Computation of the quadrivariate and pentavariate normal cumulative distribution functions

This article provides explicit integration rules for the quadrivariate and the pentavariate normal distribution. By analytically reducing the dimension of the problem and simplifying the functions to be integrated, these rules form the basis for a numerical evaluation scheme yielding an observed maximum error in the order of 10^{? 7} and a computational time of less than 10^{? 6} s. The implementation is very straightforward as it is based on a classical Gauss–Legendre quadrature. Order statistics are also dealt with.     

SAMPLING AND ESTIMATION IN THE PRESENCE OF CUT-OFF SAMPLING

Cut-off sampling consists of deliberately excluding a set of units from possible selection in a sample, for example if the contribution of the excluded units to the total is small or if the inclusion of these units in the sample involves high costs. If the characteristics of interest of the excluded units differ from those of the rest of the population, the use of naïve estimators may result in highly biased estimates. In this paper, we discuss the use of auxiliary information to reduce the bias by means of calibration and balanced sampling. We show that the use of the available auxiliary information related to both the variable of interest and the probability of being excluded enables us to reduce the potential bias. A short numerical study supports our findings.     

The gendered economics of bodybuilding

This article sheds light on the gendered economics of bodybuilding, a topic that, to my knowledge, has not previously been studied. First displaying its history, it examines how the economy of such a sport was born, focusing on the principles and values of capitalism and then creating the ‘bodybuilding’s industry’. In particular, the article stresses the gendered dimension of such an industry relying on ‘hegemonic masculinity’, especially through the relevant media, which are at the core of this gendered framework. I use a qualitative methodology to understand the subject, analyzing the French magazines related to bodybuilding, which embodies the whole functioning of such an industry.     

Pilot study of a Web-based acceptance and commitment therapy intervention for university students to reduce academic procrastination

Objective: This pilot study pursued two aims. The first was to investigate the feasibility and acceptability of a Web-based acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) intervention to reduce academic procrastination among university students. The second aim was to test the effectiveness of the intervention on procrastination and committed actions. Participants: The sample was comprised of Canadian university students (n?=?36) that participated in the intervention between September 2016 and April 2017. Methods: The study relied on a prepost research design. Results: The intervention appears feasible, acceptable, and valuable to students. A significant reduction in procrastination and a significant improvement in committed actions were found between pre and postintervention. The effect sizes for these results were medium. Conclusions: Results provide preliminary support for the feasibility and effectiveness of a Web-based ACT intervention for academic procrastination. Results also highlight some aspects that need to be improved for further development.     

Inference in mixed proportional hazard models with <Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis> random effects

A general formulation of mixed proportional hazard models with K random effects is provided. It enables to account for a population stratified at K different levels. I then show how to approximate the partial maximum likelihood estimator using an EM algorithm. In a Monte Carlo study, the behavior of the estimator is assessed and I provide an application to the ratification of ILO conventions. Compared to other procedures, the results indicate an important decrease in computing time, as well as improved convergence and stability.     

What Would You Sacrifice? Access to Top Management and the Work–life Balance

This article is based on a current research, combining quantitative (human resources figures and statistics) and qualitative data (60 interviews with career managers, top managers and high potential talents, both men and women), conducted in a major French utility company on the subject of diversity and more specifically on the issue of women's access to top management positions. The main purpose of this research is to understand the difficulties women may encounter in the course of their occupational career linked to organizational aspects, including the ‘glass ceiling’ processes, informal norms related to management positions (such as time and mobility constraints) and social and cultural representations attached to leadership. The other perspective of this research focuses on the different strategies women and men build either to conform to the organizational norms or bypass them. The issue of work–life balance are therefore addressed both from a corporate/organizational standpoint and an individual and family perspective.     

Learning from experience or learning from others?: Inferring informal training from a human capital earnings function with matched employer–employee data

A model of informal training which combines learning from own experience and learning from others is proposed in this paper. It yields a closed-form solution that revises Mincer–Jovanovic's [Mincer, J., Jovanovic, B., 1981. Labor mobility and wages. In: Rosen, S. (Ed.), Studies in Labor Markets. Chicago University Press, Chicago, pp. 21–64] treatment of tenure in the human capital earnings function. We estimate the structural parameters of this non-linear model on a large French cross-section with matched employer–employee data. We find that workers on average can learn from others 10% of their own human capital on entering one plant, and catch half of their learning from others’ potential in just 2 years. The private marginal returns to education are declining with education as more educated workers have less to learn from others and share the social returns of their own education with their less qualified co-workers. The potential for learning from others on the job varies across jobs and establishments, and this provides a new distinction between imitation jobs and experience jobs. Workers in imitation jobs, who learn most from others, tend to have considerably longer tenure than workers in experience jobs. Although workers in experience jobs can learn little from others, we find that they learn a lot by themselves. We document several analogies between the imitation jobs/experience jobs “dualism” and the primary/secondary jobs and firms’ dualism implied by the dual labor market theory. However, our binary classification of jobs depicts the data more closely than the dual theory categorization into primary-type and secondary-type establishments. Competition prevails between jobs and firms but jobs differ by their learning technology.     

What do you know?

If you run an organization, what do you know? What could you know? What is obvious--what we take for granted--hides deeper, contradictory realities. Such simple assumptions as "The goal of management is to get things done by motivating people to do them" not only hide a deeper truth, they keep us from getting to what's true. There is no short road to leadership. It is long-term. It is about relationship, in the deepest sense. Leaders don't create energy and momentum, they harness the energy and momentum that already exists in the people that they hope to lead. They connect with people, and they get out of the way.     

Got curiosity?

The newest scientific models of decision-making suggest that the way we actually decide to do something is different from the story we put on it later. Organizations think that way, too. The real process of decision-making is hidden. Management is complex--and a key tool is curiosity. A critical question would be: "What experience are we creating?" When you get curious, separate what you notice from the story you tell yourself about it--even if the story is true. Look for the meaningful experience: your own, your employees', your customers', your physicians'. The essential act of management is to notice, to not look away.     

‘Think twice’: using economics and sociology to understand monetary issues–The case of Switzerland

This paper seeks to demonstrate to what extent an academic approach that borrows from economics and sociology is heuristic in terms of fully understanding monetary issues. Contrary to authors that consider money to be neutral, this article emphasizes that money is a ‘total social fact’. Hence, it focuses on three meanings of money through the theoretical framework of Schumpeter and various French institutionalists. It also focuses on the Swiss case, which is particularly relevant because money plays a significant role in order for such a country to foster prosperity and create social links. Finally, there is clearly a high usefulness of a pluralistic approach on the monetary issue for heterodox economists.