Accounting for Intergenerational Earnings Persistence: Can We Distinguish Between Education, Skills, and Health?

This paper illustrates the difficulty in disentangling the underlying channels of intergenerational earnings persistence by means of path analysis and recursive models. On closer examination, these models manifest their shortcomings as regards accounting for how parental earnings have a direct impact on their offspring’s earnings, but also have an effect through other factors such as education, skills and health. The estimated effects of these mediating factors are likely to capture the influence of other mechanisms not taken into account in the analysis. Nonetheless, the results suggest that education is the most important mechanism in the earnings transmission process, although it is sensitive to the inclusion of other covariates and the order in which these are entered into the equation. Nonlinear specifications suggest that the effect of a father’s earnings on his son’s has the greatest impact primarily through education and IQ in the upper middle categories of the earnings distribution of the fathers, while health status is of secondary importance.-

How to Cope with Declining Small Urban Centres? - The Finnish Regional Centre Programme in perspective

The severe depression which Finland suffered in the early 1990´s as well as the subsequent economic developments saw Finland faced not only with high unemployment and rising income disparities but also with deepening regional imbalance. As a handful of larger cities grew, many others either coped or declined altogether. In 2000 the Finnish government launched the Regional Centre Programme (RCP). Through the development of a regional network of different sized growth centres based on their particular strengths, expertise and specialization, the original purpose of the programme was not only to find new sources of economic growth but to find ways of spreading growth more evenly across regions without hindering the overall development. The aim of this paper is to assess the development trail which led to the emergence of the RCP as well as to study RCP´s role in assisting the development of small urban centres during its first three years of existence. Keywords: Regional development, Regional Centre Policy, Finland

The Effect of Children on Earnings Using Exogenous Variation in Family Size: Swedish Evidence

This paper takes advantage of an exogeneous variation in the sex composition of previous children, to study the effect of an additional child on women’s earnings. I use OLS and IV as well as quantile regression to analyze the impact of an increase in family size on labour force participation and level of earnings from 1980-2005 Swedish register data. The IV technique produces estimates that are not systematically different from those from OLS, at the expense of a low precision. Including men in the analysis shows that fathers’ labour force outcomes are less likely to be affected by an increase in family size compared to mothers. My findings indicate that having an additional child has a stronger negative impact on earnings than on labour force participation. However, there is evidence of catching-up effect over time, as women tend to recover gradually from the negative earnings effect. Using different time perspective, the results remain stable with respect to the rapid expansion of the Swedish family policies. The quantile regression approach suggests that other mechanisms than childbearing lie behind the large wage gap at the top of the wage distribution, often referred to, in Sweden, as the glass ceiling pattern.-

The Territorial Availability and Diffusion of Broadband in Finland: Lessons From Finnish Broadband Policy

Most countries dispose towards the development of the information society (IS). Due to increased political interest, there has also been a growing need to collect and compile IS statistics for informed decision-making. Thus, various indicators have been collected and different indices developed to measure IS, to monitor its development and to compare countries in terms of IS performance. Although there is no unambiguous definition of what IS is actually composed of, the availability and use of information and communications technology (ICT) is seen to be an established part of it. This article examines the case of one IS indicator: the measurement of the availability of broadband in Finland from the year 2001 to 2004. The focus is on the overall sensibility of the indicators approach, the evolution of territorial differences at different spatial scales, and the effectiveness of the broadband policy in Finland in years 2001-2004. The analysis shows that the indicators of the availability of broadband might be misleading for purposes of policy formulation and monitoring. The results also indicate that the Finnish broadband policy has resulted in regional differences and spatially uneven impacts in terms of availability. This article is an outgrowth of the ESPON project “Identification of Spatially Relevant aspects of the Information Societyâ€.

What Makes University Students Happy?

Happiness studies are a growing research area in economics. In this study we focus on the determinants of subjective well-being of a particular sub-population, university students. Different happiness determinants are considered and tested empirically using survey data from Finland. An ordered probit model is applied. We compare the results with those of a similar study conducted among university students in Australia. The findings reveal that the most important influences on students' levels of satisfaction are social relationships, resources and the educational environment, personal goal achieving and extracurricular activities.

