bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
‘Nicht die Kunst darf sich vereinnahmen lassen’: Franzobel, Literature and Politics in the ‘New Austria’
Authors: Stewart Janet
Published: March 2003

In the 1999 Austrian ‘Bundeswahl’, the FPÖ polled 27% of the vote, plunging Austria into political turmoil (Armin Thurnher). ‘Kulturpolitik’ assumed a pivotal role in the election, and continues to be an area of conflict in the ‘New Austria’, where there is evidence of the ‘aestheticisation of politics’ (Walter Benjamin). Benjamin argued that this could be countered only by the ‘politicisation of the aesthetic’. Political commentators have identified re‐politicisation as a marker of life in the ‘New Austria’, and this extends to the literary sphere. A new generation of writers is emerging that has not been involved in the protracted lambasting of the Social Partnership seen in the work of established Austrian literary figures, such as Thomas Bernhard and Elfriede Jelinek. Franzobel, who came from avantgarde circles to win the Bachmann prize in 1995, is one such writer. He commands the respect of those involved in experimental literature, while also being acclaimed as a popular playwright and a novelist. Through an analysis of his political essays and literary works, this article discusses the role of the writer in the recently re‐politicised Vienna within the context of the often controversial, often productive relationship between politics and literature in modern Austria.
‘Wie über alles Gedachte und zu Erdenkende lieb ich Dich’: Kleist's and Henriette Vogel's Todeslitanei as Poetic Figuration of the Beloved – A Reassessment of Kleist's Feminine Credentials
Authors: Ebisch‐Burton Katherine
Published: March 2003

Heinrich von Kleist and Henriette Vogel, in the days before their suicide, exchanged two letters which have come to be known in Kleist scholarship as the Todeslitanei. The article argues that both letters attempt to exploit the possibilities of poetic language to represent the beloved in a diversity of images, an undertaking in which Henriette Vogel appears to outdo Kleist. She seizes on Kleist's invitation to reply to his text and in replying develops innovatively the form he initiates, introducing a structure of thematic ‘strands’ woven through the text which varies Kleist's structure of linear groups of images and breaking down conventional structures and associations in her individual images. The article suggests, in the light of the close comparison made possible by the interaction of Kleist's and Vogel's letters to form a single, two‐authored text, a reconsideration of Hélène Cixous's assessment of Kleist as a successful producer of écriture féminine and the recognition of Vogel as co‐author of Kleist's last poetic work.
The Impact of NAFTA on Mexico's Environmental Policy
Authors: HUSTED BRYAN W. , LOGSDON JEANNE M.
Published: March 2003

A major controversy during the debate over the North American Free Trade Agreement focused on the impact of NAFTA on Mexico's environment. This paper examines the evidence of impact specifically on Mexico's environmental policy. Criteria of impact are developed, and comparisons made for three periods: before 1990 as the baseline period; 1990‐93 when NAFTA was being negotiated; and beginning in 1994 when NAFTA came into effect. Much evidence indicates that Mexico's environmental policymaking and enforcement did improve in the early 1990s while NAFTA was being debated. Some evidence also suggests that the NAFTA‐influenced environmental commitment was sustained during the 1995 financial crisis. Thus, it is concluded that NAFTA has contributed significantly to Mexico's environmental policy.
Environmental Legislation, Real Estate Appraisal and Investment in the UK
Authors: LIZIERI COLIN , PALMER SCARLETT
Published: March 2003

This paper considers the behavior of actors in real estate markets in the face of environmental uncertainty. Environmental legislation has increased in scale and scope with obvious implications for property markets. Developers, investors, occupiers, and lenders may all be affected by changing environmental standards. Any factor that creates valuation uncertainty will have major impacts. Blighted sites and properties will be shunned, while existing real estate portfolios will be adversely affected. A survey of UK property practitioners on their attitudes to environmental hazard reveals that firms seem pessimistic as to their ability to quantify and model the economic and investment implications of environmental risk. There are concerns here for the wider economy and for the business community through supply‐side constraints and suboptimal location. There are implications, too, for local and regional regeneration strategies as whole areas may be blighted by potential contamination. There may be mispricing and arbitrage opportunities in relation to such assets that can be exploited through first mover advantage by firms willing and able to develop effective risk‐sensitive appraisal models.
Predicting Displaced Worker Industry Switching: Targeting Training Programs
Authors: Stock Wendy A.
Published: March 2003

