EXAMINING THE OBSTACLES TO BROADENING PARTICIPATION IN COMPUTING: EVIDENCE FROM A SURVEY OF PROFESSIONAL WORKERS

This article describes the results of a survey of professional workers that was designed to explore the underlying reasons for the widely documented underrepresentation of women in information technology (IT) jobs. Our analysis suggests that it is different occupational personalities between men and women rather than the demanding nature of IT work that is largely responsible for the relatively few women in IT occupations. We discuss the implications these results have for policies that are designed to create greater gender equity in the rapidly growing IT industries. ( JEL J08, J24, J70)     

BANKING RECORDS,BUSINESS AND NETWORKS IN COLONIAL SYDNEY, 1817–24

Examining accounting transactions between depositors in the first accounts ledger of the Bank of New South Wales contributes to our knowledge of early Australian colonial businesspeople and their business activities. A social network analysis framework is applied to the transactions to disclose business networks and prominent individuals in the networks. The analysis seeks to ascertain the importance of these people to commerce and the significance of their networks in facilitating commercial relationships in a business environment fraught with uncertainty. The results illustrate the importance of networks to colonial trade and mercantile activity, especially for smaller scale businesspeople.     

Insider Power as a Source of Hysteresis in Unemployment: Tests with Australian Data

This paper reports the results of an empirical investigation of hysteresis in the unemployment rate using Australian data for 1966(3)-1988(4). It is found that there is not hysteresis in the strict sense of the irrelevance of the natural unemployment rate although there is strong evidence of insider power in the wage-fixing process. There is no evidence that the Accord changed the extent of the influence of insider power on wage setting.