bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Comparative yield of HCV RNA testing in blood donors screened by 2.0 versus 3.0 antibody assays
Authors: Galel Susan A. , Strong D. Michael , Tegtmeier Gary E. , Holland Paul V. , Kuramoto Isamu K. , Kemper Marti , Pietrelli Larry , Gallarda James
Published: March 2003

BACKGROUND: Two HCV antibody tests (EIA 2.0 [EIA2], Abbott; and the Version 3.0 ELISA [EIA3], Ortho) are currently licensed for screening of US blood donors. Testing of donors for HCV RNA allows comparison of the sensitivities of the two antibody‐screening assays.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: All allogeneic blood donations at 13 US test sites were screened for HCV RNA by testing plasma minipools using an investigational assay (COBAS AmpliScreen HCV test, v2.0, Roche Molecular Systems). Some sites screened for HCV antibody by EIA2 and some used EIA3. The frequency of RNA‐positive and antibody‐negative (RNA‐pos and Ab‐neg) donations among donors screened by each antibody assay was compared. Antibody appearance was assessed in a donor follow‐up study.

RESULTS: A total of 5.51 × 106 donations were screened for HCV RNA. Of these, 2.27 million were screened for antibody by EIA2, and 3.24 million by EIA3. Twenty‐three donations were HCV RNA‐pos and Ab‐neg. The frequency of RNA‐pos and Ab‐neg donations was higher among donations screened by EIA2 (1 in 134,000), compared to those screened by EIA3 (1 in 540,000) (p = 0.001). Of the 17 RNA‐pos and Ab‐neg donations identified by test sites that used EIA2, 14 were retested by EIA3 and 10 (71%) were reactive. Most RNA‐pos and Ab‐neg donors appear to be in the process of seroconversion. Donors that were initially EIA2‐negative and EIA3‐reactive showed a more prolonged pattern of seroconversion compared to those that were initially nonreactive by both antibody assays. Four donors were EIA2‐negative, EIA3‐reactive, and RIBA‐indeterminate (c33c) for at least 90 days, 1 for more than 317 days.

CONCLUSION: EIA3 would have detected the majority of RNA‐positive donations missed by EIA2. Some RNA‐positive donors are EIA2‐negative and EIA3‐reactive for a prolonged period of time.
Prevention ofYersinia enterocolitica,Pseudomonas fluorescens, andPseudomonas putidaoutgrowth in deliberately inoculated blood by a novel pathogen‐reduction process
Authors: Zavizion Boris , Serebryanik Diana , Serebryanik Irina , Chapman John , Purmal Andrei
Published: March 2003

BACKGROUND:Yersinia enterocolitica, Pseudomonas fluorescens,andP. putidaare responsible for a significant amount of the bacterial sepsis cases attributed to RBC transfusions. INACTINE is a pathogen‐reduction process for RBCs, which consists of incubation of RBCs with PEN110 (proprietary compound) followed by automated washing of the RBCs. INACTINE is an electrophilic agent, which inactivates a wide range of viruses and WBCs by disruption of nucleic acid replication. The present study investigated the effect of the PEN110 process onY. enterocolitica, P. fluorescens,andP. putida.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Identical units of reduced CPD/ADSOL additive solution (AS‐1) or CP2D/Nutricel additive solution (AS‐3) RBCs were inoculated with 10 to 100 CFU per mL of either>Y. enterocolitica, P. fluorescens,orP. putida.The control units were put on storage immediately after the bacterial spike. The test units were subjected to the PEN110 process and then stored. Sham control units were processed the same way as test units without addition of PEN110. Bacterial titer in all units was monitored during the 6‐week storage period.

RESULTS: No bacteria were detected in any of the RBC units (n = 9 for each microorganism) prepared using the PEN110 process throughout 6 weeks of storage. Substantial bacterial growth occurred in all control and in a majority of sham control units (11 out of 15 experiments). The bacterial inactivation by the INACTINE process was found to be equally effective in CPD/AS‐1 and CP2D/AS‐3 RBC units.

CONCLUSION: The INACTINE process effectively prevented the outgrowth ofY. enterocolitica, P. fluores‐ cens,andP. putidadeliberately inoculated into WBC‐reduced CPD/AS‐1 and CP2D/AS‐3 RBCs. The results demonstrated the crucial bactericidal role of PEN110 in the INACTINE process.
Role of Intracardiac Echocardiographic Guidance in Transcatheter Closure of Atrial Septal Defects and Patent Foramen Ovale Using the Amplatzer® Device
Authors: KOENIG PETER , CAO QI‐LING , HEITSCHMIDT MARY , WAIGHT DAVID J. , HIJAZI ZIYAD M.
Published: March 2003

Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) has been successfully used for guiding transcatheter device closure of secundum atrial septal defect (ASD) and patent foramen ovale (PFO). However, the use of TEE for device closure requires general anesthesia. Experience with intracardiac echocardiographic (ICE) guidance to close ASD and PFO is limited. One hundred eleven patients (76 female/35 male) with secundum ASD (82 patients) and PFO (29 patients) associated with a stroke underwent an attempt of transcatheter closure of their defects under ICE guidance using the new AcuNav® catheter. The median age of patients was 40 years (range 2.5–80.7) and the median weight was 66 kg (range 12.7–128 kg). The median two‐dimensional size of secundum defects as measured by ICE was 17 mm (range 3–32 mm). The median balloon stretched diameter of the ASDs was 22 mm (range 4–36 mm). Five patients had more than one defect that required placement of two devices to close the defects. The median Qp/QS ratio for patients with secundum ASD was 2.1 (range 1–18). ICE provided adequate views of the defects and surrounding structures and the various stages of device deployment. All patients had successful device placement, including the patients who received simultaneous two devices with immediate complete closure of the defects in 100 patients, whereas four and seven patients had trivial and small residual shunt, respectively. The median fluoroscopy time was 10.2 minutes (range 3.7–38.4 minutes) and the median total procedure time was 60 minutes (range 28–180 minutes). There were no complications related to the use of the AcuNav catheter. We conclude that ICE provided unique images of the atrial communications and facilitated device closure of secundum ASD and PFO in children and adults. We believe ICE should replace TEE as a guiding imaging tool for ASD and PFO device closure, thus eliminating the need for general anesthesia. (J Interven Cardiol 2003;16:51–62)
Begriffsgeschichte
Authors: Bevir Mark
Published: March 2003

Books reviewed in this article:

The History of Political and Social Concepts: A Critical Introduction, by Melvin Richter.

History of Concepts: Comparative Perspectives, edited by Iain Hampsher‐Monk, Karin Tilmans, and Frank van Vree.
The Grammar of Domination and the Subjection of Agency: Colonial Texts and Modes of Evidence
Authors: Lalu Premesh
Published: March 2003

This article focuses on colonial accounts of the killing of the Xhosa chief, Hintsa, in 1835 at the hands of British forces along what came to be known as the eastern Cape frontier. It explores the evidentiary procedures and protocols through which the event came to be narrated in colonial frames of intelligibility. In proposing a strategy for reading the colonial archive, the paper strategically interrupts the flow from an apartheid historiography to what is commonly referred to as ‘alternative history.’ The aim in effecting this interruption is to call attention to the enabling possibilities of critical history. This is achieved not by way of declaration but rather through a practice whereby the foundational category of evidence is problematized. The paper alludes to the limits of alternative history and its approaches to evidence on the one hand, and the conditions of complicity within which evidence is produced on the other. Whereas alternative history identifies its task as one of rewriting South African history, critical history, it issuggested, offers the opportunity to reconstitute the field of history by addressing the sites of its production and also its practices. In exploring the production of the colonial record on the killing of Hintsa, the paper seeks to complicate alternative history's slippage in and out of the evidentiary rules established by colonial domination even as it constitutes the category ofevidence as an object for a politics of history of the present.
Clues, Margins, and Monads: The Micro–Macro Link in Historical Research
Authors: Peltonen Matti
Published: March 2003

This article discusses the new microhistory of the 1970s and 1980s in terms of the concept of exceptional typical, and contrasts the new microhistory to old microhistory, in which the relationship between micro and macro levels of phenomena was defined by means of the concepts of exceptionality and typicality. The focus of the essay is on Carlo Ginzburg’s method of clues, Walter Benjamin’s idea of monads, and Michel de Certeau’s concept of margins. The new microhistory is also compared with methodological discussions in the social sciences. In the mid‐1970s concepts like the micro–macro link or the microfoundations of macrotheory were introduced in sociology and economics. But these largely worked in terms of the concepts of typicality or exceptionality, and this has proved to be problematic. Only historians have developed concepts that escape these and the older definitions of the micro–macro relationship; indeed, the “new microhistory” can best be described in terms of the notion of “exceptional typical.” The essay explores the meaning of this notion.
Finding Meaning in Memory: A Methodological Critique of Collective Memory Studies
Authors: Kansteiner Wulf
Published: March 2003

