Star tech

The mission? To sensibly go where many have gone before--into the realm of information technology, where applications often outnumber sound business reasons to use them. If you've never been, don't believe everything you hear. Mainframes may be useful after all, and even widespread technologies don't hold all the answers.     

A new approach to household fertility behavior

A 1st step is taken in this discussion towards the explicit theoretical recognition that fertility decisions are made by pairs of individuals who conceivably have different preferences or are in different circumstances. The focus is on disagreements between spouses over desired family size. The discussion begins by identifying the costs and benefits of child services to each spouse, which involves consideration of the type of interdependency of the utility functions as well as the nature of the externality problem in the production of child service. Specific examples are included of situations in which disagreement is likely to occur. Using the National Fertility Survey of 1965, it is possible to test whether disagreements are more likely to occur in these identified cases. 2 types of fertility conflict are predicted: the wife desires fewer children than the husband and the reverse. The National Fertility Survey (NFS) data set contains 5617 interview records. A sample of 1559 women who were married once, husband present, nonmenopausal, aged 25-39 with valid answers to all questions were selected. Husband's schooling in excess of wife's increased the probability that conflict of the husband demanding fewer children type will arise and the probability was increased at higher levels of income. The demand for quality rose with income and placed additional pressure on a husband with more education to assist (via lost leisure time) in the creation of quality. The effects were highly nonlinear. Higher levels of status of the wife's (potential) job had the predicted effect of making wife demands fewer children conflict more likely, but only through intermediate levels of status. Another variable which had a significant influence on the probability of conflict was the husband's age, with higher husband's age leading to husband demanding fewer children than wife conflict.     

Book Reviews

Rashid Amjad (ed.), The Development of Labour Intensive Industry in ASEAN Countries, Geneva: Asian Employment Programme, International Labour Office, 1981, pp. v + 337. US$10.00.

G. J. Viksnins, Financial Deepening in ASEAN Countries, Pacific Forum. University of Hawaii Press, 1980, pp. ix + 76.

C. Sosya, L-S. Chia, W. L. Collier (eds). Man, Land and Sea, Bangkok: Agricultural Development Council, 1982, pp. ix + 320.

Joachim K. Metzner, Agriculture and Population Pressure in Sikka, Isle of Flores, (A contribution to the study of the stability of agricultural systems in the wet and dry tropics). Development Studies Centre Monograph No. 28. Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1982, pp. xxxii + 355. $A15.00.

Dwight Y. King, Interest Groups and Political Linkages in Indonesia 1800–1965. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University, Center for Southeast Asian Studies Special Report No. 20, pp. vii + 192, index.

Improving Access to Indonesian Collections in the Netherlands, Leiden: Intercontinenta No. 2, 1981, pp. 78. Dlf. l4.75.     

Some specifics on the loss of professional personnel from the Commonwealth Caribbean

The present study is concerned with migration from the Commonwealth Caribbean to the United States. The focus is on the migration of professionals, or the brain drain.     

The dynamics of population in Yugoslavia

A general review of population trends in Yugoslavia since the end of World War II is presented. Sections are included on natural population increase, including fertility, family planning, and mortality; migration, both internal and international; and changes in population characteristics. Data are primarily from official sources and are presented for Yugoslavia as a whole and its component republics and autonomous regions.     

Using Limited Information to Support the Decision to Launch a New Product in the Fruit Juice Market: A Teaching Case Study

Fresh Juice Incorporated (FJI) is in the process of determining whether it should launch a new fruit juice, Genetically Enhanced (GE) Juice. The GE Juice meets consumers' demands for a tasty, nutritious product and it would be the first new juice product in the last fifteen years. Before FJI decides to launch GE Juice, it must analyze the uncertainty surrounding market size, market share, and price of GE Juice. Finally, if FJI decides to launch GE Juice, then they must decide if they will bottle the juice themselves or outsource this process. This case teaches students how to discuss the strategic implications of launching a new product and develop a net present value and financial feasibility simulation model given limited information.