bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Gender Wage Gap: A Study of Paid Work in Cyprus
Authors: Christofides Louis , Pashardes Panos
Published: March 2003

The gender wage gap in paid employment was studied using data from the 1991 Survey of Household Expenditure and Income for Cyprus, a country which aspires to join the European Union. Selection from a sample which includes more than paid employees was taken into account. It was found that average weekly wages for women are about 60 percent of those for men. Approximately 60 percent of the observed gender gap can be explained by differences in average characteristics but much of this explanation includes the results of industry and occupation choices, and opportunities in these populations.
A Cross‐country Comparison of Attitudes Towards Mothers Working and their Actual Labor Market Experience
Authors: Albrecht James W. , Edin Per‐Anders , Vroman Susan B.
Published: March 2003

In this paper, we use data from the International Social Survey Project to present a cross‐country comparison of attitudes about the labor force participation of mothers. We also estimate earnings functions and probits for full‐time work and examine whether there is a link between attitudes and women’s actual labor market experience across countries. We find that while a woman’s own attitude about work does not directly influence her wage, it does influence the probability that she works full time.
Technology, Employment and Wages
Authors: Addison John T. , Teixeira Paulino
Published: March 2003

This paper provides a critical review of the impact of technical change on the structure of relative wages and employment, and considers some alternative explanations for the immiseration of low skilled workers. In the absence of any clear and distinguishing policy blueprint, the paper also seeks to clarify the major issues raised by our discussion for employment policy.
Trade Union Preferences in Double Dividend Models
Authors: Sløk Torsten
Published: March 2003

This paper analyses wage formation in a unionized economy where consumers as an externality in their utility function have the level of local pollution. If modelled in a microeconomically consistent way this externality should also be present in the preferences of the trade union. The key result is that when this trade‐off between pollution and employment is included in the trade unions’ preferences then they are willing to lower wages to generate substitution towards higher employment and lower pollution. As a consequence, an increase in the pollution tax will lead to lower wages. At a more general level the results show that in models analyzing pollution issues, such as the double dividend literature, it is very important for the policy conclusions how trade unions are introduced.
The Timing of Labour Reallocation and the Business Cycle: Evidence for The Netherlands
Authors: Gautier Pieter , Broersma Lourens
Published: March 2003

In this paper we study the cyclical behaviour of job and worker flows in The Netherlands. We find that job flows move counter‐cyclically while worker flows move acyclically. The persistence of newly created jobs is strongly pro‐cyclical while the persistence of destroyed jobs is strongly counter‐cyclical. We also examine the relative importance of aggregate and sectoral versus idiosyncratic shocks. We find both shocks to be negatively correlated and idiosyncratic shocks to be somewhat more important in explaining the time variation of job reallocation. Finally, we find that gross job flows account for about one‐third of the worker flows. The remainder reflect churning.
Unemployment and Earnings Assimilation of Immigrants
Authors: Longva Pål , Raaum Oddbjørn
Published: March 2003

The regional unemployment elasticity of annual earnings for non‐OECD immigrants is found to be more than three times larger than for natives, using micro data covering all immigrants in Norway in 1990 and a random sample of natives. The decline in relative earnings of non‐OECD immigrants from 1980 to 1990 can largely be explained by the stronger impact of rising unemployment on immigrant earnings. These results highlight the importance of controlling for different period effects caused by fluctuating unemployment in panel studies of earnings assimilation among immigrants.
Effects of Learning Method and Word Type on Acquiring Vocabulary in an Unfamiliar Language
Authors: Lotto Lorella , de Groot Annette M. B.
Published: March 2003

This study examined the roles of learning method, word frequency, and cognate status in the learning of 80 Italian words by 56 adult Dutch learners previously unfamiliar with Italian. We contrasted 2 learning methods: word learning, where the Italian word was presented with its translation in Dutch, and picture learning, where it was presented with a picture depicting its referent. At test, either pictures or the Dutch words constituted the cues for recall of the Italian words. Recall was tested twice: once after 3 learning trials per stimulus, and a second time after an additional 3 learning trials. Two measures served as dependent variables: retrieval times and recall scores. The results show (a) that word learning resulted in better performance than picture learning; (b) that performance was better when the study and test conditions were congruent than when they were incongruent; and (c) that cognates and high‐frequency words were easier to learn than noncognates and low‐frequency words. Particularly noteworthy is that after 6 learning trials performance had not yet become independent of learning method. We discuss the implications of these results for bilingual memory representation and for sequencing curricula for foreign‐language learning.
Law, Politics, and Violence Against Women: A Case Study of Palestinians in Israel
Authors: Shalhoub‐Kevorkian Nadera
Published: March 2003

