Privatization of Refuse Removal and Labor Costs*

We examine the labor-cost savings associated with privatization by comparing earnings and employment trends of public and private sector refuse workers. Findings suggest that high union earnings for workers in the public sector are a source of labor-cost savings in the refuse industry. Evidence on job changers does not indicate that earnings for this group of workers are a compensating differential. Metropolitan area employment findings suggest that municipalities are less likely to use union refuse workers in the public sector when a relatively small percentage of area residents belong to a union.     

A THEORY OF DOWNWARD-RIGID WAGES AND CYCLICAL UNEMPLOYMENT

The theory presented below provides a rationale for downward wage rigidity and consequent cyclical unemployment by modifying the neoclassical assumption of behavioral independence. Such a modification permits an examination of important nonmarket relationships holding between the individual's wage and the wages paid to other people and between perceived equity in wages received and worker productivity—both linkages widely recognized by personnel managers but little explored by economists. The resulting model predicts a pattern of behavior that is consistent with the available evidence on the actual operation of labor markets.     

The Poll as a News Event in the 1980 Presidential Campaign

Public opinion polls made up 15 percent of the news events coveredduring the 1980 presidential election campaign, but news storiesgenerated by polls were no more likely to receive better playin the 50 newspapers studied than other stories about the campaign.Horserace polls were popular with editors during the last twoweeks of the campaign.     

Three paradigms of childhood

Le conflit social contemporain au sujet des relations parents-enfants, et spécialement en ce qui concerne la sexualité de l'enfant, est analysé ici à l'aide de trois paradigmes théoriques sur la construction sociale de l'enfance: a/ les enfants en tant que propriété, une définition sociale trouvant son origine dans la société pré-industrielle; b/ la protection des enfants, légitimée par l'industrialisation; et c/ l'enfant en tant que personne, une conception défendue par de récents mouvements de libération. Des exemples pour chaque paradigme sont tirés de sources canadiennes contemporaines. L'intensité actuelle de la révolution paradigmatiqué est expliquée sous l'image d'un noeud de tabous étreignant la construction sociale de la sexualité aussi bien que du pouvoir.
Contemporary social conflict over parent-child relationships, especially concerning child sexuality, is analysed using three theoretical paradigms of social construction of childhood: a/ children as property, a social definition originating in pre-industrial society; b/ protection of children, legitimated by industrialism; and c/ the child as person, advocated by recent liberation movements. Examples of each paradigm are drawn from contemporary Canadian sources. The current intensity of 'paradigmatic revolution' is explained in terms of a nexus of taboos surrounding social construction of both sexuality and power.     

CYBERNETICS AND MACROECONOMICS

A full estimate of the effects of cybernetics and control systems engineering on economics would be premature if not impossible at this time. The relevant literature is at most twenty-five years old and its ultimate impact remains uncertain; thus conclusions are at best tentative. However, one can identify sources of inspiration and main participants as well as apparent trends. Axel Leijonhufvud has referred to the introduction of control engineering into aggregate analysis by Tustin, Phillips, and others in the 1950s as “the Keynesian Revolution which did not come off.” One purpose of this paper is to explore Leijonhufvud's observation. What stopped monetary and macroeconomic theorists from picking up the Tustin-Phillips lead and making the control-theoretic approach an integral part of economic analysis? Historians of economics writing a few decades from now may be able to provide a proper answer. But a few speculations can be offered now.     

BIDDING TILL BANKRUPT DESTRUCTIVE COMPETITION IN PROFESSIONAL TEAM SPORTS

The analysis and evidence here suggest that the market for star athletes in professional sports could be subject to "destructive competition"—a competitive process which drives some participants from a market even though it is inefficient for them to leave. When pursuing a league championship, the talent which turns an average team into a contender contributes disproportionately to the team's success. Teams which fail to earn enough on the last stars they sign to offset losses on their inframarginal talent will abandon a competitive market for star athletes. Other situations that involve input rivalry between producers might yield similar results.     

THE MISSING LINK: POLITICAL ACTIVISTS AND SUPPORT FOR SCHOOL PRAYER

Explanations for the wide gap between strong public supportfor school prayer and lack of support in Congress have focusedon the attributes of the public. Here another important explicandis investigated: the characteristics of political activists.We find that activist opinion more nearly matches congressionalbehavior on school prayer than does public opinion. While manyof the same demographic and religious variables explain supportfor school prayer among activists and the public, ideology appearsto be more important among activists.