Explaining Differences in Economic Performance Among Racial and Ethnic Groups in the USA

A bstract . By utilizing self-reported race and ancestry in the 1980 and 1990 USA censuses and the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition technique, the extent of wage discrimination experienced by women and by men is examined across 50 ethnic/racial groups. Systematic evidence of negative discrimination is revealed in both census years for Asian, Indian, black (African-American), Vietnamese, Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican , and Native American males. To assess the charge that the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition indicates cultural rather than discriminatory differentials, two additional data experiments are performed—one that controls for color and varies culture, and one that controls for culture and varies color. Race appears to matter.     

Up in the Air: GTE's Experience in the MTA Auction for Personal Communication Services Licenses

In late 1994, GTE, one of the largest telecommunications firms in the world, entered an auction for the rights to provide personal communications services (PCS) using the electromagnetic spectrum. The administering agency, the Federal Communications Commission, adopted a novel multiple-round format for the PCS auction. The format presented GTE with a complex bidding problem. This article describes how the GTE bidding team answered the following question: Given its budget and valuations and the information available about rival bidders, how should GTE bid to achieve the best attainable outcome?     

Judo Strategy: 10 Techniques For Beating A Stronger Opponent

The idea of judo economics, building on analogies with the sport of judo, has been around for at least 20 years. But taking these ideas further to judo strategy means that a framework of strategic principles can be developed to help companies put stronger opponents on the mat.     

School Choice and the Distributional Effects of Ability Tracking: Does Separation Increase Inequality?

Tracking programs have been criticized on the grounds that they harm disadvantaged children. The bulk of empirical research supports this view, but existing studies compare outcomes across students placed in different tracks. Track placement is likely to be endogenous with respect to student outcomes. We use a new strategy for overcoming the endogeneity of track placement and find no evidence that tracking hurts low-ability children. Previous studies have also been based on the assumption that students' enrollment decisions are unrelated to whether or not the school tracks. When we account for the possibility that tracking programs affect school choice, we find evidence that they may help low-ability children.     

Symmetry and order in the portfolio allocation problem

Summary. This research studies the role of multivariate distribution structures on random asset returns in determining the optimal allocation vector for an expected utility maximizer. All our conclusions pertain for the set of risk averters. By carefully disturbing symmetry in the distribution of the, possibly covarying, returns, we ascertain the ordinal structure of the optimized allocation vector. Rank order of allocations is also established when a permutation symmetric random vector is mapped into the returns vector through location and scale shifts. It is shown that increased dispersion in the vectors of location and scale parameters benefit, ex-ante, investors as does a decrease in the rank correlation coefficient between the location and scale parameter vectors. Revealed preference comparative static results are identified for the location and scale vectors of asset returns. For most issues addressed, we arrive at much stronger inferences when a safe asset is available. Received: August 8, 2000; revised version: January 8, 2001     

Cognitive processing models in performance appraisal: evidence from the Malaysian education system

The effectiveness of the decision‐making process in appraisal has been of long‐standing interest. This paper reports the results of research exploring the extent to which those undertaking appraisals apply systematic processes to their decision‐making, represented in terms of the cognitive processing models applied by appraisers. Results of 22 cognitive mapping interviews exploring appraisal practice, undertaken with appraisers in the Malaysian education system, are described. The resultant cognitive maps have been explored for what they tell us about the cognitive processing models underlying appraisers' decision‐making. Results suggest that the practice of appraisal evidenced in interviews demonstrates the presence of cognitive processing that reflects theoretical cognitive processing models, although some differences are observed between less experienced and experienced appraisers' models. Implications from the interview findings for the practice of appraisal are identified.     

Introduction to the Policy Forum on Commonwealth–State Funding Arrangements

This article introduces the Policy Forum on funding arrangements between the Commonwealth and the States.     

"带形容词"的民主:比较研究中的概念创新

近年来,世界各国民主化的趋势使得学者们必须面对两个具有潜在矛盾的目标:其一是建立一个能涵盖各个国家不同经验、具有多样性的民主概念;其二是在不扩大概念的基础上扩大对这一大类案例的分析。本文认为这种双重挑战导致了概念创新的加速,产生了几百种民主的亚类型———也就是“带形容词”的民主。本文对出现的三种重要创新类型的优势和弱点进行了探讨,这三种类型是:对民主定义的“精确化”;对与民主相关联的大概念进行转化;以及建立不同的亚类型。鉴于这些重新定义民主概念的策略所产生的含义具有复杂的结构,我们显得老生常谈式的结论其实具有新的紧迫含义:学者们必须通过对他们所使用的民主概念进行清楚的定义和说明来为自己的研究定位。