Major controversies regarding the value of legal and policy reforms have accompanied research on wife battering and social reactions to it. The present study examines the utility of law enforcement and emphasizes the relationship between gender, culture, and politics. It points to the difficulties arising from the shift from private, traditional methods of dealing with violence against women to a more public approach characterized by intervention of the state and the criminal justice system. In this connection, it was hypothesized that enforcement of the Israeli Law Against Family Violence among the oppressed and discriminated Palestinian minority generates new conflicts within the group, exacerbating control and abuse and re‐victimizing women. Social control agents (formal and informal) who were interviewed about their perceptions and attitudes regarding the applicability of such a law pointed to obstacles created by sociocultural variables, the political legacy and procedural barriers. An attempt is made to show that application of the law without prior preparation and understanding of its sociocultural and political ramifications may produce adverse effects at the victim’s expense. That is, unless power struggles, cultural pressures, and political priorities are taken into consideration, criminal strategies that seek to eliminate abuse may prove to be dangerous.
The Incidence and Structure of Conflict on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
Authors: Unah Isaac
Published: March 2003

In 1982, Congress established the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, a specialized court, with the objective of reducing judicial conflict and harmonizing circuit law in specific policy areas of special complexity. This article examines the incidence and determinants of judicial conflict on the U.S. courts of appeals, focusing specifically on the Federal Circuit. Using international trade and customs regulation cases decided during the 1982 to 1995 terms, the analysis reviews three possible explanations of judicial conflict: policy‐oriented, sociolegal, and organizational. The analysis shows that conflict appears in 8.4 percent of the trade and customs regulation decisions rendered by the Federal Circuit during the period of study. The policy direction of Federal Circuit decisions and the court’s hierarchical relationship with lower specialized courts provide the strongest explanation for the emergence of conflict on the court. Organizational factors such as panel composition evinced rather anemic explanatory capacity. The results raise an important functional similarity between the Federal Circuit and the generalist courts of appeals. Contrary to the laments of legal practitioners that conflict on the Federal Circuit is excessive relative to conflict on the generalist circuit courts, this analysis finds little support for that claim. Rather, the level of overt conflict on the court is actually low and corroborates conflict levels that have been reported for other U.S. courts of appeals.
Fuzzy Legality in Regulation: The Legislative Mandate Revisited
Authors: Cohn Margit
Published: March 2003

How does law interact with regulatory reality, and why does legislative mandate, which presumably stands at the apex of a regulatory package, often deviate from its ideal‐type as exclusive organizer of action? These questions are treated in this article through the concept of “fuzzy legality,” which serves as a common title for six different legal arrangements that stray from the ideal‐type legislative mandate, while enabling “perfectly legal” industry behavior. Against the background of potential dangers involved in such practices, the article traces the politics of preference for fuzziness both by regulators and regulatees. It reassesses calls for responsive and reflexive law as a cure for the regulatory malaise: these may have been voiced due to existing overly rigid regulatory frameworks, rather than the intrinsic flaw of legal constructs.
Profit‐Rate Equalization in the Kalecki–Steindl Model and the “Over‐Determination” Problem
Authors: Dutt Amitava Krishna
Published: March 2003

This note points out that the “over‐determination” problem discovered by Park in Kalecki–Steindl (KS) models is not a problem intrinsic to KS models and can easily be removed if one introduces a mechanism involving classical competition into them. The solution to the problem suggested by Park using a moving‐average interpretation is therefore unnecessary, and also it does not provide an adequate solution to the “over‐determination” problem. However, the interpretation does serve to clarify the meaning of long‐run equilibria in KS models.
Dynamic effects of trade liberalization and currency overvaluation under conditions of increasing returns
Authors: Ros Jaime , Skott Peter
Published: March 2003

In this paper we examine the dynamic implications of a shift in relative prices between traded and non‐traded goods. In accordance with empirical evidence we allow for sluggish wage adjustment and increasing returns to scale in the traded goods sector. The presence of increasing returns to scale gives rise to multiple equilibria, and trade liberalization and the associated short‐run changes in relative prices may leave the economy outside a ‘corridor of stability’ and lead to a cumulative process of contraction of the capital stock.
The variance of UK GDP: Reduced form estimates under fixed and floating exchange rate regimes
Authors: Choi Seung Woo , Price Simon
Published: March 2003

Macroeconomic theory suggests that the choice of exchange rate regime (or, equivalently, monetary regime) is affected by the incidence of real or monetary shocks. Anecdotally, the Bretton Woods period in world economic history is thought to have been characterized by nominal, rather than real, shocks. We examine this proposition and find some evidence for it. A reduced form equation for aggregate output supply is estimated in a cointegrating framework. The equilibrium error is identified as the conditional variance. Despite the increase in the unconditional variance of output, there is no evidence for a corresponding shift in the variance of output once proper account has been taken of supply‐side changes.
Union Wage Effects: Does Membership Matter?
Authors: Barth Erling , Raaum Oddbjørn , Naylor Robin
Published: March 2003