The high cost of providing formal training to displaced workers, combined with the lack of consistent evidence to support training program effectiveness, has prompted researchers and policy makers to suggest that formal training be offered only to select groups of displaced workers. This paper reviews theoretical and empirical outcomes suggesting that displaced workers who are likely to switch industries as a result of displacement are one group toward which formal training could be targeted. Given this motivation, the paper goes on to examine the empirical framework for such targeting. Estimates presented indicate that workers displaced from industries that employ only a small fraction of their local labor force are more likely to switch industries after displacement. In addition, the relative importance of workers' pre‐displacement industries in their local labor markets is a stronger predictor of industry switching than other commonly used measures of local labor market conditions.
Gender and Ethnic Concentration and Employment Prospects for Mexican‐American Migrants
Authors: Shumway J. Matthew , Cooke Thomas J.
Published: March 2003

There is a growing body of literature on both female and ethnic migration, including the effects of migration on earnings and employment. The primary purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of migration on the employment of Mexican‐Americans. This paper attempts to answer the question, “what effect, if any, does the migration of Mexican‐Americans have on their employment outcomes?” To explore this question the empirical research is situated within a gendered and ethnic theoretical framework. Using the 1990 Public Use Microsample (PUMS) data for the empirical analysis, the effects are differentiated by gender and examined as to how localized concentrations of coethnics affect the returns to migration, after controlling for migration self‐selection bias. The results suggest migration decreases the employment probabilities for married women with no significant effect for single women or men. Greater percentage of coethnics increases employment for all groups except single women.
Knowledge, Market Structure, and Economic Coordination: Dynamics of Industrial Districts
Authors: Boschma Ron A. , Lambooy Jan G.
Published: March 2003

The industrial rise of the Third Italy has been characterized by the growth of dynamic networks of flexible small and medium–sized enterprises (SMEs) that are spatially concentrated in specialized industrial districts. This network type of coordination has been associated with horizontal, trust–based relations rather than vertical relations of power and dependency between local organizations. This would lower transaction costs (essential for local systems with an extreme division of labor), facilitate the transmission and exchange of (tacit) knowledge (and thus, learning and innovation), encourage cooperation mechanisms (such as the establishment of research centers), and stimulate political–institutional performance (e.g. through regulation of potential social conflicts).

From an evolutionary perspective, the focus is on the dynamics of industrial districts drawing from current experiences in Italy. In this respect, this paper concentrates on two main features of industrial districts that have largely contributed to their economic success in the past, that is, their network organization and the collective learning process. The evolution of industrial districts is described in terms of organizational adjustments to structural change. The way in which the size distribution of firms has changed is discussed (in particular the role of large companies), how the (power) relationships between local organizations have evolved, what are the current sources and mechanisms of learning, and to what extent institutional lock–in has set in. Finally, a number of trajectories districts may go through in the near future are presented.
A Waste of Time? (Private Rates of Return to Higher Education in the 1990s)
Authors: Ashworth John
Published: March 2003

Since 1990, there has been considerable debate concerning the benefits of the expansion of higher education and the appropriate way to fund such an expansion. This paper demonstrates that three factors are decisive to the individual contemplating higher education: national economic growth; the relative earnings of graduates and non‐graduates; the difference between the average and the marginal student. The results, of analysis based on rates of return, reaffirm the view that a proportion of the costs involved in higher education can be transferred to the graduates themselves in the form of loans. However, there appear to be limits to the costs that can be transferred if all students are to judge that undergraduate study is a worthwhile proposition. Notwithstanding this, most students could be lent more income to study than is now the case and indeed an average student would be advised to take any loans despite the greater debt. Marginal students, however, are making a risky private investment and, therefore, any decisions to further expand may result in students not taking up the places.
Quality Assessment in Initial Teacher Education: Lessons from the 1993/94 OFSTED Experience
Authors: Williams Anne
Published: March 2003

Different interest groups define quality in different ways. Enterprises such as education, and, specifically, teacher education, serve many interest groups including funding bodies, employers and students as consumers. Assessment of quality in this context has to take account of the priorities of such groups if the process is to have credibility. Processes involved also have to take account of the purposes to which such assessments might be put. Issues related to the recent cycle of inspections of secondary initial teacher education courses are discussed in the light of these factors. The process is fairly robust and comprehensive and is thus well equipped to inform various stakeholders and to bring about improvement through inspection. Because of a range of variables which have the potential to influence the outcome of an inspection, the process is less valid as a mechanism for influencing resourcing or as a means of comparing quality in initial teacher education with that in other areas of higher education.
The Dearing Report: A Transatlantic View
Authors: Trow Martin
Published: March 2003

