The Bereavement of Parents and Their Search for Meaning

Summary The emotional relief of bereavement is generally recognizedas being the primary task of mourner and caregiver, but lessattention has been given to the ways in which the bereaved understandtheir experience and reconstitute family life. Recent studiesof parents whose children have died in traumatic circumstances,from murder, suicide and operation, suggest that it is an essentialpart of griefwork to resolve the meaninglessness of the crises.Those whose children die from chronic disease, handicaps, oraccidents, also need to find a meaning in their tragedies. Bereavementis thus a total psychophysical experience of suffering, andthe renewal of family life depends on the acceptance of separationand the regenerative use of its pain. Insights from psychiatrists and sociologists are acknowledgedand related to those of bereaved parents, and to the developmentof their self-help association, The Compassionate Friends. Theseprovide models of mourning and a collective response to familyloss which offer hope, support and varieties of meaning to thenewly bereaved. The roles of health and social workers involved in pre- andpost-bereavement care are explored, and ideas are offered formaking the social network more supportive. It is suggested thatthis will not be costly in material resources, but in thoseneeded for the more therapeutic involvement of the caregiver.     

A LABORATORY STUDY OF AUCTIONS WITH A BUY PRICE

We present a series of laboratory experiments that examine auctions with buy prices, which are prices that allow a bidder to stop the auction and buy the item immediately. Two types of buy prices are considered, one that is available throughout the auction and one that disappears with an initial bid. Both are evaluated with and without proxy bidding. We find that the use of a buy price increases revenue, early bidding, and auction efficiency. Differences between outcomes in auctions with permanent and temporary buy prices are consistent with the observed choices in auction design made by online auction sites. (JEL C90, D44, C70, L81)     

Pre-school immunisation: the importance of achieving adequate uptake

SUMMARY. With the anticipated introduction of a triple vaccine that protects against measles, mumps and rubella, the proportion of children vaccinated each year will need to rise from 68 per cent to 95 per cent if the target of eliminating measles is to be achieved. This article reviews the morbidity associated with preventable infectious diseases of childhood, discusses possible reasons for inadequate vaccine uptake and suggests ways for improving this situation including the case for school entry legislation.     

CLASSROOM EXPERIMENTS: NOT JUST FUN AND GAMES

The impact of classroom experiments on student performance, attitudes towards economics, and retention is examined. Experiments increase cognitive gains overall but may be more helpful in teaching some topics than others. The size of the impact varies with preferred learning style. Multimodal and kinesthetic learners are significantly affected, while read–write learners fare just as well with the traditional lecture/discussion format. Attitudes towards economics and retention of economic knowledge are also improved by classroom experiments. The results indicate that the costs of implementing experiments in the classroom may very well be offset by the benefits to students. ( JEL A22, C90)     

Iterated Bootstrap-t Confidence Intervals for Density Functions

Abstract.  Conventional bootstrap- t intervals for density functions based on kernel density estimators exhibit poor coverages due to failure of the bootstrap to estimate the bias correctly. The problem can be resolved by either estimating the bias explicitly or undersmoothing the kernel density estimate to undermine its bias asymptotically. The resulting bias-corrected intervals have an optimal coverage error of order arbitrarily close to second order for a sufficiently smooth density function. We investigated the effects on coverage error of both bias-corrected intervals when the nominal coverage level is calibrated by the iterated bootstrap. In either case, an asymptotic reduction of coverage error is possible provided that the bias terms are handled using an extra round of smoothed bootstrapping. Under appropriate smoothness conditions, the optimal coverage error of the iterated bootstrap- t intervals has order arbitrarily close to third order. Examples of both simulated and real data are reported to illustrate the iterated bootstrap procedures.     

Redeeming the "Character of the Creoles": Whiteness, Gender and Creolization in Pre-Revolutionary Saint Domingue

This article examines the political significance of white creolization in pre-revolutionary French Saint Domingue. Eighteenth-century Europeans tended to view white creoles as having physically, morally, and culturally degenerated due to the tropical climate, the monotony of plantation life, and their interaction with enslaved and free people of color. Yet elite white colonists in Saint Domingue claimed that white creoles possessed certain positive traits due to their new world birth, traits that rendered them physically stronger and potentially more virtuous than the French. Focusing on little-known publications authored by the white creole Moreau de Saint-Méry, this article highlights the deployment of gendered notions of virtue and noble savagery in debates over white creolization. Moreau's claims, when placed in the context of a conflict between local colonial magistrates and the French Colonial Ministry, challenge interpretations of white creolization as an undesirable, subversive side-effect of colonial slavery. Rather, white colonial men claimed that white colonists knew best how to ensure the obedience of the enslaved precisely because of their creolization.