Economic status: a census analysis of thirty-year-old immigrant women in Canada

Dans cette note de recherche, nous utilisons les données du recensement de 1981 pour étudier la situation économique des femmes agées de trente ans au Canada. Nous comparons la population des femmes immigrantes (N= 37000) à celle des femmes nées au Canada (N= 160000), relativement à leurs niveaux éducationnel, occupationnel et financier. Les variables contrôlées individuellement par l‘étude sont: état civil, période d'immigration, origine ethnique, et dimension de la famille. Les résultats de notre recherche montrent que les femmes qui ont immigré alors qu'elles étaient enfant (dix ans ou moins) ont plus de chances que l'ensemble de connaître le succès socio-économique à l’âge adulte; par ailleurs, les femmes arrivées au Canada entre dix et vingt ans occupent le plus bas niveau de succès socio-économique. Il faut cependant noter plusieurs exceptions à ces conclusions générales. Une discussion des résultats dans le contexte de l'hypothèse de l“assimilation‘ indique que celle-ci n'est pas suffisante pour expliquer les différences de succès socio-économique au Canada des femmes nées à l’étranger: un cadre théorique plus large s'avére nécessaire. In this research note we use 1981 Census data to examine the economic position of women thirty years of age in Canada, comparing immigrants (N= 37 000) to the native born population (N= 160 000) with respect to educational, occupational, and income attainment. Variables controlled individually in the study are marital status, period of immigration, ethnic origin, and family size. The findings show that immigrant women who came to Canada as children (ten years old or under) are more likely to have an advantaged socioeconomic standing at age thirty while immigrant females who entered the country as adolescents (ten to twenty years of age) have the lowest levels of socioeconomic achievement. However, there are several exceptions to these overall findings. The results are discussed in the context of the ‘assimilation’ hypothesis, but it would seem that a more comprehensive theoretical framework is needed to explain differences in status attainment among foreign-born women in Canada.     

Gender and the Economics of the Sentimental Market in Nineteenth-Century America

This essay explores the cultural history of nineteenth-centurybusiness failure as based on textual analysis of five hundred"begging letters" from strangers who sought assistance fromJohn D. Rockefeller between the Panics of 1873 and 1893. Failurewas an economic crisis as well as an identity crisis that strippedmen of their opportunities to achieve normative ideals suchas independence and family breadwinning. Sandage analyzes beggingletters as an epistolary genre, a mode of surveillance, anda declaration of "the political economy of the Forgotten Man."Businessmen and their wives reinscribed masculine selfhood byconceiving market relations as an inseparable mixture of bothgift and commodity exchange, an amalgam of sentiment and economicrationality. Begging letters illuminate the persistence of informaleconomies—a black market in alms conceived in oppositionto the bureaucratic surveillance of "scientific charity." Byshowing how beggars preferred the language of commodity exchangeto that of gift or charity, Sandage analyzes masculinity asa transactional status, wherein esteem depended on being adjudgedworthy to buy, sell, borrow, and repay. By creating an informaleconomy, failed men and their wives deployed sentiment as aform of capital to buy back manly self-respect and to reacquirethe resources and credentials necessary for striving in theformal, commodity market.     

PRICING ANOMALIES IN THE MARKET FOR DIAMONDS: EVIDENCE OF CONFORMIST BEHAVIOR

Some goods are consumed not just for their intrinsic utility but also for the impression their consumption has on others. We analyze the market for such a commodity—diamonds. We collect data on price and other attributes from the inventories of three large online retailers of diamonds. We find that people are willing to pay premiums upward of 18% for a diamond that is one‐half carat rather than slightly less than a half carat and between 5% and 10% for a one‐carat rather than a slightly less than one‐carat stone. Since a major portion of larger gem‐quality diamonds are used for engagement rings, such an outcome is consistent with Bernheim's model of conformism, where individuals try to conform to a single standard of behavior that is often established at a focal point. In this case, prospective grooms signal their desirability as a mate by the size of the diamond engagement ring they give their fiancées. (JEL A1, D4)     

