DURABILITY, MAINTENANCE AND THE PRICE OF USED ASSETS

This paper considers assets whose service flow decays at a rate determined by built-in durability and the level of maintenance. A cost minimization model determines optimal durability and maintenance and shows how these variables respond to changes in interest rates, the price of maintenance, and the cost of new assets. The price of old assets adjusts so that the cost of services from both old and new assets is the same. The model provides a framework for analyzing data on automobile scrapping rates and repair expenditures. Data for postwar United States show that scrapping rates are sensitive to the price of repairs relative to the price of new cars. The amount of repairs per car also responds to the relative repair price .     

No exit for wives: sexual division of labour and the cumulation of household demands

Deux thèses opposées sont formuluées sur la division sexuelle du travail domestique: une 'théorie d'associés en adaptation mutuelle' et une 'théorie de travail subordonné.' Des budgets de temps de semaine et de fin de semaine de plusieurs centaines de couples mariés du Grand Vancouver sont analysés de façon à permettre un choix entre les deux thèses. Les résultats de l'analyse sont compatibles avec la théorie du travail subordonné de la femme mariée. lis rendent la théorie d'associés en adaptation peu vraisemblable, vu que la conduite des maris demeure insensible à la cumulation des tâches domestiques causées par l'emploi de la femme, les heures prolongées de travail et les jeunes enfants.
Two conflicting arguments on the sexual division of household labour are formulated: an 'adaptive partnership theory' and a 'dependent labour theory.' Workday and weekend time budgets of several hundred married couples in Greater Vancouver are analysed in order to choose the most adequate of the two arguments. The results of the analysis are consistent with the theory of married women's dependent labour. They make the theory of adaptive partnership implausible, as the conduct of husbands remains insensitive to the cumulation of demands on the household, of wives' employment, extended job hours, and young children.     

Out from under: Countertransference in the treatment of the masochistic youngster

The masochistic youngster tends to evoke in the treatment situation precisely the responses which impede progress. This article discusses countertransference issues and the dynamics of masochism, understood as a protection for a frightened ego rather than merely a willful manipulation. Difficulties in and approaches to dealing with the environment of children in residential treatment are presented.Ms. Smaldino is currently in private practice and supervisor of psychotherapy for the New Hope Guild.     

SYSTEMIC TREATMENT OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE: A GRADUATE COURSE

Today, family therapists should have an understanding of the development and maintenance of substance abusing patterns in families. In this paper, the authors describe a graduate course for teaching therapists about the contributions that have been made to the understanding and treatment of substance abuse by family researchers, theorists and clinicians. Course purpose, student selection, instructional methods and course content are delineated.     

Bayesian break-point forecasting in parallel time series,with application to university admissions

A regular supply of applicants to Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario is provided by 65 high schools. Each high school can be characterized by a series of grading standards which change from year to year. To aid admissions decisions, it is desirable to forecast the current year's grading standards for all 65 high schools using grading standards estimated from past year's data. We develop and apply a Bayesian break-point time-series model that generates forecasts which involve smoothing across time for each school and smoothing across schools. “Break point” refers to a point in time which divides the past into the “old past” and the “recent past” where the yearly observations in the recent past are exchangeable with the observations in the year to be forecast. We show that this model works fairly well when applied to 11 years of Queen's University data. The model can be applied to other data sets with the parallel time-series structure and short history, and can be extended in several ways to more complicated structures.