SEX DIFFERENCES IN A SOCIOECONOMIC INDEX FOR OCCUPATIONS IN CANADA

Ce travail elabore un index socio-economique pour les femmes qui sont emThe Vendeeloyeës, base sur les niveaux pridominants d'education et de revenu dans 465 professions exercees par des femmes en 1970. L'index ainsi que ses deux composantes sont alors utilisés dans une comparaison de la structure socio-économique de la main-d'oeuvre masculine et féminine qui fait usage d'un index semblable pour les hommes tel que rapporté par Blishen et McRoberts (1976). Nous avons trouve que pour les 465 professions, il y a une ressemblance tres proche entre les hommes et les femmes quant A la stratification professionnelle selon le niveau d'éducation mais qu'il y a des différences considérables reliées au sexe lorsqu'il s'agit de la stratification selon le revenu. Les moyennes des points en matiére socio-economique pour les hommes et les femmes qui sont employés étaient presque identiques mais ce résultat, loin de prouver qu'il y a égalité des sexes, souligne en fait une faiblesse de base de I'index tel qu'employé dans I'étude de la stratification des sexes. En combinant de faqon additive I'education et les niveaux de revenu pour chaque sexe, l'index dissimule le fait que les femmes ont en general tendance à toucher moins de revenu que les hommes mais elles se retrouvent dans des professions reliées à des niveaux d'éducation plus élevés. Nos résultats viennent s'ajouter a la littérature sur la discrimination des sexes dans la structure professionnelle et constituent une mise en garde contre I'usage exclusif d'index socio-économiques basés sur les professions dans I'étude de la stratification des sexes. This paper develops a socioeconomic index for employed women, based upon predominant education and income levels in 465 occupations having female incumbents in 1970. The index and its two components are then employed in a comparison of the socioeconomic structure of male and female labour forces, which makes use of an analogous index for men, reported by Blishen and McRoberts (1976). We find that, across the 465 occupations, there is a close similarity between men and women respecting occupational stratification by education level, but there are considerable sex differences in the pattern of stratification by income. Mean socioeconomic scores for employed men and women are found to be nearly identical, but this result, far from evidencing sexual equality, actually points up a basic weakness in the index as employed in the study of sexual stratification. In additively combining education and income levels for each sex, the index obscures the fact that women tend to receive generally less income than men, but are situated in occupations having relatively higher education levels. Our results add to the literature on sexual discrimination in the occupational structure and caution against the exclusive use of occupationally based socioeconomic indices in the study of sexual stratification.     

COMPARING CITIZEN AND ELITE BELIEF SYSTEMS IN POST-SOVIET RUSSIA AND UKRAINE

No previous research has systematically compared the policypreferences and attitudinal constraint of elites and ordinarycitizens in societies undergoing a fundamental change in theform of the government and the economic system. This articleutilizes directly comparable survey questions asked of a representativesample of citizens and their parliamentary representatives intwo post-Soviet countries, Russia and Ukraine, to determinethe degree of similarity that existed in the attitudinal preferencesand ideological consistency of these two sets of political actors6 months after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The level ofattitude consistency and ideological thinking among ordinarycitizens was found to be unexpectedly high, thereby reflectingthe degree of politicization occurring during the period immediatelypreceding the Soviet disintegration. Relative to other studiesof elites, however, the attitude constraint among the eliteswas unexpectedly low. This unexpected finding is explained bythe absence of various institutions and arrangements that promoteconsistent attitudes among elites in western democracies, suchas functioning political parties, lobby groups, and an investigatorymedia.     

CORPORATE CHARTERING: AN EXPLORATION IN THE ECONOMICS OF LEGAL CHANGE

During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the market for corporate charters was deregulated as states replaced special chartering with incorporation under general laws. This paper explores the pattern of deregulation across states within the context of the interest-group theory of government. The empirical results show that legal change tended to occur first in states where the stake in deregulation was greatest, and where the costs of lobbying for "liberal" corporation codes were low. Innovations in law can thus be explained by the same benefit-cost calculus that describes economic innovation.     

