Labour and Tory Economic Policies: Both Frustrated by Non-Economic Forces?

Professor Rose demonstrates how the Thatcher Government's progress is much closer to that of her Labour predecessor than is realised. His graphs demonstrate dramatically how much political courage will be required to prevent welfare spending and trade union obstructions to growth dragging Government policies into the same traps.     

Effect of locus of control on student and recruiter responses to career appearance statements

The attribution concept ‘locus of control’, that is who has control over a situation, has been used in experimental studies. However, this concept seems appropriate to include in survey research. This paper focusses on the effect that locus of control had on the responses of university students (n = 273) and campus recruiters (n = 269) in the United States to Likert statements regarding career appearance. The two questions addressed in this paper are: (1) Did locus of control affect the pattern of responses of the two groups? and (2) Did their response patterns differ according to selected demographic characteristics? Significant differences totally supported the idea that locus of control influenced responses of the two groups. The pattern of responses also differed according to selected background characteristics of age, familial social class and current occupational focus (i.e. student and recruiter). However, two significant differences in student and recruiter response patterns occurred when age and social class subsamples of the two groups were drawn. Perhaps, in sample selection, researchers should consider either social roles, situations in which roles transpire, or both.     

New Measures of Union Organizing Effectiveness

This study compares union organizing activity and success in the United States and Canada. Based largely on certification data for the period 1976–1985, he results indicate there was a substantial decline in union organizing effectiveness in the United States and the Canadian unions were more active and successful in recruiting new members than their American counterparts. The evidence suggests that labor policy in Canada is more supportive of union organizing and the achievement of first collective agreements.     

STUDENT OUTCOMES AT UNIVERSITY IN AUSTRALIA: A QUANTILE REGRESSION APPROACH*

Students’ success during their first year at university is largely influenced by their university entrance score. Personal characteristics and secondary school characteristics also impact on success. This paper uses quantile regression to investigate how the effects of these factors vary along the grade distribution. It finds that the factors which influence grades have a more pronounced impact on the success of low‐achieving students than on that of high‐achieving students. These results have implications for student selection and also for the way scholarships may be used to attract talented high school students.     

RESTRUCTURING U.S. FEDERAL FINANCIAL REGULATION

Despite changes over the past 70 yr, the U.S. federal financial regulatory system remains rooted in the reforms of the 1930s. The institutions governed by this system have, nevertheless, continued to evolve. Today, regulation of large, multiproduct, internationally active financial organizations poses challenges for a system designed largely to regulate smaller, distinct, locally based organizations. Reform of the regulatory system, however, is not an easy task—complex issues regarding deposit insurance, the role of the central bank, and the dual banking system must be addressed. In the absence of a crisis, however, regulatory restructuring will not likely generate much political interest . ( JEL G28)     

Financial Protectionism? First Evidence

We examine large public interventions in the financial sector, such as bank nationalizations and search for “financial protectionism,” a decrease in the quantity and/or an increase in the price of loans that banks from one country make to borrowers resident in another. We use a bank‐level panel data set spanning all U.K.‐resident banks between 1997Q3 and 2010Q1. After nationalization, foreign banks reduced their fraction of British loans by about 11% and increased their effective interest rates by about 70 basis points. In contrast, nationalized British banks did not significantly change either their loan mix or effective interest rates.