The memory wave in the humanities has contributed to the impressive revival of cultural history, but the success of memory studies has not been accompanied by significant conceptual and methodological advances in the research of collective memory processes. Most studies on memory focus on the representation of specific events within particular chronological, geographical, and media settings without reflecting on the audiences of the representations in question. As a result, the wealth of new insights into past and present historical cultures cannot be linked conclusively to specific social collectives and their historical consciousness. This methodological problem is even enhanced by the metaphorical use of psychological and neurological terminology, which misrepresents the social dynamics of collective memory as an effect and extension of individual, autobiographical memory. Some of these shortcomings can be addressed through the extensive contextualization of specific strategies of representation, which links facts of representation with facts of reception. As a result, the history of collective memory would be recast as a complex process of cultural production and consumption that acknowledges the persistence of cultural traditions as well as the ingenuity of memory makers and the subversive interests of memory consumers. The negotiations among these three different historical agents create the rules of engagement in the competitive arena of memory politics, and the reconstruction of these negotiations helps us distinguish among the abundance of failed collective memory initiatives on the one hand and the few cases of successful collective memory construction on the other. For this purpose, collective memory studies should adopt the methods of communication and media studies, especially with regard to media reception, and continue to use a wide range of interpretive tools from traditional historiography to poststructural approaches. From the perspective of collective memory studies, these two traditions are closely related and mutually beneficial, rather than mutually exclusive, ways of analyzing historical cultures.
The NBA, Exit Discrimination, and Career Earnings
Authors: Hoang Ha , Rascher Dan
Published: March 2003

The purpose of this article is threefold. First, it complements the many wage discrimination studies by examining exit discrimination in the NBA using a decade's worth of data (the 1980s). White players have a 36 percent lower risk of being cut than black players, ceteris paribus, translating into an expected career length of 7.5 seasons for an apparently similar player who is white and 5.5 seasons for the same player who is black. Second, the career earnings effect of exit discrimination in the 1980s is larger ($808,000) than the career earnings effect of wage discrimination ($329,000). Third, our data are consistent with the hypothesis that customer racial discrimination is the reason for the observed exit discrimination.
A Comparison of American and Japanese Work Practices: Skill Formation, Communications, and Conflict Resolution
Authors: Shibata Hiromichi
Published: March 2003

This article examines whether American work practices are becoming more similar to Japanese work practices with regard to skill formation, communications, and conflict resolution. I find that separated skills, self‐managing teams, and the dual conflict settlement procedure prevalent in three American unionized plants contrast with the practices found in three Japanese unionized plants, where integrated skills, middle‐up‐down decision making led by assistant and first‐line supervisors, and an informal and one‐channel conflict settlement procedure are used.
The Survival Rate of Defined‐Benefit Plans, 1987‐1995
Authors: Ippolito Richard A. , Thompson John W.
Published: March 2003

We look at the survival rate of defined‐benefit pension plans with at least 500 participants over the period 1987–1995. We find that termination in favor of defined‐contribution plans is a rare event and that the vast majority of these plans survive, albeit often under a different plan sponsor or in a new merged plan. Indeed, the frequency of mergers is an important feature in the pension market and partially explains the growing number of large defined‐benefit plans.
Redundancies in Chinese State Enterprises: A Research Report
Authors: Sheehan Jackie , Morris Jonathan , Hassard John
Published: March 2003

This article examines how the problem of surplus labor isbeing dealt with in some of China's state‐owned enterprises. Primarily using interview data from the period 1995‐1997, as well as published sources, the article looks at the main methods employed by large state‐owned enterprises to reduce the level of surplus labor in their workforce. It also considers how smaller state‐owned enterprises are coping in an era where mergers, closures, and bankruptcies are becoming much more common as a means of dealing with loss‐making firms, resulting in widespread redundancies in the state‐owned enterpriseworkforce. The article illustrates that the potential political repercussions of job losses, as well as direct intervention by local authorities, continue to hinder the freedom of enterprise management to adjust employment levels in the interests of efficiency and productivity. The article also notes the importance of how decisions about downsizing and redundancy are communicated and justified to employees if resistance and social instability are to be minimized. The employment treatment of production workers will be considered separately from that of cadres, since these two groups are subject to different employment regulations and political constraints.
Managerial Intentions and Wage Determination in the Canadian Petroleum Industry
Authors: Taras Daphne Gottlieb
Published: March 2003

Scant attention has been given to the impact of managerial objectives on wage policies. This study demonstrates that in the Canadian petroleum industry, which has minimal wage dispersion, managerial objectives—in particular, a tendency toward imitative behavior and a strategy of union avoidance—do affect wage determination.
Credentialism Across Creeds: Clergy Education and Stratification in Protestant Denominations
Authors: Perl Paul , Chang Patricia M.Y.
Published: March 2003

In this paper, we explore how Protestant denominations use education to stratify their pastors among lower and higher income jobs and how this use of education intersects with gender. We assume that reliance on education as anindication of job qualification ultimately reflects accommodation to secular norms and hypothesize that it will be practiced most strongly in theologically liberal contexts. Next, we hypothesize that women will benefit from education more than men, a pattern that is typical of secular labor markets. And we predict that education will have a stronger effect on income in denominations where regional clergy administrators have influence in matching pastors to jobs. Data are taken from the 1994 “Ordained Women and Men Study”and consist of career information on clergy in fifteen denominations. Contrary to expectations, clergy degrees have a stronger effect on income in conservative than in liberal denominations. We further find that women clergy receive lower income returns to their degrees in denominations requiring a Master of Divinity for ordination but receive higher returns in the others. Finally, results show that seminary prestige is more beneficial in denominations where pastors are hired directly by congregations rather than placed in congregations by regional clergy administrators.
Individual Religiosity, Moral Community, and Drug User Treatment
Authors: Richard Alan J. , Bell David C. , Carlson Jerry W.
Published: March 2003

