ENTRY AND EXIT,PRODUCT VARIETY,AND THE BUSINESS CYCLE

We study the stochastic behavior of a dynamic general equilibrium model with monopolistic competition. Each seller sells his product in the consumption goods as well as the investment goods market and has market power in both. Consumers derive utility from a constant elasticity of substitution (CES) aggregate of all the consumption goods and augment their capital stock by a CES aggregate of all the investment goods. We analyze the equilibrium of this economy allowing for an endogenous determination of the number of firms and therefore of products. The principal effect we wish to highlight is the endogenous propagation and magnification of technology and preference disturbances through product space variations. (JEL E32, D43, L16)     

‘We took a bath with the chickens’: memories of childhood visits to the homeland by second‐generation Greek and Greek Cypriot ‘returnees’

Drawing on a wider study of 90 second‐generation Greeks and Greek Cypriots who have relocated to their ancestral homeland, in this article we focus on the significance of childhood visits to the homeland. Freedom – how children were allowed to roam free and stay up late – is the key trope of such memories, in contrast with the strict spatio‐temporal parenting they received in the host country. Different, sometimes less pleasant memories, however, emerge when the visits took place during later, teenage years. We explore the connections between childhood visits and adult relocation. Adult returnees find that settlement in the homeland produces a new set of challenges and reactions that differ markedly from childhood experiences and memories. They engage a second narrative trope, nostalgia, reflecting on the loss of the ‘authentic’ nature of the homeland and its customs and values. Instead, they highlight the materialism and xenophobia of Greek and Cypriot society nowadays. However, they see the ‘homeland’ as a safer place in which to raise their own children.     

Psychological and cultural foundations of prejudice: The case of anti-Semitism in Quebec

Cette communication documente l'existence de niveaux d'antisémitisme et d'ethnocentrisme systématiquement plus élevés au Québec qu'ailleurs au Canada, puis examine les facteurs socioculturels, psychologiques et politiques qui sous-tendent ce phénomène. L'analyse des données de l'Enquěte sur la Charte des droits et libertés révèle que les facteurs socioculturels jouent le rǒle prépondérant. Plus particulièrement, la plus forte propension des Québécois à voir les Juifs d'un oeil défavorable est en grande partie attribuable à une plus grande valorisation de la conformité dans la culture québécoise. Ainsi, les Québécois diffèrent des autres canadiens non pas tant parce qu'ils souscrivent à tout l'éventail des préjugés antisémites, mais parce qu'ils acceptent les caractérisations négatives des Juifs sans se poser des questions. D'après les auteurs, l'antisémitisme au Québec ne s'explique ni par le nationalisme politique ni par des traits de personalité. La communication traite également de diverses questions concernant la méthodologie à employer pour mesurer l'antisémitisme. Documenting consistently higher levels of anti-Semitism and ethnocentrism in Quebec than elsewhere in Canada, this article investigates the sources of this prejudice in socio-cultural, psychological and political factors. Analysis of survey data from the Charter of Rights Study show that socio-cultural factors are most important. In particular, the greater readiness of Quebeckers to look unfavourably on Jews is largely a consequence of the high value placed upon conformity in Quebec culture. Quebeckers therefore differ from other Canadians not primarily in a willingness to subscribe to a full syndrome of anti-Semitic sentiments, but in casually accepting negative characterizations of Jews. Anti-Semitism in Quebec is found not to be related to nationalist political sentiments, nor is it substantially personality-driven. A variety of methodological issues pertaining to the measurement of anti-Semitism are also discussed.     

Prevention: the Victorian Legacy

Summary The personal social services did not receive a statutory mandateto undertake preventive work with deprived children until 1963.This paper looks at the history of child care services in thenineteenth and twentieth centuries to find some explanationsfor the delay in promoting prevention. The two major child caresystems during the Victorian era were the Poor Law and the voluntarychildren's societies. In terms of methods of care and philosophy,the two are often held as contrasts. But, in terms of wishingto rescue children from evil parents and of changing their charactersby educating them while completely removed from their naturalfamilies, they had much in common. Thus, both state and voluntaryservices exerted a strong force opposed to policies of helpingnatural parents to cope with their own or of rehabilitatingthem. Changing social and political conditions in the earlypart of the twentieth century appeared to give the prospectof different practices. However, these failed to emerge andsome explanations are put forward with particular referenceto the survival of the Poor Law and the stagnation of the voluntarybodies. Finally, an analysis is made of what steps had to betaken at the end of the 1930s if prevention was to become apart of the social services.     

Decision support for multi-family aggregate production planning

Aggregate production planning decisions are inter mediate range decisions that can have a significant impact on both productivity and profitability. In this paper, we examine an interactive computer-based method that provides decision support for the aggregate planner. The proposed approach combines the judgement of the planner with the optimization of subproblems to arrive at an effective solution for multi-family aggregate production planning problems. In the interactive approach, the planner exercises direct control over sensitive workforce levels and production capacities. A network flow sub-problem solver is used to generate optimal production plans and inventory levels given the user-specified production capacities. Decision aids are provided to help the planner achieve a cost-effective solution that is consistent with judgement concerning workforce levels. Computational testing on five test problems indicates that very cost-effective solutions can be obtained. The results of applying the interactive method to a real-world problem are also reported.     

THE GRAVITY MODEL: AN ILLUSTRATION OF STRUCTURAL ESTIMATION AS CALIBRATION

Dawkins, Srinivasan, and Whalley (“Calibration,”Handbook of Econometrics, 2001) propose that estimation is calibration. We illustrate their point by examining a leading econometric application in the study of international and interregional trade by Anderson and van Wincoop (“Gravity with Gravitas: A Solution to the Border Puzzle,”American Economic Review, 2003). We replicate the econometric process and show it to be a calibration of a general equilibrium model. Our approach offers unique insights into structural estimation, and we highlight the importance of traditional calibration considerations when one uses econometric techniques to calibrate a model for comparative policy analysis. (JEL F10, C13, C60)     

State constructed industrial relations and the social reproduction of production: the case of the Canadian IDIA

La loi des enquCtes en matiere de differends industriels est l'une des premieres interventions de 1'Etat en matiere de relations industrielles. En tant que systeme de relations industrielles, elle nous permet d'ktudier le r81e de 1'Etat dans la reproduction de forces de production antagoniques. L'Ctude de cette loi dans le present article a pour but d'identifier I'effet de l'intervention etatique sur un grand nombre de conflits industriels. I1 se trouve que l'intervention de 1'Etat a un effet significatif sur la reproduction des relations sociales au lieu de production ce qui n'est pas sans consequence pour la construction d'une thkorie satisfaisante de 1'Etat canadien. En s'engageant dans la conciliation industrielle, 1'Etat a change a la fois le resultat des luttes et ses propres relations avec les travailleurs, d'une facon et dans des directions qui echappent i la theorie contemporaine de I'Etat.
The study of industrial relations systems permits at the same time, an examination of the role of the state in reproducing antagonistic production relations. This paper examines, one of the earliest state initiatives in industrial relations, the Canadian Industrial Disputes Investigation Act, in order to ascertain the effects of interventionism in a large number of industrial conflicts. State involvement appears to significantly affect the reproduction of social relationships at the point of production, which in turn has important implications for an adequate theory of the Canadian state. The involvement of the state in industrial conciliation materially altered the outcome of disputes and the relationships between Canadian labour and the state in directions unpredicted by contemporary state theory.