What makes a good conference? Analysing the preferences of labour economists

Conferences are an important element in the work of researchers, requiring substantial investments in fees, travel expenses and the time spent by the participants. The aim of this paper is to identify the preferences of participants with respect to conference characteristics. Based on a sample of European labour economists, preferences are measured using the vignette approach where participants are asked to choose between hypothetical European Association of Labour Economists (EALE) conferences. We find that the keynote speakers are the most important element in the preference for a conference, followed by the location of the conference. There is substantial heterogeneity in the taste of labour economists especially with respect to location, though the link between preference parameters and measured characteristics like gender, age and seniority is limited. Factor analysis suggests that the variety in preferences can be best described by a latent variable that reflects the weights people put on content versus fun.     

Your Place in Space: Classroom Experiment on Spatial Location Theory

The authors detail an urban economics experiment that is easily run in the classroom. The experiment has a flexible design that allows the instructor to explore how congestion, zoning, public transportation, and taxation levels determine the bid–rent function. Heterogeneous agents in the experiment compete for land use using a simple auction mechanism. Using the data that is collected, a bid–rent function is derived, and the experimental treatment is altered over the course of three sessions to uncover core concepts in urban economics. Moreover, this provides a tangible experience that can be used to help undergraduates relate to urban issues such as the steep rent gradient found around many larger colleges and universities.     

The Labor Force Participation of Older Americans in 1900: Further Results

Data from the 1900 census are used to study the proper labor force classification of older male Americans experiencing 6 months or more of unemployment (the "long-term unemployed"). The evidence is consistent with the view that the older an individual was on entering the state of long-term unemployment, the greater the likelihood that he would leave the labor force in a short period of time. I conclude, however, that this is insufficient reason to exclude the long-term unemployed from the count of gainful workers in 1900, as has recently been advocated.     

Endometriosis,an unknown entity: the consumer's perspective

This paper reports the findings of a consumer‐driven investigation conducted by the Centre for Clinical Nursing Research at Epworth Hospital in conjunction with the Endometriosis Association (Victoria, Australia) aimed at identifying the information and support needs of women experiencing endometriosis. Women's experiences of endometriosis and laparoscopy were examined. A questionnaire was designed to explore women's experiences of, and informational need for, the four categories of: diagnosis of endometriosis, endometriosis, laparoscopy and managing at home. A total of 465 women who had a positive diagnosis of endometriosis, including patients at the Epworth Endometriosis Centre and members of the Endometriosis Association, were included. The data were analysed in terms of frequency of responses and themes that arose from the research. Five main themes consistently emerged from the overall analysis of the questionnaire; these included: lack of communication, no‐one listens, the emotional turmoil, expressions of gratitude to the Endometriosis Association and being young and helpless. Also identified was a lack of understanding of endometriosis and laparoscopy, on behalf of both the patient and the practitioner, which has led to communication of misinformation, extended physical pain and emotional distress. Based on these findings, recommendations were made for education strategies to be focused towards increasing awareness of endometriosis and for information to be disseminated using the preferred printed format and to be made available from gynaecologists, hospitals and schools. Through consumer participation, the information obtained in this study is of benefit to all women who come in contact with endometriosis by (a) validating women's experiences of endometriosis and (b) identifying women's needs in relation to the disease.     

Does partnership at work increase trust? An analysis based on the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey

In the late 1990s, partnership at work was embraced with some enthusiasm by a number of stakeholders in employment relations and incorporated in the 1999 Employment Relations Act. The implementation of the Information and Consultation Regulations has also been extensively signalled. We might therefore expect to see some evidence of partnership‐related practices in Britain. The 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS 2004) provides an opportunity to explore the extent of partnership practice, and also, for the first time, to explore its link to trust relations. This article reports evidence from WERS 2004 suggesting that partnership practice remains relatively undeveloped and that it is only weakly related to trust between management and employee representatives and to employees’ trust in management. Direct forms of participation generally have a more positive association with trust than representative forms. There is also modest evidence that trust may be associated with certain workplace outcomes. The case for partnership and more particularly representative partnership as a basis for mutuality and trust is not supported by this evidence.     

Explaining the postwar suburbanization of population in the United States: the role of income

The author uses data on household heads from the Public Use Sample of the 1950 U.S. census to analyze the relationship between household income and the probability of suburban residence. The results indicate that "slightly less than half of population suburbanization between 1950 and 1980 can be attributed to rising household incomes."     

Strategic troping in Sri Lanka: September eleventh and the consolidation of political position

This essay investigates the deployment of the trope of September eleventh in Sri Lanka from 11 September 2001 until Sri Lanka's parliamentary elections and change of government on 5 December 2001. The essay argues that September eleventh in the tropic form of synecdoche performed political work for both parties to Sri Lanka's long-running conflict – the People's Alliance Government and the Tamil Tigers of Tamil Eelam, and demonstrates how each belligerent used September eleventh and the lexicon associated with the US attacks and early global response to brand their adversary as terrorist, to recode political and conflict narratives in September eleventh terms, and to indicate the appropriate scale and scope of the war. The article raises important questions about the translation of geopolitical events from one domestic context to another, the representation of political violence as global terror, and the strategic power of narrative.     

Judicial Views on Accounting in Britain Before 1889

This paper examines the accounting content of British legal cases decided in the fifty year period before the 1889 Court of Appeal decision in Lee v. Neuchatel Asphalte Company. Before the birth of what might be described as an ‘accounting literature’, these early cases dealt with such important topics as periodicity, uniformity, matching and realisation. Although consistent concepts of asset valuation and income determination are not evident, the discussions by the courts are among the earliest expositions on a variety of accounting topics, especially those relating to the development of accrual accounting.     

“Location, Location, Location!” The Price Gradient for Vacant Urban Land: New York, 1835 to 1900

We preview new archival evidence on the price of vacant land in New York City between 1835 and 1900. Before the Civil War, the price of land per square foot fell steeply with distance from New Yorks City Hall located in the central business district (CBD). After the Civil War, the distance gradient flattened and the fit of a simple regression of the log of land price per square foot on distance from the CBD declined markedly. Our most remarkable finding is that average nominal land prices at the CBD increased at an average annual rate of over 3% per year between 1835 and 1895, growing particularly rapidly around the time of the Civil War before declining as the century came to an end.