The Intergenerational Supply of Loggers Under Conditions of Declining Economic Well-Being

This paper addresses the supply-side explanations of a logger shortage by estimating an occupational choice model that considers the role of earnings, nonpecuniary determinants and intergenerational factors. Our results showed that: (1) relative earnings have no statistically significant effect on career choice; (2) improvement in the public image of loggers substantially increases entry into logging; and (3) a strong intergenerational supply linkage exists but is currently being eroded.     

Food Choice in an Interdisciplinary Context

Reform of agricultural policies, notably the continuing elimination of production‐enhancing subsidies, makes it possible for policies to respond to social issues such as the rural environment and health in future. In this paper, we draw on a Rural Economy and Land Use (RELU) research project which is examining the potential for the development of healthy food chains and the implications for human health and the environment. One of the key issues to be addressed is consumers’ willingness to pay for the nutritionally enhanced food products from these new chains, but it is evident that only a partial understanding can be gained from a traditional economics approach. In the paper, we discuss how economists are beginning to incorporate views from other disciplines into their models of consumer choice.     

Explaining Differences in Economic Performance Among Racial and Ethnic Groups in the USA

A bstract . By utilizing self-reported race and ancestry in the 1980 and 1990 USA censuses and the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition technique, the extent of wage discrimination experienced by women and by men is examined across 50 ethnic/racial groups. Systematic evidence of negative discrimination is revealed in both census years for Asian, Indian, black (African-American), Vietnamese, Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican , and Native American males. To assess the charge that the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition indicates cultural rather than discriminatory differentials, two additional data experiments are performed—one that controls for color and varies culture, and one that controls for culture and varies color. Race appears to matter.     

The in-depth testing of survey questions: A critical appraisal of methods

It has become increasingly apparent that the conventional piloting, or pre-testing, of survey questions does not ensure that questions are understood by respondents as researchers intend them to be understood. This has led survey methodologists to advocate the use of indepth testing procedures. While some of the procedures used to identify comprehension problems appear to be reasonably effective, almost all of the procedures used to identify other kinds of problems have not proved to be very useful. Two reasons stand out as explanations for this general lack of success. First, the probes used are themselves not likely to be interpreted in the same way by different respondents. Second, the cognitive psychological assumptions that have suggested many of the procedures may not adequately reflect the processes that underlie the way questions are answered. A number of suggestions are made with the view to making the in-depth testing of survey questions a more profitable exercise.     

Web服务:颠覆性的创造力

Gartner观点:Gartner的专家们认为直至2003年Web服务才能真正发展起来。2003年全球40%的电子商务贸易将利用Web服务来完成,2004年这一数字将超过50%,而交易时间将大大缩短。2003年大约80%的开发平台将支持Web服务体系,Web服务将代表下一代软件开发平台的发展方向。据调查显示,在创建Web服务应用程序时,有78%的人使用的是J2EE,并且认为它是最有效的创建和配置Web服务的平台;而使用微软.Net的人为22%。从中我们似乎可以看出哪一个平台更适合于Web服务,哪一个平台又更适合于大多数的开发者。这两个平台的竞争,在2002年愈演愈烈。