High‐Commitment Work Practices and Downsizing Harshness in Australian Workplaces

This study examines the relationship between high‐commitment work practices (HCWP) and downsizing. The results based on a large, representative sample of Australian workplaces supported our predictions. Consistent with previous research, HCWP was positively related to workforce reduction. However, workplaces with more HCWP used less harsh strategies (e.g., more employee‐friendly approaches to downsizing) such as voluntary layoffs and early retirement than the harsher strategy of compulsory layoffs. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

CONSUMER PREFERENCES FOR FRESH WHITE FISH SPECIES

Nine fresh white fish species were investigated by sensory evaluation panels. Judges were able to distinguish between species by taste. Preference was determined by flavour but was not held very strongly, so that most people would find all the species acceptable and could be advised to base their choice of species on price rather than name. Two species were tested after incorporation into products and were found to be indistinguishable from one another in these forms.     

WHAT IS HOME ECONOMICS?

The problems of defining home economics are examined, and arguments for the establishment of a clearer identity and a central core of knowledge are advanced. A suggestion regarding the way in which contributing material could be classified is put forward.     

POLITICIZED MANAGERIAL CAPITALISM: ENTERPRISE STRUCTURES IN POST-SOCIALIST CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

The paper contributes to the sociological tradition of comparative institutional analysis. It argues that a distinctive form of capitalism is emerging in post 1989 Central and Eastern Europe, politicized managerial capitalism. This is a bifurcated system, one sub‐system internationally oriented, a still peripheral but increasingly integrated part of global capitalism, and a second sub‐system, more nationally oriented, dominated by managerial élites allied with weak states. Politicized managerial capitalism is founded upon the inherited practices of late Socialism, moulded by the post Socialist development process and congruent with the stage of development of capital, labour and product markets. It is unclear as to whether this is a transient or long‐term structure.     

VOTING ON GROWTH CONTROL MEASURES: PREFERENCES AND STRATEGIES*

Citizens of many California cities and counties have sought to restrict the rate of population growth in their localities. In 1988, Citizens for Limited Growth used the initiative process to place a pair of growth control measures on the ballot in the City and County of San Diego, respectively. The City Council and Board of Supervisors responded by placing less stringent, competing measures on the same ballot. This paper analyzes voting data from this election to examine the nature of support for such measures. We find strong support for the hypotheses that whites, homeowners, liberal/environmentalists, and those exposed to high levels of traffic congestion are more likely to favor growth controls. This paper also investigates the behavior of voters when they confront competing propositions concerning the same issue on the same ballot, and finds strong evidence of strategic voting.     

THE DIFFUSION OF SALT INTO POTATOES DURING BOILING AND CONSUMER PREFERENCES FOR VARIOUS FINAL SALT CONCENTRATIONS

This paper describes an investigation of the diffusion of salt into potatoes, which are boiled in salt water, and the perception by and preferences of the consumer for various final salt concentrations. Potatoes were cooked in boiling salted water and tested by untrained taste panels. It was established that:

• 1 Salt only penetrates the outermost layers of the potato during cooking.
• 2 Despite this fact the cooked potato is perceived as ‘salted’.
• 3 Mashing the potatoes gives a final internal salt concentration of about 0.05 M.
• 4 The internal salt concentration preferred by most people is 0.1–0.15 M.

     

Household Debt Overhang and Unemployment

We use a labor‐search model to explain why the worst employment slumps often follow expansions of household debt. We find that households protected by limited liability suffer from a household‐debt‐overhang problem that leads them to require high wages to work. Firms respond by posting high wages but few vacancies. This vacancy posting effect implies that high household debt leads to high unemployment. Even though households borrow from banks via bilaterally optimal contracts, the equilibrium level of household debt is inefficiently high due to a household‐debt externality. We analyze the role that a financial regulator can play in mitigating this externality.