Using a matched employer–employee data set for Norway, we exploit rare information on the union status of both individual employees and their workplaces. We establish two key results. First, we find a positive effect of workplace trade union density on the level of the individual’s pay in establishments covered by collective agreements. Second, we find that, conditioning on coverage, the individual union membership differential disappears after controlling for establishment‐level union density. The union wage effect is therefore a pure public good, with individual membership conveying a positive wage externality.
Comparative Statics for a Decision Model with Two Choice Variables and Two Random Variables: A Mean–Standard Deviation Approach
Authors: Choi Gyemyung , Kim Iltae
Published: March 2003

The decision model with two choice variables and two random variables, an extension of Feder, or Just and Pope, is examined here. Under the mean–standard deviation framework we derive the comparative statics results concerning the effects of a change in the mean, variance and covariance of the random parameters. Some restrictions on the random variables and on the decision model are considered for unambiguous comparative statics predictions.
Signalling the Strength of an Exchange Rate Commitment
Authors: Irwin Gregor
Published: March 2003

The conditions under which a policymaker might rationally signal the strength of an exchange rate commitment by revaluation are considered. We derive an intuitive result: the policymaker signals strong commitment by revaluation if initial credibility is low, but will refrain from doing so if credibility is already high, as any such signal is costly. The analysis suggests that if an exchange rate rule is intended to improve anti‐inflation credibility, then it ought to be sufficiently flexible to allow for orderly revaluations of the exchange rate against the anchor currency.
Patent Licensing: The Inside Story
Authors: Kamien Morton I. , Tauman Yair
Published: March 2003

In this paper we compare and contrast the most profitable modes of licensing a cost‐reducing invention by an inventor who is an industry incumbent with one who is not. We find that an industry incumbent favors licensing by means of a royalty per unit of output to which the new technology is applied while an outsider prefers to auction off a fixed number of licences outright. Our analysis also suggests that an outside inventor finds it most profitable to target greater cost‐reducing inventions to monopolistic industries while an incumbent inventor favors competitive industries.
Network Competition and Access Charge Rules
Authors: Doganoglu Toker , Tauman Yair
Published: March 2003

This paper presents a model of two competing local telecommunications networks which are mandated to interconnect. After negotiating the access charges, the companies engage in price competition. Given the prices, each consumer selects a network and determines the consumption of phone calls. Using a discrete/continuous consumer choice model, it is shown that a pure strategy equilibrium exists quite generally and satisfies desirable properties. This equilibrium can be implemented by a simple rule that sets the access charges at a common discount from the retail prices. It requires no information and the discount factor is chosen by the companies through negotiations. Finally, if the networks are highly substitute, the retail prices obtained by imposing this rule will approximate the efficient prices.
Product Lines and Price Discrimination in the European Car Market
Authors: Ginsburgh Victor , Weber Shlomo
Published: March 2003

In this paper we consider a model of oligopolistic competition where firms make a two‐dimensional product line decision. They choose a location in style space, thus inducing horizontal differentiation, and produce different qualities (a product line) of a given good (vertical differentiation), consumed by a population of customers who differ in their income and preference for style. We prove the existence of a non‐cooperative equilibrium and show that, as the degree of competition increases, prices approach marginal cost. The approach is used to show that European car producers seem indeed to use product lines to discriminate across EU countries.
Testing for ‘Monopoly’ Market Power when Products Are Differentiated in Quality
Authors: Verboven Frank
Published: March 2003

This paper proposes a reduced form approach to identify the presence of ‘monopoly’ market power in markets with vertical product differentiation. In a general model I derive an explicit solution for the reduced form pricing equations under the hypothesis that prices are set to maximize the joint profits of all products. The central comparative statics result states that each product’s price depends only on its own quality and not on the quality of its competitors. This contrasts with the solution under Bertrand–Nash behaviour and thus provides an identification argument for conduct under vertical product differentiation. I propose empirical tests implied by this result. They require only the data used in popular hedonic studies (prices and physical characteristics). The tests are applied to the US market for spreadsheets and to the French market for optional car engines.
The Process of European Integration and the Determinants of Entry by non–EU Multinationals in UK Manufacturing
Authors: Girma Sourafel
Published: March 2003