Some scholars have suggested that individual religiosity inhibits deviant behavior. Others have suggested that behavior is more responsive to the influence of religiously‐oriented moral communities than to the religiosity of individuals. Still others have suggested that non‐religious moral communities, such as sports teams or self‐help recovery groups, are just as effective as religious moral communities. The current article examines the associations between addicts' reductions in drug and alcohol use and religiosity, increase in church attendance, and increase in addiction self‐help recovery group attendance, following participation in publicly funded treatment programs. Results indicate that increase in self‐help recovery group attendance and church attendance were independently associated with reduction in alcohol use. Only increase in church attendance was significantly associated with reduction in cocaine use. Self‐assessed religious conviction was not associated with changes in drug use.
Shaping Schooling Success: Religious Socialization and Educational Outcomes in Metropolitan Public Schools
Authors: Regnerus Mark D.
Published: March 2003

This paper analyzes religious socialization as it relates to schooling success. I propose and test a multilevel model of involvement in church activities as providing integration and motivation toward schooling success among metropolitan U.S. public high school sophomores. Results indicate that respondents' participation in church activities is related to heightened educational expectations, and that these more intensely religious students score higher on standardized math/reading tests, even while controlling for variables that often show religious effects to be spurious. The hypothesis that church involvement's effect varies by ecological context–it being a better predictor for students in poorer neighborhoods than average or wealthy neighborhoods–was not supported.
Taxes, Financing Decisions, and Firm Value
Authors: Fama Eugene F. , French Kenneth R.
Published: March 2003

We use cross‐sectional regressions to study how a firm's value is related to dividends and debt. With a good control for profitability, the regressions can measure how the taxation of dividends and debt affects firm value. Simple tax hypotheses say that value is negatively related to dividends and positively related to debt. We find the opposite. We infer that dividends and debt convey information about profitability (expected net cash flows) missed by a wide range of control variables. This information about profitability obscures any tax effects of financing decisions.
Hedging and Coordinated Risk Management: Evidence from Thrift Conversions
Authors: Schrand Catherine , Unal Haluk
Published: March 2003

We provide an explanation for hedging as a means of allocating rather than reducing risk. We argue that when increases in total risk are costly, firms optimally allocate risk by reducing (increasing) exposure to risks that provide zero (positive) economic rents. Our evidence shows that mutual thrifts that convert to stock institutions increase total risk following conversion, consistent with their increased abilities and incentives for risk taking. They achieve this increase by hedging interest‐rate risk and increasing credit risk. We provide some evidence that risk‐management activities are related to growth capacity and management compensation structure attained at conversion.
Volume, Volatility, Price, and Profit When All Traders Are Above Average
Authors: Odean Terrance
Published: March 2003

People are overconfident. Overconfidence affects financial markets. How depends on who in the market is overconfident and on how information is distributed. This paper examines markets in which price‐taking traders, a strategic‐trading insider, and risk‐averse marketmakers are overconfident. Overconfidence increases expected trading volume, increases market depth, and decreases the expected utility of overconfident traders. Its effect on volatility and price quality depend on who is overconfident. Overconfident traders can cause markets to underreact to the information of rational traders. Markets also underreact to abstract, statistical, and highly relevant information, and they overreact to salient, anecdotal, and less relevant information.
Value versus Growth: The International Evidence
Authors: Fama Eugene F. , French Kenneth R.
Published: March 2003

Value stocks have higher returns than growth stocks in markets around the world. For the period 1975 through 1995, the difference between the average returns on global portfolios of high and low book‐to‐market stocks is 7.68 percent per year, and value stocks outperform growth stocks in twelve of thirteen major markets. An international capital asset pricing model cannot explain the value premium, but a two‐factor model that includes a risk factor for relative distress captures the value premium in international returns.
Market Risk and Model Risk for a Financial Institution Writing Options
Authors: Green T. Clifton , Figlewski Stephen
Published: March 2003

Derivatives valuation and risk management involve heavy use of quantitative models. To develop a quantitative assessment of model risk as it affects the basic option writing strategy that might be followed by a financial institution, we conduct an empirical simulation, with and without hedging, using data from 1976 to 1996. Results indicate that imperfect models and inaccurate volatility forecasts create sizable risk exposure for option writers. We consider to what extent the damage due to model risk can be limited by pricing options using a higher volatility than the best estimate from historical data.
Preferencing, Internalization, Best Execution, and Dealer Profits
Authors: Hansch Oliver , Naik Narayan Y. , Viswanathan S.
Published: March 2003

