Accounting for family background when designing optimal income taxes: a microeconometric simulation analysis

We develop an extended version of Roemer’s Equality of Opportunity (EOp) criterion that accounts for income differentials between as well as within types, where types are defined by circumstances that are beyond people’s control (parental education, in this study). A microeconometric model of labour supply in Italy is employed to identify income tax-transfer rules that are optimal according to the extended EOp criterion. Overall, the results do not conform to the perhaps common expectation that the more conventional Equality of Outcome criterion is more supportive of “interventionist” (redistributive) policies than the EOp approach.     

Estimating the propagation rate of a viral infection of potato plants via mixtures of regressions

A problem arising from the study of the spread of a viral infection among potato plants by aphids appears to involve a mixture of two linear regressions on a single predictor variable. The plant scientists studying the problem were particularly interested in obtaining a 95% confidence upper bound for the infection rate. We discuss briefly the procedure for fitting mixtures of regression models by means of maximum likelihood, effected via the EM algorithm. We give general expressions for the implementation of the M-step and then address the issue of conducting statistical inference in this context. A technique due to T. A. Louis may be used to estimate the covariance matrix of the parameter estimates by calculating the observed Fisher information matrix. We develop general expressions for the entries of this information matrix. Having the complete covariance matrix permits the calculation of confidence and prediction bands for the fitted model. We also investigate the testing of hypotheses concerning the number of components in the mixture via parametric and 'semiparametric' bootstrapping. Finally, we develop a method of producing diagnostic plots of the residuals from a mixture of linear regressions.     

Klassenlage und Bildungsentscheidungen

This empirical study seeks to contribute to the explanation of class differences in educational opportunities in the transition from primary to secondary education. According to recent theoretical explanations the social inequality in education results — apart from the historical conditions and institutions of the educational system — from rational choices of parents about the continuation of their children’s education. There is a nexus between class specific evaluation of costs and benefits of higher education and educational choice, which depends on the parents’ resources and the selection and allocation function of the educational system. This interrelationship results in unequal educational attainment among the children of different social classes. These hypotheses are tested by employing a two-step model of the dynamics of choices and actual transition. Using panel data and logistic regression as well as considering the children’s social origin the rise of educational aspirations and the following transition to higher education tracks are analyzed. The results lend support to the mechanisms and processes assumed by the subjective expected utility approach. However, there is an open question about the historical persistence of class differences in education in spite of educational expansion and school reforms.     

Der Beitrag der Theorie subjektiver Werterwartung und anderer RC-Theorien zur Erklärung der herkunftsbedingten Bildungschancen und Bildungsungleichheit

In his critical appreciation of my article about the correlation of social class, educational choice and inequality of education Haller seeks to discuss critical aspects of the applied Rational Choice theories. It is delineated that his objections are based on theoretical, methodological and statistical misunderstandings.     

Entwickeln im Team – Effekte für den Einzelnen

This study tested the effects of a 2-day team building intervention on team members’ team identification, social support and collective self-efficacy. Members (n?=?32) of three teams from different sectors completed questionnaires before, directly after and six weeks after the team building intervention. Two teams served as control groups. Results showed lasting positive effects of team building on identification, support and collective self-efficacy in the training groups but no changes in the control groups.     

Recursive location and scale estimators

It is shown that a recursive estimator with the same asymptotic properties as the median has convergence properties in finite samples which depend heavily on the scale of the data. A simple modification which adjusts for the scale is suggested and its application illustrated on simulated data. The modified estimator has much improved properties which are similar to those of the sample (non-recursive) median.     

Conditional statistical inference and quantification of relevance

Summary. We argue that it can be fruitful to take a predictive view on notions such as the precision of a point estimator and the confidence of an interval estimator in frequentist inference. This predictive approach has implications for conditional inference, because it immediately allows a quantification of the concept of relevance for conditional inference. Conditioning on an ancillary statistic makes inference more relevant in this sense, provided that the ancillary is a precision index. Not all ancillary statistics satisfy this demand. We discuss the problem of choice between alternative ancillary statistics. The approach also has implications for the best choice of variance estimator, taking account of correlations with the squared error of estimation itself. The theory is illustrated by numerous examples, many of which are classical.     

Nightingales Schwestern

The paper discusses the gendering process in hospitals: Doctors cure, nurses attend. Even though both occupations have the same importance, curing, the male domain, is the most powerful one. Therefore conflicts exist between nurses and doctors. These conflicts make cooperation difficult. Many of them are determined by unconscious fantasies about sex roles: what real men and real women should be. Making the medical care more professional presupposes a fair-minded confrontation between these fantasies.     

Should I Stay or Should I Go? Explaining Turnover Intentions with Organizational Identification and Job Satisfaction*

The social identity approach is a powerful theoretical framework for the understanding of individuals' behaviour. The main argument is that individuals think and act on behalf of the group they belong to because this group membership adds to their social identity, which partly determines one's self‐esteem. In the organizational world, social identity and self‐categorization theories state that a strong organizational identification is associated with low turnover intentions. Because identification is the more general perception of shared fate between employee and organization, we propose that the relationship between identification and turnover will be mediated by job satisfaction as the more specific evaluation of one's task and working conditions. In four samples we found organizational identification feeding into job satisfaction, which in turn predicts turnover intentions.