I seek to evaluate the influence of the European Internal Market Programme on the relative significance of the determinants of entry (via acquisitions and start–ups) by non–EU multinationals in some 102 UK manufacturing sectors. The occurrence of foreign direct investment (FDI) is modelled as a two–step process in which factors affecting whether a sector gets any entry by foreign plants are first considered, and the determinants of the count of entries for those sectors that attract positive flow of FDI are then investigated. The empirical estimates point to the conclusion that the parameters of the FDI functions have changed in response to the challenges and opportunities created by increasing economic integration, but with some interesting contrasts between the two types of entries. Acquisition FDI appears to have become more responsive to the size of the European market and unit labour costs relative to the rest of the EU, and less sensitive to the local market size. It is also increasingly being concentrated in sectors with higher intra–EU export propensity, consistent with the predominance of vertical FDI. By contrast, the significance of the size of the UK market has not diminished in the greenfield investment model, and the importance of agglomeration economies has more than doubled during the process of integration. Since the FDI consequences of European integration vary according to the mode of foreign entry, the policy implications of our findings also depend on the type of FDI under consideration.
On the Effectiveness of the Lifetime–Employment–Contract Policy
Authors: Ohnishi Kazuhiro
Published: March 2003

This paper examines a subgame perfect equilibrium when one of two duopolists executes a lifetime–employment–contract policy, which is a strategic commitment that generates kinks in the reaction curve, by using a two–stage quantity–setting model. The purpose of the paper is to show concretely in what kinds of cases the policy is effective.
Heterogeneous Panel Unit Root Tests and Purchasing Power Parity
Authors: Luintel Kul B.
Published: March 2003

Doubts have been raised recently on the findings of panel studies of purchasing power parity (PPP) on the grounds that they ignore serial correlation and cross‐sectional dependence, and consequently suffer from severe size biases and loss of power. We implement an alternative panel unit root test that controls for serial correlation and cross‐sectional dependence as well as the heterogeneity of dynamics and error variances across groups, and find strong support for PPP. Our findings are consistent with other recent studies on the subject.
Credit Channel and Industrial Firms’ Market Power
Authors: Mazzoli Marco
Published: March 2003

The model presented here describes an economy where a concentrated industrial sector interacts with a financial system in which industrial firms can choose to finance their investments either by issuing bonds on a competitive spot financial market or by borrowing money from the banking sector, where they enjoy some oligopsonistic power. It is shown that, for a given number of production units, an exogenous modification in the degree of concentration in the industrial sector (caused for example by mergers) affects not only the equilibrium level of investments but also the transmission mechanism of monetary policy with composite effects. In the benchmark case of a perfectly ‘market–oriented’ financial system (i.e. where firms raise their funds on frictionless spot financial markets) mergers and acquisitions tend to reduce the short–run impact of monetary policy because they make the industrial sector less reactive to the changes in marginal financial costs determined by open market operations.
A Continuity Correction for Discrete Barrier Options
Authors: Broadie Mark , Glasserman Paul , Kou Steven
Published: March 2003

The payoff of a barrier option depends on whether or not a specified asset price, index, or rate reaches a specified level during the life of the option. Most models for pricing barrier options assume continuous monitoring of the barrier; under this assumption, the option can often be priced in closed form. Many (if not most) real contracts with barrier provisions specify discrete monitoring instants; there are essentially no formulas for pricing these options, and even numerical pricing is difficult. We show, however, that discrete barrier options can be priced with remarkable accuracy using continuous barrier formulas by applying a simple continuity correction to the barrier. The correction shifts the barrier away from the underlying by a factor of exp(bet sig sqrt dt), where bet approx 0.5826, sig is the underlying volatility, and dt is the time between monitoring instants. The correction is justified both theoretically and experimentally.
On Feedback Effects from Hedging Derivatives
Authors: Platen Eckhard , Schweizer Martin
Published: March 2003

This paper proposes a new explanation for the smile and skewness effects in implied volatilities. Starting from a microeconomic equilibrium approach, we develop a diffusion model for stock prices explicitly incorporating the technical demand induced by hedging strategies. This leads to a stochastic volatility endogenously determined by agents’ trading behavior. By using numerical methods for stochastic differential equations, we quantitatively substantiate the idea that option price distortions can be induced by feedback effects from hedging strategies.
The Minimal Entropy Martingale Measure and the Valuation Problem in Incomplete Markets
Authors: Frittelli Marco
Published: March 2003

Let χ be a family of stochastic processes on a given filtered probability space (Ω, F, (Ft)t∈T, P) with T⊆R+. Under the assumption that the set Me of equivalent martingale measures for χ is not empty, we give sufficient conditions for the existence of a unique equivalent martingale measure that minimizes the relative entropy, with respect to P, in the class of martingale measures. We then provide the characterization of the density of the minimal entropy martingale measure, which suggests the equivalence between the maximization of expected exponential utility and the minimization of the relative entropy.
A Fundamental Theorem of Asset Pricing for Large Financial Markets
Authors: Klein Irene
Published: March 2003

