THE CONSEQUENCES OF (DE)REGULATION ON EMPLOYMENT DURATION AND EFFICIENCY: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

If the future market wage is uncertain, engaging in long‐term employment is risky, with the risk depending on how regulated the labor market is. In our experiment long‐term employment can result either from offering long‐term contracts or from repeatedly and mutually opting for rematching. Treatments differ in how regulations restrict the employer's flexibility in adapting the employment contract. All treatments allow for longer contract duration as well as for mutually opting to be rematched. Effort is chosen by employees after a contract is concluded. Treatments vary from no contract flexibility to no restriction at all. Will more (downward) flexibility be used in ongoing employment but reduce labor market efficiency? And will regulation crowd out long‐term employment, in the form of long‐term contracts or voluntary rematching? (JEL C72, C90, F16, J21, J24, L10)     

Understanding the Nature and Extent of Farm and Ranch Diversification in North America*

Abstract Pressure to adopt enhanced production technologies, changing government support policies, increasing and more diverse competition, and changing markets have posed economic challenges to North American farmers over the past two decades. As a response, farmers are adjusting their production model by incorporating agricultural related enterprises. Although there is evidence that farm diversification is occurring throughout North America, there is a dearth of scientific information regarding the types of enterprises being developed and used in this context. This study aims to fill this void by exploring the extent of farm diversification by identifying and describing eight types of enterprises that farmers and ranchers are using. It was found that levels of diversification are often dependent on operating and management attributes and owner characteristics, such as the number of family members working on the farm and the number of days that the farmer's spouse works off the farm.     

ON AN APPROXIMATE OPTIMALITY CRITERION FOR THE DESIGN OF FIELD EXPERIMENTS UNDER SPATIAL DEPENDENCE

The design of large‐scale field trials where the residuals are correlated has been of recent interest, in large part because of advances in statistical and computational methods of analysis. The construction of designs for correlated data has typically used A‐optimality and is computationally intensive. This involves calculating the inverse of the information matrix for treatments under the supervision of an optimization strategy that explores the design space. We propose an approximation to A‐optimality, using nearest‐neighbour balance, that is less computationally demanding and can achieve at least 95% efficiency relative to A‐optimality in many practical situations.     

Students and Refugees Together: Towards a Model of Practice Learning as Service Provision

Between 2001 and 2003, 14 assessed placements were provided for social work students through students creating a ‘virtual’ agency offering a service to refugees and asylum seekers. Drawing on research in progress regarding a unique project in South West England, this paper explores an inclusive model that creates a context for students to integrate theory and practice at the cutting edge of professional practice.

The START project is a service to refugees and asylum seekers, a group that experience acute social exclusion and media‐induced hostility, provided for two years entirely by students as part of their professional course requirements. Holistic, needs‐led assessment, cultural sensitivity and advocacy by students allow families and unaccompanied minors to access otherwise inaccessible resources.

In the current context of changing arrangements for practice assessment, emphasis on multi‐disciplinary learning and service user involvement, this offers an alternative to the ‘apprenticeship’ model for students in developing a secure professional identity. Student learning is framed as contribution rather than burden in the organisational and employment arena and service‐user outcomes have been dramatic. The focus of this paper is on the educational impact from the perspectives of students and practice teachers and an alternative model of practice learning.     

Teachers' Attitudes toward Reporting Child Sexual Abuse: Problems with Existing Research Leading to New Scale Development

This paper details a systematic literature review identifying problems in extant research relating to teachers' attitudes toward reporting child sexual abuse and offers a model for new attitude scale development and testing. Scale development comprised a five-phase process grounded in contemporary attitude theories, including (a) developing the initial item pool, (b) conducting a panel review, (c) refining the scale via an expert focus group, (d) building content validity through cognitive interviews, and (e) assessing internal consistency via field testing. The resulting 21-item scale displayed construct validity in preliminary testing. The scale may prove useful as a research tool, given the theoretical supposition that attitudes may be changed with time, context, experience, and education. Further investigation with a larger sample is warranted.     

Intelligence and family size

This paper describes the results obtained in administering a modified Terman intelligence test to 327 Greek children aged from 7 to 12 years. A negative correlation between intelligence and family size was obtained. The results are compared with those obtained in similar inquiries in Britain and the U.S.A.     

Older Women Caring for Older Women: The Rewards and Challenges of the Home Care Aide Job

As our population ages, the need for personal assistance services increases. Paid personal care is predominantly provided by women, often older women, and has been considered low-status, low-wage work. This article reports on a mixed-method, longitudinal study of 261 home care aides; study participants were 46 years old, on average. Predictors of termination included younger age and lack of health insurance. Study participants reported more rewarding than challenging aspects to the job, though low and inconsistent compensation often forced them to leave the work they loved. Implications of the study with regard to older women caring for older women are explored.     

Effective Ministerial Leadership

Ministers of local congregations are in positions somewhat similar to the chief executives of other local nonprofit organizations, except that ministers are also expected to respond to the specifically religious needs of their congregants. In this article we assess how especially effective ministers in one denomination differ from less effective ministers in both general leadership skills and specifically religious leadership skills. The especially effective ministers were identified by applying three selection methods, resulting in an unusually careful selection of a sample of especially effective leaders. The results show that the especially effective are more skillful managers, problem solvers, planners, delegators, change agents, shepherds, inspirers, multitaskers, students, and servants and demonstrate themselves to be persons of integrity.     

Designing field experiments which are subject to representation bias

The term 'representation bias' is used to describe the disparities that exist between treatment effects estimated from field experiments, and those effects that would be seen if treatments were used in the field. In this paper we are specifically concerned with representation bias caused by disease inoculum travelling between plots, or out of the experimental area altogether. The scope for such bias is maximized in the case of airborne spread diseases. This paper extends the work of Deardon et al. (2004), using simulation methods to explore the relationship between design and representation bias. In doing so, we illustrate the importance of plot size and spacing, as well as treatment-to-plot allocation. We examine a novel class of designs, incomplete column designs, to develop an understanding of the mechanisms behind representation bias. We also introduce general methods of designing field trials, which can be used to limit representation bias by carefully controlling treatment to block allocation in both incomplete column and incomplete randomized block designs. Finally, we show how the commonly used practice of sampling from the centres of plots, rather than entire plots, can also help to control representation bias.