The practices of preferencing and internalization have been alleged to support collusion, cause worse execution, and lead to wider spreads in dealership style markets relative to auction style markets. For a sample of London Stock Exchange stocks, we find that preferenced trades pay higher spreads, however they do not generate higher dealer profits. Internalized trades pay lower, not higher, spreads. We do not find a relation between the extent of preferencing or internalization and spreads across stocks. These results do not lend support to the “collusion” hypothesis but are consistent with a “costly search and trading relationships” hypothesis.
The Delisting Bias in CRSP's Nasdaq Data and Its Implications for the Size Effect
Authors: Shumway Tyler , Warther Vincent A.
Published: March 2003

We investigate the bias in CRSP's Nasdaq data due to missing returns for delisted stocks. We find that the missing returns are large and negative on average, and that delisted stocks experience a substantial decrease in liquidity. We estimate that using a corrected return of −55 percent for missing performance‐related delisting returns corrects the bias. We revisit previous work which finds a size effect among Nasdaq stocks. After correcting for the delisting bias, there is no evidence that there ever was a size effect on Nasdaq. Our results are inconsistent with most risk‐based explanations of the size effect.
Trading Volume and Cross‐Autocorrelations in Stock Returns
Authors: Chordia Tarun , Swaminathan Bhaskaran
Published: March 2003

This paper finds that trading volume is a significant determinant of the lead‐lag patterns observed in stock returns. Daily and weekly returns on high volume portfolios lead returns on low volume portfolios, controlling for firm size. Nonsynchronous trading or low volume portfolio autocorrelations cannot explain these findings. These patterns arise because returns on low volume portfolios respond more slowly to information in market returns. The speed of adjustment of individual stocks confirms these findings. Overall, the results indicate that differential speed of adjustment to information is a significant source of the cross‐autocorrelation patterns in short‐horizon stock returns.
Presidential Address: Friction
Authors: Stoll Hans R.
Published: March 2003

The sources of trading friction are studied, and simple, robust empirical measures of friction are provided. Seven distinct measures of trading friction are computed from transactions data for 1,706 NYSE/AMSE stocks and 2,184 Nasdaq stocks. The measures provide insights into the magnitude of trading costs, the importance of informational versus real frictions, and the role of market structure. The degree to which the various measures are associated with each other and with trading characteristics of stocks is examined.
The American Put Option and Its Critical Stock Price
Authors: Bunch David S. , Johnson Herb
Published: March 2003

We derive an expression for the critical stock price for the American put. We start by expressing the put price as an integral involving first‐passage probabilities. This approach yields intuition for Merton's result for the perpetual put. We then consider the finite‐lived case. Using (1) the fact that the put value ceases to depend on time when the critical stock price is reached and (2) the result that an American put equals a European put plus an early‐exercise premium, we derive the critical stock price. We approximate the critical‐stock‐price function to compute accurate put prices.
Hostility in Takeovers: In the Eyes of the Beholder?
Authors: Schwert G. William
Published: March 2003

This paper examines whether hostile takeovers can be distinguished from friendly takeovers, empirically, based on accounting and stock performance data. Much has been made of this distinction in both the popular and the academic literature, where gains from hostile takeovers result from replacing incumbent managers and gains from friendly takeovers result from strategic synergies. Alternatively, hostility could reflect strategic choices made by the bidder or the target. Empirical tests show that most deals described as hostile in the press are not distinguishable from friendly deals in economic terms, except that hostile transactions involve publicity as part of the bargaining process.
Corporate Equity Ownership, Strategic Alliances, and Product Market Relationships
Authors: Allen Jeffrey W. , Phillips Gordon M.
Published: March 2003

This paper examines long‐term block ownership by corporations and performance changes in firms with corporate block owners. We also examine potential reasons for corporate ownership including benefits in product market relationships, alleviation of financing constraints, and board monitoring by corporate owners. We find the largest significant increases in targets' stock prices, investment, and operating profitability when ownership is combined with alliances, joint ventures, and other product market relationships between purchasing and target firms, especially in industries with high research and development. Our findings are consistent with the conclusion that block ownership by corporations has significant benefits in product market relationships.
What Makes Investors Trade?
Authors: Grinblatt Mark , Keloharju Matti
Published: March 2003

A unique data set allows us to monitor the buys, sells, and holds of individuals and institutions in the Finnish stock market on a daily basis. With this data set, we employ Logit regressions to identify the determinants of buying and selling activity over a two‐year period. We find evidence that investors are reluctant to realize losses, that they engage in tax‐loss selling activity, and that past returns and historical price patterns, such as being at a monthly high or low, affect trading. There also is modest evidence that life‐cycle trading plays a role in the pattern of buys and sells.
On the Term Structure of Default Premia in the Swap and LIBOR Markets
Authors: Collin‐Dufresne Pierre , Solnik Bruno
Published: March 2003

