THE MARKET FOR MOTION PICTURES: RANK, REVENUE, AND SURVIVAL

Every motion picture is an innovation that competes for theater screens and audiences during its brief life against a changing array of imperfect substitutes. We analyze a large sample of motion pictures as an evolving rank tournament of survival and death. The results indicate that the failure rate of motion pictures is time-dependent and survival time is strongly related to the number of initial bookings. Weekly box office revenue is highly convex in rank, which is consistent with Rosen's superstar phenomenon. Our results have implications for motion picture licensing arrangements, which have been severely restricted by U.S. court decisions.     

SOME EFFECTS OF OWNERSHIP ON THE WHOLESALE PRICES OF ELECTRIC POWER

Differences in the property rights which distinguish government-owned and privately-owned, government-regulated business firms imply that government-owned electric utilities sell wholesale electric power at lower prices and buy it at higher prices than similarly-situated private firms. The hypotheses were tested using cross-section data. The results are generally favorable and suggest that the approach is fruitful.     

Regulation and the future of work: The employment relationship as an innovation facilitator

Digital transformation and the reorganization of the firm have given rise to new forms of work that diverge significantly from the standard employment relationship. Advocates of digital disruption suggest that the existing legal framework cannot accommodate “innovative” working templates and business models. This article, however, argues that labour regulation can continue to facilitate innovation, presenting the employment relationship as a flexible instrument, and standard forms of employment as the means of achieving efficiencies and cost advantages. First, they allow for the full exercise of managerial prerogative and attendant internal flexibility in workforce deployment, and, second, they constitute an effective device to deliver training and develop skills.     

Post‐return experiences and transnational belonging of return migrants: a Dutch—Moroccan case study

In this article we explore the links between return migration, belonging and transnationalism among migrants who returned from the Netherlands to northeast Morocco. While transnationalism is commonly discussed from the perspective of a receiving country, this study shows that transnationalism also plays a vital role in reconstructing post‐return belonging. Return migration is not simply a matter of ‘going home’, as feelings of belonging need to be renegotiated upon return. While returnees generally feel a strong need to maintain various transnational practices, the meanings they attach to these practices depend on motivations for return, gender and age. For former (male) labour migrants, transnational practices are essential for establishing post‐return belonging, whereas such practices are less important for their spouses. Those who returned as children generally feel uprooted, notwithstanding the transnational practices they maintain. The amount of agency migrants are able to exert in the return decision‐making process is a key factor in determining the extent to which returnees can create a post‐return transnational sense of home.     

Efficient Estimation of an Additive Quantile Regression Model

Abstract. In this paper, two non‐parametric estimators are proposed for estimating the components of an additive quantile regression model. The first estimator is a computationally convenient approach which can be viewed as a more viable alternative to existing kernel‐based approaches. The second estimator involves sequential fitting by univariate local polynomial quantile regressions for each additive component with the other additive components replaced by the corresponding estimates from the first estimator. The purpose of the extra local averaging is to reduce the variance of the first estimator. We show that the second estimator achieves oracle efficiency in the sense that each estimated additive component has the same variance as in the case when all other additive components were known. Asymptotic properties are derived for both estimators under dependent processes that are strictly stationary and absolutely regular. We also provide a demonstrative empirical application of additive quantile models to ambulance travel times.     

西藏高职学生就业问题及对策分析

西藏自治区高等职业教育自2006年9月开办以来,学生就业工作取得了一定的成绩,但由于受许多社会、经济等因素的制约,也存在着许多问题,影响了学生就业工作和西藏高等职业教育的进一步发展。针对西藏高职学生就业工作的现状,分析讨论了目前集中存在的几方面问题,并从就业观念、职业技能、创业创新等方面提出了相应的对策。     

Analyzing Politics and Change in Women's Organizations

Research on women's political action too often passes over women's organizations that do not officially adopt a feminist ideology and do not explicitly set out to change gender power relations. Based on implicit notions that such women's organizations are nonpolitical (or less interesting), the research often supports a false dichotomy between feminist and nonfeminist organizations rather than illuminates women's common political ground. This study addresses women's collective action, politics and change by focusing on the case of Nicaraguan Mothers of Heroes and Martyrs - women who lost a son or daughter in the revolution or Contra War. Although some members in Matagalpa critiqued male domination, the organization itself did not set out to challenge the gendered division of labor; indeed, their collective demands relied upon and in many ways reinforced traditional gender identities. I argue that such movements are important to feminist political analysis. As I demonstrate in this article, an organization's lack of an official feminist ideology does not mean that individual members do not express interests, identities and ideals that challenge the gendered status quo. Such research, however, requires a nuanced approach, recognizing women as both accommodating and resisting gendered social structures. Thus, this study challenges the dominant feminist-feminine dichotomy by demonstrating that women's collective action is not only per se political (and politically important) but may also challenge as well as reinforce gendered power structures.     

Dynamics of Mixed Coalitions Under Social Cohesion Constraints

ABSTRACT

Parameters for the birth and death diffusion life table model subject to downward jumps randomly occurring at a constant rate are estimated. The jump magnitudes have a beta distribution with support [0, l_x ], where l_x is the total number of survivors prior to the jump. The estimation method is maximum likelihood. The Cramer–Rao Lower bound and the asymptotic distribution for the MLE are derived. The model is applied to the U.S. men′s population from 1900 to 1999.     

原始宗教对达斡尔族风俗习惯的影响

本文在田野作业和文献资料的基础上,运用民俗学的理论知识,主要从达斡尔族信仰习俗、礼仪习俗、丧葬习俗、禁忌习俗、原始医术这五个方面着手分析研究,探讨达斡尔族原始宗教思想对达斡尔族的风俗习惯的影响。可以说在达斡尔族的许多风俗习惯中体现出其原始宗教的印迹,达斡尔族原始宗教对当时的达斡尔族民众的生活产生了深远影响。此论题的研究,对于我们进一步认识、研究达斡尔族历史文化有积极意义,并能为此研究提供一个新的研究视角。