DIFFERENTIATED ASSETS: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON BUBBLES

In this paper, we study if and how having two differentiated assets affects bubble formation. We consider differences in assets' intrinsic characteristics as well as trading regulations that help differentiate two otherwise identical assets. We find that, compared to trading regulations, differences in assets' intrinsic characteristics encourage more arbitrage across assets and thus help reduce mispricing significantly. We also find that short‐term speculation does not depend on how assets or markets are being differentiated. As a result, short‐term speculation cannot be used to explain why bubbles are smaller when two assets are intrinsically different than when they are not. (JEL C91, F34)     

Interviewing Changes Attitudes--Sometimes

To examine the effects of interviewing respondents were questionedabout either cancer or burglary prevention in an interview,and later they received either relevant information or no information.Changes in attitudes were measured in a second interview, andthe results showed that asking questions about cancer changedrespondents' attitudes toward cancer, but interviewing aboutburglary prevention did not change attitudes toward crime. Theevidence suggests that interview effects will occur when therespondent's attitudes and information are unfocused or ambiguousand the topic is important. Theoretically, this can be attributedto competence motivation and a postulated desire to maintainself-esteem in the interview situation     

Time Warped: The Flexibilization and Maximization of Flight Attendant Working Time*

Le temps de travail a été le sujet de débats et de luttes tout au long de l'histoire du capitalisme industriel, et le contexte actuel de transformation économique et sociale rapide a sur lui de profondes répercussions. Au moyen d'une étude de cas des nouvelles réalités de temps de travail des agentes et agents de bord d'Air Canada, cet article aide à améliorer notre compréhension des répercussions de ces mutations sur les travailleuses et travailleurs dans notre économie de services en pleine croissance. Je veux montrer que le régime de temps de travail de l'aviation commerciale de l'époque de la mondialisation-déréglementation a renforcé la réification de la force de travail des agentes et agents de bord.
Working time has been the subject of debates and struggles throughout the history of industrial capitalism, and the current context of rapid economic and social transformation is having profound repercussions on it. Through a case study of the new working-time realities of flight attendants at Air Canada, this article helps fill the gap in our understanding of the impact of changing temporalities on workers in the ever-expanding service economy. I demonstrate that the globalization/ deregulation-era airline-industry working-time regime has deepened the commodity status of flight attendant labour power.     

Part‐time Shift: The Struggle over the Casualization of Airline Customer Sales and Service Agent Work*

Par L'examen du conflit, dans les années 1980, entourant L'utilisation par Air Canada de travailleuses et travailleurs à temps partiel pour réaliser le travail d'agentes et agents de ventes et de service à la clientèle, cet article vise à développer nos connaissances de la précarisation du travail col‐blanc des femmes dans le secteur des services dans un contexte de restructuration économique ainsi que du rôle joué par les syndicats dans le façonnement du rapport d'emploi. L'étude analyse comment les efforts d'Air Canada pour rendre le travail plus flexible colorèrent les négotiations collectives et incitèrent les agentes et agents à faire la grève pour la première fois de leur histoire et à intégrer leur syndicat à un syndicat plus puissant et militant. L'article se penche sur les effets contradictoires du processus de précarisation sur la capacité des agentes, en particulier, de jouir de plus d'indépendance et d'égalité sur le marché du travail. Il souligne aussi les difficultés auxquelles est confronts le syndicat dans ses efforts pour résister à la déstandardisation. Through an examination of the struggle, during the 1980s, over the use by Air Canada of part‐time workers to perform customer sales and service agent work, this article aims to expand our knowledge and understanding of the casualization of women's white‐collar, service‐sector employment under economic restructuring and the role played by unions in shaping the contours of the employment relationship. The study focusses on how Air Canada's attempt to promote labour flexibility coloured contract negotiations and was pivotal in prompting agents to take strike action for the first time in their history, as well as merge their union with a more powerful and militant one. It examines the contradictory effects of the casualization process on agents' ability to achieve independence and equality in the labour market and underscores the difficulties faced by the union in resisting destandardization.