Existing theories of the term structure of swap rates provide an analysis of the Treasury–swap spread based on either a liquidity convenience yield in the Treasury market, or default risk in the swap market. Although these models do not focus on the relation between corporate yields and swap rates (the LIBOR–swap spread), they imply that the term structure of corporate yields and swap rates should be identical. As documented previously (e.g., in Sun, Sundaresan, and Wang (1993)) this is counterfactual. Here, we propose a model of the default risk imbedded in the swap term structure that is able to explain the LIBOR–swap spread. Whereas corporate bonds carry default risk, we argue that swap contracts are free of default risk. Because swaps are indexed on “refreshed”‐credit‐quality LIBOR rates, the spread between corporate yields and swap rates should capture the market's expectations of the probability of deterioration in credit quality of a corporate bond issuer. We model this feature and use our model to estimate the likelihood of future deterioration in credit quality from the LIBOR–swap spread. The analysis is important because it shows that the term structure of swap rates does not reflect the borrowing cost of a standard LIBOR credit quality issuer. It also has implications for modeling the dynamics of the swap term structure.
Merton H. Miller: His Contribution to Financial Economics
Authors: Grundy Bruce D.
Published: March 2003

Merton Miller's status as a father of finance reflects the academic depth, breadth, and rigor of his writings and two important facets of his character. Merton was a man of great warmth and humor. He communicated his often challenging views via memorable phrases and anecdotes that have become part of the everyday language of the profession. Merton was also a man of great dedication. The whole profession has benefited from his devotion to his doctoral students, to his colleagues, and to his coauthors. This essay demonstrates how Merton's admiration for markets provided the foundation for all his research.
The Equity Premium and Structural Breaks
Authors: Pástor Ľluboš , Stambaugh Robert F.
Published: March 2003

A long return history is useful in estimating the current equity premium even if the historical distribution has experienced structural breaks. The long series helps not only if the timing of breaks is uncertain but also if one believes that large shifts in the premium are unlikely or that the premium is associated, in part, with volatility. Our framework incorporates these features along with a belief that prices are likely to move opposite to contemporaneous shifts in the premium. The estimated premium since 1834 fluctuates between 4 and 6 percent and exhibits its sharpest drop in the last decade.
Information Production and Capital Allocation: Decentralized versus Hierarchical Firms
Authors: Stein Jeremy C.
Published: March 2003

This paper asks how well different organizational structures perform in terms of generating information about investment projects and allocating capital to these projects. A decentralized approach‐with small, single‐manager firms‐is most likely to be attractive when information about projects is “soft” and cannot be credibly transmitted. In contrast, large hierarchies perform better when information can be costlessly “hardened” and passed along inside the firm. The model can be used to think about the consequences of consolidation in the banking industry, particularly the documented tendency for mergers to lead to declines in small‐business lending.
On Stable Factor Structures in the Pricing of Risk: Do Time‐Varying Betas Help or Hurt?
Authors: Ghysels Eric
Published: March 2003

There is now considerable evidence suggesting that estimated betas of unconditional capital asset pricing models (CAPMs) exhibit statistically significant time variation. Therefore, many have advocated the use of conditional CAPMs. If we succeed in capturing the dynamics of beta risk, we are sure to outperform constant beta models. However, if the beta risk is inherently misspecified, there is a real possibility that we commit serious pricing errors, potentially larger than with a constant traditional beta model. In this paper we show that this is indeed the case, namely that pricing errors with constant traditional beta models are smaller than with conditional CAPMs.
Debt, Leases, Taxes, and the Endogeneity of Corporate Tax Status
Authors: Graham John R. , Lemmon Michael L. , Schallheim James S.
Published: March 2003

We provide evidence that corporate tax status is endogenous to financing decisions, which induces a spurious relation between measures of financial policy and many commonly used tax proxies. Using a forward‐looking estimate of before‐financing corporate marginal tax rates, we document a negative relation between operating leases and tax rates, and a positive relation between debt levels and tax rates. This is the first unambiguous evidence supporting the hypothesis that low tax rate firms lease more, and have lower debt levels, than high tax rate firms.
Metropolitan Income Inequality During the 1980s: The Impact of Urban Development, Industrial Mix, and Family Structure
Authors: Cloutier Norman R.
Published: March 2003

The empirical analysis in this paper explores the interurban variation in family income distribution. The results point to increasing urban development, rising female‐headship, a widening educational distribution, and changes in the industrial and occupational mix as major contributing factors to rising inequality. However, the increase in the relative number of multiple worker families was a significant mitigating force to rising inequality. A decomposition of 1979 and 1989 cross‐sectional models revealed that while changes in urban family and industrial characteristics have been sources of rising inequality, there has been significant structural change in the urban models acting to decrease inequality.
Leviathan vs. Lilliputian: A Data Envelopment Analysis of Government Efficiency
Authors: Nold Hughes Patricia A. , Edwards Mary E.
Published: March 2003

