The "Positivity Bias" inEvaluations of Public Figures:Evidence Against Instrument Artifacts

The "positivity bias" is a term used to describe the consistentfavorable evaluation of public figures found in surveys overthe past 40 years. This paper explored several possible artifactualexplanations for this bias,focusing on the survey instrumentitself. Two experiments varied the labeling and ordering ofscale endpoints, the affective value of the initial contextevaluated, and the presence or absence of a prestigious jobtitle associated with the nameof the public figure. None ofthe variations produced significantly different levels of positivitythan the standard control condition used in each experiment.RichardR. Lau is a graduate student in social psychology at the Universityof California, Los Angeles. David O. Sears is Professor of Psychologyand Political Science at UCLA. Richard Centers is Professorof Psychology at UCLA. This research was supported in part byGrant #SOC73-09153 A03 from the National Science Foundationto David O. Sears. The authors wish to expess their thanks toMark Williams, who did most of the coding and checking involvedin the survey.     

ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATIVE SCHEDULING POLICIES FOR HOSPITAL NURSES

The persistent shortage of nurses adversely affects the productivity, quality of care, and operating costs in most acute care hospitals. Aggravating the shortage are high nurse turnover rates, approaching 200% in some institutions. Policies to ensure adequate staffing levels and provide more attractive work schedules are alleged to improve nurse retention. However, their cost is seldom discussed. We compared expected nursing expense and workforce requirements to staff eight medical and surgical nursing units of a large hospital for 1 month, under 12 different scheduling policies alleged to improve turnover. Using simulation and an integrated staffing and scheduling methodology, we found that the expected nursing wages and workforce requirements for some policies differed by as much as 33%. In this hospital, the expected labor costs for certain policies could erode the benefits expected from improved retention. In contrast, other policies appear to allow high utilization of nursing resources, enhancing the expected benefits of reduced turnover with significant reductions in expenses for labor, recruiting, training, and fringe benefits.     

Inference for Epidemics with Three Levels of Mixing: Methodology and Application to a Measles Outbreak

Abstract. A stochastic epidemic model is defined in which each individual belongs to a household, a secondary grouping (typically school or workplace) and also the community as a whole. Moreover, infectious contacts take place in these three settings according to potentially different rates. For this model, we consider how different kinds of data can be used to estimate the infection rate parameters with a view to understanding what can and cannot be inferred. Among other things we find that temporal data can be of considerable inferential benefit compared with final size data, that the degree of heterogeneity in the data can have a considerable effect on inference for non‐household transmission, and that inferences can be materially different from those obtained from a model with only two levels of mixing. We illustrate our findings by analysing a highly detailed dataset concerning a measles outbreak in Hagelloch, Germany.     

Continuities in Support for Racial Equality, 1972 to 1976

Capitalizing upon the panel component of the 1972–1976National Election Study, we explore change in white Americans'support for racial equality. Two general propositions regardingindividual change are examined: frustration-aggression theory,which attributes change to the stresses and strains of privatelife; and realistic group conflict theory, which attributeschange to the tangible threats blacks pose to whites' privateinterests. We find intermittent support for the first and virtuallyno support for the second. Much more impressive is the durabilityof opinion on racial equality, the insulation of racial opinionfrom the ostensibly powerful predicaments of private life.     

Expert system for production manager recruitment

Abstract

Production manager recruitment poses a three-fold problem: finding a broad-knowtedged recruiter; obtaining an objective evaluation of the candidate; and the ever present risk of accepting unqualified candidates and rejecting qualified candidates A prototype expert system (ES) was developed for the purpose of testing the technical potential for computer assisted recruiting. The ES embodied a three-fold strategy: probing the candidate's past; asking questions from a business case study; and from several human-behaviour, video-taped episodes. The candidate's responses are graded, rated for competency (excellent, good, fair, poor), and weighted. A hiring action is recommended based on the composite weight. The prototype effectively demonstrated thit potential for expert system-conducted recruiting.     

Bringing About Changes to Corporate Social Policy through Shareholder Activism: Filers,Issues, Targets,and Success

We examine shareholder initiated social policy proposals' capacity to exert pressure on management to force it to adopt the suggested changes in policy. We show that social proposals, filed under the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Rule 14a‐8, have a more limited capacity to change corporate social policy than it has been previously reported. However, the capacity to exert pressure on firms can be substantially higher for some types of filers, notably pension funds and mutual funds. The analysis also suggests that the capacity to influence management is higher for some types of issues presented in the resolution, such as those related to board diversity, energy and environment, and international laborand human rights. We also provide suggestions explaining why shareholder activism is a persistent practice despite its limited results.     

UNEMPLOYMENT AND FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS FACED BY SMALL FIRMS

A distinguishing feature of small firms is that most small business owners work for themselves and only employ relatives and friends. We examine conditions under which this labor market practice is an economic outcome and consider the link between this outcome and unemployment. The model is motivated by empirical evidence that suggests that small firms are subject to financial constraints that are supported by information asymmetries. I show that, in a constrained equilibrium, sole proprietorship and unemployment arise from an information imperfection in the credit market that makes infeasible the consummation of mutually beneficial contracts in the labor market.     

WHY DON'T POOR COUNTRIES CATCH UP? A CROSS-NATIONAL TEST OF AN INSTITUTIONAL EXPLANATION

Early neoclassical analyses predicted that poor countries would grow faster than wealthy countries, because of technological advances and diminishing returns to capital in the latter. The reverse has occurred: poor countries are falling back rather than catching up. We suggest here that deficient institutions underlie this divergence. Employing various indicators of institutional quality, including the rule of law, the pervasiveness of corruption, and the risk of expropriation and contract repudiation, we show that the ability of poor countries to catch up is determined in large part by the institutional environment in which economic activity in these countries takes place. (JEL O00, O10)     

DOES THE CENTRAL AMERICAN COMMON MARKE1 BENEFIT ITS MEMBERS?

This paper estimates the welfare consequences for members of the Central American Common Market if they abolish their union by imposing tariffs against each other. An imperfect substitutes trade model is used and direct estimates are provided for the effects of the union. These are important advances over previous studies, which relied on perfect substitutes models and merely imputed the effects of the union by assuming that it left either market shares or income elasticities of demand constant in member countries. The union is shown to impose static welfare losses on the members, which contradicts the results of previous studies.