The limits of the wage impact of discrimination

In spite of almost 40 years of active enforcement efforts by the EEOC, as well as the strong intervention by the plaintiff bar, the most popular benchmark by which we measure the influence of prejudice on wages paid to female and minority workers has changed very little. This paper maintains that to a large extent this seeming immunity of discriminatory wage gaps to the legal remedies provided by Title VII results from the mismeasurement of those effects. An alternative to the standard Oaxaca decomposition of the wage gap is offered which allows us to put plausible ranges around the true impact of antidiscrimination laws. Not only does this reduce the residual impact of the discrimination that appears to withstand Title VII remedies, it also suggests that the pre‐Title VII impact of discrimination on wages accounted for little of the gap observed at the time of its passage. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The derived demand for faculty research

Estimation of the demands for many services supplied by government and charitable organizations are hampered by two practices common to the supply of these services. The suppliers often employ non‐price rationing of these services, and they price discriminate. The supply of college training, for example, is rationed on the basis of academic ability as well as willingness to pay, and more able students are typically quoted lower net prices (associated with scholarships) than less able students. This paper suggests a method for dealing with both practices in the analysis of cross‐sectional data. This methodology is used to investigate the question of why university faculty members are expected to do research as well as teach. One answer supported by our empirical work is that the customers (e.g., the students) demand it. Thus, controlling for price and non‐academic features, better students will choose to attend a university where more scholarly research is performed. Moreover, our empirical findings also support a strong negative link between faculty time devoted to teaching and the supply of research. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ethical assessment in radioactive waste management: a proposed reflective equilibrium‐based deliberative approach

Radioactive waste management facility siting has often been surrounded by political controversy. By attempting to overcome accusations of technocracy, radioactive waste management organisations are reframing the problem in terms of socio‐technical issues requiring the integrative assessment of complex scientific, political and ethical issues and establishing analytic‐deliberative decision‐making processes involving public and stakeholder involvement. One important aspect of a publicly supportable radioactive waste management strategy is that adequate ethical assessment is incorporated throughout the process. There are, however, certain incompatibilities between pluralistic public and stakeholder‐led engagement processes and the types of ethical justification stemming from normative ethical theory and the input of ethical expertise. An evaluation of previous work on ethics by the UK Committee on Radioactive Waste Management highlights some of the pitfalls of utilising these types of ‘top‐down’ inputs in a primarily ‘bottom‐up’ decision‐making process. This paper then proposes the development of a new approach inspired by John Rawls's concept of ‘reflective equilibrium’, to better bridge the divide between pluralistic analytic‐deliberative decision‐making and ethical assessment.     

Should we tax or cap political contributions? A lobbying model with policy favors and access

This paper develops a model of political contributions in which a politician can either sell policy favors, or sell access. Access allows interest groups to share hard information with the politician in support of their preferred policy. Here selling access maximizes policy utility, while selling policy favors maximizes total contributions. Imposing a binding contribution limit makes it more likely that the politician sells access, which can improve expected constituent welfare. However, a contribution limit distorts the signals associated with the contributions, which tends to result in worse policy. Alternatively, a tax on political contributions can ensure that the politician sells access without distorting his information. Therefore, from the viewpoint of a representative constituent, a tax on contributions is strictly preferred to a contribution limit or no reform. The politician, however, may prefer regulation in the form of a contribution limit, even when a tax is better for the constituent.     

Career success schemas and their contextual embeddedness: A comparative configurational perspective

We introduce career success schemas as critical for understanding how people in different contexts perceive and understand career success. Using a comparative configurational approach, we show, in a study of 13 countries, that two structural characteristics of career success schemas—complexity and convergence—differ across country contexts and are embedded in specific configurations of institutional factors. Adopting complexity and convergence as primary dimensions, we propose a taxonomy of career success schemas at the country level. Based on this taxonomy, we contribute to the understanding of subjective career success across countries, discuss the importance of schemas for organisational career systems in multinational enterprises, and propose specific guidelines for future comparative careers research.     

Environmental performance and competitive advantage in Canada's paper industry

A new environmental performance model is developed, explained and subsequently applied to a study of the Canadian recycled paper industry. The strategic position of the industry is explored as it takes the progressive steps needed to improve its environmental performance and competitive advantage in response to this rising regulatory agenda. Three policy options facing the Canadian pulp and paper industry are examined: the status quo, process technology innovation and product development. The strategic position of the industry is also examined using measurement of stance, attitude, government response, values, planning horizon and environmental integration. The supplier-consumer relationship, capital-technology and locational factors are also used to further discuss the links between competitive advantage and environmental performance. From this discussion, conclusions are drawn on competitive environmentalism: ethics and profit are compatible; newsprint mills must improve their locational, technology and market actions; the industry must proactively seek out environmental market and stakeholder opportunities and; further management research is needed to demonstrate the links between environmental performance, innovation and competitiveness.     

Attitudes toward employee participation in decision-making: A comparison of european and american managers in a united states multinational company

This article examines an American multinational company to uncover any crossnational differences in managerial attitudes toward employee participation in decision-making. Human resource practices of the parent company toward its European subsidiaries were also examined, especially those relevant to employee participation issues. Data were collected from the company's manufacturing facilities in Britain, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United States. Managers were interviewed and then surveyed regarding their attitudes toward participation. The interviews revealed resistance to the parent company's efforts to “export” an American vision of employee participation to its European subsidiaries. The survey data revealed attitudinal differences among European managers as well as among their American counterparts. Possible explanations, implications for human resource executives and research directions are discussed. © 1993 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

“差语法”与价值工程

本文介绍了一种技术创新的方法:即“差语法”.这种方法不仅源于价值工程(VE),且是在创新方法上的拓展与延伸.“差语法”与VE的有关著作所推荐的各种创新技法相比,更具有操作的连续及可行性;加之其依据充分,符合创造机理,因此容易获得成功.