Short reviews

Charlie Mason, 1988: Government Restructuring of Vocational Education and Training 1981-1987. School for Advanced Urban Studies. £6.50

Confederation of British Industry, September 1988: Building a stronger partnership between business and secondary education: Report of the CBI Business/Education Task Force.

CBI member's price £25, non-member's price £50.

Amin Rajan with Julie Frayatt, 1988: Create or Abdicate: The City's Human Resource Choice for the 90's. Brighton: Institute of Manpower Studies, £25.

Jim Brown and Lydia Baker, 1989: Co-operative Training & Development: Measuring Success. London Co-operative Training, £2.95.

OECD, 1988: Measures to assist the long-term unemployed; recent experiences in some OECD countries, £7.50.     

The Effect of Format Changes and Ownership Consolidation on Radio Station Outcomes

Analyzing a panel dataset tracking format changes and ownership consolidation in local radio markets, we find that format changes frequently have enabled stations to improve their performance, The success of reformatting varies widely across format, and the likelihood that changing to another format will boost station performance declines as that format space becomes more crowded, Successful reformatting is not limited to large radio groups, In fact, weak evidence that radio groups garner economies of scope from owning multiple stations in the same format is the only indication we find that larger radio groups have been able to choose formats strategically in order to obtain a boost in their listening shares. In the face of substantial and, ongoing ownership consolidation in local radio markets, our results suggest that format changes by smaller station groups may counter the potential exercise of market power by a radio group that acquires a substantial share of a particular audience demographic through merger.     

Book Reviews

Colin Macandrews (Ed.), Central Government and Local Development in Indonesia, Singapore: Oxford University Press, East Asian Social Science Monographs, 1986, pp. 270, 36 Tables, 2 Figures, 4 Maps.

Himpunan Peraturan Perundang-undangan Republik Indonesia di Bidang Ketenaga-kerjaan [Labour Legislation in Indonesia], Vols I-III, Jakarta: P.T. Twins, 1986.

Michael A. Costello, Thomas R. Leinbach and Richard Ulack, with Marilou Palabrica-Costello and Bambang Suwarno, Mobility and Employment in Urban Southeast Asia: Examples From Indonesia and the Philippines, Boulder: Westview Press, 1987, pp. xvi + 191. $Us 26.50.

Susan Abeyasekere, Jakarta: A History, Singapore: Oxford U.P., 1987, pp. xvii + 280. Cloth: $45.00.

David P. Chandler and M.C. Ricklefs (Eds), Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Indonesia: Essays in Honour of Professor J.D. Legge, Clayton, Vic. : Monash University Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, 1986, pp. 281. $14.00.

Graeme J. Hugo, Terence H. Hull, Valerie J. Hull, Gavin W. Jones, The Demographic Dimension in Indonesian Development, Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1987, pp. xxv + 417. $50.00.

I Ketut Nehen and Ian R. Wills, Land Preparation in West Java: Benefits and Costs of Alternative Techniques, Agency For Agricultural Research and Development, Indonesia, and International Rice Research Institute, 1986, pp. xii + 159.

Michael Smith et al., Asia's New Industrial World, London: Methuen, 1985, pp. vi + 136. £2.95.

Australian Institute of Urban Studies, Review of Australian Assistance to the Indonesian Water Supply and Sanitation Sector, A Report for the Australian Development Assistance Bureau, 1986, pp. xxxiii + 305, $26.00 plus postage.     

Job-worker mismatch and cognitive decline

We have used longitudinal test data on various aspects of people'scognitive abilities to analyse whether overeducated workersare more vulnerable to a decline in their cognitive abilities,and undereducated workers are less vulnerable. We found thata job-worker mismatch induces a cognitive decline with respectto immediate and delayed recall abilities, cognitive flexibilityand verbal fluency. Our findings indicate that, to some extent,it is the adjustment of the ability level of the overeducatedand undereducated workers that adjusts initial job-worker mismatch.This adds to the relevance of preventing overeducation, andshows that being employed in a challenging job contributes toworkers’ cognitive resilience.