Modelling response error in school effectiveness research

Statistical modelling of school effectiveness in educational research is considered. Variance component models are generally accepted for the analysis of such studies. A shortcoming is that outcome variables are still treated as measured without an error. Unreliable variables produce biases in the estimates of the other model parameters. The variability of the relationships across schools and the effects of schools on students' outcomes differ substantially when taking the measurement error in the dependent variables of the variance component models into account. The random effects model can be extended to handle measurement error using a response model, leading to a random effects item response theory model. This extended random effects model is in particular suitable when subjects are measured repeatedly on the same outcome at several points in time.     

MODELS OF RESOURCE ALLOCATION IN PUBLIC AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH: A SURVEY

The identification of research priorities in public agricultural research has been the focus of investigation for a broad range of analytical and empirical studies. Pressure on budgets has meant that efficient resource allocation has become increasingly important to guarantee the continued productivity of agricultural research. This paper provides an overview of the various approaches that have been used in these studies. Generalisations are drawn from the findings of this research programme.     

The role of the revolutionary state in the Nicaraguan food system

The Nicaraguan state carried out a structural transformation of the food system within the context of a mixed economy. It simultaneously combined direct ownership with many forms of market regulation and supported a mass movement of peasant cooperatives. The Nicaraguan food system combined economic decision-making by the state, large and small individual producers, cooperatives and communities. Many difficulties were encountered and mistakes made and although many problems remain, significant production and consumption gains were achieved. After only 4 years of revolution, the Sandinista development model faced the challenge of coping with the costs of external economic and military aggression while maintaining its pragmatic approach.     

50 Jahre Steuerschätzung: Die Notwendigkeit einer undankbaren Aufgabe

Der vom Bundesministerium der Finanzen im Jahre 1955 eingerichtete Arbeitskreis Steuerschätzungen besteht mittlerweile 50 Jahre und tritt im Mai 2005 in Berlin zu seiner 125. Sitzung zusammen. Was sind die Aufgaben des Arbeitskreises? Mit welchen Problemen muss er sich bei seiner Arbeit auseinandersetzen?Dr. Klaus-Peter Fox, 60, ist Dozent für die Fächer Volkswirtschaftslehre und Finanzwissenschaft an der Fachhochschule für Verwaltung des Saarlandes. Er ist seit Herbst 1983 Mitglied des Arbeitskreises Steuerschätzungen. Er vertritt ausschließlich seine persönliche Meinung.     

Classifying households for water demand forecasting using physical property characteristics

Changes in population distribution across Europe are driving the construction of substantial numbers of new houses, creating a need to forecast water demand for new housing developments. The most certain information available on new households during planning are the physical characteristics of the properties themselves. This paper sets out to establish how to classify properties in terms of their physical characteristics for the purpose of forecasting water demand. Analysis of household water demand under a univariate classification of property type showed significant differences for properties of different size (number of bedrooms), architectural type (e.g. flats vs. terraced) and garden presence but not for age or for garden aspect. Analysis of household water demand under a multivariate classification of property type showed fewer significant differences between property types. The results of the study were compared to studies and found to fit qualitatively. However, quantitative differences were noted indicating geographical and sampling variation which requires further investigation. In addition, further research is required to determine the relative certainty of forecasts derived from physical vs. socio-economic or demographic characteristics.     

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY PRICE INDEXES AND THE SYSTEM OF NATIONAL ACCOUNTS

This paper studies the problems associated with the construction of price indexes for commercial properties that could be used in the System of National Accounts (SNA). Property price indexes are required for the stocks of commercial properties in the Balance Sheets of the country. Related service price indexes for the land and structure input components of a commercial property are required in the Production Accounts of the country if the Multifactor Productivity of the Commercial Property Industry is calculated as part of the SNA. The paper reviews existing methods for constructing an overall Commercial Property Price Index (CPPI) and concludes that most methods are biased (due to their neglect of depreciation) and more importantly, not able to provide separate land and structure subindexes. A class of hedonic regression models that is not subject to these problems is discussed.     

Finanzpolitik als Auslaufmodell?

Die Finanzpolitik orientiert sich zunehmend an mechanistischen Regeln wie der Schuldenbremse. Damit werden ihre Gestaltungsm?glichkeiten stark eingeschr?nkt. Das Instrument der Schuldenbremse gibt den Entscheidungstr?gern jedoch keine Hilfe bei der Umsetzung und Ausgestaltung der politischen Entscheidungen. Die Einführung einer Schuldenbremse gew?hrleistet noch nicht, dass diese Entscheidungen auch gesamtwirtschaftlich sinnvoll sind.     

