Experiential Wellbeing Data from the American Time Use Survey: Comparisons with Other Methods and Analytic Illustrations with Age and Income

There has been a recent upsurge of interest in self-reported measures of wellbeing by official statisticians and by researchers in the social sciences. This paper considers data from a wellbeing supplement to the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), which parsed the previous day into episodes. Respondents provided ratings of five experiential wellbeing adjectives (happiness, stress, tiredness, sadness, and pain) for each of three randomly selected episodes. Because the ATUS wellbeing module has not received very much attention, in this paper we provide the reader with details about the features of these data and our approach to analyzing the data (e.g., weighting considerations), and then illustrate the applicability of these data to current issues. Specifically, we examine the association of age and income with all of the experiential wellbeing adjective in the ATUS. Results from the ATUS wellbeing module were broadly consistent with earlier findings on age, but did not confirm all earlier findings between income and wellbeing. We conclude that the ATUS, with its measurement of time use, specific activities, and hedonic experience in a nationally representative survey, offers a unique opportunity to incorporate time use into the burgeoning field of wellbeing research.     

Beratung von Netzwerken – oder: Wen und Was beraten wir eigentlich?

A network is a social infrastructure. This definition of the quite ambiguous term “network” is the starting point of this paper. It offers a clear distinction of “networks” from related concepts of “cooperation” and “organisation”. Furthermore it offers a clearer understanding of network consultancy. The authors suggest points of intervention on the level of network nodes (individuals, organisations), of cooperations within the network and in the design of communication and learning in the network.     

Messung von Wertorientierungen: Ranking oder Rating?

In a methodological study recently published in this journal (No. 3, Vol. 51, 1999: 550–564), Klein and Arzheimer compared two competing methods for the measurement of personal value orientations, namely, rating and ranking. Focussing on postmaterialist value orientations, they concluded that ratings are superior. In this article, it is argued that this conclusion is based on a misleading interpretation of findings and a questionable research design. In particular, the authors do not address the validity of the two measurement methods, implicitly assuming that they both capture the same cognitive dimension. Since it is unclear whether or not this assumption holds, a broader research approach is suggested here, which allows assessment of both the validity and the reliability of the competing methods. Given the lack of empirical evidence regarding these points, theoretical considerations, briefly outlined in the last section, are crucial for the selection of an appropriate measurement strategy.     

CONSUMER CREDIT: EVIDENCE FROM ITALIAN MICRO DATA

In this paper we analyse unique data on credit applications received by the leading provider of consumer credit in Italy (Findomestic). The data set covers a five‐year period (1995–1999) during which the consumer credit market rapidly expanded in Italy and a new law (the usury law) came into force that set a limit on interest rates charged to consumers. We compute behavioural changes by controlling for changes in the observable characteristics of the Findomestic clientele and argue that, under suitable identifying assumptions, these changes can be given a structural interpretation. If the usury shock is assumed to have affected credit supply but not credit demand—that is, if the usury law had a differential impact on the supply of various types of credit but a uniform impact on demand—then we can identify and estimate a demand equation. Our key finding is that demand is interest‐rate elastic, particularly in the more affluent North. (JEL: D14, E21, G21)     

Estimation of Pr{yp > max(y1, …, yp-1)}: Predictive approach in exponential case

The structural-inference approach to predictive distributions is used to derive the estimator of P = Pr{Y_p > max(Y₁, …, Y_p-₁)} when the independent random variables Y₁, …, Y_p follow exponential distributions with unequal location parameters and equal scale parameters. The result is Equation (4.6).     

Wandlungen des Sterbens im Krankenhaus und die Konflikte zwischen Krankenrolle und Sterberolle

Dying in hospital has long been considered as inevitable but talking about it should be avoided, if possible. For some time now, new ideals of dying demand higher social expectations and requirements for the care of dying people (e.g. psycho-social and spiritual care). This trend can also be found in hospitals. On the basis of a running micro-sociological observational study carried out so far in four hospitals and two hospices the social organisation of dying in the hospital is being investigated and results are presented with an example of a case study. Observed dying trajectories show that the staff refers to two competing metaphors as an interpretative frame for performing its work that we call the ideal of the “short and good” dying and the ideal of the “long and laborious” dying. These idealisation correspond with the practice of “discrete” dying (that have been found in hospitals until the 1970s and that are still dominant in the medical world) and with the practice of “intimating” dying (which are drawn from the demands of the hospice-movement). Within this interpretative frame the staff is able to cope with uncertainties of the dying process. The idealisa-tions help to reformulate cumulative mess trajectories as successful and good work and thus tensions between the sick role and the dying role are minimised.     

Ordered response models

Summary We discuss regression models for ordered responses, such as ratings of bonds, schooling attainment, or measures of subjective well-being. Commonly used models in this context are the ordered logit and ordered probit regression models. They are based on an underlying latent model with single index function and constant thresholds. We argue that these approaches are overly restrictive and preclude a flexible estimation of the effect of regressors on the discrete outcome probabilities. For example, the signs of the marginal probability effects can only change once when moving from the smallest category to the largest one. We then discuss several alternative models that overcome these limitations. An application illustrates the benefit of these alternatives. We are grateful to an anonymous referee for valuable comments.     

The Labor Market Consequences of Gender Differences in Job Search

This paper uses data from an Internet-based CV database to investigate if women are more restrictive than men in their choice of search area, and if this is of importance in the early stages of the hiring process. We show that women are less likely to search in the metropolitan areas or far away from where they currently live. Moreover, our results indicate that these differences are important: Female searchers get fewer firm contacts, and we show that this is to a large extent explained by their more restrictive search area. When we include controls for the searchers?? search area, the negative gender effect disappears. However, the results differ somewhat across subgroups: For highly skilled women the search area is important, but there remains an unexplained negative gender effect. Our results suggest that gender differences in job search may be important to consider in studies of gender differences in labor market outcomes.