The Dearing Report reflects the perspectives on higher education of the Government that appointed it, perspectives that are widely shared among the leaders of British institutions outside of academic life. It is of interest for that, rather than for its recommendations, which are fundamentally flawed. The Report does not show an intimate knowledge of the institutions about which it advises; it separates its discussions of finance from its comments on teaching and learning; it ignores the wide diversity of higher education institutions, subjects, and students in making its sweeping recommendations, and it does not recognise the limits of its own knowledge, nor make provision for the continuing improvement of the knowledge and understanding on which future policies for British higher education might be based. For these and other reasons, the Report is now one of the many problems facing British higher education rather than part of their solution.
Growing Pains: The Dearing Report from a European Perspective
Authors: Neave Guy
Published: March 2003

The United Kingdom, like most of its European partners has achieved ‘mass’ higher education and Dearing has tried to come to terms with the implications of this and move the debate a stage forward from mass higher education to the learning society, embracing a much wider range of clients and forms of post school education and training. The responsibilities of individual students to manage their own learning experiences are much nearer the centre of the picture than has hitherto been normal in UK universities and colleges. There are similarities between the proposed qualification structure with stopping off points at the end of each full time year and the arrangements which have been in operation in France for some years. There are other examples of proposed convergence with continental models, not least the increase in class size and the assimilation into higher education of casual lecturers.

In contrast the paper also draws attention to the growing role of the state (disguised as the nation) in higher education and the associated ‘juridification’ which seems to be on the wane in Europe. Britain seems well set to discover that feature once decried as quintessential of the overmighty European State, namely the avalanche of ministerial circulars and decrees which ensured cohesion and compliance but also imposed heavy burdens on university managers.
Decision‐Making Behaviour of Potential Higher Education Students
Authors: Moogan Yvonne J. , Baron Steve , Harris Kim
Published: March 2003

This paper examines the decision‐making behaviour adopted by candidates hoping to gain entry into Higher Education. Whether or not the potential students operate a systematic process, thinking logically throughout each step and choosing the alternative with the most favourable ranking, is worthy of discussion. Secondary research confirms the many variables influencing this process, particularly within the USA. However, in‐depth knowledge concerning the criteria that British students employ and their thoughts regarding decision‐making is limited. Hence an exploratory study incorporating Sixth Form pupils of a High School in the NW of England and students from across the UK attending an open‐day at a university also in the NW was undertaken. Results indicate that applicants do follow the sequential stages from ‘problem recognition’to ‘evaluation of alternatives’ using parents' as well as teachers'advice throughout, although there seems to be a gap in the information needs of potential students, which many universities are not currently satisfying.
The Research Assessment Exercise: Strategies and Trade‐Offs
Authors: Talib Ameen , Steele Anthony
Published: March 2003

The funds provided by HEFCE for research are distributed to the universities as a block grant; which the universities in turn distribute to the departments. This ‘research grant’ is a function of the quality of the research undertaken (as measured by the research assessment exercise) and the number of (submitted) research active staff for each unit of assessment (subject area). Hence universities have to take strategic funding positions in regard to trade‐offs between volume and quality.

The Research Assessment Exercise is therefore a budgeting exercise tool to measure past performance benchmarked against the other ‘units’, upon which future budgets are based. The total resources available are allocated based on ex‐post reported performance. The ‘units’ (i.e. universities) participate in the budgetting exercise by having the managerial choice of selective submission of their past performance. The properties of the budget allocation for higher education means any ‘signal’ is accepted; as submissions under the research assessment exercise allow the manager (the university department) to decide on the contents of submission in as far as whom to submit.

The ‘submission strategy’ for the research assessment exercise (RAE) is the primary locus of this paper. The paper provides a brief description of the research funding process and introduces the research funding formula in the first section. A maximisation formula is then derived for optimum coalition of staff submissions. The marginal analysis of the optimum coalition is discussed. If 2/3 (two thirds) of the staff submitted are in a higher category than current rating then partial submission is optimal. The marginal analysis impact on human resource management strategies is described; in particular the value of the mentor type ‘star’ researcher.
Strategically Managing Entrepreneurialism: The Australian University Experience
Authors: Poole David
Published: March 2003

While the practice of university entrepreneurship has become an increasingly popular field of study across the globe (Slaughter & Leslie, 1997; Clark, 1998; Marginson & Considine, 2000), few substantive studies have considered international education from this perspective. Alongside other institutions of higher education in the United Kingdom and New Zealand, Australian universities have increasingly pursued ambitious strategies to participate in the booming international education sector.