We formulate the notion of “asymptotic free lunch” which is closely related to the condition “free lunch” of Kreps (1981) and allows us to state and prove a fairly general version of the fundamental theorem of asset pricing in the context of a large financial market as introduced by Kabanov and Kramkov (1994). In a large financial market one considers a sequence (Sn)n=1∞ of stochastic stock price processes based on a sequence (Ωn, Fn, (Ftn)t∈In, Pn)n=1∞ of filtered probability spaces. Under the assumption that for all n∈ N there exists an equivalent sigma‐martingale measure for Sn, we prove that there exists a bicontiguous sequence of equivalent sigma‐martingale measures if and only if there is no asymptotic free lunch (Theorem 1.1). Moreover we present an example showing that it is not possible to improve Theorem 1.1 by replacing “no asymptotic free lunch” by some weaker condition such as “no asymptotic free lunch with bounded” or “vanishing risk.”
The Socratic Augustine
Authors: Matthews Gareth B.
Published: March 2003

Augustine is both one of the great dogmatic thinkers in our Western tradition and also one of the most Socratic. How can that be? I suggest that Augustine is given to puzzling over questions of the form “How is it possible that p?”– for example, “How is it possible to measure time when no length of time is ever present to be measured?” Moreover, he asks questions of this form even when he is in no doubt that p is the case. (Thus he is in no doubt that we can measure periods of time even though, strictly speaking, no period of time is ever present.) I suggest further that we can learn something about good teaching from studying Augustine's Socratic‐style inquiry.
Putnam's Progress: Navigating between Strident Realism and Extreme Skepticism with a Wittgensteinian Chart, an Austinian Spyglass, and a Deweyan Compass
Authors: Munitz Charles
Published: March 2003

Books reviewed in this article:

Hilary Putnam, Pragmatism: An Open Question

Hilary Putnam, The Threefold Cord: Mind, Body, World
Class in the Classroom: Engaging Hidden Identities
Authors: Wakefield Peter W.
Published: March 2003

Using Marcuse's theory of the total mobilization of advanced technology society along the lines of what he calls “the performance principle,” I attempt to describe the complex composition of class oppression in the classroom. Students conceive of themselves as economic units, customers pursuing neutral interests in a morally neutral, socio‐economic system of capitalist competition. The classic, unreflective conception of the classroom responds to this by implicitly endorsing individualism and ideals of humanist citizenship. While racism and cultural diversity have come to count as elements of liberal intelligence in most college curricula, attempts to theorize these aspects of social and individual identity and place them in a broader content of class appear radical and inconsistent with the humanistic notion that we all have control over who we are and what we achieve. But tags such as “radical” and “unrealistic” mark a society based on the performance principle. Marcuse allows us to recognize a single author behind elements of psychology, metaphysics, and capitalism. The fact that bell hooks hits upon a similar notion suggests that we might use Marcuse's theory of the truly liberatory potential of imagination to transform and reconceive our classrooms so that the insidious effects of class, racism, and individualistic apathy might be subverted. Specifically, I outline and place into this theoretical context three concrete pedagogical practices: (a) the use of the physical space of the classroom; (b) the performance of community through group readings and short full‐class ceremonies, and (c) the symbolic modeling represented by interdisciplinary approaches to teaching. All three of these practices engage students in ways that co‐curricularly subvert class (and, incidentally, race divisions) and allow students to imagine, and so engage in, political action for justice as they see it.
What is the Philosophy of Information?
Authors: Floridi Luciano
Published: March 2003

Computational and information‐theoretic research in philosophy has become increasingly fertile and pervasive, giving rise to a wealth of interesting results. In consequence, a new and vitally important field has emerged, the philosophy of information (PI). This essay is the first attempt to analyse the nature of PI systematically. PI is defined as the philosophical field concerned with the critical investigation of the conceptual nature and basic principles of information, including its dynamics, utilisation, and sciences, and the elaboration and application of information‐theoretic and computational methodologies to philosophical problems. I argue that PI is a mature discipline for three reasons: it represents an autonomous field of research; it provides an innovative approach to both traditional and new philosophical topics; and it can stand beside other branches of philosophy, offering a systematic treatment of the conceptual foundations of the world of information and the information society.
Traditional Epistemology Reconsidered A Reply to Eflin
Authors: McGonigal Andrew
Published: March 2003

In this article, I reply to Juli Eflin's “Epistemic Presuppositions and Their Consequences.” I query Eflin's construal of the aims, scope and method of traditional epistemology, and go on to evaluate several of the central characteristics of Eflin's positive account – pluralistic virtue epistemology.
Decentralized Evolutionary Mechanism of Growth in a Linear Multi‐sector Model
Authors: Kaganovich Michael
Published: March 2003

