Child Health and Mortality: Does Health Knowledge Matter?

This paper studies factors that influence child health in Bissau,the capital of Guinea-Bissau. This environment is characterisedby high infant mortality, but not by malnutrition. We show thatalthough maternal education is important in determining childhealth and mortality this effect diminishes or disappears whenhealth knowledge is introduced as an explanatory variable. Itemerges that health knowledge has large and positive effectson both child mortality and health when instrumented for tocapture endogeneity.     

Individual influences on knowledge acquisition in a call center training context in Germany

From both a practical and a theoretical point of view, it is important to identify factors that foster knowledge acquisition in organizational training programs. Recent models of training effectiveness have proposed relationships between trainees’ characteristics and subsequent learning. The present study tested the impact of trainees’ pretraining expectations, post‐training reaction to training, expectation fulfillment and commitment on declarative knowledge acquisition, while controlling for education and motivation to learn. Participants were call center agents (N = 84), working in 10 call centers in Germany. Results showed that, in addition to education and motivation to learn, only expectation fulfillment significantly predicted learning. Implications for practice and future research were discussed.     

Debt-for-nature swaps: A review of the first experiences

The relatively new concept of debt-for-nature swaps is intended to take account of the connection between the indebtedness of developing countries and the destruction of the environment taking place there, the consequences of which are increasingly also perceived as a threat in the industrial countries. The idea has now been put to the test in practive in a number of cases. Against that background, the authors of this article point out the areas of potential and the limitations of debt-for-nature swaps.     

Divergence in Part-Time Work in New Zealand, the Netherlands and Denmark

A comparison of developments in part‐time work in New Zealand, the Netherlands and Denmark shows three very different trends. The Dutch are moving towards a ‘part‐time economy’, the decline in Danish part‐time employment confounds the common expectation of rising atypical employment, while the New Zealand case illustrates some of the negative employment outcomes often associated with part‐time employment and provides a contrast to the negotiated, tripartite solutions found in the Netherlands and Denmark. Overall, the diversity in part‐time work patterns raises important theoretical and public policy questions, such as the interaction between institutional and preference changes, gender patterns and union strategies.     

Kapitalmarktreaktionen auf die Ankündigung des?Wechsels von Vorstandsvorsitzenden in?den?Aufsichtsrat bei deutschen Unternehmen

In dem Beitrag werden die Kapitalmarktreaktionen auf die Ankündigung eines Wechsels des Vorstandsvorsitzenden eines Unternehmens in dessen Aufsichtsrat untersucht. Dazu wird ein Sample von insgesamt 174 Führungswechseln (davon 65 verbunden mit der Ankündigung eines Wechsels des ehemaligen Vorstandsvorsitzenden in den Aufsichtsrat) mittels der Ereignisstudienmethodik untersucht. Im Ergebnis kann weder eine eindeutig negative noch eine eindeutig positive Reaktion auf die Ankündigung eines Wechsels vom Vorstand in den Aufsichtsrat nachgewiesen werden.     

Multivariate Boundary Kernels from Local Linear Estimation

Lejeune and Sarda (1992) and Jones (1993) introduced the principle of local linear estimation to nonparametric estimation of smooth densities on the positive real axes. This methodology results in the basic kernel smoother with Gasser and Müller (1979) type boundary kernels when estimating close to a boundary. This principle is extended to nonparametric multivariate density estimation with arbitrary boundary regions.     

Quest for appropriate overcapacity in the fisheries industry

The effective management of natural resources is a critical issue that concerns many people with differing interests. This paper examines aspects of overcapacity and optimal capacity within fisheries by accounting for multiple objectives. Overcapacity arises when a fishing fleet is capable of producing more than what is demanded at the industry level, or allowed by a regulatory framework. The presence of multiple objectives within fisheries management is most often an unavoidable reality, where the objectives determine what level of overcapacity is considered optimal. A two-stage model is suggested that can produce information for management in terms of tradeoffs, policy frontiers, objective values and optimal fleet structure. In the first stage, an output-based Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model is applied. Efficiency is evaluated and production units transformed such that they use technologically efficient inputs and produce at their full potential. In the second stage, these transformed units are included in an aggregate industry model formulated as a multi-objective optimization program. The model provides information for managers in terms of tradeoffs, policy frontiers, objective values, and optimal fleet structure (by generating Pareto optimal solutions). The proposed model has then been applied to the Danish commercial fishing fleet.     

Reliabilit?tstests in Inhaltsanalysen

A content analysis of all articles published in Publizistik and Medien & Kommunikationswissenschaft between 2001 and 2010 shows that reliability documentation has improved considerably in Germany. However, this documentation if often imprecise and incomplete, and almost a third of all articles do not even mention coding reliability. Although both scholarly journals explicitly require certain documentation standards, the actual reporting practice varies considerably. Precise quality standards for content analyses are therefore necessary.