, whereas in the latter case SMEs are committed to exports and/or FDIs through a thick and wide web of ethnic networks. These are based on factors such as embeddedness and social capital as well as other cultural determinants.