Work Pressure in Europe 1996–2001: Trends and Determinants

Diverse theories have predicted a trend towards growing work pressure in advanced capitalist societies, while pointing to quite distinct causal factors. This paper seeks to assess these arguments using data from two surveys of employees in European Union member‐states carried out in 1996 and in 2001. It finds there is no evidence of a trend towards higher work pressure over this period. There is, however, support for some of the main arguments about the types of factors that affect work pressure: for instance, skill, job control, new technology and current job security are clearly important. But the trends in job control and job security have not been those predicted, while changes in another major determinant — the length of working hours — have tended to reduce work pressure. There are substantial and relatively stable differences in work pressure between countries, but to a considerable extent, these reflect compositional differences with respect to the main determinants of work pressure.     

Corporate governance and family firm performance during the Global Financial Crisis

We investigate the impact of corporate governance on accounting and market performance relationships of family firms during the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). We expect the monitoring aspects of corporate governance to complement the long-term orientation of family firms, improving the value relevance of accounting and market performance during times of exogenous financial shocks such as the GFC. We find that the family-firm value is more sensitive to book value than earnings changes. We also find better corporate governance, irrespective of whether it is a family firm or non-family firm, is associated with better accounting and market performance during the GFC.     

Exploring the preparation practices of teachers who organise secondary school ski trips in England and Wales

Secondary schools across England and Wales understand the importance of offering young people the opportunity to experience activity-based trips. One of these fundamental trips is the ski trip which enables young people to experience new challenges and adventure. However, within England and Wales, skiing is an atypical activity due to the lack of accessibility to the slopes. Consequently, it is vital to effectively prepare young people for skiing to promote enjoyment and reduce the likelihood of injury. The purpose of this study was to explore the current practices in the preparation of school ski trips within England and Wales. An electronic survey was administered to secondary schools across England and Wales with 270 completed responses of schools which organise ski trips. Analysis revealed that there were no significant differences (p > 0.05) across the regions with information being shared with parents prior to the ski trip. Young people are informed on similar information prior to and during the ski trip across the regions (p < 0.05). However, there was a significant difference between respondents screening (33%) and not screening students (67%) (p > 0.01) and under half (47%) of schools provide their pupils with exercise programmes prior to the school trip. Overall, these findings appear that ski trip organisers are consistent across England and Wales with their education of the young person and the management of the ski trip. Although, the knowledge gained by organisers to prepare young people is gathered from a variety of different sources. Therefore, it is essential for evidence-based information to be shared and disseminated to ski trip organisers to provide best practice and to facilitate other schools in providing ski trips for their pupils.     

Using the Blinder-Oaxaca Decomposition Method to Measure Racial Bias in Achievement Tests

The Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition technique is typically applied to gender or racial earnings gaps with the goal of determining the percent of the gap that can be attributed to differences in attributes between groups and to labor market discrimination. We apply this technique to the racial gap in achievement tests with the goal of measuring the relative racial bias of these tests. The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) and the Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT) were administered to respondents from the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Decomposition results indicate that up to 49.5 % of the white-black gap in the PIAT is explained by racial differences in average attributes. The corresponding figure for the ASVAB is 44.7 %. Since the same sample and specification are used in estimating ASVAB and PIAT scores, the difference in the percent of the gaps due to attributes can be ascribed to test score bias and not omitted variable bias. Therefore, the results suggest that the “discrimination” or bias of the ASVAB is greater than the PIAT.     

Perspectives Articles: Exploring Stakeholder Perspectives on What Is Affordable Health Care

Health care expenditures have accounted for increasing proportions of the U.S. gross domestic product, and the rate of growth of health care expenditures has increased over the past two decades. These two measures of assessing whether the level of health care expenditures is affordable may be appropriate in the aggregate for the United States but are not appropriate to assess whether individual stakeholder groups can afford their particular level of spending on health care. Health care is an economic good that differs from other economic goods, as it involves life and death issues, and invokes a call for a moral authority. This article explores definitions of what is affordable health care from the perspective of different stakeholders and suggests that other measures are needed to assess whether or not health care is affordable for stakeholders as one definition is not appropriate for all stakeholders.     

Cutting the costs of attrition: Results from the Indonesia Family Life Survey

Attrition is the Achilles heel of longitudinal surveys. Drawing on our experience in the Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS), we describe survey design and field strategies that contributed to minimizing attrition over four waves of the survey. The data are used to illustrate the selectivity of respondents who attrit from the survey and, also the selectivity of respondents who move from the place they were interviewed at baseline and are subsequently interviewed in a new location. The results provide insights into the nature of selection that will arise in studies that fail to track and interview movers. Attrition, and types of attrition, are related in complex ways to a broad array of characteristics measured at baseline. In addition, the evidence suggests attrition may be related to characteristics that are not observed in our baseline. Integrating IFLS with data from a Survey of Surveyors, we describe characteristics of both the interviewers and the interview that predict attrition in later waves. These characteristics point to possible strategies that may reduce levels of attrition and may also reduce the impact of attrition on the interpretation of behavioral models estimated with longitudinal data.     

Full‐life‐cycle economics: An evaluation methodology for information technology projects

This article presents a methodology for the examination and evaluation of proposed information technology projects. Through an examination of successes and failures in estimating project costs and benefits, a number of weaknesses have been identified. The areas of “hidden”; costs and intangible (or at least difficult to quantify) benefits have been particularly difficult to estimate. The methodology presented here seeks to retain the strengths of older methodologies, while addressing these identified weaknesses. This methodology, while not a substitute for good judgment, provides a framework for the standardization of economic analysis. As such, it provides both management and clients with a better basis for decisions regarding investments in information technology.