Contemporary Extensions of the Rasch Model

This paper will introduce, discuss and illustrate two contemporary extensions of theRasch model: the one parameter logistic model (Verhelst and Glas, 1995) and theMultidimensional Rasch model (Hoijtink et al., 1999). Using data with respect tothe measurement of schizotypy (Vollema and Hoijtink, 2000) the most importantfeatures of both models will be illustrated. For the one parameter logistic modelthese include: a (discrete) discrimination parameter for each item; a test for itembias; and, estimation of the location of a person on the (latent) trait that is beingmeasured. For the multidimensional Rasch model these include: specification ofthe model; and, model selection. All analyses presented in this paper can be executedusing either OPLM (Verhelst et al., 1995), TESTFACT (Wilson et al.,1984) or ConQuest (Wu et al., 1998). At the end of the paper some features ofmodels and software that have not been discussed will be summarized.     

Cooperation Among Administrative Agencies

"The National Government and the States should be regarded not as competitors for authority but as two levels of government cooperating with or complementing each other in meeting the growing demands on both."¹     

Lincoln Staffens and the McNamara Case: A Progressive Response to Class Conflict

A bstract . Lincoln Stevens' involvement with the McNamara case was one of the major concerns of his life. His Autobiography is not fully dependable regarding this incident; churches were not uniformly hostile to the settlement that ended the case and the Los Angeles Times , ignoring commitments to meet labor grievances, maintained its antiunion position. Steffens' experimentation with "Golden Rule" Christian love as an alternative to class conflict reflected his divergent allegiances to Progressives who sought reform and to radicals , basically opposed to corporate capitalism. It also reflected his own rejection of class partisanship. Although the pledges made in the settlement were broken, Steffens remained loyal to the McNamaras and continued to argue it is futile to punish individuals for acts rooted in social conflict.     

How to design virus containment policies? A joint analysis of economic and epidemic dynamics under the COVID-19 pandemic

Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination - We analyze the impact of different designs of COVID-19-related lockdown policies on economic loss and mortality using a micro-level simulation...