Imposing and Testing for Shape Restrictions in Flexible Parametric Models

In many economic models, theory restricts the shape of functions, such as monotonicity or curvature conditions. This article reviews and presents a framework for constrained estimation and inference to test for shape conditions in parametric models. We show that “regional” shape-restricting estimators have important advantages in terms of model fit and flexibility (as opposed to standard “local” or “global” shape-restricting estimators). In our empirical illustration, this is the first article to impose and test for all shape restrictions required by economic theory simultaneously in the “Berndt and Wood” data. We find that this dataset is consistent with “duality theory,” whereas previous studies have found violations of economic theory. We discuss policy consequences for key parameters, such as whether energy and capital are complements or substitutes.     

Male Clients of Male Escorts: Satisfaction,Sexual Behavior,and Demographic Characteristics

Few studies have examined male clients who pay for sex with male escorts. In 2012, clients (n = 495) completed an online survey about their most recent hire. Most clients were White/Caucasian (87.7%), HIV negative (89.5%), employed full time (71.1%), single (58.6%), with a mean age of 54. Three-quarters of clients were gay identified, 18% bisexual, and 4% heterosexual. The median rate paid to escorts was $250 per hour with a modal appointment time of 1 to 2 hours (41.6%). Oral sex was common (80% gave, 69% received), 30% reported anal insertive sex, and 34% reported anal receptive sex. In total, few (12%) reported unprotected anal sex. Satisfaction with encounters was high. Receptive unprotected anal intercourse was associated with greater satisfaction in bivariate analyses but not in multivariable analyses. In a multivariable model, having receptive anal sex (whether protected or not) and rating the financial cost of the encounter as “worth it” were significantly associated with greater satisfaction. This study contributes to a scarce literature regarding clients of male sex workers and, in particular, provides information on the characteristics of men hiring men for sexual services, behavioral event-level data about their encounters, and analysis of factors directly associated with client satisfaction.     

Sexual Harassment,Psychological Distress,and Problematic Drinking Behavior Among College Students: An Examination of Reciprocal Causal Relations

Sexual harassment on college campuses is a frequent occurrence and serious public health concern. Victims of sexual harassment are at risk for many possible negative health consequences. In addition, certain psychological distress symptoms and/or alcohol use may put individuals at increased risk of being victims of sexual harassment. Data from more than 2,000 college students in the Midwestern United States were used to examine reciprocal causal effects of the relations between (a) experiencing sexual harassment and alcohol use and (b) experiencing sexual harassment and psychological distress symptoms, specifically depression and anger/hostility. Analyses were conducted separately for sexual harassment which occurs at school and which occurs in college students’ workplaces, and also separately for men and women. Results of cross-lagged panel models showed that there were reciprocal causal effects between sexual harassment and alcohol problems, depression, and anger. Discussion focuses on the overall patterns of results as well as the nuances within these findings.     

Parental wealth and resource transfers: How they matter in France for home ownership and living standards

The role played by parental wealth in facilitating the life chances and living standards of offspring is a topic of growing interest in stratification research. For working and middle class households much of their intervivos transfers to children is provided in the form of assistance with a home purchase. This paper examines the impact of parental wealth and transfers of wealth on several aspects of the homeownership decision - the timing of the purchase, the cost of the home, and the downpayment proportion, as well as living standards subsequent to the purchase. We utilize a unique data set from France which contains information on parental wealth and wealth transfers from both sets of parents of a couple. We correct for possible endogeneity of parental transfers and model the joint determination of the downpayment proportion and home value. The results make clear the complex pathways by which parental wealth influences the tenancy arrangements and living standards of offspring.     

Grandchild Care Transfers by Ageing Immigrants in France: Intra-household Allocation and Labour Market Implications

Using a unique sample on ageing first generation immigrants in France, we explore the distribution of grandchild care across offspring and the impact of this transfer on the labour supply of the mother. Our results indicate that grandchild care is spread unequally across siblings, and this inequality is driven more strongly by better labour market potential than by weaker financial status of the recipient. There is further evidence that even after accounting for potential endogeneity and unobserved heterogeneity, grandchild care has a positive impact on the labour supply of the mother. The pattern of intergenerational time transfers differs across people with different national and religions backgrounds.     

The recruitment and selection of hospital medical consultants

Abstract

The literature on selection has been dominated in recent decades by the ‘prediction’ paradigm. Such an approach requires a substantial number of positions to be filled in order to compute validity coefficients. There are other approaches, using a different paradigm, when concentrated on adjusting the organization and the employee. Here careful analysis of job demands is essential. This article describes such an analysis, taking the medical consultant as an example. The method can be used in an iterative way. It is useful when one has to work with small numbers of positions.     

F?rdern aktienkursbasierte Vergütungsinstrumente langfristig orientierte Unternehmensentscheidungen? Lehren aus der Kreditkrise

The question whether stock-based management incentives encourage long-term oriented management decisions is the topic of a controversial public debate. Also, the existing academic literature provides no clear picture, mainly due to endogeneity problems. In this paper, we reexamine the issue in the context of the recent credit crises, which allows us to solve the endogeneity problem. In the empirical analysis we find that firms, which have awarded stock-based incentives to their executives prior or during the financial crises, face substantially lower cuts in investment spending. These firms also show higher levels of R&D investments during the financial crises. Overall, our results suggest that stock based long-term incentives promote long-term oriented management decisions.     

A bias analysis of Weibull models under heaped data

Retrospectively collected duration data are often reported incorrectly. An important type of such an error is heaping—respondents tend to round-off or round-up the data according to some rule of thumb. For two special cases of the Weibull model we study the behaviour of the ‘naive estimators’, which simply ignore the measurement error due to heaping, and derive closed expressions for the asymptotic bias. These results give a formal justification of empirical evidence and simulation-based findings reported in the literature. Additionally, situations where a remarkable bias has to be expected can be identified, and an exact bias correction can be performed.     

On dynamic stochastic approximation

The behaviour of the dynamic stochastic approximation algorithm suggested by DUPA[Cbreve] [4, 5] is examined under various conditions. Essentially, convergence in q.m. is proved and the rate of convergence is obtained for three classes of regression functions. Necessary and sufficient conditions are established for the convergence in q.m. of the algorithm in terms of the algorithm parameters for the stationary (nondynamic) case.     

Do downward private transfers enhance maternal labor supply? Evidence from around Europe

Using data on 2,317 mother–daughter pairs from 10 European countries, we investigate the impact of downward time and monetary transfers on the career choices of transfer-receiving young mothers. For Europe as a whole, we find a strong positive effect of grandchild care on the labor force participation and the degree of labor market involvement of the young mother, but no impact of monetary transfers on either of these decisions. Both recipients and donors with better endowments are more likely to participate in a monetary transaction, while mothers with lower level of human capital are more likely to provide time transfers to their better endowed daughters.