Undergraduate Coursework in Economics: A Survey Perspective

Survey results from a large sample of economics departments describe offerings for principles courses, coursework requirements for economics majors, and program augmentations such as capstone courses, senior seminars, and honors programs. Findings are reported for all institutions, and institutions are subdivided into six different categories based on public or private control and the highest economics degree offered. The coursework required for the economics major typically consists of ten courses, five in a required core and five electives. The most conspicuous curriculum change over the past 30 years is the rise of econometrics as a required course, now mandatory at about half of major programs. The authors estimate that about 40 percent of students who matriculate as first-year undergraduates take at least one economics course before they leave.     

Fertility and child mortality in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana.

This article summarizes a 1994 World Bank working paper on methodological issues and a study of the determinants of child mortality and fertility in Ghana and the Cote d'Ivoire. Data were obtained from the 1985, 1986, and 1987 Cote d'Ivoire Living Standards Survey and the 1987-88 and 1988-89 Ghana Living Standards Survey. Both surveys entailed two-stage, self-weighted stratified samples. The study sample included women who had at least one birth 5 or more years before the survey. The conceptual framework distinguishes between endogenous and exogenous variables affecting fertility. The statistical approach relies on parallel reduced-form techniques. Model I assumes that all explanatory variables are exogenous. Model II excludes husbands' characteristics and household composition. Model III assumes that excluded model II factors are exogenous and likely to affect child mortality and fertility. Findings indicate that economic resources of households, maternal education, access to markets, and food prices were associated with child mortality in Ghana. Sanitation in both countries affected child survival only for less educated mothers. Urban residence in Ghana particularly benefitted uneducated mothers. In Cote d'Ivoire, household assets were not a significant predictor of child mortality. When child mortality is treated as exogenous in fertility model I, only 4-15 fewer child deaths were associated with a reduction of only one birth. Local health programs and environment explained little of the variation in child mortality in both countries. Women's education was strongly related to fertility declines in both countries. Assets and maternal health were positively related to fertility in Cote d'Ivoire and negatively related in Ghana. Findings suggest that the negative effects of household assets on fertility apply in urban subsamples among older women in each country. The authors conclude that economic growth must occur simultaneously with increased levels of female education and urbanization.     

Evolution of networks—an experimental analysis

It is the main aim of our paper to study network formation in experimental setups in discrete and continuous time. Our design is inspired by the theoretical model on network formation by Bala and Goyal (Econometrica, 68(5): 1181–1229, 2000) as well as the experiments by Callander and Plott (J. Public Econ., 89: 1469–1495, 2005) and Falk and Kosfeld (IEW Working Paper, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland, No. 146, 2003). In particular, we analyze the role of star-shaped networks which are strict Nash-equilibria of the corresponding network formation game. Our experimental results show that strict Nash networks prove to be a good indicator for predicting network formation, particularly in continuous time. In explaining our results, it turns out that, among others, the complexity in coordinating on stars, the inequity aversion against unequal payoff distribution in the network, and the groups’ degrees of activity are the most important determinants for the formation of strict Nash networks.      

Osteoporose im Pflegealltag

Zusammenfassung  So helfen Sie Osteoporosepatienten — Nach neuesten Erhebungen sind 25,8% der Deutschen über 50 Jahre von Osteoporose betroffen, das sind 7,8 Millionen Menschen. Ab dem 75. Lebensjahres liegt der Anteil der Betroffenen bei 59% der Gesamtbev?lkerung. Nach anf?nglich stummem Verlauf der Erkrankung leiden die meisten Kranken sp?ter unter sehr starken Schmerzen. Welche Pflegeinterventionen erleichtern Patienten den Alltag? Literatur beim Verfasser     

Vertrauen als Basis der Marktwirtschaft

Ohne Zusammenfassung Siegfried F. Franke ist Ordinarius für Wirtschaftspolitik und ?ffentliches Recht an der Universit?t Stuttgart     

The Future of Advertising or Whatever We're Going to Call It

In this opinion piece, the author speculates on the future of advertising. Arguing that the challenge of predicting the future lies mainly in the lack of an acceptable definition of the field, the author solves that problem by developing a set of postulates to create boundaries for the theory and practice of the discipline. The postulates of the present discipline are used as the base from which the future might evolve. Three scenarios are proposed for the future of advertising: (1) creeping incrementalism, (2) reversal of buyer/seller roles, and (3) reinvention of the field. The author suggests that those scenarios will develop and play out based on the developmental speed and acceptance of the various technologies identified.     

What is Ethical Competence? The Role of Empathy,Personal Values,and the Five-Factor Model of Personality in Ethical Decision-Making

The objective of the present research was two-fold: (1) to provide a new definition of ethical competence, and (2) to clarify the influence of empathy, personal values, and the five-factor model of personality on ethical competence. The present research provides a comprehensive overview about recent approaches and empirically explores the interconnections of these constructs. 366 German undergraduate students were examined in a cross-sectional study that investigated the relationship of empathy, personal values, and the five-factor model of personality with moral judgment competence and counterproductive work behavior as indicators of moral judgment and behavior. We found self-transcendence values to be related to both, high levels of empathy and ethical competence, in contrast to self-enhancement values. Multiple mediation analysis revealed unique effects of empathy on ethical competence through values as mediators. Affective (but not cognitive) empathy transmitted its effect on ethical competence through benevolence, conformity, tradition, power, and hedonism. Most importantly, perspective taking lost its predictive power when investigated alongside affective empathy dimensions. These results converge to an important role of affective empathy, in particular empathic concern, with regard to personal values and ethical competence. Furthermore, the five-factor model of personality explained variance in measures of ethical competence. Our research suggests that organizational decision makers should consider the role of empathy, personal values, and the five-factor model in their human resource management in order to select employees with high ethical competence.     

Discovering India's three levels of luxury consumption: An exploratory research to find a conceptual framework

Luxury marketing research has moved from functional product attributes to a ‘democratized’ view in emerging economies. This seems to be based on the development of interactive and digital communications. Luxury research studies have historically focused on the brand's and marketer's perspectives. Thus, little attention has been given to the consumer's view of what we consider to be the individual drivers, i.e., the ‘inner and outer self’ and how that impacts luxury consumption. This paper presents a framework of luxury and self, using concepts such as interdependent or outer, independent or inner, and a new concept of ‘digital self’. These appear as three levels of luxury consumption, i.e., conspicuous, individual, and interactive. The interdependent self is influenced by the external motives and leads to conspicuous luxury behavior. Individual self is affected by internal motives and thus influences individual luxury consumption. Digital self affects the networks of motive and relationships and thereby impacts interactive luxury consumption and behavior.