The paper considers the following mechanism of intertemporal decisions in a linear multisector production model: at each time t a program for two time periods t, t + 1 is worked out but is followed only during the first period t, after which the rest of the program is replaced by a new two‐period program for t + 1, t + 2, etc. Terminal conditions in these two‐period programs are continually adapted to the current state. The result of the procedure, called an adaptive rolling plan, is shown to yield growth of production at the maximum rate over time which is a natural intertemporal optimality criterion for the production model. It is also demonstrated that adaptive rolling plans can be realized in a decentralized economy, and therefore they provide an intertemporally decentralized mechanism of achieving maximum growth.
Myopic Selection
Authors: Geroski P. A. , Mazzucato M.
Published: March 2003

The severity of selection mechanisms and the myopia of selection are explored through a duopoly model where one firm tries to move down a learning curve in which costs are initially higher than its rival's but ultimately much lower. A trade‐off is found between catch‐up time and asymptotic market share: the more severe are selection pressures, the less likely is it that the learning technology will survive; however, if it does survive, the learning technology will in the limit be more competitive the more severe are selection pressures. We explore the dynamics of the model under unit cost and strategic pricing and find that the optimal pricing rule depends on the parameters governing firm learning and market selection.
Risky Parental Behavior and Adolescent Sexual Activity at First Coitus
Authors: Wilder Esther I. , Watt Toni Terling
Published: March 2003

In comparison with other industrialized countries, the United States has exceptionally high rates of adolescent pregnancy and abortion. In 1999, nearly half of high‐school students reported having had sexual intercourse, and 6 percent said they had been pregnant or gotten someone pregnant (CDC 2000). American adolescents are especially unlikely to use birth control, and those who do practice contraception tend to rely on inefficient methods (Forrest 1990).

Sexual behavior at first intercourse is of particular interest because early entry into sexual activity is associated with contraceptive nonuse and a heightened risk of pregnancy (Abma and Sonenstein 2001; Koenig and Zelnik 1982; Zabin, Kantner, and Zelnik 1979). Moreover, the timing of first intercourse may be a useful marker for risky sexual behavior and a history of sexually transmitted diseases (Greenberg, Magder, and Aral 1992). For example, age at first intercourse is inversely associated with the number of lifetime sexual partners (McGuire et al. 1992).

Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) were used to examine the impact of parents' behavior on adolescents' sexual experience and contraceptive use. All else being equal, adolescents whose parents engage in risky behaviors are especially likely to be sexually active and to have had sex before age 15. These findings are only partly attributable to the link between parents' risky behaviors (smoking, drinking, driving without seatbelts) and adolescents' risky behaviors (smoking, drinking, delinquent activity, association with substance‐using peers). Although parental behaviors are effective predictors of adolescents' sexual activity, they are not effective predictors of contraceptive use or of method choice at first coitus. Overall, parents with low levels of self‐efficacy seem to be especially likely to have children at risk of engaging in problem behaviors.
Teaching Hospitals and Quality of Care: A Review of the Literature
Authors: Ayanian John Z. , Weissman Joel S.
Published: March 2003

Teaching hospitals are widely reputed to provide high‐quality care, eliciting very positive public opinions in surveys across the United States (Boscarino 1992). The U.S. News and World Report's listing of “America's Best Hospitals” (2000), based in part on the opinions of academic and community physicians, highly ranks many major teaching hospitals. These public and professional views may reflect features of teaching hospitals that are perceived to foster a higher quality of care, including the treatment of rare diseases and complex patients, the provision of specialized services and advanced technology, and the conduct of biomedical research (Neely and McInturff 1998). Some services, such as specialized surgery and bone marrow transplants, are provided predominantly at teaching hospitals (Levin, Moy, and Griner 2000). Other distinctive missions of teaching hospitals include medical education and training, innovations in clinical care, and treatment of indigent patients, particularly at public teaching hospitals (Blumenthal, Weissman, and Campbell 1997).

Because teaching hospitals face increasing pressure to justify their higher charges for clinical care, the quality of care in teaching and nonteaching hospitals is an important policy question. The most rigorous peer‐reviewed studies published between 1985 and 2001 that assessed quality of care by hospital‐teaching status in the United States provide moderately strong evidence of better quality and lower risk‐adjusted mortality in major teaching hospitals for elderly patients with common conditions such as acute myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, and pneumonia. A few studies, however, found nursing care, pediatric intensive care, and some surgical outcomes to be better in nonteaching hospitals. Some factors related to teaching status, such as organizational culture, staffing, technology, and volume, may lead to higher‐quality care.
Inside the Sausage Factory: Improving Estimates of the Effects of Health Insurance Expansion Proposals
Authors: Glied Sherry , Remler Dahlia K. , Zivin Joshua Graff
Published: March 2003

Many policy proposals address the lack ofinsurance coverage, with the most commonly discussed being tax credits to individuals, expansions of existing public programs, subsidies for employers to offer coverage to their workers, and mandates for employers and individuals. Although some policy options may be favored (or disfavored) on theoretical or ideological grounds, many debates about policy center on empirical questions: How much will this option cost? How many people will obtain insurance coverage?

