Job location and the journey-to-work: An empirical analysis

In this paper we present and estimate a single equation model designed to explain the job-location behaviour of individuals living in a multi-centered metropolitan area. We test the model separately for heads of households and non-heads of households, as well as for the total working population, in order to isolate differences in commuting behaviour between primary and secondary wage earners. The relationships are estimated from 1971 Census, cross-section data using least squares multiple regression.The results of the location equation indicate that wage gradient variables are important determinants of job location for heads of households. On the other hand, non-heads are rather insensitive to the wage gradient. Rather, contrary to the decisions of heads, the job-location choices of non-heads are strongly influenced by socio-economic attributes, notably occupation, family size and age. Clearly, job-location decisions of primary wage earners (usually the household heads) are influenced by earnings-maximizing considerations while secondary earners (non-heads in general) put more weight on other socio-economic factors. The results also suggest that there is a hidden cost associated with uneven directional growth in the Toronto CMA. It is suggestive that urban planning strategies should reflect consideration of the greater desire or need for accessibility on the part of secondary wage earners (non-heads) and the need to balance residential and job opportunities at the extending margin of the urban area.     

A university admissions system

This paper presents a mathematical programming model that will make admit/reject decisions for applicants to a university freshman class.The model is intended to aid (rather than replace) reviewers and will help produce better and more consistent decisions. It also provides a university administration with some control over “balance” in the composition of the student body and allows investigation of the consequences of alternative admission policies.The nature of the problem suggests an integer programming formulation, however it is shown that a linear programming formulation will provide an efficient and practical solution for all but a very small set of applicants (no more than 19).     

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An evaluation of the success of the hungarian economic reform: An analysis using international-trade data

The behavior of centrally planned economies (CPE's) will markedly differ from that of market economies (ME's). Tests of the success of decentralizing reforms in Hungary are based on comparing the behavior of post-reform Hungary to CPE's and ME's at similar levels of development. The basis of comparison is the pattern of comparative advantage. Discriminant analysis is used to examine whether there are significant differences between CPE's and ME's. The discriminant function, a linear function of the comparative advantages, is then used to classify pre- and post-reform Hungary. The results indicate that the reform has been effective.