COSTLY PORTFOLIO ADJUSTMENT AND THE SHORT RUN DEMAND FOR MONEY

In many empirical studies the short-run demand for money includes a lagged dependent variable; this is usually attributed to some cost of adjusting money balances toward their desired level. This short-run money-demand equation is sometimes used as a structural equation in models in which market clearing is also assumed (in the sense that money supply equals short–run money demand). In this paper, a theoretical counterexample demonstrates that this use of a short-run money demand equation is not generally valid. This finding challenges the usual interpretation of the lagged dependent variable.     

Reducing bias in ecological studies: an evaluation of different methodologies

Summary.  Statistical methods of ecological analysis that attempt to reduce ecological bias are empirically evaluated to determine in which circumstances each method might be practicable. The method that is most successful at reducing ecological bias is stratified ecological regression. It allows individual level covariate information to be incorporated into a stratified ecological analysis, as well as the combination of disease and risk factor information from two separate data sources, e.g. outcomes from a cancer registry and risk factor information from the census sample of anonymized records data set. The aggregated individual level model compares favourably with this model but has convergence problems. In addition, it is shown that the large areas that are covered by local authority districts seem to reduce between-area variability and may therefore not be as informative as conducting a ward level analysis. This has policy implications because access to ward level data is restricted.     

"No fertile soil for pathogens": rayon, advertising, and biopolitics in late Weimar Germany

Recent research on twentieth-century German history has begun to re-examine the centrality of race as a category of analysis. While not discounting its importance in the shaping and enacting of Nazi policies and practices, race is seen instead as one among many factors leading to the crimes of the Nazi regime. In this paper, the author considers the role consumerist desires and fantasies played in the wider context of the inter-war European fascination with notions of technology, "hygiene," democracy, and modernity. Using advertisements that were created to promote manufactured-fiber (rayon) apparel, this article suggests that continuities across cultures and time periods necessitate a re-evaluation of race as the signal organizing principal. Instead, the author argues that by complicating the intersections between class, science and technology, and an emerging, but troubling, modernity, 1920s rayon advertising offers an especially rich site for analysis of the ways in which biopolitics and nascent consumerism both sold products and constructed ideologies before 1933, and influenced the post-war welfare state.     

Missing data: Discussion points from the PSI missing data expert group

The Points to Consider Document on Missing Data was adopted by the Committee of Health and Medicinal Products (CHMP) in December 2001. In September 2007 the CHMP issued a recommendation to review the document, with particular emphasis on summarizing and critically appraising the pattern of drop‐outs, explaining the role and limitations of the ‘last observation carried forward’ method and describing the CHMP's cautionary stance on the use of mixed models. In preparation for the release of the updated guidance document, statisticians in the Pharmaceutical Industry held a one‐day expert group meeting in September 2008. Topics that were debated included minimizing the extent of missing data and understanding the missing data mechanism, defining the principles for handling missing data and understanding the assumptions underlying different analysis methods. A clear message from the meeting was that at present, biostatisticians tend only to react to missing data. Limited pro‐active planning is undertaken when designing clinical trials. Missing data mechanisms for a trial need to be considered during the planning phase and the impact on the objectives assessed. Another area for improvement is in the understanding of the pattern of missing data observed during a trial and thus the missing data mechanism via the plotting of data; for example, use of Kaplan–Meier curves looking at time to withdrawal. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Child sexual abuse evaluations: adherence to recommendations

Sixty-eight parents of children with alleged child sexual abuse (CSA) were surveyed 4 months after visiting an interdisciplinary CSA evaluation clinic in order to examine the extent to which recommendations were recalled and implemented. Of those parents for whom specific recommendations were provided, 9% recalled recommendations for medical follow-up, 79% recalled recommendations for child therapy, and 43% recalled recommendations for parental therapy. Families were more likely to receive and adhere to recommendations when there were behavioral problems and a strong indication of CSA. To improve communication with families, the reasons for recommendations must be clearly conveyed, and possible barriers to implementation should be anticipated and addressed. In addition, recommendations need to be realistic, and professionals need to facilitate the implementation of their treatment plan.