Estimates of costs and consequences influence policy in three ways. First, the Office of Management and Budget, the Congressional Budget Office, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Treasury Department, and other government agencies incorporate estimates of the costs of proposals in their budget calculations. Particularly in times of fiscal restraint, the cost of a proposal is central to its legislative prospects. Second, recognizing the importance of final budget numbers, policy advocates include estimates in their advocacy.

The fate of a proposal to expand health insurance is influenced by predictions of the proposal's effects on the number of newly insured and the cost of new coverage. Estimates vary widely, for reasons that are often hard to discern and evaluate. This article describes and compares the frameworks and parameters used for insurance modeling. It examines conventions and controversies surrounding a series of modeling parameters: how individuals respond to a change in the price of coverage, the extent of participation in a new plan by those already privately insured, firms' behavior, and the value of public versus private coverage. The article also suggests ways of making models more transparent and proposes "reference case" guidelines for modelers so that consumers can compare modeling results.
Not‐So‐Strange Bedfellows: Models of Interaction between Managed Care Plans and Public Health Agencies
Authors: Halverson Paul K. , Mays Glen P. , Kaluzny Arnold D. , Richards Thomas B.
Published: March 2003

Alliances between managed care plans and public health agencies are a growing phenomenon in local health care markets, with profound implications for health care quality, cost, and accessibility. A typology of interorganizational relations between managed care plans and local public health agencies is drawn from observations of over 60 public health jurisdictions. Relations are described along three dimensions corresponding to the strategic intent, functional operation, and structural design of each alliance type. The identified models of interaction reveal the motivations for forming alliances, the mechanics of their operation, and the possible outcomes. These alliances suggest that a wide range of interorganizational strategies is possible in order to pursue the shared interests of local public health agencies and managed care plans. Nonetheless, public health agencies may face challenges in forging managed care alliances that benefit community‐wide populations and that are open to participation by the full spectrum of health care providers in the community.
Medicaid and Long‐Term Care for the Elderly: Implications of Restructuring
Authors: Feder Judith , Lambrew Jeanne , Huckaby Michelle
Published: March 2003

Because it absorbs about a third of Medicaid spending, long‐term care would be affected by any major changes in the financing or structure of this federal–state program. Analysis of the implications for long‐term care of the Medicaid restructuring proposals that Congress considered in the 1995–96 federal budget debate leads to this conclusion: the fiscal pressure and incentives that would be created by fixed dollar or block grants, or by limits on federal spending per beneficiary (per capita caps), when combined with enhanced state flexibility in program design, could significantly hinder service choice and quality, reduce access to care, and increase out‐of‐pocket payments by Medicaid beneficiaries or their families.
Disability and Medicare Costs of Elderly Persons
Authors: Liu Korbin , Wall Susan , Wissoker Douglas
Published: March 2003

Widely studied as a predictor of long‐term care use, functional disability is also an important explanatory variable for acute care costs spent for the elderly. As policy makers contemplate ways to control rapidly growing Medicare expenditures, such as increasing the enrollment of beneficiaries into managed care programs, knowledge about the relation between functional disability and Medicare costs is likely to become more important for the design of program features. The research described here uses data from the new Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey to estimate the relation between functional disability and Medicare costs, the effects on costs of interactions between disability and other personal characteristics of beneficiaries, and changes in the level of disability and Medicare costs.
Pathways to Disability Income among Persons with Severe, Persistent Psychiatric Disorders
Authors: Estroff Sue E. , Patrick Donald L. , Zimmer Catherine R. , Lachicotte William S.
Published: March 2003

Persons with psychiatric disorders comprise the largest diagnostic group of disabled recipients of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Income (SSDI). A 32‐month prospective cohort study of pathways to application for and receipt of SSI and SSDI was conducted among 169 people with major psychiatric disorders who were at an early stage of their illness and who had never applied for or received disability income. Of the three pathways that formed the conceptual basis for the investigation—labeling, impairment, and needs/resources—the latter two emerged as significantly associated with receipt. Individuals with more severe symptoms who were African American, and who were psychologically dependent in a primary relationship and financially dependent on their families, were more likely to become recipients. Enabling and disabling aspects of disability income receipt suggest that it may be replacing prolonged hospitalization as the most enduring social role of persons with severe, persistent psychiatric disorders.
Implementation of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation's Community Health Promotion Grant Program: A Process Evaluation
Authors: Wickizer Thomas M. , Wagner Edward , Cheadle Allen , Pearson David , Beery William , Maeser Jennifer , Psaty Bruce , Vonkorff Michael , Koepsell Thomas , Diehr Paula , Perrin Edward B.
Published: March 2003