Undertaking a mixture of strategies from the traditional to the highly innovative, Australia’s universities have aggressively and often creatively marketed their offerings in the international education market, and the sector now represents Australia’s eighth largest export and third largest services export.

In order to assist in the development of an understanding of how Australia’s universities have moved from government dependence to entrepreneurialism, this study focuses in particular on the management of international education as a key dimension of this trend.

While a general overview of the study’s findings is presented elsewhere (Poole, forthcoming), this article seeks to contrast the management strategies, structures and systems of two universities in the study. A highly international metropolitan university recognized around the world as a leader in international education is compared with a smaller, regional institution in terms of the relative sophistication and professionalism of strategic management practices and processes. The implications of the differences arising between the institutions are discussed.
Political Partisanship, Voting Abstention and Higher Education: Changing Preferences in a British Youth Cohort in the 1990s
Authors: Egerton Muriel
Published: March 2003

This paper focuses on the relationship between education and political partisanship, using the British Household Panel Study (1991–1999). It is known that partisanship has been falling in Britain since the mid–1950s. However, voting abstention rose only gradually until the June 2001 election where the turnout (at 59 per cent) was the lowest since 1918. Partisanship also fell sharply during the 1990s. Although social class and education are associated with turnout in the USA, no relationship has been reported in the UK, and voting seems to have been perceived as a citizen duty. However, in the light of recent changes in voting patterns and educational participation, this paper investigates the role of education, contextualising education effects in social class and gender effects. The preferences of young people are observed in their late teens, before entering the labour market or higher education, and are compared with those of the same young people in their early 20s, after completing higher education courses or gaining labour market experience. The BHPS yielded a sample of about 500 young people with the required data over the time period. It was hypothesised that dissatisfaction with government performance would take different forms for the more and the less educated, with the more educated shifting preferences to minority parties while the less educated shift preferences to voting abstention. The hypothesis was confirmed for young men. Endorsement of abstention was very high for adolescent women who also seemed to be more influenced by their family’s social class. However, by early adulthood a lower proportion of young women endorsed abstention than young men. Strong effects of education were still found with more highly educated young women (as with more highly educated young men) being more likely to have party preferences.
The New Style Boards of Governors – Are They Working?
Authors: Bennett Brian
Published: March 2003

In the 1980s, the Government believed that the extra demand for new graduates would need to be met by making higher education institutions more ‘business–like’. This change was aimed at making these institutions more responsive to the country’s economic needs by improving access, quality and efficiency. One consequence of the move to more ‘business–like’ organisations was the imposition, under The Education Reform Act (1988) and The Further and Higher Education Act (1992), of newly constituted boards of governors upon the new universities and colleges of higher education.

These new boards were structured so that the majority of their membership consisted of ‘independent members’, defined in the 1988 Act as ‘persons appearing to the appointing authority to have experience of, and to have shown capacity in industrial, commercial, or employment matters or the practice of any profession’. These boards were expected to lead, or at least to act as catalysts for, the necessary change process. The paper argues that boards of governors could be said to be very efficient but not necessarily very effective and suggests that more needs to be known about the corporate governance process in the new universities and colleges of higher education.
The Earliest Bill in Eyre: 1259
Authors: Hershey Andrew
Published: March 2003

The aim of this article is to provide evidence for the earliest known use of the term ‘billa’. Previous investigations of the plea rolls, the primary sources, have yielded no use of the term prior to the late thirteenth century. However, a detailed study of one mid thirteenth-century eyre roll has shown the term in use and also provides a clue to the mesne process involved when proceeding by plaint (‘bill’).
The Cult of the Centenary, c.1784–1914
Authors: Quinault Roland
Published: March 2003

Despite recent interest in collective memory, the modern ‘cult of the centenary’ has been neglected by historians. Centennial commemorations of important events or famous people were rare before 1850, but thereafter they increased rapidly in number and scale, both in Britain and throughout the Western world. Centenary commemorations initially grew out of neo‐classical culture, but thereafter, their character evolved in response to new political economic and social developments. Centenary celebrations were a barometer of contemporary esteem and reflected popular and elite attitudes to both the past and the present. Centennialized heroes were variously regarded as secular saints, national icons and local tourist attractions. Some commemorations had a lasting influence and the practice still remains popular today.
Discord in Drogheda: a window on Irish Church–State relations in the sixteen–forties*
Authors: Little Patrick
Published: March 2003

