A Socio‐Economic Profile of Families in the First Wave of the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children

‘Footprints in time’, the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC), has been developed to provide insights into how Indigenous children's early years affect their development. Socio‐economic factors are at the core of many analyses of child development and well‐being and this article provides a socio‐economic profile of Indigenous families in the first wave of the LSIC. Utilising 12 indicators that are organised into three groups—primary carer, family income and financial stress—the article provides an extensive overview of the full range of socio‐economic data available in the LSIC. The article examines whether, when taken together, the different indicators tell a consistent story. It finds that, broadly, they do. The article raises some issues about the reporting of certain government payments and highlights the importance of family size when looking at family income. The article concludes by pointing to the potential for future research that these data present.     

When Technologies Compete: The Role of Externalities in Nonlinear Market Response

When competing technologies are introduced at about the same time, they may either share the market for an extended period or one may eventually dominate the other. Using actual data from the VCR market, William Redmond explores product and market conditions that favor the emergence of a dominant technology. Recent developments in the theory of nonlinear economic processes yield straightforward models of the dominant or all-or-nothing response pattern. In this study, the role of externalities, or infrastructure, emerges as a critical determinant in producing the nonlinear market response pattern. One intriguing aspect of nonlinear market processes is a propensity for small, outside influences to exercise a powerful and long-term influence on market response, that is, "luck" may play a role in these models.     

The Gender Wage Gap in Europe: Job Preferences,Gender Convergence and Distributional Effects

The gender wage gap has declined over time. However, most of the remaining gap is unexplained, partly because of gender convergence in wage‐determining characteristics. In this paper, we show the degree of convergence differs substantially across Europe. In some countries, predominantly in Eastern Europe, the gender wage gap is entirely unexplained. However, in other countries, differences between the characteristics of men and women explain a relatively large proportion of the wage gap. Gender differences in job preferences contribute 10% to the wage gap, which is more than job tenure, previous employment status or field of study. The role of job preferences is particularly strong at the top of the wage distribution.     

SKILLS MISMATCH: CONCEPTS,MEASUREMENT AND POLICY APPROACHES

The term skills mismatch is very broad and can relate to many forms of labour market friction, including vertical mismatch, skill gaps, skill shortages, field of study (horizontal) mismatch and skill obsolescence. In this paper, we provide a clear overview of each concept and discuss the measurement and inter‐relatedness of different forms of mismatch. We present a comprehensive analysis of the current position of the literature on skills mismatch and highlight areas which are relatively underdeveloped and may warrant further research. Using data from the European Skills and Jobs Survey, we assess the incidence of various combinations of skills mismatch across the EU. Finally, we review the European Commission's country‐specific recommendations and find that skills mismatch, when referring to underutilized human capital in the form of overeducation and skills underutilization, receives little policy attention. In cases where skills mismatch forms part of policy recommendations, the policy advice is either vague or addresses the areas of mismatch for which there is the least available evidence.     

The Historical Roots of CIA‐Hollywood Propaganda

The ability to use movies that tell persuasive stories is a powerful tool, particularly if it is consciously used to legitimize war, assassination, and illegal activities and to undermine the core principles of democracy. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the U.S. military have made use of that tool for almost a century, starting with the War Department's quiet support for the movie Birth of a Nation in 1915 and continuing for a century, including such recent CIA‐supported products as Homeland, The Agency, The Recruit, and many less likely movies and television shows. During World War II, this sort of propaganda was openly distributed, since there was a widespread consensus in support of that war. However, state‐sponsored propaganda in the form of Hollywood movies continued throughout the Cold War up to the present. The production of movies that completely distorted the political meaning of George Orwell's and Graham Greene's novels were important examples of this practice. CIA involvement was covert, since the target audience was the American public and the ideological perspective being propagated often ran counter to democratic ideals. This article recounts the history of the process by which Americans came to accept the ideas continuously promoted by the government, often without knowing that their favorite movies and television shows had been vetted or even altered by agents of the CIA or the Pentagon. Since these practices violate federal laws, the public at least has a right to know that we are being subjected to this sort of propaganda and how much tax money is spent to produce entertaining forms of disinformation.     

A comparison and evaluation of research methods used in consumer food safety studies

Worldwide incidence of food‐borne disease has increased in recent years and data suggest that inadequate food‐handling behaviour in the domestic environment may be an important factor. As a consequence of this, research into aspects of consumer food safety has been undertaken, especially in the UK and USA. The overall aims of conducting such research have been to investigate aspects of consumer food safety behaviour and to utilize information in the development of effective food safety education initiatives. In the past 25 years, 87 consumer food safety studies have been undertaken using different research methodologies; 75% utilized survey techniques (questionnaires and interviews), 17% were based on direct observation, and 8% utilized focus groups. The advantages and disadvantages of the different research methods used are discussed. Similarly, different forms of reliability and validity have been considered in the context of each research method used. A comparison of results from consumer food safety studies has shown that use of different research designs and approaches has resulted in differences in the findings about consumer food safety behaviour. Survey responses have provided a more optimistic portrayal of consumer food safety behaviour than data obtained from focus groups and direct observation. Although consumers have demonstrated knowledge, positive attitudes and intentions to implement safe practices, substantially larger proportions of consumers have been observed to implement frequent malpractices. This suggests that observational data provide the most reliable information denoting consumers’ actual food safety behaviour and should be used preferentially with risk‐based data for the design of communication strategies.     

Effects of New Product Pricing on the Evolution of Market Structure

Conventional wisdom suggests that market structure is a determinant of marketing strategy; however, in the case of market pioneers, no market structure exists prior to product introduction. William Redmond examines strategy influences on market structure by assessing the effects of pioneer firms' initial price strategies (penetration pricing versus skim pricing) on the development of subsequent market concentration during the growth stage of the product life cycle. The article describes the analysis of longitudinal data, leading to the detection of significant differences in the evolution of concentration resulting from the different price strategies. Markets pioneered by skim pricers tended to have lower levels of concentration during the growth stage but rose to levels comparable to penetration markets by the onset of market maturity.     

Fundraising in civil society

The objects of this paper are to enrich understanding of fundraising and consequently to increase funds raised by looking at the roles of funders and fundraisers in civil society. The idea of civil society includes charities but has broader scope, including all forms of independent association and combinations of people within the state, working for a common good, outside the government and economic spheres. The existence of such thriving associations necessarily entails voluntary funding. This gives a special role to funders and gives value to fundraising. Funders should be enabled to share the ideals of the causes they support and even to contribute to their activity, as partners in voluntary enterprise. Civil society is part of an Anglo-Saxon US and UK tradition. A different tradition dominant in the European Union could threaten the governance, independence and fiscal treatment of NGO's in the UK.