In this paper we present a new approach to measuring government efficiency, based on the theory that communities that allocate resources efficiently in the local public sector maximize property values. We use Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to identify the counties in Minnesota that are characterized by property‐value maximization and hence an efficient public sector. The results indicate that the dominant source of public sector inefficiency is an inappropriate scale of operations. It appears that some county jurisdictions are too large to service the population efficiently. The size and concentration of government power are also responsible in part for observed inefficiencies.
Kurt Lewin Address: Influence, Power, Religion, and the Mechanisms of Social Control
Authors: Raven Bertram H.
Published: March 2003

A power/interaction model of interpersonal influence is applied to the analysis of religions as mechanisms of social control. The original six bases of power presented by French and Raven (1959)—coercion, reward, legitimate position, expert, referent, and informational—are expanded to include variants of these bases: personal reward and coercion and legitimacy of equity, reciprocity, and responsibility (Raven, 1992). Over centuries, certain sages, seers, and chieftains, feeling that they knew what was best for their people individually and collectively, have attempted to utilize these power resources (e.g., to counter tendencies toward murder, theft, adultery, mayhem, or harmful dietary practices). To implement power strategies, various preparatory devices were developed, which include the establishment of a Deity, whose ultimate reward and coercive power is enhanced by omnipotence; whose omnipresence establishes necessary continual surveillance; and whose ultimate expertise follows from omniscience. Much of what has been developed in holy works, and in supportive art and literature, can then be seen as further preparing the bases of power for social control. Tensions result when a populace that is educated to expect informational power is faced with a religion that emphasizes extreme coercion, reward, ultimate legitimate and expert power.
Contradictions and Confounds in Coverage of Obesity: Psychology Journals, Textbooks, and the Media
Authors: Rothblum Esther D.
Published: March 2003

Although obesity is not listed as a psychiatric condition in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, psychologists focus on obesity in their research, clinical practice, and teaching. This article reviews the methods and outcomes of the weight loss research in psychology journal articles, and discusses some of the confounds. These studies focus on comparisons among treatment conditions rather than on the low amounts of weight lost, and do not use clinical criteria for evaluating outcome. Although improvement in physical health is viewed as the reason for weight loss programs, few studies assess physical health. There has been little concern about how weight loss participants feel when they regain weight. Furthermore, the journal peer review process does not encourage paradigm shifts. The article also discusses how the results of the weight loss research studies are covered in undergraduate psychology textbooks and how they are (mis)interpreted by the media. Recommendations for a paradigm shift in the peer review process, coverage in textbooks and the media, are offered.
The Psychology of Prejudice: Ingroup Love and Outgroup Hate?
Authors: Brewer Marilynn B.
Published: March 2003

Allport (1954) recognized that attachment to one's ingroups does not necessarily require hostility toward outgroups. Yet the prevailing approach to the study of ethnocentrism, ingroup bias, and prejudice presumes that ingroup love and outgroup hate are reciprocally related. Findings from both cross‐cultural research and laboratory experiments support the alternative view that ingroup identification is independent of negative attitudes toward outgroups and that much ingroup bias and intergroup discrimination is motivated by preferential treatment of ingroup members rather than direct hostility toward outgroup members. Thus to understand the roots of prejudice and discrimination requires first of all a better understanding of the functions that ingroup formation and identification serve for human beings. This article reviews research and theory on the motivations for maintenance of ingroup boundaries and the implications of ingroup boundary protection for intergroup relations, conflict, and conflict prevention.
Mindfulness Research and the Future
Authors: Langer Ellen J. , Moldoveanu Mihnea
Published: March 2003

We consider some of the ways in which mindfulness theory can provide new solutions to current problems and address potential future problems that may result from changes in demographics and technology. Specific research questions are suggested to see how increasing mindfulness and decreasing mindlessnesscan work to diminish these social problems as they occur specifically in the classroom, the workplace, and the social predicament of getting old. We discuss (a) recasting some of the problems of the elderly into problems of perspective about the elderly, (b) mindful ways of dealing with increased ethnic diversity, (c) differentiating between changing the workplace work and changing the character of the work itself and (d) the advantages and ways of increasingmindfulness in the classroom.
The Evolution of Welfare Reform: Policy Changes and Current Knowledge
Authors: Zuckerman Diana M.
Published: March 2003

Welfare reform has had dramatic repercussions for millions of adults andchildren in the country. So far, the results of the “naturalexperiment” of welfare reform have shown both benefits and problems. Although welfare reform became law in 1996, there have been legislativerevisions and other policy changes aimed at making the law moreeffective and less punitive. The latest research indicates that welfare reform has had a major impact on the number of people who are receiving welfarebenefits but not on the income of former welfare recipients. Research also suggests that there are families who are suffering as a result of welfare reform. In this article, I discuss how welfare reform has evolved and theimplications for policy changes in the future.
Coping With Ethnic Stereotypes in the Academic Domain: Perceived Injustice and Psychological Disengagement
Authors: Schmader Toni , Major Brenda , Gramzow Richard H.
Published: March 2003