This article explores a dispute between the clergy and choir of St. Peter's church, Drogheda, in November 1645. At first sight this seems little more than a local row over pay and conditions, but the dispute also sheds light on relations between the town and its royalist governors, the difficulty of the marquess of Ormond's political position in a crucial period, and the collaboration between Ormond and the primate of Ireland, Archbishop Ussher. It also reveals much about the condition of the Church of Ireland outside the Irish capital in a time of uncertainty and upheaval in Church and State.
Telling it like it is: news websites and online newspapers
Authors: Moore Fiona
Published: March 2003

This article examines the content and possible uses of four online news providers: , aimed at the potential clients of a major transnational information corporation; , aimed at ‘alternative globalization’ activists; , intended for transnational businesspeople and , directed at both local newspaper readers and members of the Irish diaspora. It suggests that the form, content and multimedia use of each is determined by its target audience and by the use this audience makes of the potential of the Internet for developing cross‐border networks. Furthermore, it suggests that it is not necessarily the size, extensity and power of this audience that determines the degree of sophistication and global engagement of the website, nor is it the power and wealth of the individual website’s developers.
A wedding in the family: home making in a global kin network
Authors: Fog Olwig Karen
Published: March 2003

Rituals such as weddings and funerals are significant for transnational family networks as events where scattered relatives meet and validate shared kinship and common origins. They are particularly important when taking place at a family ‘home’ that has been a centre of social and economic relations and locus of emotional attachment. This article analyses a wedding on a Caribbean island involving a large global family network, which occurred at a critical point in the family’s history. It became an occasion when members asserted their notions of belonging rooted in the ‘home’, not just as members of a common kin group, but as persons whose life trajectories had involved them in different social, economic and geographical contexts. Individually they had dissimilar interpretations and expectations of their place in the home, and these were played out at the wedding. The gathering allowed a display of family solidarity, but was also a site where differing views of individuals’ contribution to the global household were expressed, and rights to belong in the family home and, by implication, the island were contested.
Globalization and cultural mediation: the construction of Arabia in London
Authors: Salamandra Christa
Published: March 2003

The Arab Gulf’s relationship to London epitomizes the processes of globalization i.e. flows of people, images, ideas and wealth beyond national borders. The rise of oil wealth in the mid–1970s financed the growth of London as a centre of Gulf Cooperation Council–funded Arab cultural production. The British capital’s populations of ex–servicemen, former diplomats and Middle Eastern immigrants serve as ‘third culture’ mediators. Often well educated, well heeled and well connected, these intermediaries possess the social position and cultural know–how to play a central role in the construction and marketing of Gulf Arab local culture and heritage. Romantic notions of Gulf Arab cultural particularism feature prominently in mediators’ products and activities. In the case of Arab London’s mediation industries, globalization results not in cultural homogenization, but rather in the (re)production and commodification of reified notions of cultural difference.
Early Onset Dysthymic Disorder in Children and Adolescents: Clinical Implications and Future Directions
Authors: Flory Vicky , Vance Alasdair L. A. , Birleson Peter , Luk Ernest S. L.
Published: March 2003

Early onset dysthymic disorder (EODD) is a serious psychiatric disorder that is associated with impaired social and relationship functioning, comorbid psychiatric conditions, a chronic course and increased risk for adult affective disorders. Unlike major depressive disorder (MDD) in childhood, which has been the focus of ongoing research, EODD has been relatively neglected in clinical practice and research. This paper reviews and evaluates EODD research findings and outlines pertinent clinical and research implications.
Applying Treatment Outcome Research in Clinical Practice: Techniques for Adapting Interventions to the Real World
Authors: Connor‐Smith Jennifer K. , Weisz John R.
Published: March 2003

Despite the growing literature on empirically supported therapies, these interventions are rarely used in clinical settings. Although researchers lament the poor transfer of techniques from controlled trials to clinics, little has been written to guide the adaptation of manualised treatments for real‐life clinical practice. The goal of this paper is to provide suggestions for the clinical use of research‐tested treatments, with specific examples from the treatment of child depressive disorders. Strategies for applying manuals flexibly, adapting treatments to address comorbidity, attending to individual differences, and overcoming training obstacles are highlighted.
The Thermal History of Maize Kernels Determined By Electron Spin Resonance
Authors: Schurr M. R. , Hayes R. , Bush L. L.
Published: March 2003

