Problem-based learning: merging of economics and mathematics

We present problem-based learning as a strategy to assist students to integrate both mathematics and economics knowledge as well as develop other skills. We present basic information about problem-based learning, provide an example of an economics problem that could be used in an early undergraduate mathematics course, and provide sources for additional economics problems and information about problem-based learning. While faculty will seldom have a class composed entirely of economics students, the examples that we provide do not require in-depth knowledge of economics but will help undergraduates develop some understanding of the economic world they live in.     

Lessons learned from the PMI case study: the community perspective

This summary report presents the lessons learned during the two-part qualitative case study on the efficacy of the Prevention Marketing Initiative (PMI) in its implementation of an HIV prevention program. About 179 community participants were included in the PMI program, which discussed topics ranging from organizing initial planning committees to financially sustaining federal demonstration programs. One of the successes observed was the development of rapport with schools and churches; however, during the course of its implementation, the program realized the necessity of 1) approaching the program as an ongoing process; 2) going beyond studying the target population through formative research; 3) changing the role of a community coalition as the project matures; 4) reexamining the composition of coalition in the light of the target audience; 5) advocating the project as a community resource that promotes collaboration; 6) attending the needs of coalition members; and 7) using the media in the campaign. Likewise, several lessons were also learned in the areas of youth involvement, intervention development, program implementation, and maintenance of PMI activities.     

Aggregation of Local Housing Markets

This article explores the implications of spatial aggregation for parameter estimates in models of the housing sector. Using illustrative static and dynamic models and realistic assumptions about the true parameter values at the level of the local market, the article characterizes and quantifies the bias resulting from spatial aggregation and then uses the results to shed light on some previous findings from aggregate modeling of the housing sector.     

Technology in the time of corona: A critical institutional reading

Drawing on institutional theory and using examples from Israel, we offer a critique of technology's deployment in responses to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). We distinguish between technologies-in-use (“small ‘t' technologies”), the bundle of artifacts and practices that bring them into being, and “Big ‘T' Technology,” the latter being technology as an institution – shared meanings, structures, and practices that govern thought and action. Using the conceptual tool kit of institutional theory, we make three interrelated arguments. First, the deployment of technologies-in-use in response to the pandemic is embedded in diverse and contradictory institutions, the institution of technology among them. These technologies participate in the very construction of crisis, which fosters the revert to known and established ways of being and doing. Thus, technologies-in-use are not necessarily the most efficient and rational but rather the most legitimate and readily available. Second, putting certain technologies into action has not been happening by itself. Instead, we have witnessed contestations among relevant agents – like politicians and experts – who engage in institutional work to serve their interests. Third, despite its global reach, technology is locally adapted and implemented in specific contexts. All in all, institutional theory helps us to explore further and critique the naïve belief, common in public discourse, in technology as a remedy of all things. Instead, it offers a more critical understanding of the cultural dynamics involved in putting technology to work in the coronavirus crisis. This critical lens carries implications for policymaking and implementation in times of crisis.     

Strategies for deveIopment projects: an empirical study*

This paper summarizes results from a study of strategy choices and outcomes in one government laboratory over a fifteen-year time period. Several considerations associated with the effectiveness of a parallel strategy are presented and discussed. These include different types of uncertainty encountered in a given problem and their effect on the rate of learning. Contrary to observations in other studies, the present results suggest that the rate of learning is often slow and may not be facilitated by the use of many parallel approaches in only early project stages. In many instances major uncertainties are not reduced until the product is evaluated in the operational environment.     

The 1989–92 Credit Crunch for Real Estate: A Retrospective

This study surveys a broad range of information to establish the degree to which real estate lending and construction activity decreased in the 1989–92 period owing to a "credit crunch." It reviews the conditions that led up to the contraction in mortgage lending and construction and then documents the extent to which the evidence is consistent with a credit crunch in lending for residential and nonresidential construction, permanent financing of income properties, and residential mortgage lending. Also, this study weighs the relative importance of the credit crunch and other factors that contributed to the falloff in real estate lending and contrasts the recent period with earlier credit crunch episodes.     

Pastoral Livelihoods in Tanzania: Can the Maasai Benefit from Conservation?

The Maasai pastoralists of Northern Tanzania live in areas of unique conservation value. There is a widespread belief dating from colonial times that Maasai cattle herding is unproductive and detrimental to the region's wildlife. The increase in the Maasai population has fuelled this belief and has led to their exclusion from their traditional land and a breakdown in their land management strategies. This decreases their capacity to maintain a livelihood, and so they must turn to non-traditional methods. This paper looks at how the Maasai have been excluded from their lands and why this has caused traditional livelihoods to become unsustainable. It then goes on to suggest that community-based tourism offers possible alternative sustainable solutions both to the Maasai and to conservationists.