Culture,Self-Construal,and Leisure Motivations

The purpose of this study is to examine Canadian and Mainland Chinese students' leisure by investigating the role self-construal plays as an intervening variable between culture and motivation. Separate hierarchical multiple regressions are performed on each motivation with culture entered first followed by a block composed of four types of self-construal: vertical collectivism (i.e., dutiful), horizontal collectivism (i.e., cooperative), horizontal individualism (i.e., unique), and vertical individualism (i.e., achievement oriented). Results suggest that: (a) higher levels of horizontal collectivism are associated with higher levels of introjected reward (i.e., pride), identified (i.e., personally important), integrated (self-identity), and intrinsic (i.e., interesting and enjoyable) motivations; and (b) higher levels of horizontal individualism are associated with higher levels of introjected reward, identified, and integrated motivations.     

Book review

Tourism Marketing. By Salah Wahab, Jack Crampon, and L. Rothfield. London, England: Tourism International, 1976. 273 pp. U.S. $16.00

Tourism in the Bahamas and Bermuda: Two Case Studies. By Brian H. Archer. Bangor, Wales: University of Wales Press, 1977. Pp. ix, 87. £3.25

Park Planning Handbook: Fundamentals of Physical Planning for Parks and Recreation Areas. By Monty L. Christiansen. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1977. Pp. xiv, 413. Hardcover: $18.95

Educating for Leisure‐Centered Living. By Charles K. Bright‐bill and Tony A. Mobley. (2nd Edition—Revised). New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1977. Pp. viii, 128. Paperback: $4.95

Private and Commercial Recreation: A Text and Reference. By Arlin F. Epperson. New York: John Wiley & Sons Publishing Company, Inc., 1977. Pp. 385. Hardcover: $15.95

The Economic Impact of Parks. A report prepared for the Federal/Provincial Parks Conference. By the Canadian Outdoor Recreation Research Committee. Toronto: Ontario Research Council on Leisure, 1975. Pp. 107. $4.50

A Model for Planning and Managing National Parks. By Laurence Prosser. Center of Leisure Studies, University of Oregon, 1977. Pp. 456. $25.00

Delivery of Community Leisure Services: An Holistic Approach. By James F. Murphy and Dennis R. Howard. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger, 1977. Pp. vii, 219. Paperback: $9.75

Recreation Leadership. 3rd edition. By Maryhelen Vannier. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger, 1977. Pp. 387. Hardcover: $12.50

Leisure: An Introduction. Edited by Hilmi Ibrahim and Fred Martin. Los Alamitos: Hwong Publishing Company, 1977. Pp. 360

Outdoor Recreation in America: Trends, Problems and Opportunities. 3rd edition. By Clayne R. Jensen. Minneapolis: Burgess Publishing Company, 1977. Pp. 269. Hardcover: $12.95

A Research Study into Provision for Recreation in the Highlands and Islands: Phase 1—Areas Affected by Oil‐Related Development. Research Reports 22, 23, and 31. Tourism and Recreation Research Unit, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, 1976 and 1977. Pp. 339, 411, and 145.

Research Study into Provision for Recreation in the Highlands and Islands: Phase 2—Regional Perspective: A Commentary by J. A. Long, J. T. Coppock, and B. S. Duffield. Research Report 37. Tourism and Recreation Research Unit, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, 1978. 110 pp.

The Environmental Impact of Outdoor Recreation. By Geoffrey Wall and Cynthia Wright. Waterloo, Ontario, Canada: Department of Geography Publication Series, Faculty of Environmental Studies. 1977, 69 pp. $5.00.

Avocational Counseling Manual—A Complete Guide to Leisure Guidance. By Robert Overs, Sharon Taylor, and Catherine Adkins. Washington, D.C.: Hawkins and Associates, Inc., 1977, 203 pp.

Leisure and Recreation: Introduction and Overview. By Clayne R. Jensen. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger, 1977, 295 pp. Paperback $13.50.

The Joy of Sport. By Michael Novak. New York: Basic Books, 1976. Pp. 358. $10.95     

Statistical Independence and Fractional Age Assumptions

Abstract

This paper considers in some detail the issue of statistical independence of the curtate future lifetime and the fractional part of the future lifetime of a general status.

Statistical independence is often employed in actuarial contexts, primarily because it leads to simple relationships between quantities of interest and statistical information that is of a discrete nature, such as a life table. The uniform distribution of deaths (UDD) assumption is the most commonly used because of its simplicity and intuitive appeal, but it can be somewhat restrictive. For example, all deaths or withdrawals may be assumed to be at a particular point in the year such as the middle; assumptions of this type are often made in a multiple decrement context. This paper attempts to unify these assumptions and extend their applicability in an actuarial context.

The conditions for independence need to be stated carefully, and the last-survivor status is cited as an example in which failure to do so can lead to erroneous conclusions.

The fractional independence (Fl) assumption is defined, and it is demonstrated that many of the formulas for life table functions that hold under the more restrictive UDD assumption are extended easily to the general Fl case. The simple relationship under UDD between insurances payable on other than an annual mode and those payable at the end of the year of death is extended to the Fl case as well. These results are then used to obtain results for annuities and reserves, again generalizing UDD relationships. It is then demonstrated that many contingent probabilities in the multiple life context are exactly the same under the Fl assumption as under the more restrictive UDD assumption. Finally, a very general result that holds in the multiple decrement context is shown to hold under the Fl assumption.     