Electron spin resonance (ESR) can be used to determine the thermal history of charred organic material. Maize seeds were heated under controlled conditions in order to produce calibration curves relating g‐values (the rate of electron splitting) and spin intensities (the number of spin centres) to heating temperatures, times and conditions. These experiments reproduced results that had been previously obtained by other laboratories, with some minor exceptions. The calibration curves were then used to reconstruct the thermal histories of charred maize kernels from several prehistoric sites in eastern North America. At these sites, the differing thermal histories of maize kernels are correlated with depositional contexts.
Alterations of Na, K and Rb concentrations in Mycenaean pottery and a proposed explanation using X‐ray diffraction
Authors: Garrigós J. Buxeda i , Mommsen H. , Tsolakidou A.
Published: March 2003

One of the most important reference groups for Mycenaean pottery is the Mycenae/Berbati (MB). In several studies, a second group has been identified (MBKR). The chemical compositions were similar to MB, but with important differences in the Na, K and Rb contents. The present study suggests that these differences are due to selective alteration and contamination processes that are indirectly determined by the original firing temperature. Therefore, groups MB and MBKR should be considered as a single reference group.
Technological investigation of the decorative coatings on Yangshao pottery from Henan, China
Authors: Wang Q. , Andrews K. C.
Published: March 2003

Yangshao pottery sherds dated to c. 4200 bc from two archaeological sites in Henan province, China, were examined to determine the technological aspects of their decoration. The selected samples comprised plain and painted pottery, some of which have a white background slip and black or red decoration on the surface. Various analytical techniques including SEM/EDS, XRD and FTIR were applied in the study. Observations show that some pieces were wheel‐thrown. The refinement of the body fabric varies. Surface finishing includes simple burnishing, slipping and brushing. The black decoration on the surface is manganese black. The white background layer is kaolinitic clay slip. No organic binders or decorations were detected. The results of these analyses will help our understanding of the production steps involved in the craft production of Yangshao pottery.
The geography of choice and diversity in the ‘new’ secondary education market of England
Authors: Taylor Chris
Published: March 2003

The geography of education remains an under‐researched area, particularly in light of major transformations in education provision over the last two decades. This paper reaffirms the position of a geographical approach to studying the education system by focussing upon the differential impact of two major features of national policy reforms on secondary school admissions in England: the desire to enhance choice and diversity in the provision of schooling.
Dialogue, metaphors of dialogue and understandings of geography
Authors: Demeritt David , Dyer Sarah
Published: March 2003

Increasingly, human and physical geographers alike describe their research practices as involving dialogue of some kind. However, the widespread popularity of the term belies some very different understandings of its meaning and methodological implications. In this paper we reflect on these different conceptions of ‘dialogical’ geography as a way, first, of illustrating the broad range of understandings of research methodology now current in the discipline and, second, of identifying their implications for three long–standing controversies in the discipline: relativism and the truth of geographical knowledge, the associated dualisms between subject/object, nature/society, and realism/constructionism, and the potential for unity between human and physical geography. We argue that, while dialogue is a potentially fruitful way of understanding and practising geography, that the defence of it, like the attacks on it, is often misconceived.
The Employment Effects of Gender Discrimination in Australia 1994–95
Authors: Kidd Michael P. , Ferko Ivan
Published: March 2003

Interpreting the unexplained component of the gender wage gap as indicative of discrimination, the empirical literature to date has tended to ignore the potential impact wage discrimination may have on employment. Clearly, employment effects will arise if discrimination lowers the female offered wage and the labour supply curve is upward sloping. The empirical analysis employs the ABS Income Distribution Survey 1994–95 and finds evidence of both wage and associated employment effects. The analysis is replicated for the earlier period 1989–90. A comparison across time is of interest given the substantial deregulation of the Australian labour market over the period.
The Impact of Immigration on the Earnings of Natives: Evidence from Australian Micro Data
Authors: Addison Thomas , Worswick Christopher
Published: March 2003

The present paper provides a new approach to investigate the impact of recent immigrants on the real wages of native Australians. The method involves cross‐section analysis of 48 labour markets using data from six consecutive Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) income distribution surveys for the years 1982 through 1996. Recent immigrants are not found to significantly affect the real wages of native Australians. This conclusion remains unchanged when the specific impact of immigration on less educated or young Australian workers is investigated.
Simulating the Behavioural Effects of Welfare Reforms Among Sole Parents in Australia
Authors: Duncan Alan , Harris Mark N.
Published: March 2003

