Measuring Interviewer Performance in Telephone Surveys

In this research paper, the definition of interviewer performance is restricted to mean the capacity of an interviewer to convince a respondent to cooperate. Furthermore, it is restricted to performance in telephone surveys. To measure this aspect of performance, researchers have until now used the cooperation rate, calculated as the number of completed interviews divided by the sum of completes plus refusals, generally retaining only the first contacts made to a given phone number in order to avoid contaminating the measure with the performance of a previous interviewer. In this paper, we argue that this measure is biased because it does not allow for the measurement of performance when interviewers, usually the best ones, work on refusal conversion or on appointments. We propose a new measure of the net contribution of interviewers to the overall cooperation rate – the Net Contribution to Performance Index (NCPI) – that measures interviewer performance irrespective of the task they perform. The properties of the index are compared with the cooperation rate at first contact using a number of criteria: reliability, variability and relationship with the overall response rate, and internal and external validity. Appendix A explains how to calculate the new index.     

Ecosystem Service Value and Agricultural Conversion in the Amazon: Implications for Policy Intervention

We explore the welfare implications of agricultural expansion in the Brazilian Amazon by comparing spatially explicit estimates of soybean rents and the value of ecosystem services. Although these estimates are generated from different datasets, models, and estimation techniques, the values are comparable, such that the value of ecosystem services is greater than soybean rents for about 61% of the total area and 24% of the area where soybean rents are positive if protected areas are well enforced. Based on the balance between the benefits and costs of conversion, failure to value ecosystem services reduces total social welfare by 7.13 billion dollars annually relative to an optimum. Policy instruments that internalize the value of ecosystem services via protected lands, land conversion taxes, conservation subsidies, or excise taxes can avoid much of this loss. Regardless of intervention regime, policy makers should be cognizant of the diminishing net benefits of converting natural ecosystems to agriculture. Realizing the final 3.8% requires the conversion of an additional 15% natural ecosystems to soybean production.     

Research and development target‐setting difficulties addressed through the emergent method: technology forecasting using data envelopment analysis

The aim of this study is to provide a foundation for researchers and managers to discuss and resolve difficulties associated with research and development (R&D) target‐setting. While multiple studies mention the difficulty of R&D target‐setting, few have compiled reasons for these difficulties or addressed this issue in detail. This paper provides one of the first studies outlining reasons for R&D target‐setting difficulties through a literature review. It also provides an initial set of analyses and results after applying an emerging quantitative method, Technology Forecasting Using Data Envelopment Analysis (TFDEA), to illustrate these difficulties step‐by‐step to commercial airplanes. Results include determining the state of art in commercial airplane technology and technological rate‐of‐change variants in setting R&D targets.     

Effect of State Paid Family Leave Policies on Inequalities in Maternity Leave Usage in the United States

International Advances in Economic Research -     

Stories from the field: women’s networking as gender capital in entrepreneurial ecosystems

Small Business Economics - Women are under-represented in successful entrepreneurial ecosystems and the creation of women-only entrepreneurial networks has been a widespread policy response. We...     

Automatic leading indicators versus macroeconometric structural models: A comparison of inflation and GDP growth forecasting

This paper compares the forecast performance of automatic leading indicators (ALIs) and macroeconometric structural models (MESMs) commonly used by non-academic macroeconomists. Inflation and GDP growth form the forecast objects for comparison, using data from China, Indonesia and the Philippines. ALIs are found to outperform MESMs for one-period-ahead forecasts, but this superiority disappears as the forecast horizon increases. It is also found that ALIs involve greater uncertainty in choosing indicators, mixing data frequencies and utilizing unrestricted VARs. Two ways of reducing the uncertainty are explored: (i) give theory priority in choosing indicators, and include theory-based disequilibrium shocks in the indicator sets; and (ii) reduce the VARs by means of the general-to-specific modeling procedure.     

Data driven rank test for the change point problem

Data driven test procedure for detection of change is introduced and its properties are studied. The new solution is max-type statistic related to data-driven rank tests for two-sample subproblems. Simulations show that the new test possesses high and stable power. The test is consistent at essentially any alternative. Asymptotic null distribution of the test is derived. The work of the first two authors has been partially supported by the grants GAČR 201/06/0186 and MSM 02160839.