Globalization and income inequality: Implications for intellectual property rights

This paper examines the impact of globalization on income inequality for a cross-section of 62 developing countries over a period of 17 years (1985–2001). The results of the study indicate that globalization explains only 15% of the variance in income inequality. More specifically, the results show that (1) strengthening intellectual property rights and openness are positively correlated with income inequality; (2) foreign direct investment is negative and significantly correlated with income inequality but this is not robust to different model specifications; (3) the institutional infrastructure is negatively correlated with income inequality. The study's findings and the review of the literature suggest that globalization has both costs and benefits and that the opportunity for economic gains can be best realized within an environment that supports and promotes sound and credible government institutions, education and technological development.     

Understanding Environmental Risk Perceptions: A Case of Contested Illness in South Florida

Communities facing environmental health threats can experience contention when residents have conflicting interpretations of risks; yet little is known about the social–psychological processes that contribute to divergent risk perceptions in these cases. Drawing on previous work on environmental contamination, contested illness, and literature on risk perceptions, we offer a framework for analyzing how residents assess potential environmental risks. Using the case of The Acreage, Florida, we examine a community where a cancer cluster has been established, but an environmental cause has not been determined. Specifically, we ask how residents individually assess risks concerning possible environmental contamination in cases of contested illness. Data come from 57 in‐depth interviews conducted with current and former residents of The Acreage. We argue that residents utilized particular cognitive heuristics to develop understandings and assessments of the situation. However, when these assessments contradicted those of other residents, community conflict emerged. We conclude by discussing how the framework utilized in our analysis can be applied in future research of contaminated communities.     

Gender conformity,self-objectification,and body image for sorority and nonsorority women: A closer look

Sororities have been identified as placing young women at risk for body image concerns due to a focus on traditional gender role norms and objectification of women. Objective: This study assessed the relationship between conformity to feminine gender role norms, self-objectification, and body image surveillance among undergraduate women. Participants: In a random sample of undergraduates, the authors examined data from sorority and nonsorority women. Methods: In a random sample of undergraduate women, the authors assessed the impact of traditional feminine gender role norms on self-objectification, body image, and feedback regarding physical appearance for sorority and nonsorority undergraduate women. Results: Three linear regressions were conducted, and only conformity to feminine gender role norms contributed significantly in each regression model. Conclusions: Regardless of sorority membership, conformity to feminine gender role norms was found to significantly contribute to increased body consciousness, negative body image, and feedback on physical appearance.     

When “citizenship is indispensable to the practice of a profession”: Citizenship Requirements for Entry to Practise Professions in Canada

This paper explores citizenship requirements for entry to practice regulated professions historically in four Canadian provinces. It reviews how common citizenship restrictions have been in Canadian professions, when and where they were implemented, and what rationales were provided for these restrictions. Findings provide support for both Weberian social closure theory which sees such restrictions as the product of professional lobbying, and state‐centred explanations which hold that states regulate professions to facilitate governance. Many citizenship restrictions were historically implemented by state actors. The decline of citizenship restrictions reflects not only changing social attitudes, but changes in state‐profession relations in Canada.     

Children's nonverbal responses to a physically disabled person

A male, who either was wearing a leg brace and carrying a metal crutch or was nondisabled, conducted interviews outside a discount store with 120 children accompanied by their parents and ranging in age from three to 15. A hidden observer recorded aspects of each child's nonverbal behavior and his or her parent's distance from the child-interviewer interaction. When the interviewer was disabled, the youngest children engaged in less self-manipulatory behavior, children of all ages stood closer to him and looked more at his leg and body, and parents stood closer to their children at the start of the interview. It is argued that these findings suggest interest in rather than aversion toward disability. The fact that no major developmental changes or sex differences were detected raises questions about previous findings suggesting that attitudes toward disabled persons become more positive with age and are more positive among girls than among boys. Findings based on obtrusive measures of verbally expressed attitudes may not generalize to situations in which nonverbal responses are unobtrusively observed.Portions of this paper were presented at the annual meeting of the southeastern Psychology Association in Atlanta, March 1985. The authors wish to thank Greg Batts, Tracy Mattingly, and Lee Sigelman for their help.     

Logistic and neural network models for predicting a hospital admission

Feedforward neural networks are often used in a similar manner as logistic regression models; that is, to estimate the probability of the occurrence of an event. In this paper, a probabilistic model is developed for the purpose of estimating the probability that a patient who has been admitted to the hospital with a medical back diagnosis will be released after only a short stay or will remain hospitalized for a longer period of time. As the purpose of the analysis is to determine if hospital characteristics influence the decision to retain a patient, the inputs to this model are a set of demographic variables that describe the various hospitals. The output is the probability of either a short or long term hospital stay. In order to compare the ability of each method to model the data, a hypothesis test is performed to test for an improvement resulting from the use of the neural network model.     

Passed over for promotion because of age: An empirical analysis of the consequences

I test whether older individuals who report that their firms favor younger workers in promotion decisions are harmed by this oftencited discriminatory practice. Using the Health and Retirement Study, I determine whether such workers are more likely to experience lower wage growth, to separate from their employer, or to retire early, in comparison with workers with similar demographic and job characteristics. The evidence is consistent with lower wage growth and a greater likelihood of early retirement. Much of the effect, however, is likely to stem from a high correlation between delayedpayment contracts and promotion practices. I thank Jeff Biddle, John Goddeeris, David Neumark, John Strauss, and Jeff Wooldridge for helpful comments and suggestions. I gratefully acknowledge fellowship support during the completion of this paper from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.     

EFFECTS OF SOLUTION FOCUSED THERAPY'S "FORMULA FIRST SESSION TASK" ON COMPLIANCE AND OUTCOME IN FAMILY THERAPY

This study investigated the immediate impact of a "solution focused" family therapy intervention on both the family and the therapist. Specifically, the study examined the differential effects of the formula first session task (FFST) recommended by de Shazer (1982, 1985), as well as the FFST plus solution focused therapy, as compared to a standard problem focused structural-strategic intervention. After one week, the groups receiving the FFST were significantly higher on measures of family compliance, clarity of treatment goals, and improvement in the presenting problem. However, there were no significant differences among groups on family optimism or on outcome after 10 sessions. The implications of these results are discussed.