Econometric Analysis of Costing System Components in Rail Rate Regulation

In response to Congressional directive, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) has created a railroad costing system that includes as key components ratios designed to estimate variable costs associated with freight transportation. The estimated variability ratios are used to determine freight surcharges, jurisdictional threshold rates, and basic rail rates in administrative law and federal court proceedings. In this article we assess the quality and reliability of the estimated variability ratios and their components against standards from economic theory and statistical theory and practice. Our work includes reproduction of the naive ICC regressions, updated naive regressions for the latest data set, estimation based on more secure econometric foundations, and sensitivity analyses comparing alternative estimation procedures. Fundamental questions arise concerning the scientific and evidentiary standards that are required for econometric methodology in policy making and regulatory activities.     

Collective Power to Create Political Change: Increasing the Political Efficacy and Engagement of Social Workers

Because social workers are called to challenge social injustices and create systemic change to support the well-being of individuals and communities, it is essential that social workers develop political efficacy: belief that the political system can work and they can influence the system. This study explored the impact of an intensive political social work curriculum on political efficacy and planned political engagement among social work students and practitioners. The findings suggest this model of delivering a political social work curriculum effectively increases internal, external, and overall political efficacy, and that increasing political efficacy has promise for increasing future political engagement.     

Attitudes and beliefs about hepatitis B vaccination among gay men: the Birmingham Measurement Study

This study was designed to develop reliable and valid quantitative measures of the beliefs and attitudes toward hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccination among gay men, using a community-based participatory research approach. A convenience sample of 358 gay men was recruited in two gay bars. Exploratory factor analysis performed on the first split-half sample was used to assess the factor structure from five scales measuring beliefs about HBV vaccination. The scales were based on constructs from the health belief model and the social cognitive theory. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed on the remaining half-sample using structural equation modeling. Multivariable analysis further validated the scales. These findings propose standardized measures that may be useful in assessing the beliefs and attitudes of gay men toward HBV vaccination to guide intervention design and evaluation.     

An empirical application of multidimensional scaling to advertising pretesting

One of the least-managed aspects of advertising management may well be that of effectiveness measurement. The problem of obtaining satisfactory indications of advertising effectiveness is particularly critical in pretesting since the rationale for pretesting is to evaluate advertisements before their release for broadscale media distribution. Therefore, the primary purpose of the research reported here is to provide empirical evidence of the value of multidimensional scaling methods to pretesting advertising. The article demonstrates how nonmetric methodology obviates the disadvantages of such methods as consumer jury tests and rating scales. A secondary purpose of the research project is to demonstrate the value of pretesting itself by comparing the perceptions of target market consumers with those of selected group of advertising professionals.     

Construct validities and the empirical relationships between optimism,hope, self-efficacy,and locus of control

This study assessed the construct validities and the relationships between Optimism [21], Hope [27], Self-Efficacy [18], and Locus of Control [12]. The validities and relationships between these scales were examined not only because they are to some degree rival constructs but also because there is an outstanding theoretical question in the literature of whether each of these variables is a state or trait variable or both. Synder' Hope scale was the "know marker" trait-state scale in this study. Data were obtained on all scales from 78 at-risk university students and 22 regular (or normal) students, as all scales either make claims about or have existing data on these two different types of subjects. Other background data were also collected. A Manova on the 13 variables for which data were obtained found significant profile differences between the two groups of subjects as theory and the literature predicted at the 0.01 level. The trait-state two factor structure of Synder's Hope scale was found except the structure was orthogonal in at-risk students as opposed to the oblique structure Synder found in normals. The same strong results were obtained for Schiever and Carver's Optimism scale which additionally resolved an outstanding interpetability issue with this scale. Hypothesized factor structures were not obtained for the self-efficacy or the locus of control scales and both scales best fit the trait-sate model, which contradicts Bandura's and other prevailing view of these two variables, but supports the results found by Bandalos et al. [2].     

Trial and lifetime smoking risks among African American college students

The authors surveyed 614 African American university students to determine the magnitude of cigarette use, identify risk factors, and develop models to predict smoking. More than half (58.3%) of the participants had smoked at least once, and 9.3% of that group were lifetime smokers. Among the lifetime smokers, 71.3% had smoked during the 30 days preceding the survey. More women (66.8%) than men (56.1%) had tried smoking and were classed as lifetime smokers. Residence, parental, and peer smoking (current and childhood) were associated with trying smoking; age, race/ethnicity, and marital status were additional factors for becoming a lifetime smoker. The risk of being a lifetime smoker was reduced when neither friends nor parents of the student smoked and the student viewed spirituality as important. The results of this study add to the growing understanding of health risk behaviors among African Americans and can be useful in reducing smoking.     

Loan performance and race

Recent studies find evidence of racial discrimination in mortgage markets. Although these studies explore loan approval rates for whites versus minorities, they do not specifically consider loan performance, either in the form of default rates or loan administration costs. This study considers discrimination in the used car credit market, where the collateral is not subject to location externalities, collateral value and quality do not vary as much as in real estate, and the loan terms are shorter. We find administration costs and default rates are higher for minorities than for whites, controlling for age, income, home ownership, wealth, occupation, loan terms, and geographic location.     

The ‘New’ Sociology of Deindustrialisation? Understanding Industrial Change

This article reviews a range of new and established writing on deindustrialisation. It traces the origins of the concept from its popularisation in the early 1980s with the onset of large scale loss in the industrial regions of North America and Europe. We argue that with the passage of time, the academic field of deindustrialisation has matured as the scale and consequences of industrial loss become more apparent. We suggest here that sociology has not made the contribution it could have in this debate and that one of the key strengths of the area is its interdisciplinary nature; especially from disciplines such as geography, anthropology, and social history. Its key aim is to explain why this is the case and suggest that by fully engaging with the issue of deindustrialisation and the range of new material available, the sociology of economic life can develop a more rounded account both of work and its absence.