Differences in the Cost of Mortgage Credit Implications for Discrimination

This paper estimates the mortgage interest rate differences paid by Asian, Hispanic, and African–American borrowers to a national home mortgage lender in the years 1988–1989. Controlling for differences in market rates, rate lock protection, and borrower risk factors, conventional loan interest rates are almost perfectly race-neutral. The single deviation from race-neutrality is that when interest rates fall during the borrower's rate-lock period, only African–American borrowers are unable to capture a share of this decline. Government (FHA and VA) credit models show small premia paid by African–American borrowers of about $1.80 per month on average. In government lending, Hispanic borrowers alone are unable to capture rate declines occurring during the borrower's rate-lock period.     

What Drives the Issuance of Putable Convertibles: Risk-Shifting,Asymmetric Information,or Taxes?

This paper presents the first empirical analysis of firms’ rationale for issuing putable convertible bonds in the literature. We distinguish between three possible rationales for the issuance of putable convertibles: 1) the risk-shifting hypothesis, 2) the asymmetric information hypothesis, and 3) the tax savings hypothesis. The results of our empirical analysis can be summarized as follows. First, putable convertible issuers are larger, less risky firms, having larger cash flows, smaller growth opportunities, and lower bankruptcy probabilities as compared to ordinary convertible issuers. Second, putable convertible issuers have lower preissue market valuations, more favorable announcement effects, and better postissue operating performance when compared to ordinary convertible issuers. Third, putable convertible issuers have better postissue long-run stock return performance as compared to ordinary convertible issuers. Finally, putable convertible issuers typically have greater tax obligations and better credit ratings than ordinary convertible issuers. Overall, the results of our univariate as well as multivariate analyses provide support for the asymmetric information and tax savings hypotheses, but little support for the risk-shifting hypothesis.     

The Internet, Economic Growth and Governance

The Internet developed largely as a 'spontaneous order' without central co-ordination. Further development will increase the mobility of capital and labour and make tax collection more difficult. Attempts at self-regulation and government regulation are now under way but meddling is likely to be 'wealth destructive and counter productive.'     

Learning and development opportunities as a tool for the retention of volunteers: a motivational perspective

The growing reliance on volunteers in Australia has heightened the need for non‐profit organisations to retain these valuable resources. However, the current literature on volunteer retention is limited. One potential way volunteers can be retained is by providing learning and development opportunities (LDOs). This study investigates the relationship between volunteer perceptions of LDOs, their motivations for volunteering, and retention. Analyses revealed significant main effects for LDOs and volunteer motivations on retention and several interactive effects demonstrating that LDOs can have differential effects on retention depending on the reasons for volunteering.     

Disaster relief routing: Integrating research and practice

Disaster relief presents many unique logistics challenges, with problems including damaged transportation infrastructure, limited communication, and coordination of multiple agents. Central to disaster relief logistics is the distribution of life-saving commodities to beneficiaries. Operations research models have potential to help relief agencies save lives and money, maintain standards of humanitarianism and fairness and maximize the use of limited resources amid post-disaster chaos. Through interviews with aid organizations, reviews of their publications, and a literature review of operations research models in transportation of relief goods, this paper provides an analysis of the use of such models from the perspective of both practitioners and academics. With the complexity of disaster relief distribution and the relatively small number of journal articles written on it, this is an area with potential for helping relief organizations and for tremendous growth in operations research.     

Heterogeneous networks and resource acquisition of SMEs in emerging economies

It is acknowledged that social capital plays an important role in the growth of entrepreneurial firms. However, few studies have examined the contribution and function of social capital networks that contain structural holes (heterogeneous networks) in emerging economies. It is not clear how trustworthiness and behavioural commitment impact on effectiveness of these networks in obtaining resources. This study explores how heterogeneous networks characterize successful entrepreneurship of small-medium enterprises in such setting. We find that behavioural commitment moderates the relationship between heterogeneous networks and resource acquisition, while trustworthiness does not significantly moderate this relationship. The impact of the findings on the literature and practice in emerging economies is discussed, as is the need for future research in this domain.     

Do employment subsidies work? Evidence from regionally targeted subsidies in Turkey

This paper studies the effects on registered employment and number of registered establishments of two employment subsidy schemes in Turkey. We implement a difference-in-differences methodology to construct appropriate counterfactuals for the covered provinces. Our findings suggest that both subsidy programs did lead to significant net increases in registered jobs in eligible provinces (5%–13% for the first program and 11%–15% for the second). However, the cost of the actual job creation was high because of substantial deadweight losses, particularly for the first program (47% and 78%). Because of better design features, the second subsidy program had lower, though still significant, deadweight losses (27%–46%). Although constrained by data availability, the evidence suggests that the dominant effect of subsidies was to increase social security registration of firms and workers rather than boosting total employment and economic activity. This supports the theory that in countries with weak enforcement institutions, high labor taxes on low-wage workers may lead to substantial incentives for firms and workers to operate informally.