On the expansion of the market and the decline of the family

Over the past two hundred years, large, modern firms have tended to replace small, family businesses. In parallel, the family has declined as a social institution. We suggest that these developments are interrelated. Because information of cheating in market transactions spreads only gradually in large markets, the reputation of the family firm could support contractual performance only in small, traditional markets. As markets grew in size, this reputational mechanism could no longer operate. The small, family firm was then replaced by the large, modern firm. This transition led to a decrease in the importance of the family.      

The coexistence of Fox (Sciurus niger) and gray (S. caroliniensis) squirrels in the Chicago metropolitan area

Two species of tree squirrel inhabit the Chicago region, the fox (Sciurus niger) and gray (S. caroliniensis) squirrel. Chicago residents submitted squirrel observations and associated landscape variables via a Website, allowing us to map squirrel distributions. Data were analyzed for patterns of correlation. At a smaller scale, we did a foot survey of fox and gray squirrels in the suburb of Oak Park, replicating an earlier study and comparing results. Gray squirrels were associated with densely populated areas, parks and campuses, fox squirrels with suburban areas. Compared to gray squirrels, fox squirrels were more likely to be observed in areas of high cat density. In the suburb of Oak Park, the current trend seems to be an extension of gray squirrel distribution and a decrease in fox squirrel distribution. Our study provides support for the idea that fox and gray squirrel coexistence is facilitated by a trade-off between managing the cost of predation and foraging efficiency, gray squirrels out-competing fox squirrels in areas of high food and low predator (or pet) density.     

Bridges to Sobriety: Testing the Feasibility and Acceptability of a Mobile App Designed to Supplement an Adolescent Substance Use Disorder Treatment Program

Clinical Social Work Journal - Adolescent substance use is a growing problem that causes a myriad of negative outcomes. Using substances during adolescence can lead to decreased executive...     

Are Boards Designed to Fail? The Implausibility of Effective Board Monitoring

In this review, we challenge the idea that directors are well positioned to be effective monitors of management. Moving beyond the logic of incentives and ability, we conceptualize a model based on the premise of boards as groups of individuals obtaining, processing and sharing information and explain how variation in information-processing demands at the director, board and firm level may challenge effective monitoring. We draw on multiple theoretical perspectives to identify these barriers to effective board monitoring. Our goal in reviewing these barriers is to help us take stock of existing research in corporate governance and to better explain board behavior beyond traditional agency and resource dependency accounts. We also aim to uncover gaps in the conceptual and empirical research and suggest areas of fruitful future research.     

Determinants of International Migration Flows to and from Industrialized Countries: A Panel Data Approach Beyond Gravity1

We quantified determinants of international migratory inflows to 17 Western countries and outflows from 13 of these countries between 1950 and 2007 in 77,658 observations from multiple sources using panel-data analysis techniques. To construct a quantitative model that could be useful for demographic projection, we analyzed the logarithm of the number of migrants (inflows and outflows separately) as dependent variables in relation to demographic, geographic, and social independent variables. The independent variables most influential on log inflows were demographic [log population of origin and destination and log infant mortality rate (IMR) of origin and destination] and geographic (log distance between capitals and log land area of the destination). Social and historical determinants were less influential. For log outflows from the 13 countries, the most influential independent variables were log population of origin and destination, log IMR of destination, and log distance between capitals. A young age structure in the destination was associated with lower inflows while a young age structure in the origin was associated with higher inflows. Urbanization in destination and origin increased international migration. IMR affected inflows and outflows significantly but oppositely. Being landlocked, having a common border, having the same official language, sharing a minority language, and colonial links also had statistically significant but quantitatively smaller effects on international migration. Comparisons of models with different assumed correlation structures of residuals indicated that independence was the best assumption, supporting the use of ordinary-least-squares estimation techniques to obtain point estimates of coefficients.     

Modeling distances between humans using Taylor’s law and geometric probability

Taylor’s law states that the variance of the distribution of distance between two randomly chosen individuals is a power function of the mean distance. It applies to the distances between two randomly chosen points in various geometric shapes, subject to a few conditions. In Réunion Island and metropolitan France, at some spatial scales, the empirical frequency distributions of inter-individual distances are predicted accurately by the theoretical frequency distributions of inter-point distances in models of geometric probability under a uniform distribution of points. When these models fail to predict the empirical frequency distributions of inter-individual distances, they provide baselines against which to highlight the spatial distribution of population concentrations.     

Families' values and attitudes regarding responsibility for the frail elderly: implications for aging policy

This study examines the norms and values associated with care to disabled and frail aging parents, in particular those with regard to the sharing of responsibilities for care between families and formal services, and this within three age cohorts in Quebec, Canada. It is based on a telephone interview of 1,315 people. Factor analysis yielded four factors: (1) family responsibility; (2) uncompromising family obligations; (3) acceptance of services; (4) distrust of services. Analyses of the data indicate that all three age cohorts consider that families have responsibilities for their aging family members, at the same time that they score very high on the acceptance of service scale. This article discusses these seemingly paradoxical results and their implications for aging policy.     

Operationalizing the Construct of Friendship among Children: A Psychometric Comparison of Sociometric-Based Definitional Methodologies

Peer relations researchers generally agree that friendship involves a close, mutual, dyadic relationship. However, the lack of consensus on how to operationalize this construct has limited our understanding of the role of friendship in social adjustment. The present study directly compared the psychometric properties (i.e., number of friendships identified, concordances, and stability) of the five major different definitions of friendship used in the literature. Fourth- and fifth-grade students (N = 90) completed a battery of sociometric measures at two different times separated by eight weeks. Friendship dyads were then identified using the following definitional criteria: (1) mutual positive nominations; (2) mutal high ratings (i.e., 4 or 5 on a five-point Likert-type scale); (3) one positive nomination reciprocated by a rating of 5; (4) one positive nomination and mutual high ratings; and (5) one positive nomination and mutual ratings averaging at least 4. Frequency and concordance analyses indicated differences across the five definitions. In addition, the friendships identified by each of the five definitions were similarly moderate in their stability. Explanations for, and the possible implications of, these differences are discussed.     

Semiparametric estimation of employment duration models

There are a variety of economic areas, such as studies of employment duration and of the durability of capital goods, in which data on important variables typically are censored. The standard techinques for estimating a model from censored data require the distributions of unobservable random components of the model to be specified a priori up to a finite set of parameters, and misspecification of these distributions usually leads to inconsistent parameter estimates. However, economic theory rarely gives guidance about distributions and the standard estimation techniques do not provide convenient methods for identifying distributions from censored data. Recently, several distribution-free or semiparametric methods for estimating censored regression models have been developed. This paper presents the results of using two such methods to estimate a model of employment duration. The paper reports the operating characteristics of the semiparametric estimators and compares the semiparametric estimates with those obtained from a standard parametric model.