The Impact of Gender Similarity on Employee Satisfaction at Work: A Review and Re‐Evaluation*

abstract We used data from the British 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey (WERS98) to examine key unanswered questions about the impact of gender similarity on employee satisfaction at work. The study sample consisted of 11,848 men and 11,278 women from over 1700 workplaces across Britain. In line with gender‐specific compositional arguments, the effects of gender similarity were found to be asymmetrical for men and women, with similarity tending to have a greater positive impact on men than on women. The effects involved were primarily linear in nature. Net of the potentially confounding influence of other factors, they were also found to be quite weak, weaker than has commonly been suggested in the literature.     

Insurance fraud detection: A statistically validated network approach

Fraud is a social phenomenon, and fraudsters often collaborate with other fraudsters, taking on different roles. The challenge for insurance companies is to implement claim assessment and improve fraud detection accuracy. We developed an investigative system based on bipartite networks, highlighting the relationships between subjects and accidents or vehicles and accidents. We formalize filtering rules through probability models and test specific methods to assess the existence of communities in extensive networks and propose new alert metrics for suspicious structures. We apply the methodology to a real database—the Italian Antifraud Integrated Archive—and compare the results to out-of-sample fraud scams under investigation by the judicial authorities.     

An Analytical Framework for Joint vs Separate Decisions by Couples in Choice Experiments: The Case of Coastal Water Quality in Tobago

This paper offers an analytical framework for analyzing joint and separate decisions by couples in the context of choice experiments for nonmarket valuation. It reports results from an attribute-based stated preference study in which members of couples are asked to conduct a choice-experiment first individually and then jointly. The choice context was the selection of which beach to visit while on vacation in Tobago. Available alternatives differed in attributes related to coastal water and beach quality such as level of coastal development and fish abundance. Tests of preference equality are reported and structured so as to identify the intra-couple decision-making patterns under taste heterogeneity with both finite and continuous mixed logit. Results from the latter suggest that women’s preferences are found to be predominant in the joint choice-experiment. Results suggest caution in using individual choice rather than joint couple choice when valuing quality changes impacting on couple activities, such as water and beach quality in Tobago, and call for further research on the topic.     

The anatomy of the aggregate labor supply elasticity

We show that the aggregate Frisch elasticity of labor supply can greatly exceed the corresponding individual-level parameter, and we illustrate the “anatomy” of the former in terms of intensive and extensive margins. The methodology consists of using micro data from the PSID to construct a panel of individuals and an aggregate time series obtained by aggregating these individuals each year. These two data sets represent exactly the same sample at different levels of aggregation, and we use them to identify the parameters of two distinct MaCurdy-type micro and macro equations. We find a micro elasticity of about 0.1 and a much larger macro elasticity that ranges from 1.1 to 1.7. There is no conflict between the two estimates: the micro one reflects only the intensive margin while the macro one reflects, in addition, the much more volatile extensive margin. Furthermore, aggregation of only continuously employed individuals allows us to provide a reliable estimate of the intensive margin elasticity in the range 0.3–0.4. This implies an extensive margin elasticity in the range 0.8–1.4. These findings suggest that micro evidence is not a benchmark for assessing how large the Frisch elasticity of labor supply should be in a model of the aggregate economy.     

On linking microsimulation and computable general equilibrium models using exact aggregation of heterogeneous discrete-choice making agents

Our paper contributes by bridging the gap between the (partial equilibrium) microsimulation and the computable general equilibrium (CGE) approaches, by making use of exact aggregation results from the discrete choice literature: heterogeneous individuals choosing within a set of discrete alternatives may be aggregated into a representative agent with (possibly multiple-level) constant elasticity-of-substitution/transformation preferences/technologies. These results therefore provide a natural link between the two policy evaluation approaches. We illustrate the usefulness of these results by evaluating potential effects of population ageing on the dynamics of income distribution and inequalities, using a simple overlapping generations model where individuals make leisure/work decisions, and choose a profession among a discrete set of alternatives.     

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.     

The Bell Curve in Psychological Research and Practice: Myth or Reality?

The expression “the bell curve” designs both a kind of statistical distribution and the title of a famous and controversial book by Herrnstein and Murray. The first is so attractive that the second refers to it to give more credibility to its questionable theories on intelligence. The point is that, during the 20th century, the bell curve has assumed a more and more important role in psychological research and practice and have become both a reality and a myth. In the first case (reality) we can assist to appropriate applications of a real useful statistical concept. In the second (myth) we can have two kinds of attitudes: one attitude is typical of those researchers who search for normality in all their data and variables, just as Parsifal used to search for the Holy Graal (we call this “the Parsifal attitude”); the other is typical of those researchers who give normality for granted and act as if it were a Platonic Idea (we call this “the Plato attitude”). The article discusses the role of the normal distribution in psychological research and practice and shows how it can be dangerous to treat the bell curve as a God or an Idol.     

Ex ante purchasing power parity: An empirical note

Conclusions In the paper, the EAPPP theory was discussed and three different tests with increasingly statistic power were proposed and implemented. The results are mixed, since the theory passed the randomness and orthogonality tests, but not the direct regression test. The impression is that EAPPP seems to hold in a weak sense, since the evidence confirms random movements of real exchange rates and an efficient use of information by agents but not the constraints on (14) postulated by EAPPP. In general, the results of the present study are in accordance with those of Cumby and Obstfeld [1984], Mishkin [1984], MacDonald [1985] and Gaab et al. [1986] who found only weak support to the EAPPP theory. Furthermore, in the case of the dollar-lira exchange rate, our findings are different from those of Tronzano [1987] according to which “although PPP holds very badly in its traditional (absolute or relative formulation), ex ante PPP (both in “weak” and in “strong” version) [is] highly supported by data”. In fact, in our case both the second orthogonality test and the regression test are unfavourable to the EAPPP.     

Design efficiency for non‐market valuation with choice modelling: how to measure it,what to report and why*

We review the basic principles for the evaluation of design efficiency in discrete choice modelling with a focus on efficiency of WTP estimates from the multinomial logit model. The discussion is developed under the realistic assumption that researchers can plausibly define a prior belief on the range of values for the utility coefficients. D‐, A‐, B‐, S‐ and C‐errors are compared as measures of design performance in applied studies and their rationale is discussed. An empirical example based on the generation and comparison of fifteen separate designs from a common set of assumptions illustrates the relevant considerations to the context of non‐market valuation, with particular emphasis placed on C‐efficiency. Conclusions are drawn for the practice of reporting in non‐market valuation and for future work on design research.