Athleticism and the reproduction of gender and ethnic marginality

Our paper explores the construction of ethnic and gender identities through sport and physical education, arguing that the social attitudes of women and members of ethnic minorities to sport helps to define their marginal position in society. We analyse the literature with respect to ethnicity, gender and sport within the framework of recent ethnographic research, and show how gender and ethnic factors markedly affect attitudes to sport. The wider implications of these attitudes are examined and related to work, unemployment and marginal social status. Attitudes to sport are seen to be significant in establishing attitudes to leisure as a whole, which is discussed in terms of social reproduction and the state. We extend the notion of marginality to take account of the importance of leisure behaviour in explaining and justifying the status of women and ethnic minorities in society.     

How Capitalism Endogenously Creates Rising Income Inequality and Economic Crisis: The Macro Political Economy Model of Early Industrial Relations

A major economic issue today is the causes and consequences of wage stagnation and rising income inequality. This paper uncovers, describes, and formalizes the macro political economy model developed by pre–New Deal institutional/industrial relations economists to explain these issues. The model is formalized in a three‐part diagram and used to explain the role of inequality and wage stagnation in causing the Great Depression and World Financial Crisis and the appropriate policy responses.     

A comparative analysis of corporate entrepreneurial orientation between selected firms in the Netherlands and the USA

Firms in turbulent or fast-changing environments must continually innovate to remain competitive. This study examined how a firm's strategic management practices influence its entrepreneurial behaviour as compared to an international competitor. Four firms in the Netherlands were each matched with a key competitor in the USA. Several survey measures related to the strategic management process were used along with an instrument related to corporate entrepreneurship practices. Both managers and employees participated in the study. Results revealed significant differences between the Netherlands firms and the US competitors in entrepreneurial orientation. Results also supported these comparative differences along three key dimensions of strategic management as they relate to corporate entrepreneurship. The final set of data revealed a relationship between corporate entrepreneurship and three measures of firm performance. The implications focus upon the key role that culture may play in facilitating corporate entrepreneurship and adaptable organizational practices. Suggestions for further research are also made.     

Least-squares forecast averaging

This paper proposes forecast combination based on the method of Mallows Model Averaging (MMA). The method selects forecast weights by minimizing a Mallows criterion. This criterion is an asymptotically unbiased estimate of both the in-sample mean-squared error (MSE) and the out-of-sample one-step-ahead mean-squared forecast error (MSFE). Furthermore, the MMA weights are asymptotically mean-square optimal in the absence of time-series dependence. We show how to compute MMA weights in forecasting settings, and investigate the performance of the method in simple but illustrative simulation environments. We find that the MMA forecasts have low MSFE and have much lower maximum regret than other feasible forecasting methods, including equal weighting, BIC selection, weighted BIC, AIC selection, weighted AIC, Bates–Granger combination, predictive least squares, and Granger–Ramanathan combination.     

The Status of Econometrics in the Economics Major: A Survey

In this article, the authors describe the place of econometrics in undergraduate economics curricula in all American colleges and universities that offer economics majors as listed in the U.S. News & World Report “Best Colleges 2010” guide (U.S. News & World Report 2009). Data come from online catalogs, departmental Web sites, and online course syllabi. About one-third of the schools require econometrics of all students majoring in economics, about half require it of none, and a sixth require it of some, but not all, economics majors. Among universities with economics PhD programs and liberal arts colleges, almost all those ranked in the top 10 require it. Below the top 10, there is little correlation between ranking and econometrics requirements. Liberal arts econometrics classes are much more likely to require research projects than their counterparts in universities.