This paper derives and estimates an econometric model of labour supply among sole parents in Australia, using modelling techniques which treat the labour supply decision as a utility maximising choice between a given number of discrete states. The model is then used to look at the likely effects of actual and hypothetical welfare policy reforms. Model estimates are based upon net incomes generated by the Melbourne Institute Tax and Transfer Simulator (MITTS), developed at the Melbourne Institute in collaboration with the Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS).
Evaluating Mergers in the Australian Petroleum Industry
Authors: Hyde Charles E.
Published: March 2003

We study the effects of mergers in the Australian petroleum industry during 1980–1994. The effect on the profitability of both the merging and non–merging firms is estimated. There is robust evidence that mergers have been associated with a decrease in profitability for all firms. Thus, the results are not consistent with the view that mergers have acted primarily to increase market power or that they have acted primarily to increase efficiency. There is some support for the more complicated view that mergers have both increased market power and decreased efficiency, with the latter effect dominating.
The Changing Pattern of Sources of Income and its Impact on Inequality: The Method and its Application to Australia, 1975–94
Authors: Podder Nripesh , Mukhopadhaya Pundarik
Published: March 2003

This paper proposes a new method of explaining the temporal change in economic inequality in terms of changes in the sources of income. The method is based on the decomposition of the Gini coefficient by source of income. Using this method, the paper also examines changes of the sources of private income in Australia over the last two decades and their impact on the distribution of income. It will be seen that not only have the shares of income from different sources changed, but that there has been significant change in inequality of distribution of the components themselves.
Urban waterfront revitalization in developing countries: the example of Zanzibar’s Stone Town
Authors: Hoyle Brian
Published: March 2003

Urban waterfront redevelopment, in port cities and other cities on water, is still largely confined to advanced countries. However, it is now impacting upon developing countries as they seek to revive historic cities in post‐colonial contexts, including Islamic renewal, urban conservation and tourism development. These trends raise a variety of policy issues and problems, increasingly debated in an expanding literature, and invite comparison between contrasted case studies. This paper attempts to situate Zanzibar’s Stone Town waterfront within a theoretical framework originally based on European and North American experience but increasingly influenced by global trends.
From plan to network: Urban elites and the post‐communist organisational state in Russia
Authors: Hughes James , John Peter , Sasse Gwendolyn
Published: March 2003

Abstract. This article uses the results from formal network analysis to test hypotheses about the character of Russia's post‐communist transition, taking decision‐making elites at the sub‐national level as the unit of analysis. From the transition literature, the hypothesis generated is that city politics retains elements of its pre‐democratic structure; from the urban regime theory, the hypothesis generated is that the elites’ structure will show elements of convergence to a Western type, with the prominence of actors from the private sector. The data is drawn from a survey of elites in one city, Novosibirsk, undertaken in 1997. The results show that the membership and structure of the network has some similar characteristics to a Western city. Rather than being purely dominated by bureaucratic elites, the private sector plays a role. The private sector actors are grouped with the public sector actors, though they are not, however, equal partners to the networks as its members do not appear among the most networked in the city. We conclude that the legacy of the past may not be as much a constraint as the transition literature supposes.
Cleavages, parties and referendums: Relationships between representative and direct democracy in the Republic of Ireland
Authors: Sinnott Richard
Published: March 2003

Abstract. In the Irish case, a combination of quite restrictive constitutional provisions for consulting the people and extensive social and political change has produced a variety of forms of initiation of referendums and a surprisingly large number of them (25 since the late 1960s). Referendums in Ireland have frequently been related to underlying political cleavages while only very infrequently evoking major inter–party conflict. This suggests that referendums may have insulated the party system against the impact of potentially contentious issues. However, analysis of voting behaviour in the 1992 general election and abortion referendums indicates some linkage between referendum voting and party choice at the aggregate level. Additionally, evidence from the Nice Treaty referendum of 1901 suggests that the lack of major party involvement in the campaign contributed to a demonstrable gap in people's understanding of the issues. The low level of understanding in turn certainly contributed to the massive level of abstention and to a NO vote that was contrary to the preferences of almost all the parties. Thus, there are limits to the extent to which the organs of representative democracy can, or can afford to, distance themselves from the process of direct democracy.
Nurse Staffing and Postsurgical Adverse Events: An Analysis of Administrative Data from a Sample of U.S. Hospitals, 1990–1996
Authors: Christine Kovner , Cheryl Jones , Chunliu Zhan , Peter J. Gergen , Jayasree Basu
Published: March 2003

Objective. To examine the impact of nurse staffing on selected adverse events hypothesized to be sensitive to nursing care between 1990 and 1996, after controlling for hospital characteristics.

