TRADE,GEOGRAPHY AND THE SKILL PREMIUM IN U.S. MANUFACTURING

A number of studies have suggested that countries (or regions) with access to larger markets have higher wages. In this paper, we examine whether access to larger markets affects skilled and unskilled workers differently. We develop a model relating two key measures of market size, market and supplier access, to industry value added prices. We then estimate the effects of growth in these measures on factor returns in U.S. manufacturing industries between 1984 and 1996. We find that growth in these measures can explain around 5% of the rise in the skill premium over the sample period. (JEL F12, F16, L60)     

New directions in formalization and historical analysis

Theory and Society -     

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF NEW DEAL FISCAL FEDERALISM

While the introduction of federal matching grants to finance the New Deal relief programs is usually viewed as a mechanism to insure federal control over state relief spending, a careful study of the New Deal reveals that the reverse was the case: matching grants allowed the states to escape close federal control. The standard economic model of inter-governmental grants reveals that the federal government will, if allowed, prefer to use discretionary rather than matching grants. With discretion, however, came power; power that neither the states nor Congress wished to see concentrated in the Executive branch.     

Portfolios of mobility: the movement of expertise in transnational corporations in two sectors — aerospace and extractive industries

This article is about how UK‐based transnational corporations source expertise and move highly skilled people among their sites. TNCs rely heavily on their internal labour markets for skills. We examine patterns and trends in the ways that TNCs in two sectors, aerospace and extractives, dynamically orchestrate and deploy their networks of expertise internationally to address the demands of different markets. We chart the types of mobility that exist, identify how and why they are used, and explore some of the institutional, industrial, organizational and technological factors that influence these trends. We show that different types of mobility play distinct roles in organizations. Companies respond to mobility calls from diverse stimuli by linking together mobility options into portfolios of moves that represent negotiated responses to industrial and individual requirements.     

Satanist abuse and alien abduction: A comparative analysis theorizing temporal lobe activity as a possible connection between anomalous memories

Correspondence to John Paley, Principal Research Fellow, University of Luton, Institute for Health Services Research, The Spires, Adelaide Street, Luton LU1 5DU, UK Summary This paper compares two sets of scarcely believable reports:those of satanist abuse survivors and those of people with apparentmemories of alien abduction. There are striking parallels betweenthe two phenomena, which are explored in some detail. Whilstthe comparison may be unexpected, and will no doubt provokescepticism in some readers, the similarities are difficult toignore; and I suggest that they give rise to unavoidable questionsabout the nature of both kinds of experience. The paper thereforeconcludes with a sketch of some neurophysiological and psychologicalresearch which may help to account for them.     

Employees with Long Term Illnesses or Disabilities in the UK Social Services Workforce

Between 6% and 16% of the working age population have a long term illness or disability. 'Disability' is not consistently defined, however, and neither the distribution of disabled employees nor the nature of their disabilities is well documented. This paper presents the findings of a study of statutory social services employees in the UK and for the first time provides an estimate of the proportion of workers with long term illnesses or disabilities. Over a fifth had a self-reported long term illness or disability, 8% a condition which affected daily life. The distribution and nature of these, and the effects of gender, age, occupational categories, and work experience such as job satisfaction, stress and sick leave, are examined. Changes in legislation and the profile of the working age population are likely to increase the number of people with disabilities in work. The paper concludes that at a time of difficulties with recruitment and retention, social services and other social care employers must develop a range of responses to support and retain the diversity of people with disabilities in work.     

Face-to-Face Interviews and Mailed Questionnaires: The Net Difference in Response Rate

Traditionally, as reflected in methodology textbook reviewsof the survey nonresponse literature, interviews have been thoughtto achieve substantially higher response rates than mailed questionnaires.The paper describes a correlational design for assessing thetypical response difference between these two forms of datacollection, after controls for other factors known to affectsurvey response. Attention is given to change over time in theresponse difference between interviews and questionnaires. Inthe primary data set, the net response due to data collectionamounts to some 7.5 percentage points, in the middle (30–70)range of survey response. The analysis quantifies the declineover time in interview response, and shows mailed questionnairesto be free from decline. A second data set reproduces the essentialfindings.