Nonparametric adaptive likelihood weights

The weighted likelihood can be used to make inference about one population when data from similar populations are available. The author shows heuristically that the weighted likelihood can be seen as a special case of the entropy maximization principle. This leads him to propose the minimum averaged mean squared error (MAMSE) weights. He describes an algorithm for calculating these weights and shows its convergence using the Kuhn‐Tucker conditions. He explores the performance and properties of the weighted likelihood based on MAMSE weights through simulations.     

Contents to Volume 1, 2003

Volume Contents

Contents to Volume 1, 2003     

Implementation of allocation rules under perfect information

We study subgame perfect implementation through perfect information mechanisms in economic environments. We assume that worst bundles exist for each agent and can be assigned to them independently of the bundle assigned to at least one other agent. We restrict our attention to allocation rules that are anonymous, efficient on their own range, single-valued in welfare, and that induce agents' participation. We define a class of mechanisms, which satisfy properties of minimal path length and finiteness of message dimensions. We characterize the class of allocation rules which can be implemented through those mechanisms.I would like to thank Bhaskar Dutta, Louis Gevers, Matthew Jackson, Ozgur Kibris, Hervé Moulin and Arunava Sen for stimulating discussions, seminar participants at Université de Montréal (the Axiomatic Theory of Resource Allocation meeting, May 1996), Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Universitad Carlos III de Madrid and Université de Paris Dauphine for their comments, and Frédéric Gaspart, Tarik Kara, James Schummer, William Thomson and an anonymous referee for extremely useful comments and suggestions on earlier versions.     

Increasing women's contribution on board decision making: The importance of chairperson leadership efficacy and board openness

In the last decade, the number of women on corporate boards has increased slightly, but the prevailing minority status of women directors implies that they will continue to face social barriers. While prior research has largely focused on explaining social barriers (e.g., being categorized as an out-group member) to increase diversity and its negative consequences, how boards can avoid these obstacles remains unclear. Stemming from recategorization theory, we examine whether and to what extent board chairperson leadership efficacy and board openness (as mechanisms to avoid out-group bias) enhance the influence of women when they are in the minority in board decision-making. In a sample of 146 Norwegian firms, we found a positive relationship between women minorities and women directors’ contribution to board decision-making. Moreover, we found that this positive impact increases when the board chairperson exercises leadership and the board operates in an atmosphere of openness.     

The Characteristics of Child Sexual Abuse in the School Environment in Turkey

School may represent a protective factor, boosting the mental health of the student body, while also representing a risk factor that heightens the potential for mental health problems. The present study aims to identify the individual and familial characteristics associated with the incidents of child sexual abuse (CSA) in Turkey’s school environment. The incidents involving school-related CSA constituted 5.6% (N = 125) of 2,238 cases. The following was discovered: an adult committed the majority (64%) of CSA in the school environment; most adult perpetrators were teachers (62.5%). This study determined that the perpetrators manipulated the victims via methods that included physical abuse (11.2%), threats (19.2%), tricks/deception (15.2%), and taking photographs/videos with sexual content (3.2%); and CSA incidents involved intercourse (15.2%); and almost three-quarter of the victims of CSA in the school environment reported the incident late. This study indicates that peer perpetrators abuse younger victims and a greater proportion of male victims relative to adult perpetrators. In light of these findings, school security must be improved, especially in public schools, and trainings aimed at preventing bullying and sexual abuse (SA) should be given to all school staff, students, and parents.     

Gender differences in gambling preferences and problem gambling: a network-level analysis

Most gambling studies have a gender-blind research approach, although a large body of scientific evidence suggests that gambling in females is on the rise and that males and females have different gambling behaviours and experience specific gambling-related harm. This study addressed these gender differences using a network analysis, an innovative approach considering disorders/concepts as dynamic systems of interacting symptoms/items. Data on gambling activities, problem gambling, substance use and mental health were collected in a representative sample of French adult gamblers (n = 8805). The study capitalized on the network analysis directly to compare associations of specific gambling activities with gambling disorder symptoms separately for both genders. The network analysis revealed that problem gambling was strongly associated with gambling machines among females, whereas it was related to sports betting, poker and casino games among males. The networks that included substance use and mental health showed that substance use was related to specific gambling activities. These findings confirm the links between various gender-specific gambling patterns and problem gambling and suggest a need to consider these gender differences to improve prevention efforts. More broadly, the present study further supports the importance of gender differences for gambling research and policy.     

The post-Macy paradox,information management and organising: Good intentions and a road to hell?

Between 1946 and 1953, leading scientists met in New York in the context of the so-called Macy conferences, often linked to the emergence of cybernetics. They hankered for a new vision of mind and society. The traumatism of WW2 was implicit but omnipresent, and the Cold War was beginning. Macy key tools and concepts about information, the value of information, and computer artefacts have finally produced a new world, in particular an organisational world, which is far removed from their original dreams. Organisational members are now involved in difficult situations in terms of organising, that is, new modes of performativity which are difficult to comprehend and deal with; a transformation of meaning and knowledge in collective activity; and a threat to well-being and happiness as mental activities, cognition and bodies are increasingly disconnected. We use the Macy conferences as an entry point to reflect on the ‘longue durée’ evolution of the material underpinnings of information and their relationship with organising. We first explore the new conceptualisations at the core of the Macy conferences, information, value of information, and computer artefacts. We then put the Macy conferences into a socio-historical perspective by means of two theoretical approaches, iconographical and semiotic; this involves a historical comparison between the ‘screen-images’ or our Information Age and the ‘object-images’ of medieval cathedrals. We show that there are important disruptions in organising grounded in a new semiosis, which emerged over the longue durée of collective activity, and was articulated further during the Macy conferences. We describe this long-term evolution as the post-Macy paradox.