SHOULD CITIES GO FOR THE GOLD? THE LONG‐TERM IMPACTS OF HOSTING THE OLYMPICS

The Summer Olympics bring hundreds of thousands of visitors and generate upward of $10 billion in spending for the host city. This large influx of tourism dollars is only part of the overall impact of hosting the Olympic Games. In order to host the visitors and sporting events, cities must make sizable investments in infrastructure such as airports, arenas, and highways. Additionally, the publicity and international exposure of a host city may benefit international trade and capital flows. Proponents argue that this investment will pay off through increased economic growth, but research confirming these claims is lacking. This paper examines whether hosting an Olympiad improves a city's long‐term growth. In order to control for the self‐selection of cities that host Olympic Games, this paper matches Olympic host cities with cities that were finalists for the Olympic Games, but were not selected by the International Olympic Committee. A difference‐in‐difference estimator examines post‐Olympic impacts for host cities between 1950 and 2005. Regression results provide no long‐term impacts of hosting an Olympics on two measures of population, real Gross Domestic Product per capita and trade openness. (JEL O18, R11)     

Demographic,Residential, and Socioeconomic Effects on the Distribution of Nineteenth-Century White Body Mass Index Values

Little research exists on the body mass index (BMI) values of nineteenth-century Americans of European descent. Examination of a new body mass index data set and robust statistical analysis yields the following conclusion: between 1860 and 1880, BMIs decreased across the distribution; however, after 1880, BMIs in the highest quantiles increased, while those in lower BMI quantiles continued to decrease. Late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century white BMIs increased at older ages in higher quantiles and decreased in lower quantiles, indicating significant net biological disparity by age. During industrialization, white BMIs were lower in Kentucky, Missouri, and urban Philadelphia.     

RESPONSE RATES AND RESPONSE CONTENT IN MAIL VERSUS FACE-TO-FACE SURVEYS

Two surveys were administered based on the same area probabilitysampling frame and with some of the same questions: one samplewas used for hour-long face-to-face interviewing in the 1992Detroit Area Study; the other sample received a much shorterquestionnaire in the mail for sell-administration. The samplesegments had previously been stratified in terms of the percentagethat was black. For the predominantly white stratum, there wasonly a small difference in response rates due to mode of administration.For the predominantly black stratum, the mail survey obtaineda considerably lower response rate then the face-to-face survey.Within the predominantly white stratum, there were no cleardifferences between results for the two modes of administrationin demographic variables or in gross housing characteristics.However, the mail survey respondents expressed more negativeattitudes toward racial integration and affirmative action thandid the face-to-face respondents. Because the mail sample ofthe predominantly black stratum was small, it was not possibleto carry out similar analyses of demographic or attitudinaldifferences, or to determine whether its lower response ratewas due mainly to race, to correlates of race such as incomeor education, or even to problems with mail delivery in centralcities.     

A review of hierarchical production planning and its applicability for modern manufacturing

The hierarchical production planning (HPP) paradigm has become an accepted planning and control strategy for many medium-to-large manufacturing situations. While the paradigm appears intuitively obvious and appropriate for many factories, there are a number of modern manufacturing situations where the application of the HPP approach may not be appropriate. By understanding the fundamental principles and concepts inherent in the HPP approach, it is possible to identify situations suitable for HPP with little or no adaptation, and situations where HPP must be extensively modified before use. A poor understanding of HPP     

Performance of Robust GCV and Modified GCV for Spline Smoothing

Abstract. While it is a popular selection criterion for spline smoothing, generalized cross‐validation (GCV) occasionally yields severely undersmoothed estimates. Two extensions of GCV called robust GCV (RGCV) and modified GCV have been proposed as more stable criteria. Each involves a parameter that must be chosen, but the only guidance has come from simulation results. We investigate the performance of the criteria analytically. In most studies, the mean square prediction error is the only loss function considered. Here, we use both the prediction error and a stronger Sobolev norm error, which provides a better measure of the quality of the estimate. A geometric approach is used to analyse the superior small‐sample stability of RGCV compared to GCV. In addition, by deriving the asymptotic inefficiency for both the prediction error and the Sobolev error, we find intervals for the parameters of RGCV and modified GCV for which the criteria have optimal performance.     

RISK, TRANSACTIONS CHARGES, AND THE MARKET FOR FOREIGN EXCHANGE SERVICES

This paper suggests that transactions charges in foreign exchange markets, rather than being solely brokerage fees, represent exchange rate uncertainty in periods of great fluctuations by including remuneration for the assumption of risk by foreign exchange dealers. Since most of the cost of exchange rate uncertainty may be largely endogenously included in the foreign exchange markets, attempts to examine the efficient market hypothesis in these markets should most appropriately include specific consideration of transactions costs. There appears to be empirical support for the premise that transactions charges are positively related to exchange rate risk, and, as well, inclusion of contemporaneous bid-ask spreads into the interest parity schedule leaves few unexplained profits from dollar-pound covered interest arbitrage during the 1970's and underscores the notion of classifying periods by degree of turbulence in analyzing covered interest arbitrage.