INDUSTRIAL DYNAMICS AND THE NEOCLASSICAL GROWTH MODEL

This paper studies industry-level dynamics and demonstrates the ability of a modified neoclassical growth model to capture a range of empirical facts. The paper begins by using U.S. data to document skilled and unskilled labor trends within industry sector classifications as well as industry sector output trends. Using Current Population Survey data from 1968 to 2004, it is shown that the ratio of skilled workers to unskilled workers employed has risen in all industries. The absolute increase in this ratio was larger in the more skilled industries, while the growth rate was larger in the less skilled industries. Furthermore, using national income account data, it is shown that relatively high-skilled industries have accounted for an increasing share of output over time. A version of the neoclassical growth model is then constructed to match these observations. One important feature of this model is a structure that introduces new goods into the economy at each moment of time. The model is able to capture a rich set of labor market movements between sectors and between skill levels as well as changes in the relative output shares across industries, yet preserves many nice features of the neoclassical growth model. ( JEL E13, J20, 030)     

Sentencing and Recidivism: an Analysis by Personality Tyoe

Summary This article describes some personality and other characteristicsof a sample of 230 male offenders in London, and relates thesevariables to recommendations made by probation officers, sentencespassed by the courts, and the outcome of penal treatment interms of further convictions. The probation officers in thestudy were more likely to recommend probation for introvertedneurotics than any other personality type, and once on probationthis group was the least likely to be reconvicted. Offenderswho were extravert attracted the largest proportion of recommendationsfor custodial sentences, and on probation the extraverts whoscored low on neuroticism were most likely to be reconvicted.A tentative explanation of the findings is offered in termsof a probation 'treatment success hierarchy'     

Towards Accountability in Social Work: One Year's Intake to an Area Office

Summary Monitoring one year's referrals to an area office of a socialservices department, we found that of the 2,436 referrals representing2,057 cases, about half were already known to the area office.Demographically the clientele fell largely into three groups—theelderly, young families and children. The main problem groupingsconsisted of those with physical disabilities or suffering fromfrailty in old age, those with financial and environmental problems,and families with disturbed relationships and child care problems.Most of the clients had short-term help and at the end of sixmonths only 11% of the referrals were still open. Distinctive profiles emerged when comparing the routes by whichclients with different types of problems reached the area officeand the help they got once they had passed its threshold: (a) The elderly and disabled, mainly referred by the healthservices, received predominantly practical help. (b) Those with financial and material problems, largely self-referred,received information, advice and referral to other agencies. (c) The disturbed families, referred by many different sources,received detailed exploration, assessment and casework. Those clients who were passed on for more extended help to thelong-term teams—some 10% of the intake—were mainlythe very vulnerable elderly and disabled persons, and childrenwho had been taken into care or who were in need of surveillanceand protection for other reasons. The study raises questions about the methods of service deliveryin response to the demands made on the area office and discussespossible changes in approach towards more community-orientedpreventive work.     

ALTRUISM, DEFICIT POLICIES, AND THE WEALTH OF FUTURE GENERATIONS

Available evidence suggests that the generations of most families are linked by altruistic human capital investment, rather than by altruistic financial transfers. What is the consequence of this distinction for the Ricardian Equivalence Theorem? We use a realistically calibrated overlapping generations model to show that, despite the presence of altruistic human capital transfers, deficit policies are likely to reduce the aftertax wealth of future generations. Furthermore, the majority of households in the current-period population would vote in favor of a deficit-financed tax cut.     

COMMUNICATION AND INCENTIVE MECHANISMS BASED ON GROUP PERFORMANCE: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF NONPOINT POLLUTION CONTROL

This article considers whether communication can improve the efficacy of incentive mechanisms designed to correct the problem of moral hazard in groups. In particular, we use experimental economics methods to study environmental targeting instruments proposed by Segerson (1988) for regulating a group of nonpoint source polluters based on ambient concentrations. We find that communication greatly affects group performance, enhancing the efficiency of instruments involving fixed fines but leading to overcompliance, and hence inefficiency, in marginal tax/subsidy instruments. These results have implications for future theoretical development of group performance mechanisms as well as the design of public policies. (JEL H23 , C92 )