Canonical correlation analysis in the definition of weight restrictions for data envelopment analysis

This work investigates the use of canonical correlation analysis (CCA) in the definition of weight restrictions for data envelopment analysis (DEA). With this purpose, CCA limits are introduced into Wong and Beasley's DEA model. An application of the method is made over data from hospitals in 27 Brazilian cities, producing as outputs average payment (average admission values) and percentage of hospital admissions according to disease groups (International Classification of Diseases, 9th Edition), and having as inputs mortality rates and average stay (length of stay after admission (days)). In this application, performance scores were calculated for both the (CCA) restricted and unrestricted DEA models. It can be concluded that the use of CCA-based weight limits for DEA models increases the consistency of the estimated DEA scores (more homogenous weights) and that these limits do not present mathematical infeasibility problems while avoiding the need for subjectively restricting weight variation in DEA.     

Turkey: a pilot study of elder mistreatment in a convenience sample

Attitudes towards elder abuse were explored through a survey on International Perspectives on Family Violence and Abuse in a Turkish convenience sample of 25 females and 14 males, ranging in age from 22 to 58. Participants gave examples of behaviors considered in their culture to be extremely abusive, moderately abusive, and mildly abusive from an adult child toward his or her older parent. Responses were coded into four major categories of abuse, each of which had several subcategories: psychological aggression (including the subcategories of verbal aggression, emotional abuse, disrespect, disobedience, power assertion, blame, and imprisonment), neglect (including physical neglect, psychological neglect, abandonment, and putting the older individual into a nursing home), physical aggression (including beating and hitting), and mistreatment related to goods and services (including economic demands, economic withholding, and labor). The most common examples of extreme abuse were neglect, particulary physical neglect, followed by physical abuse. At the moderate and mild levels, various forms of psychological aggression were most commonly mentioned. The only significant gender difference was that men listed more instances of verbal aggression as examples of extreme abuse than women. A positive correlation was found between age and the number of abandonment examples at the extreme level. Results were interpreted from a cultural perspective.     

Does the Representation of Household Behavior Matter for Welfare Analysis of Tax-benefit Policies? An Introduction

A widely shared intuition holds that individual control over money matters for the decision process within the household and the subsequent distribution of resources and welfare. As a consequence, there are good reasons to depart from the unitary model of the household and to explore the possibilities offered by models of the family accounting for several decision makers in the household and for the potential impact of tax reforms on the balance of power. This paper summarizes both the methodological and empirical findings presented in the next three papers of this special issue of the Review of the Economics of the Household. This series of contributions primarily entails a concrete comparison of the policy implications of the choice between the unitary and a particular multi-person representation: the collective representation. On the one hand, it suggests a methodology to implement the collective model of labor supply in a realistic context where participation is modeled together with working hours, and where the full tax-benefit system is accounted for. On the other hand, the empirical part relies on comprehensive simulations of tax reforms in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom, and allows to quantify the distortions that may affect policy recommendations based on the unitary model.

“Having a family is the new normal”: Parenting in neoliberal academia during the COVID-19 pandemic

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has made explicit the burden of care shouldered by academic mothers, in addition to juggling their scholarly commitments. Although discussions are abundant on the impact of caring responsibilities on the careers of women academics, neoliberal academia continues to minimize such struggles. Despite the disruptions to family routines caused by the health crisis, academic institutions have expected academic mothers and fathers to continue undertaking their professional responsibilities at the same level as before, disregarding their parenting demands. This paper contributes to the research on parenthood in academia by looking at how, throughout the pandemic, academic parents have negotiated the tensions between parenthood and academic demands, and by investigating the strategies they use to confront neoliberal culture of academic performativity, even amid the health crisis. The paper engages with the “space invaders” concept used by Puwar (2004) to analyze the “hypervisibility” of academic mothers' and fathers' “bodies out of place” during the pandemic, and to investigate their “renegade acts” against the uncaring attitudes of their institutions. Evidence is drawn from a qualitative study conducted during December 2020 and January 2021 among scholars affiliated to Portuguese academic institutions: 17 in-depth interviews conducted with women, and two mixed-gender focus groups. Our results research reveal how the experiences of academic mothers and fathers were not uniform during the pandemic. In addition, it shows how, despite their commitment to their academic responsibilities, these parents have crafted various resistance strategies to confront the institutional pressure to continue maintain their working routines, and instead positioning themselves as “more than just academics.”     

