COVID‐19 and the gender gap in work hours

School and day care closures due to the COVID‐19 pandemic have increased caregiving responsibilities for working parents. As a result, many have changed their work hours to meet these growing demands. In this study, we use panel data from the US Current Population Survey to examine changes in mothers’ and fathers’ work hours from February through April 2020, the period of time prior to the widespread COVID‐19 outbreak in the United States and through its first peak. Using person‐level fixed effects models, we find that mothers with young children have reduced their work hours four to five times more than fathers. Consequently, the gender gap in work hours has grown by 20–50 per cent. These findings indicate yet another negative consequence of the COVID‐19 pandemic, highlighting the challenges it poses to women’s work hours and employment.     

告别i奴：富士康、数字资本主义与网络劳工抵抗

什么是数字资本主义条件下的世界工厂？它与过去的资本主义世界体系有何区别,又有何关联？在互联网和智能手机的时代,劳工真能形成自己的网络,抵御资本吗？本文以史鉴今,首先回顾17世纪“大西洋三角贸易”的奴隶制世界体系,再讨论当代富士康劳工问题、“21世纪奴隶制”及其内在的新三角贸易结构。四百年沧海桑田,不料在变劳工为奴隶这个问题上,无论是实证材料的细节,还是世界资本主义体系的宏观层面,依然存在种种勾连。文章在此基础上勾勒出网络化抵抗与新三角团结关系,并强调：劳工研究需要重新认识过去,让思想在全球历史的长河中重新扎根。 在关注生产过程之外,还须重视消费,特别是虚拟空间里的生产性消费行为。     

Decreasing absolute risk aversion, prudence and increased downside risk aversion

Downside risk increases have previously been characterized as changes preferred by all decision makers u(x) with u????(x) > 0. For risk averse decision makers, u????(x) > 0 also defines prudence. This paper finds that downside risk increases can also be characterized as changes preferred by all decision makers displaying decreasing absolute risk aversion (DARA) since those changes involve random variables that have equal means. Building on these findings, the paper proposes using ??more decreasingly absolute risk averse?? or ??more prudent?? as alternative definitions of increased downside risk aversion. These alternative definitions generate a transitive ordering, while the existing definition based on a transformation function with a positive third derivative does not. Other properties of the new definitions of increased downside risk aversion are also presented.     

On order statistics from thelog-logistic distribution and their properties

The aim of this paper is to derive the exact forms of the p.d.f. and the moments of the rth order statistics in a sample of size n from the Log-logistic (L_l ) distribution. Measures of skewness and kurtosis are tabulated. The recurrence relations between the moments of all order statistics and an expression of the covariance between any two order statistics, x_i and x_jand the distribution of the ratio of X_i to x_j are derived.     

Career Services Imperatives for the Next Millennium

This thought-piece reaffirms and updates the 10 “Imperatives for the 90s” articulated in a 1993 issue of The Jossey-Bass New Directions for Student Services Series titled The Changing Hole of Career Services (J. R. Rayman, 1993). In that volume (No. G2), 10 imperatives for the 90s specific to career services in colleges and universities were identified. Some of the issues that seemed critical then remain critical today. Others have been partially resolved and still others have taken on even more importance and urgency. This article reaffirms those 10 imperatives, provides additional support for their legitimacy, and offers speculations about the future.     

«Il n'y a pas d’avenir dans ce métier.» Être chauffeur de VTC en Afrique par temps de pandémie

Si les plateformes ont donné du travail à beaucoup d’Africains, les emplois créés sont de mauvaise qualité, comme la pandémie l'a bien montré. Dans ce contexte, les auteurs examinent la situation particulière des chauffeurs VTC en Afrique en s'appuyant sur des entretiens approfondis, réalisés au Kenya, et sur les méthodes de l'ethnographie virtuelle. Ils montrent que ces travailleurs ont recours à un «régime de débrouille», associant résilience, réajustement et résistance. Pour améliorer les conditions de travail et lutter contre la précarité dans le secteur, il faut à la fois que les pouvoirs publics instaurent des cadres réglementaires et que les travailleurs se mobilisent collectivement.     

SPECTRAL ANALYSIS IN BUSINESS FORECASTING*

Although spectral analysis has previously been discussed in a number of business journals, the discussion has not been detailed enough for non-mathematicians. The objective of this paper is to review in detail the concepts and to go over the computations of spectral analysis as they pertain to forecasting. To gain insight into the model building technique of spectral analysis, a passing comparison with a familiar model–regression–is made. Regression analysis attempts to find a set of independent variables that shed some light on the dependent variable to be forecasted. In other words, if the independent variables have some functional relationship with the dependent variable, a reliable forecast of the dependent variable can then be made. Forecasting using spectral analysis, on the other hand, is based on the assumption that the variation of a time series can be explained by some mixture of sine and cosine waves. Model parameters can then be estimated for these waves and forecasts be made. These parameters have the same property of least squares as in ordinary regression analysis. A transformation of these parameters gives the spectra of the time series. The spectra are related to the explained variation present in regression analysis. An extension of the spectra gives a set of coefficients of an autoregressive forecasting model. This latter model is referred to as the Wiener-Kolmogorov forecasting model.     

Ecological influences on parenting and child development

Summary The development of children and young people and their subsequentlife chances in adulthood are the product of a complex set ofinteracting factors, at individual, family and community levels.An ecological framework is used to examine the mutual influencesbetween the different systems that are important during childhood.The links between poverty and health and the influence of socialexclusion and structural inequalities on family and communityfunctioning are considered in some depth, utilizing findingsfrom a wide range of research disciplines, in different partsof the world. The identification, development and protectionof sources of informal social support, available to familiesliving in impoverished circumstances, are identified as keytasks for social workers and other welfare professionals. Togetherwith features of resiliency, found amongst children and familiescoping successfully in high-risk environments, this knowledgeis used to point the way towards features of effective, ecologicalassessment and intervention strategies.     

Population recovery in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina: exploring the potential role of stage migration in migration systems

In this research brief, we explore how places affected by natural disasters recover their populations through indirect, or “stage,” migration. Specifically, we consider the idea that post-disaster impediments (e.g., housing and property damage) in disaster-affected areas spawn migration flows toward and, over time, to disaster-affected areas through intermediary destinations. Taking as our case Orleans Parish over a 5-year period after Hurricane Katrina, we show that stage migration accounted for up to about one-fourth of population recovery. We close by discussing the implications, limitations, and potential extensions of our work.     

Strategic control of factory automation

This article identifies strategic control as an unexpected difficulty in implementing the ‘factory of the future’ and as a major stumbling block to firms in their automation efforts. The concept of strategic control is discussed and an example is given. The results of a study in this area are then described and used to explain how managers have unknowingly relinquished control of the manufacturing operation. The article concludes with advice for managers in setting up strategic control systems in their firms that will facilitate rather than hinder the progress of factory automation.