The effect of probing on deceivers and truthtellers

This study examined the effect of probing for additional information on the accuracy of deception detection. One hundred forty-eight experimental interactions were analyzed to see whether deceivers and truthtellers behave differently when probed and whether probing improved deception detection. Probing produced a number of changes in nonverbal behavior, several of which differed between deceivers and truthtellers. Probing may have communicated suspicion or uncertainty; therefore, deceptive sources were motivated to control their nonverbal demeanor to mask deception-related cues and appear truthful. Probing did not improve detection. Instead, probing receivers considered all sources more truthful. It is suggested that suspiciousness and prior knowledge may affect probing's efficacy.     

ON THE ESTIMATION OF TOTAL WEIGHT IN SINGULAR SPRING BALANCE WEIGHING DESIGNS UNDER THE CO VARIANCE MATRIX OF ERRORS s2G

The problem of the estimation of the linear combination of weights, c′w, in a singular spring balance weighing design when the error structure takes the form E(ee′) =s?²G has been studied. A lower bound for the variance of the estimated linear combination of weights is obtained and a necessary and sufficient condition for this lower bound to be attained is given. The general results are applied to the case of the total of the weights. For a specified form for G, some optimum spring balance weighing designs for the estimated total weight are found.     

Interhousehold Transfers of Goods and Services and Reported Well-Being Among Polish Households

Analyses of data from 600 households in the province of Lubin, Poland, five years after the economic transformation indicated the transfers of goods and services between households to be quite prevalent, with households with high levels of resources giving goods and services and those with low levels of resources receiving goods and services. The receipt of such transfers does not improve the living conditions of the receiving households relative to those who do not receive help; in fact, those receiving help report lower levels of satisfaction than those not receiving assistance.     

Irregular Migration and Informal Economy in Southern and Central‐Eastern Europe: Breaking the Vicious Cycle?

The flexible and cheap labour that European “post‐industrial” economies are in need of is often facilitated by undeclared labour. The undocumented migrant, from his/her part, relatively easily finds work that suits his ‐‐ at least initial ‐‐ plans. What lies behind this nexus between irregular migration and informal economy? To what extent can this nexus be attributed to the structural features of the so‐called “secondary”, as opposed to “primary”, labour market? And how does migration policy correlate with this economic context and lead to the entrapment of migrants in irregularity? Finally, can this vicious cycle of interests and life‐strategies be broken and what does the experience of the migrants indicate in this respect? This paper addresses these questions via an exploration of the grounds upon which irregular migration and the shadow economy complement each other in southern Europe (SE) and central and Eastern Europe (CEE) (two regions at different points in the migration cycle). In doing so, the dynamic character of the nexus between informal economy and irregular migration will come to the fore, and the abstract identity of the “average” undocumented migrant will be deconstructed.     

Migration Movements from and into Poland in the Light of East‐West European Migration

This article investigates migratory movements from and into Poland before and after the collapse of communism. The character and scale of these movements are of considerable significance, not only for politicians and societies in the CEE region, but also for European integration. The Polish eastern border is likely to remain one of the few places in Europe where it will be possible to control mobility on the East‐West axis. One cannot discuss East‐West mobility without discussing the emigration of Poles. Because recent immigration into Poland from the East should also be assessed from the perspective of both Poland and the West, the article examines emigration trends from Poland and immigration into Poland as well as the demographic characteristics of migrants. Only official statistical data are considered. Migration pressure from the East induced by the collapse of the system, combined with the restricted migration policy of Western Europe towards former USSR countries, were conducive to the formation of the Central European buffer zone. Poland is probably the best example of a buffer zone country. From the Western perspective it is also the most important country because the future of East‐West migration depends on the extension of the visa regime by Poland. Irrespective of the introduction of new hurdles, there will be other ways of channelling the movement from the East via Poland to the West. Globalization of migration will inevitably increase flows from the East. It is argued that the key to future European migration lies also in the West, more specifically in the employment needs of western labour markets.     

Uniqueness of characterization of absolutely continuous distributions by regressions of generalized order statistics

We provide a new approach to the problem of the unique identification of distributions with a continuous density by a single regression function of order statistics or record values or, more generally, generalized order statistics. Using their Markov property we show that the characterization is unique if and only if the corresponding system of differential equations has the unique solution. This result is new even in the particular case of ordinary order statistics. This approach provides a new proof of characterization of power, exponential and Pareto distributions by linearity of corresponding regression. It also yields new examples of characterizations of distributions.     

Are they fellow countrymen or not? The migration of ethnic Poles from Kazakhstan to Poland

"This article presents the process of migration of Kazakhs of Polish ancestry from Kazakhstan to Poland which has been taking place since the early 1990s. Poles deported in the past to Kazakhstan were mostly inhabitants of territories which did not belong to Poland; neither were they citizens of Poland. Therefore, the process of adaptation and integration was rather painful. The article points to factors that may simplify and those that may impede integration. The other problem...concerns the piecemeal policy towards Kazakhstan Poles, adopted by the Polish government, which seems risky if not dangerous. The author explains why it may cause a huge wave of illegal immigration to Poland."     

On the problem of the unique characterization of discrete distributions by single regression of weak records

We consider the problem of the unique identification of discrete probability distributions by the single regression function of non-adjacent discrete weak record values. We present a new approach to this problem and we show that the uniqueness of the characterization is equivalent to the uniqueness of solution to a corresponding difference equation or an appropriate system of difference equations. This result is applied to obtain known as well as new characterizations of discrete distributions.     

Application of Bongaarts's fertility model in Poland

Bongaarts's fertility model is applied to 1977 fertility data for Poland. The results show that the most important proximate determinants of fertility are contraception and abortion. The author questions the validity of previous analyses of the determinants of Polish fertility undertaken by J. Bongaarts and T. Frejka using data for 1972.