Data Sources/Study Setting. The yearly cross‐sectional samples of hospital discharges for states participating in the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) from 1990–1996 were combined to form the analytic sample. Six states were included for 1990–1992, four states were added for the period 1993–1994, and three additional states were added in 1995–1996.

Study Design. The study design was cross‐sectional descriptive.

Data Collection/Extraction Methods. Data for patients aged 18 years and older who were discharged between 1990 and 1996 were used to create hospital‐level adverse event indicators. Hospital‐level adverse event data were defined by quality indicators developed by the Health Care Utilization Project (HCUP). These data were matched to American Hospital Association (AHA) data on community hospital characteristics, including registered nurse (RN) and licensed practical/vocational nurse (LPN) staffing hours, to examine the relationship between nurse staffing and four postsurgical adverse events: venous thrombosis/pulmonary embolism, pulmonary compromise after surgery, urinary tract infection, and pneumonia. Multivariate modeling using Poisson regression techniques was used.

Principal Findings. An inverse relationship was found between RN hours per adjusted inpatient day and pneumonia (p<.05) for routine and emergency patient admissions.

Conclusions. The inverse relationship between pneumonia and nurse staffing are consistent with previous findings in the literature. The results provide additional evidence for health policy makers to consider when making decisions about required staffing levels to minimize adverse events.
Do Hospital Length of Stay and Staffing Ratio Affect Elderly Patients' Risk of Readmission? A Nation‐wide Study of Norwegian Hospitals
Authors: Heggestad Torhild
Published: March 2003

Objective. To test whether there is an association between hospital operating conditions such as average length of stays (LOS) and staffing ratio, and elderly patients' risk of readmission.

Data Sources. The main data source was a national patient database of admissions to all acute‐care Norwegian hospitals during the year of 1996.

Study Design. It is a cross‐sectional study, where Cox' regression analysis was used to test the factors acting on the probability of early unplanned readmission (within 30 days), and later occurring ones. The principal hospital variables included average hospital LOS and staffing ratio (discharges per man‐years of personnel). Adjusting patient variables in the model included age, gender, and cost‐weights of the Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs).

Data Extraction Methods. The selected material included discharges from 59 hospitals, and 113,055 elderly patients (≥67 years). Multiple admissions to the same hospital were linked together chronologically, and additional hospital data were matched on. To maximize the association between the index stay and the defined outcome (unplanned readmission), no intervening planned admission was accepted.

Principal Findings. Being admitted to a hospital with relatively short average LOS increased the patient's risk of early readmission significantly. In addition it was found that more intensive care (more staff) could have a compensatory effect. Furthermore, the predictive factors were shown to be time dependent, as hospital variables had much less impact on readmissions occurring late (within 90–180 days).

Conclusions. The results give support to the assumption of a link between hospital operating conditions and patient outcome.
The Effect of Capitation on Switching Primary Care Physicians
Authors: Sorbero Melony E. S. , Dick Andrew W. , Zwanziger Jack , Mukamel Dana , Weyl Nancy
Published: March 2003

ObjectiveTo examine the relationship between patient case‐mix, utilization, primary care physician (PCP) payment method, and the probability that patients switch their PCPs.

Data Sources/Study SettingAdministrative enrollment and claims/encounter data for 1994–1995 from four physician organizations.

Study DesignWe developed a conceptual model of patient switching behavior, which we used to guide the specification of multivariate logistic analyses focusing on interactions between patient case‐mix, utilization, and PCP reimbursement methods.

Data Collection/Extraction MethodsClaims data were aggregated to the encounter level; a switch was defined as a change in PCP since the previous encounter. The PCPs were reimbursed on either a capitated or fee‐for‐service (FFS) basis.

Principal FindingsPatients with stable chronic conditions (Ambulatory Diagnostic Groups [ADG] 10) and capitated PCPs were 36 percent more likely to switch PCPs than similar patients with FFS PCPs, controlling for patient age and sex and physician fixed effects. When the number of previous encounters was included in the model, this relationship was no longer significant. Instead high utilizers with capitated PCPs were significantly more likely to switch PCPs than were similar patients with FFS PCPs.

ConclusionsA patient's demographics and utilization are associated with the probability that the patient will switch PCPs. Capitated PCP payment was associated with higher rates of switching among high utilizers of health care resources. These findings raise concerns about the continuity and quality of care experienced by vulnerable patients in an era of changing financial incentives.