A transnational practice between fractured homes: Second-generation Turkish–German migrants’ experiences of visiting and being visited

The paper explores the multiple ways in which visits affect the understanding of home for the Turkish–German second generation who have relocated to Turkey. Based on thematic–narrative analysis of 116 life-story interviews with second-generation ‘returnees’ in five regions of Turkey, three types of visits are identified: (i) family visits to Turkey whilst growing up in Germany; (ii) visits to Germany after the second generation has ‘returned’ to Turkey; (iii) visits to Turkey by the second generation's Germany-residing relatives and friends. Each type has different meanings for the visitors and the visited, creating fluid reflections on the meaning of home, which, especially for the second-generation ‘returnees’, tends to become fractured. Constantly comparing their two home(-land)s since childhood, they often simultaneously feel both ‘here’ and ‘there’ as a result of changing attachments and a mix of positive and negative experiences in both locales with their families, friends and the dominant others.     

DISTANCE TO RETIREMENT AND OLDER WORKERS‘ EMPLOYMENT: THE CASE FOR DELAYING THE RETIREMENT AGE

This paper presents empirical evidence and a theoretical foundation in favor of the view that the retirement age decision affects older workers' employment prior to retirement. To the extent that there are search frictions on the labor market, the return on jobs is determined by their expected duration: The time to retirement is then key to understanding older workers' employment. Countries with a retirement age of 60 are indeed characterized by lower employment rates for workers aged 55–59. Based on the French Labor Force Survey, we show that the likelihood of employment is significantly affected by the distance to retirement, in addition to age and other relevant variables. We then extend McCall's job search model by explicitly integrating life‐cycle features with the retirement decision. Using simulations, we show that the distance effect in interaction with the generosity of unemployment benefits and the depressed demand for older workers explains the low rate of employment just before the eligibility age for the Social Security pension. Finally, we show that implementing actuarially fair schemes not only extends the retirement age, but also encourages a more intensive job search by older unemployed workers. (JEL: J22, J26, H55)     

Mediator role of intergroup anxiety in relationship between the social contact,intercultural sensitivity and attitudes towards Syrians among Turkish local society

Turkey is the country with the highest Syrian refugee population hosted in the world. Social acceptance of immigrants by the local community is as important as the social cohesion of immigrants regarding the social integration process. The aim of the current study was to examine the role of social contact, intercultural sensitivity, intergroup anxiety, gender, age, education, abroad experience and city on attitudes of Turkish local society towards Syrians. In this regard, data were collected from 207 local community members living in Ankara and Adana provinces of Turkey. According to the analysis, qualitative social contact, intercultural sensitivity and intergroup anxiety predicted the attitudes of the local community towards Syrians. In addition, intergroup anxiety had a mediating role between qualitative social contact, intercultural sensitivity and attitudes towards Syrians. When close social contact and intercultural sensitivity of Turkish local society increase, intergroup anxiety decreases and it increases positive attitudes towards Syrians. Lastly, while there was no gender difference in attitude towards Syrians, females were higher in intercultural sensitivity than males.     

Defining estimands for efficacy assessment in single arm phase 1b or phase 2 clinical trials in oncology early development

The addendum of the ICH E9 guideline on the statistical principles for clinical trials introduced the estimand framework. The framework is designed to strengthen the dialog between different stakeholders, to introduce greater clarity in the clinical trial objectives and to provide alignment between the estimand and statistical analysis. Estimand framework related publications thus far have mainly focused on randomized clinical trials. The intention of the Early Development Estimand Nexus (EDEN), a task force of the cross-industry Oncology Estimand Working Group ( www.oncoestimand.org ), is to apply it to single arms Phase 1b or Phase 2 trials designed to detect a treatment-related efficacy signal, typically measured by objective response rate. Key recommendations regarding the estimand attributes include that in a single arm early clinical trial, the treatment attribute should start when the first dose is received by the participant. Focusing on the estimation of an absolute effect, the population-level summary measure should reflect only the property used for the estimation. Another major component introduced in the ICH E9 addendum is the definition of intercurrent events and the associated possible ways to handle them. Different strategies reflect different clinical questions of interest that can be answered based on the journeys an individual subject can take during a trial. We provide detailed strategy recommendations for intercurrent events typically seen in early-stage oncology. We highlight where implicit assumptions should be made transparent as whenever follow-up is suspended, a while-on-treatment strategy is implied.     

Temporary Employment in France: A Decade Statement

One of the more important aspects of French labour market changes since the mid-1970s is the growth of temporary work; fixed-term contracts and interim contracts. With a survey of French literature since the early 1980s, this article analyses explanatory factors of temporary work: macroeconomic factors: institutional framework, workforce supply to user firms, economic fluctuations; microeconomic factors: firm/ plant characteristics, economic and social firm strategies. Models of firms supplying temporary jobs are presented.     

The Ex Ante Incentive Compatible Core in the Absence of Wealth Effects

In a differential information economy with quasi–linear utilities, monetary transfers facilitate the fulfillment of incentive compatibility constraints: the associated ex ante core is generically nonempty. However, we exhibit a well–behaved exchange economy in which this core is empty, even if goods are allocated through random mechanisms.