Religious giving in the united states

Research on religious giving in the United States contains several important lessons. Denominations differ immensely in their giving levels, with conservative Protestants giving the most, liberal Protestants giving at moderate levels, and Catholics giving the least. Personal religious commitments and the level of one's disposable income are the main determinants, but, in addition, interpersonal factors produce a strong skew in the amounts given. Annual pledging and deliberate planning of giving have clear effects.     

On the effect of correlation and unequal variances in detecting a spurious observation

Srivastava (1980) has shown that Grubbs's (1950) test for a univariate outlier is robust against the effect of equicorrelation. In this note we extend Srivastava's result by giving a more general covariance structure, which relaxes both the covariance structure and the assumption of equal variances. We also show that under the more general covariance structure, the power of Grubbs's test, as well as the significance level, is identical to the independently and identically distributed case.     

Book Review: Francie Ostrower,Trustees of Culture: Power,Wealth, and Status on Elite Arts Boards,The University of Chicago Press,Chicago, 2002, 130 pp., bibliography,notes, index, $35.00 (hbk)

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations -     

Further properties of mixture designs for five components in orthogonal blocks

Orthogonally blocked experimental designs for mixtures of five ingredients, formed from Latin squares, were previously discussed by Prescott et al. Here, we extend this development by studying the properties of three classes of possible designs, with recommendations on their practical application. Restrictions on the design classes are explored and D-optimal (within the classes) versions are identified. Remarks on general D-optimality conclude the paper.     

Classicism and Romanticism in the Sociology of Time*

The sociology of time has recently witnessed a shift in its underlying theoretical preferences. Early work emphasized system balance and the primacy of the social: a sense of optimism pervades these writings. In contrast, more recent analysts emphasize time's tyranny and the primacy of the individual; a gloomy pessimism pervades these writings. This paper analyzes representative writings of each period in order to demonstrate the shift. The current phase, the‘romantic interlude,’is said to derive from both a pessimistic national mood and dissatisfaction with academia during a period of educational contraction.