The Distribution of Returns to Education for People with Disabilities

This article takes a first look at the distribution of returns to education for people with disabilities, a particularly disadvantaged group whose labor market performances have not been well studied or documented. Using a nonparametric approach, we uncover significant heterogeneity in the returns to education for these workers, which is drastically masked by conventional parametric methods. Based on these estimates, we construct the Sharpe ratio of human capital investment (taking into account its substantial risk), and our results corroborate the claimed importance of human capital in improving these workers’ wages. Our stochastic dominance tests show that the returns to education for workers with disabilities, as a group, may have been affected more adversely in the most recent recession, relative to their non-disabled counterparts.     

A monte carlo evaluation of response surface analysis based on paired-comparison data

The use of the logit transformation on paired-comparison data in the weighted least squares analysis of response surfaces for aesthetic qualities of products is discussed. Monte Carlo simulations are employed to investigate the small sample properties of the estimators and test statistics. A secondary objective of the Monte Carlo simulations is the comparison of two transformation procedures. The simulations are of standard-item paired-compar-ison experiments in which ties are not allowed.     

New Data,Strategies, and Insights for Listeria monocytogenes Dose‐Response Models: Summary of an Interagency Workshop, 2011

Listeria monocytogenes is a leading cause of hospitalization, fetal loss, and death due to foodborne illnesses in the United States. A quantitative assessment of the relative risk of listeriosis associated with the consumption of 23 selected categories of ready‐to‐eat foods, published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2003, has been instrumental in identifying the food products and practices that pose the greatest listeriosis risk and has guided the evaluation of potential intervention strategies. Dose‐response models, which quantify the relationship between an exposure dose and the probability of adverse health outcomes, were essential components of the risk assessment. However, because of data gaps and limitations in the available data and modeling approaches, considerable uncertainty existed. Since publication of the risk assessment, new data have become available for modeling L. monocytogenes dose‐response. At the same time, recent advances in the understanding of L. monocytogenes pathophysiology and strain diversity have warranted a critical reevaluation of the published dose‐response models. To discuss strategies for modeling L. monocytogenes dose‐response, the Interagency Risk Assessment Consortium (IRAC) and the Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (JIFSAN) held a scientific workshop in 2011 (details available at http://foodrisk.org/irac/events/ ). The main findings of the workshop and the most current and relevant data identified during the workshop are summarized and presented in the context of L. monocytogenes dose‐response. This article also discusses new insights on dose‐response modeling for L. monocytogenes and research opportunities to meet future needs.     

Consensus in the Marital Dyad: Couples' Perceptions of Contraception,Communication, and Family Life

Abstract

The present study was based on data collected (separately for husbands and wives) from 365 couples to determine levels of consensus on a series of variables related to the family forming process. Following Scheff (1967), consensus was operationalized as both agreement and coorientation in the marital dyad. The data generally indicated low levels of consensus on such variables as contraceptive efficacy, desired family size, child spacing, unwanted pregnancies, communication with spouse, and levels of alienation. The results are discussed within the framework of family planning and effective fertility control.     

The Black Worker: Race,Labor, and Civil Rights since Emancipation (2007)

P. J. Cain and A. G. Hopkins, British Imperialism: Innovation and Expansion, 1688–1914 (1993), xiv + 490; British Imperialism: Crisis and Deconstruction, 1914–1990 (1993), xiii + 326 (Longman, London, £17.99 and £3.99).

W. D. Rubinstein, Capitalism, Culture, and Decline in Britain, 1750–1990 (1993), viii + 182 (Routledge, London, £25.00).

Stanley Chapman, Merchant Enterprise in Britain: From the Industrial Revolution to World War I (1992), xvi + 336 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, £40.00).     

Does Fatherhood Matter for Men?

Ignored in the flurry of new research on fathers is that fatherhood may have consequences for men. This article explores possible effects on the lives and well‐being of men for a range of fatherhood experiences. Data are drawn from the National Survey of Families and Households. The first part of this article examines whether men's varied associations with children (no children, coresident, non‐coresident, and stepfatherhood) are associated with men's psychological health and behavior, social connections, intergenerational family relations, and work behavior. We found strong evidence that fathers differ from nonfathers in their social connections, family relationships, and work behavior. There is significant variation in effects among the father types as well. The second section of this article focuses attention only on men who are fathers and examines whether fathering behavior (e.g., the amount of time and nature of the activities that fathers are reported to be spending with their children) is associated with men's well‐being. The effects of father involvement on men was found to be most significant for those who were living with their own children.     

Bayesian analysis of a multiple-recapture model

In the Bayesian analysis of a multiple-recapture census, different diffuse prior distributions can lead to markedly different inferences about the population size N. Through consideration of the Fisher information matrix it is shown that the number of captures in each sample typically provides little information about N. This suggests that if there is no prior information about capture probabilities, then knowledge of just the sample sizes and not the number of recaptures should leave the distribution of Nunchanged. A prior model that has this property is identified and the posterior distribution is examined. In particular, asymptotic estimates of the posterior mean and variance are derived. Differences between Bayesian and classical point and interval estimators are illustrated through examples.     

Pre-term Foetal Life Times in Scotland

A proportional hazards model was used to evaluate the association between ten categorical covariates and the risk of pre-term delivery for women having their first child and women in subsequent pregnancies. An adaptation of the model for use with grouped survival times made it possible to model foetal life times between 28 and 36 completed weeks of gestation for 67,000 Scottish singleton births in 1981. The use of the model was justified by testing time-dependent effects. For both groups of women age, and a history of abortion, were major factors associated with increased hazard. For women experiencing a second or higher-order birth a history of perinatal death was also associated with substantially increased hazard to the pregnancy.