Psychological disengagement is the defensive detachment of self‐esteem from a particular domain. In the academic arena, disengagement can result from devaluing academic success or discounting the validity of academic outcomes. We review evidence for ethnic differences in these two processes of psychological disengagement and present results of a multiethnic study examining perceived ethnic injustice and academic performance as predictors of devaluing and discounting. Among African American students, beliefs about ethnic injustice (but not academic performance) predicted greater discounting and devaluing. Among European American students, poor academic performance (but not beliefs about ethnic injustice) predicted greater devaluing and discounting. Among Latino/a students, beliefs about ethnic injustice were associated with greater discounting, whereas poorer academic performance was associated with increased devaluing.
Ethnic Identity, Immigration, and Well‐Being: An Interactional Perspective
Authors: Phinney Jean S. , Horenczyk Gabriel , Liebkind Karmela , Vedder Paul
Published: March 2003

On the basis of existing theory and research regarding ethnic identity and immigration and our own empirical work in four immigrant‐receiving countries, we suggest an interactional model for understanding psychological outcomes for immigration. Specifically, the interrelationship of ethnic and national identity and their role in the psychological well‐being of immigrants can best be understood as an interaction between the attitudes and characteristics of immigrants and the responses of the receiving society. This interaction is moderated by the particular circumstances of the immigrant group. The strengths of ethnic and national identity vary depending on the support for ethnic maintenance and the pressure for assimilation. Most studies show that the combination of a strong ethnic identity and a strong national identity promotes the best adaptation.
Gender and Cultural Adaptation in Immigrant Families
Authors: Dion Karen K. , Dion Kenneth L.
Published: March 2003

The study of immigration and immigrants’ experiences benefits from examining the contribution of gender. In this article, we focus on the importance of gender for understanding different aspects of family functioning. Conditions associated with immigration and settlement in the receiving society may challenge expectations about gender‐related roles, resulting in the renegotiation of these roles in immigrant families. Also, there is evidence of different socialization demands on daughters compared to sons in immigrant families, a difference that has potential implications not only for parent‐child relationships, but also for the development of ethnocultural identity among adolescents and young adults.
Acculturation and Prejudice in Germany: Majority and Minority Perspectives
Authors: Zick Andreas , Wagner Ulrich , Van Dick Rolf , Petzel Thomas
Published: March 2003

This article explores the connections between prejudice and specific attitudes toward acculturation in Germany. Results of surveys confirm the hypothesis that prejudice is related to ideologies of assimilation and segregation among majority‐ group members. Moreover, experimental and correlational studies indicate that these attitudes are linked to discriminatory behavior. Further analyses of studies with ethnic minorities prove that prejudice and acculturation are linked within minority groups as well. Additionally it is shown that prejudice is functional in order for minorities to acculturate. These studies confirm the impression that there is a close link between macrosocial and microsocial levels of coping with migration.
A Psychology of Immigration
Authors: Berry J. W.
Published: March 2003

The discipline of psychology has much to contribute to our understanding of immigrants and the process of immigration. A framework is proposed that lays out two complementary domains of psychological research, both rooted in contextual factors, and both leading to policy and program development. The first (acculturation) stems from research in anthropology and is now a central part of cross‐ cultural psychology; the second (intergroup relations) stems from sociology and is now a core feature of social psychology. Both domains are concerned with two fundamental issues that face immigrants and the society of settlement: maintenance of group characteristics and contact between groups. The intersection of these issues creates an intercultural space, within which members of both groups develop their cultural boundaries and social relationships. A case is made for the benefits of integration as a strategy for immigrants and for multiculturalism as a policy for the larger society. The articles in this issue are then discussed in relation to these conceptual frameworks and empirical findings.
The Learning and Use of Academic English Words
Authors: Corson David
Published: March 2003

This article examines the learning and use of academic English words by students who differ socioculturally. It argues that the Graeco‐Latin vocabulary of English, which dominates the language's academic vocabulary, offers various levels of potential difficulty for students from different class, cultural, or linguistic social factions. It presents the evidence for this conclusion by integrating work from discursive psychology, the sociology of language, psycholinguistics, and applied linguistics, and by attempting a comprehensive review of the published literature on its topic. The article concludes by inferring some changes to practices in L1 and L2 academic English education.
Epistemological Beliefs and Language Learning Beliefs: What Do Language Learners Believe About Their Learning?
Authors: Mori Yoshiko
Published: March 2003

This study (a) examines the structure of language learners' beliefs about learning in general and beliefs specifically about language learning and (b) explores the relationship between the 2 belief domains. A belief questionnaire was administered to 187 college students learning Japanese as a foreign language. Factor analyses identified 5 dimensions of general epistemological beliefs comparable to those reported by Schommer (1990, 1994b), and 6 dimensions of language learning beliefs. Although there were some significant correlations between these belief factors, students' beliefs about learning in general and language learning in particular can largely be characterized as consisting of multiple independent dimensions.