Gambling as a function of gender and Sensation Seeking

This study examined the relation of gender and Sensation Seeking (SS) Scale scores to undergraduates' ratings of their past/present and expected future participation in four leisure activities that usually involve betting money. Subjects completed McKeachnie's (1975) Leisure Activities Blank (LAB), which included the gambling items, and Zuckerman's (1979) SS Scale. Men reported significantly more past/present leisure gambling than women; gender differences were insignificant in ratings of expected future gambling. No significant differences in reported past/present gambling related to any SS scale score. However, expected future gambling ratings were associated with scores on two SS subscales: Disinhibition (DIS) and Boredom Susceptibility (BS). Both male and female subjects with high DIS scores rated the frequency of expected future gambling higher than did subjects with low DIS scores. High BS scores were associated with high ratings of expected future gambling in the data for women subjects only. These results suggest that personality factors, among them SS, are more influential than early experience or sex-role socialization in determining a young adult's interest in gambling.     

Analytical uses of Kalman filtering in econometrics — A survey

This paper surveys the different uses of Kalman filtering in the estimation of statistical (econometric) models. The Kalman filter will be portrayed as (i) a natural generalization of exponential smoothing with a time-dependent smoothing factor, (ii) a recursive estimation technique for a variety of econometric models amenable to a state space formulation in particular for econometric models with time varying coefficients (iii) an instrument for the recursive calculation of the likelihood of the (constant) state space coefficients (iv) a means of helping to implement the scoring⁻ and EM-method for iteratively maximizing this likelihood (v) an analytical tool in asymptotic estimation theory. The concluding section points to the importance of Kalman filtering for alternatives to maximum⁻ likelihood estimation of state space parameters.     

In memoriam Gerburg Treusch-Dieter (1939–2006)

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Jürgen H.P. Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik</Emphasis> und <Emphasis Type="Italic">Christof Wolf:</Emphasis> Advances in cross-national comparison. A European working book for demographic and socio-economic variables

Ohne Zusammenfassung

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Jürgen H.P. Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik und Christof Wolf: Advances in cross-national comparison. A European working book for demographic and socio-economic variables New York/Boston/Dordrecht/London/Moscow: Kluwer academic/plenum publishers 2003. 413 Seiten. ISBN 0-306-47731-9. Preis: € 153,-

     

The character and mission of the practical sciences, as exemplified by medicine

The old division of all sciences into the two equally important classes of theoretical and practical disciplines is hardly ever applied today. However, the proprium of a practical science that is aimed at what should be, can be elucidated using medicine as an example. The efforts of medicine are not limited to a mere `application' of methods and results of theoretical disciplines. Even the concepts of `illness' and `diagnosis', which are central to medicine, are defined in a normative-deontological manner. They are supposed not only to help formulating and justifying assertions on facts, but also to be a means to enable and standardise action. Since every action takes place in a concrete situation, a practical science must always bridge the hiatus between the general and the particular. This requires judgement, a personal, individual capacity that cannot be operationalised without residue. In contrast to the theoretical disciplines, such a science is not the master of its own questions and problems; and is subject to the dictate of time, since all action is final and irrevocable.     

Resources for scholars,practitioners, and policymakers two introductions to the nonprofit sector

The Charitable Nonprofits: An Analysis of Institutional Dynamics and Characteristics, by William G. Bowen, Thomas I. Nygren, Sarah E. Turner, and Elizabeth A. Duffy. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1994. 326 pp., $39.95 cloth. America's Nonprofit Sector: A Primer, by Lester M. Salamon. New York: Foundation Center, 1992. 110 pp., $14–95. paper.     

Welfare production: Public versus private

Welfare is one of the highest values in modern societies and refers primarily to the living conditions and the perceived life quality of individuals and families. This paper is asking how welfare is generated in society, what are the producers, the products, the production processes, the limits of particular productions, and new innovative “mixes”. After a survey of the literature (theory of social production, well-being accounting, political productivity, social policy intervention), a scheme of four major institutions of welfare production is discussed: markets, bureaucracies, associations, private households. Next, the present dilemmas and the innovative potential of each particular institution and of pair-and triple combinations are briefly explored, e.g. new “corporatist” patterns. Two case studies (“shadow economy”, household production) are investigating the policy question of how private initiatives, the resources of associations and private households, and new combinations of public and private efforts may overcome some of the deadlocks in the present “market failure” and “state failure”.