Feasibility of routine collection of injured worker occupational information in hospital emergency departments

The aim of this study was to examine injury events and risk-factors among Swedish adult eventing athletes. A cross-sectional study design with retrospective recording of 1-year sports-specific exposure and injury data was used. The invited study population consisted of all members of the Swedish Equestrian Federation with eventing as their primary discipline (n = 513). The participation rate was 70.0%. The total 1-year injury prevalence was 26.6%; the specific 1-year prevalence of traumatic injury was 19.3% and of overuse injury 10.9%. The incidence of traumatic injury events was 0.54 injury events/1000 eventing hours (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.35–0.73 injury events/1000 eventing hours) for novices and 0.35 injury events/1000 eventing hours for qualified riders (95% CI, 0.21–0.49 injury events/1000 eventing hours). A total of 27.9% of the traumatic injury events led to severe injuries (causing more than 3 weeks absence from riding). Attitude to risk-taking was the only factor predicting an athlete becoming injured (p = 0.023), and qualification level was the only risk factor for additional injuries among injured riders (p = 0.003). Our results suggest that injury prevention programs in eventing should also give attention to overuse injuries and that care should be taken when eventing athletes are licensed into higher qualification groups.     

Urban Space,Restrictive Covenants and the Origins of Racial Residential Segregation in a US City, 1900–50

Many studies have examined the role of racial prejudice and discrimination in the creation of racial residential segregation in US cities. Yet few researchers have situated early twentieth‐century meanings of race and racism within broader processes of urban development and the emergence of the modern real estate industry. Using a case study of Kansas City, Missouri, this article examines the organized efforts of community builders and homeowner associations to create racially homogeneous neighborhoods through the use and enforcement of racially restrictive covenants. Racially restrictive covenants encoded racial difference in urban space and helped nurture emerging racial prejudices and stereotypes that associated black residence with declining property values, deteriorating neighborhoods and other negative consequences. I argue that the cultivation and development of this segregationist ideology was simultaneously an exercise in the racialization of urban space that linked race and culturally specific behavior to place of residence in the city. As the twentieth century progressed, the identification of black behavior and culture with deteriorating neighborhoods became an important impetus and justification for exclusionary real estate practices designed to create and maintain the geographical separation of the races and control metropolitan development. I conclude with a discussion of how the linkage between race, racism and urban space helps to explain why racial residential segregation remains a persistent and tenacious feature of US metropolitan areas despite the passage of fair housing and numerous anti‐discrimination statutes over the past decades. Nombre d'études ont porté sur l'incidence des préjugés raciaux et de la discrimination sur la ségrégation raciale apparue dans l'habitat des villes américaines. En revanche, peu de chercheurs ont replacé les notions de race et de racisme en ce début de millénaire dans le cadre des processus plus larges d'aménagement urbain et d'émergence de l'immobilier moderne. À partir d'une étude de cas sur Kansas City (Missouri), cet article examine les efforts d'associations locales de propriétaires d'habitations et de constructeurs de logements sociaux qui se sont organisées afin de créer des quartiers homogènes sur le plan racial via l'utilisation et l'application de conditions locatives restrictives. Ces restrictions ont codifié une différence raciale dans l'espace urbain et contribuéà entretenir les préjugés raciaux et stéréotypes associant l'habitat noir à la dévalorisation de l'immobilier, à la détérioration des quartiers et à d'autres effets négatifs. L'article démontre que maintenir et développer cette idéologie ségrégationniste constituait parallèlement une opération de racialisation de l'espace urbain, une race et un comportement culturel spécifique se trouvant liés à un lieu de résidence dans la ville. Au cours du XXe siècle, l'identification du comportement et de la culture noirs à des quartiers dégradés a stimulé et justifié des pratiques immobilières d'exclusion visant à créer et à préserver la séparation géographique des races, tout en contrôlant l'aménagement métropolitain. Pour terminer, l'article aborde de quelle manière l'établissement d'un lien entre race, racisme et espace urbain permet d'expliquer les raisons pour lesquelles la ségrégation raciale de l'habitat persiste dans les zones métropolitaines américaines et ce, malgré l'adoption, au cours des dernières décennies, de l'accès universel au logement et de nombreuses lois contre les discriminations.