Contrasting the Gini and Zenga indices of economic inequality

The current financial turbulence in Europe inspires and perhaps requires researchers to rethink how to measure incomes, wealth, and other parameters of interest to policy-makers and others. The noticeable increase in disparities between less and more fortunate individuals suggests that measures based upon comparing the incomes of less fortunate with the mean of the entire population may not be adequate. The classical Gini and related indices of economic inequality, however, are based exactly on such comparisons. It is because of this reason that in this paper we explore and contrast the classical Gini index with a new Zenga index, the latter being based on comparisons of the means of less and more fortunate sub-populations, irrespectively of the threshold that might be used to delineate the two sub-populations. The empirical part of the paper is based on the 2001 wave of the European Community Household Panel data set provided by EuroStat. Even though sample sizes appear to be large, we supplement the estimated Gini and Zenga indices with measures of variability in the form of normal, t-bootstrap, and bootstrap bias-corrected and accelerated confidence intervals.     

Mathematical forms of the distribution of the product of two normal variables

This paper finds the mathematical forms of the distribution of the product where x and x follow a bivariate normal distribution In this paper the distribution when PT0 is expressed as an integral, a new, fundamental result. From this general form, six different cases can be distinguished depending on what is known about the parameters and p. The special cases are Aroian $year:1959 and (6) Additionally, we prove that if and as the distribution of the product approaches the Type III distribution. When p=0# Aroian $year:1959 and Aroian and Meeker $year:1977, give tables for various values of 6., 6 . The results in this paper will be used to provide brief tables for p^O in a separate paper     

Doctrinal Belief: a Major Factor in the Differential Perception of Social Issues*

An association between doctrinal beliefs and positions on social issues is posited. This study of the clergy in an industrial city demonstrated that doctrinal orthodoxy had an independent effect on positions taken on issues related to social control, personal morality, use of power by the elite, civil liberties, minority rights, and welfare support. Absolutist clergymen with a doctrinally conservative other-worldly focus were reluctant to change society: they supported social control, personal morality, and considerable use of force by the power elite. Evolutionist, this-worldly clergymen who were more doctrinally liberal were open to change and focused more on issues such as civil liberty, minority rights, and welfare support.     

Using Epidemiological Studies to Check the Consistency of the Cancer Risks Predicted by High-Dose Animal Experiments: A Methodological Review

Epidemiological studies have been cited in the literature as evidence both for and against the human cancer risks predicted by high-exposure rodent studies. However, there has been little overall consistency in the ways that these animal-to-human comparisons have been made. This review examines some examples of these types of comparisons and describes the methods and techniques used by different investigators. Eleven "key decision areas" that need to be addressed are identified and recommendations for consistent, logical, and statistically appropriate approaches that might be taken to standardize the process are provided. In general, it is suggested that investigators provide the most useful information when they use logical, transparent, and statistically valid comparisons to pursue limited and focused objectives, such as directly testing the validity of an existing regulatory guidance value. Other recommendations include selecting biologically plausible extrapolative models that fit the data and drawing conclusions that are consistent with the study results and objectives.     

Brief Report: The Role of Ego Development in Psychosocial Adjustment Among Boys With Delayed Puberty

This study examined the role of ego development, as measured with the Washington University sentence completion test, in the relationship between pubertal maturation and psychosocial adjustment (self-image and depression) in adolescent boys. The data consisted of 73 boys between 14 and 16 years of age. The results indicated that late maturing boys were also psychologically more immature, and that they experienced negative feelings about sexuality. Additionally, higher ego development was associated with elevated levels of anxiety and depression among late maturing boys. In boys with average pubertal maturation, higher ego development was associated with lower levels of anxiety and depression.     

Ideology, domination and unemployment

Criticisms of the neo-Marxist dominant ideology thesis tend to under-emphasize the role which ideology plays in legitimating and sustaining systems of inequality, and instead to privilege explanations based on the ‘iron cage’ of economic and political relationships. A serious problem with some neo-Marxist analyses is the rather crude conceptualization of ideology which makes them susceptible to attack. Using material collected in Belfast amongst Protestant and Catholic working class, employed and unemployed, married men, this article seeks both to recast the notion of ideology, in particular to suggest that ideology would be better conceived not as a coherent, self-consistent system of ideas, but rather as a possibly contradictory set of themes whose primary importance lies in their specific, changing and tactical relationships to typical forms of practice, and also thereby to demonstrate how powerful and pervasive is the ideological dimension of domination.     

Irving Crespi, 1926-2004

Irving Crespi was an influential contributor to the field ofpublic opinion research, as theorist, methodologist, practitioner,and leader of the major professional organizations. Throughhis books and articles, Crespi added to the understanding ofhow opinions are formed and changed. The Public Opinion Processexplored the dynamics of opinion formation and the     

Conflicts inherent in Corporate Codes

Codes of Conduct have enjoyed a long history as guides to human behavior. Corporate Codes of Conduct enjoy significant popularity in the U.S. and U.K. This article examines Codes in terms of their evolution (history), expectations (from possible to impossible), and enforcement (the area of greatest difficulty). The article examines trends in Corporate Codes and defines Codes as one aspect of developing corporate conscience. The article concludes with the view that useful as Codes may be, the inherent problem with Codes has been their separation over time from a moral foundation or philosophical base.     

Postconflict Reconciliation: Intergroup Forgiveness and Implicit Biases in Northern Ireland

Even after a conflict has formally ended, there is still a need for postconflict reconciliation and the building of mutual forgiveness and trust between communities. This article addresses psychological processes crucial to moving beyond a history of violent sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland. We investigated the predictors of intergroup forgiveness, in terms of intergroup emotions, infrahumanization, empathy, and intergroup contact. Intergroup trust and measures of implicit intergroup bias were also explored in this area of real intergroup conflict. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for postconflict reconciliation in Northern Ireland and other conflict areas.     

Public response to the 1970 census: A Wisconsin survey

The 1970 census included numerous procedural innovations, of which the most important was the use of mail-out/mail-back techniques. A statewide survey of Wisconsin households (conducted in May and June, 1970) included questions designed to elicit information on the degree of cooperation rendered, ease of comprehension of the form, possible objectionable items on the census, whether or not contacts were made by enumerators, and respondent judgments of the adequacy of enumerators’ performance. The results indicate that Wisconsin respondents tended to comply with census procedures, that they found very little difficulty in filling out the mailed forms, and that they regarded the census enumerators as doing a “good job” in most cases.