Citizen Support for Hospital Privatization: A Hierarchical Cross-National Analysis

The movement for a new public management (NPM) holds that citizens will put aside partisan and ideological differences to support more efficient service delivery. Focusing on hospital privatization, a multi-national sample is utilized to investigate this assertion. Generalized hierarchical linear modeling (GHLM) is employed as the method of statistical analysis. The findings with regard to privatizing hospitals reveal that citizens develop their policy position by reference to a combination of symbolic political variables, service demand, self-interest, information levels, and political efficacy. The results cast doubt on the assertion that partisan differences will be set aside as citizens consider privatization reforms.

Using copulas for rating weather index insurance contracts

This study develops a methodology for a copula-based weather index insurance design. Because the copula approach is better suited for modeling tail dependence than the standard linear correlation approach, its use may increase the effectiveness of weather insurance contracts designed to provide protection against extreme weather events. In our study, we employ three selected Archimedean copulas to capture the left-tail dependence in the joint distribution of the farm yield and a specific weather index. A hierarchical Bayesian model is applied to obtain consistent estimates of tail dependence using relatively short time series. Our empirical results for 47 large grain-producing farms from Kazakhstan indicate that, given the choice of an appropriate weather index to signal catastrophic events, such as a severe drought, copula-based weather insurance contracts may provide significantly higher risk reductions than regression-based indemnification schemes.     

Estimation of coefficient of dispersion using auxiliary information

In this note, we consider the problem of estimation of coefficient of dispersion of a study variable by making use of known value of the coefficient of dispersion of an auxiliary variable. We propose ratio and regression-type estimators. We derive expressions of bias and variance of the proposed estimators to the first order of approximation. The relative efficiencies of the ratio and regression-type estimators with respect to the naïve estimator are investigated through a simulation study.     

个体信任认知对博弈合作行为的影响

将信任认知视为局中人关于对方选择合作的信念,探讨在一次性囚徒困境、有限次重复囚徒困境以及无限次重复囚徒困境中,信任认知对局中人策略选择与系统均衡的影响。为了体现信任认知的动态性,以及降低信任预测的主观性,将动态信任预测认知模型引入到重复博弈的分析框架中。研究表明：当个体的总体信任度超过某一临界值时,合作现象将会在系统中涌现并维持。此外,局中人的本轮满意度、历史直接信任度、直接信任度,间接信任度以及活跃度等因素均对其合作行为产生一定的影响。     

Likelihood estimation for longitudinal zero-inflated power series regression models

In this paper, a zero-inflated power series regression model for longitudinal count data with excess zeros is presented. We demonstrate how to calculate the likelihood for such data when it is assumed that the increment in the cumulative total follows a discrete distribution with a location parameter that depends on a linear function of explanatory variables. Simulation studies indicate that this method can provide improvements in obtaining standard errors of the estimates. We also calculate the dispersion index for this model. The influence of a small perturbation of the dispersion index of the zero-inflated model on likelihood displacement is also studied. The zero-inflated negative binomial regression model is illustrated on data regarding joint damage in psoriatic arthritis.     

工会发展与工资不平等： 美英工会的标准化工资率策略

从历史分析的角度看,工会和集体谈判对降低工资不平等有积极作用。美英两国的工会力量在过去一百年的发展中呈现出先增后降的倒U形趋势,与此同时,工资差距和收入不平等程度则呈同步反向运动。工会出于组织考虑、客观标准和工人团结的原因,在集体谈判中采用标准化工资率策略,提高了低工资者收入,压缩了工资分布范围,从而缩小了不平等程度。而我国存在集体合同覆盖率低、协商不充分等问题,为了改善我国收入不平等问题,需要进一步发挥工会在初次分配中的作用。     

农民专业合作社财务绩效的影响因素分析——基于浙江省319家农民专业合作社的实地调查

基于国内外学者对于农民专业合作社绩效的理论研究成果,本文从合作社运行机制的基本维度、行为（过程）维度和结果维度等三个维度出发,采用农业部为了解全国农民专业合作社各方面情况而专门制作的具有科学性和实用性的问卷,对浙江省319家农民专业合作社进行了实地调查,最后通过应用因子分析和结构方程模型等研究手段探讨了农民专业合作社财务绩效的影响因素。研究结果表明,农民专业合作社的基本情况、经营活动、治理活动和外部环境对财务绩效有显著的正向影响,其中经营活动的影响较大。最后,基于实证结果,提出了进一步推进合作社财务绩效提升的针对性对策建议。     

Coping,Emotion Regulation,and Self-Blame as Mediators of Sexual Abuse and Psychological Symptoms in Adult Sexual Assault

This study examined whether coping, emotion regulation, and self-blame mediate relationships of trauma histories with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression in adult sexual assault victims (N = 1863). A path analysis showed that theorized mediators partially mediated associations between trauma history variables and psychological symptoms. Specifically, child sexual abuse severity was related to greater post-traumatic stress disorder and depression indirectly through maladaptive coping and decreased emotion regulation but not self-blame. Other traumas had direct relationships with symptoms and partially mediated effects through maladaptive coping and emotion regulation. Child sexual abuse was unrelated to self-blame, but other traumas were related to greater self-blame. Results differed according to whether women had counseling post-assault. Implications are drawn for future research and clinical treatment of adult sexual assault victims.     

Teacher Outcomes from the Second Step Child Protection Unit: Moderating Roles of Prior Preparedness,and Treatment Acceptability

ABSTRACT

Teachers play a critical role in child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention and intervention efforts. We examined the impact of the Second Step Child Protection Unit (CPU) on improving teacher awareness, attitudes, and teacher–student relations for 161 teachers. Teacher baseline scores and treatment acceptability were examined as moderators. Structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed a significant effect of the CPU on teachers’ awareness, attitudes, and teacher–student relations, particularly for teachers with lower prior knowledge, attitudes, and student relationships. Teachers’ acceptability of the CPU also moderated outcomes, where a higher level of acceptability of CSA interventions was associated with an increase in outcomes.     

Grandchildren Caring for Grandparents: Modeling the Complexity of Family Caregiving

ABSTRACT

This study focuses on grandchildren (Generation 3 or G3) caring for grandparents (Generation 1 or G1) and uses agent-based modeling to conceptualize and test a model of two factors—capability and motivation—that may affect a G3's decision to provide care for a G1. We tested our conceptual model and found that the simulated proportion of G3 caregivers has concurrent validity with existing empirical data. In experiments conducted with the validated model, we investigated universal- and targeted-policy changes (tax credit for caregivers) and found that although the universal-policy change increased G3 caregiving overall, a policy change targeting low- and middle-income caregivers was even more successful.