The Community Health Promotion Grants Program, sponsored by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, represents a major health initiative that established 11 community health promotion projects. Successful implementation was characterized by several critical factors: (1) intervention activities; (2) community activation; (3) success in obtaining external funding; and (4) institutionalization. Analysis of the program was based on data from several sources: program reports, key informant surveys, and a community coalition survey. Results indicate that school‐based programs focusing on adolescent health problems were the most successful in reaching the populations they were targeting. The majority of the programs were able to attract external funding, thereby adding to their initial resource base. The programs were less successful in generating health promotion activities and in achieving meaningful institutionalization in their communities.
Treating Depressed Older Adults in Primary Care: Narrowing the Gap between Efficacy and Effectiveness
Authors: Unützer Jürgen , Katon Wayne , Sullivan Mark , Miranda Jeanne
Published: March 2003

There is a gap between the efficacy of treatments for late‐life depression under research conditions and the effectiveness of treatments as they occur in the “real world” of primary care. Considerable evidence supports the efficacy of treatments for late‐life depression, but many depressed older adults either are not recognized or do not receive effective treatment for depression in primary care. Older adults face a range of special treatment barriers: knowledge deficits; losses and social isolation; multiple medical problems; and lack of financial resources. More research is needed to understand these barriers and to study the effectiveness of multifaceted, population‐based disease management interventions for late‐life depression in primary care.
Do Consumers Use Information to Choose a Health‐Care Provider System?
Authors: Feldman Roger , Christianson Jon , Schultz Jennifer
Published: March 2003

This study examines the use of information by employees in the Buyers Health Care Action Group, a purchasing coalition of large employers in Minneapolis. BHCAG employers contract directly with multiple health‐care provider systems and attempt to inform employees about those choices. Shortly after the close of the 1998 open‐enrollment period, a survey of 927 BHCAG employees with single‐coverage health insurance was conducted. Seventy‐six percent of the employees relied on information from their employer when selecting their current care system. Use of information from the employer was positively related to education and years of residence in the Twin Cities. Previous experience with doctors and hospitals in the care system also was a common information source. Older and low‐income workers were more likely to use information from advertisements. The survey results suggest that employers can predict which information sources their employees will use.
The Acquisition of Modality: Implications for Theories of Semantic Representation
Authors: Papafragou Anna
Published: March 2003

The set of English modal verbs is widely recognized to communicate two broad clusters of meanings: epistemic and root modal meanings. A number of researchers have claimed that root meanings are acquired earlier than epistemic ones;

this claim has subsequently been employed in the linguistics literature as an argument for the position that English modal verbs are polysemous (Sweetser, 1990). In this paper I offer an alternative explanation for the later emergence of epistemic interpretations by linking them to the development of the child’s theory of mind (Wellman, 1990); if correct, this hypothesis might have important implications for the shape of the semantics of modal verbs.
In Defence of Narrow Mindedness
Authors: Egan Frances
Published: March 2003

Externalism about the mind holds that the explanation of our representational capacities requires appeal to mental states that are individuated by reference to features of the environment. Externalists claim that ‘narrow’ taxonomies cannot account for important features of psychological explanation. I argue that this claim is false, and offer a general argument for preferring narrow taxonomies in psychology.
The Cognitive Neuropsychology of Delusions
Authors: Langdon Robyn , Coltheart Max
Published: March 2003

After reviewing factors implicated in the generation of delusional beliefs, we conclude that whilst a perceptual aberration coupled with a particular type of attri‐butional bias may be necessary to explain the specific thematic content of a bizarre delusion, neither of these factors, whether in isolation or in combination, is sufficient to explain the presence of delusional beliefs. In contrast to bias models (theories which explain delusion formation in terms of extremes of normal reasoning biases), we advocate a deficit model of delusion formation–that is, delusions arise when the normal cognitive system which people use to generate, evaluate, and then adopt beliefs is damaged. Mere bias we think inadequate to explain bizarre delusions which defy commonsense and persist despite overwhelming rational counter‐argument. In particular, we propose that two deficits must be present in the normal cognitive system to explain bizarre delusions: (1) there must be some damage to sensory and/or attentional‐orient‐ing mechanisms which causes an aberrant perception–this explains the bizarre content of the causal hypothesis generated to explain what is happening; and (2) there must also be a failure of normal belief evaluation–this explains why a hypothesis, implausible in the light of general commonsense, is adopted as belief. This latter deficit occurs, we suggest, when an individual is incapable of suspending the natural favoured status of direct first‐person evidence in order to critically evaluate hypotheses, given equal pri‐ority whether based on direct or indirect sources of information. In contrast, delusions with ‘ordinary’ content may arise when a single deficit of normal belief evaluation occurs in the context of an extreme (but normal) attentional bias, thus causing failure to critically evaluate hypotheses based on misperceptions and misintrepretations of ambiguous (but ordinary) first‐person experience.