Measuring the Information Society in Europe: From Definitions to Description

Information Society (IS) indicators describe the level of information society development achieved in a particular society in quantitative terms. They can serve a range of purposes related to providing a view of the society’s state: for example, following the evolution of IS or benchmarking IS with other territories. By considering changes over time, IS indicators also comprise a critical tool in the monitoring, evaluation and improvement of IS policy. Inevitably, the primary benefit of indicators lies in this capacity to guide policy-makers into proactive thinking i.e. to focus their attention on future priorities. The aims of this article are to examine how the evolution of the information society has been measured, and to relate European territories with each other by these measures. Constructing a comprehensive set of IS indicators requires a sound definition of the Information Society to establish meaningful benchmarks and to measure change. The task becomes complicated as it seems that IS is more or less ‘undefined’ at the moment. This means that IS is what one wants it to be: countries held as “information societies†are those countries, which people think of being such – and not defined by, for example, achieving a level measured by some quantitative IS-related indicators. Tentative results show that despite this lack of a clear and single definition of Information Society (IS) one can derive some conclusions about what IS consists of by taking a look at previous IS projects having collected IS indicators. They indicate three different levels of IS. These levels range from the narrow technological and the intermediate techno-economic definitions to the broad, all-inclusive IS definition. The indicators used to measure IS can also be grouped by a lifecycle model. While there seems to be a lack of available consistent territorial data on IS, there is plenty of data available on the national level. Using this data and background variables the European state of IS is analyzed from a territorial perspective. This article is an outgrowth of the ESPON project “Identification of Spatially Relevant aspects of the Information Societyâ€.

Large Cuts with Local Algorithms on Triangle-Free Graphs

We study the problem of finding large cuts in $d$-regular triangle-free graphs. In prior work, Shearer (1992) gives a randomised algorithm that finds a cut of expected size $(1/2 + 0.177/\sqrt{d})m$, where $m$ is the number of edges. We give a simpler algorithm that does much better: it finds a cut of expected size $(1/2 + 0.28125/\sqrt{d})m$. As a corollary, this shows that in any $d$-regular triangle-free graph there exists a cut of at least this size. Our algorithm can be interpreted as a very efficient randomised distributed algorithm: each node needs to produce only one random bit, and the algorithm runs in one synchronous communication round. This work is also a case study of applying computational techniques in the design of distributed algorithms: our algorithm was designed by a computer program that searched for optimal algorithms for small values of $d$.Comment: 1+17 pages, 8 figure

Fine-grained Patterns of the Digital Divide: Differences of Broadband Access within Finland

Access to the Internet plays a central role in the development of an information society. However, because of the required telecommunications infrastructure is very expensive to build, and telecommunications services are also relatively expensive, there is no sufficient demand for a market-based provision of relevant telecommunication infrastructures in many areas. As a result, some citizens and organisations are left without an (up-to-date) access to the Internet. This gap between social groups with and without access to the Internet, which is also often linked with a lack of motivation to use it, is referred to as Digital Divide. Several governments have implemented programmes aimed at diminishing this Divide, by means of providing access to the Internet in regions where the market does not provide it, and by enhancing the citizens? ?information society? skills and motivation. There are a variety of technologies available for connecting to the Internet. The traditional narrowband means include modem and ISDN. For faster connections in terms of data transfer rate, various broadband technologies have been introduced. Actually, these broadband connections, which usually offer a fixed pricing scheme, are often seen as the embodiment of an information society. Lately, also mobile connections have become a feasible in creating an access to the Internet, as their speed has increased to the level of the traditional modem connection, and their data transfer prices have been reduced. The aim of this paper is to explore spatial patterns and differences in internet access in Finland. Availability of all possible technologies (traditional, broadband and mobile) are investigated in detail. The findings are compared with demographic characteristics of the relevant regions. Not surprisingly, the tentative results support the view that regions with higher population densities have a better access to the Internet. With regard to the debate on the Digital Divide, it is especially interesting to observe that variations in access to the Internet do not follow administrative borders, but are much more fine-grained. Clearly, this has implications for effective and righteous information society policies, and for an evaluation of the effectiveness of such policies. The paper in an outgrowth of the project ?Telecommunications Services and Networks and Territorial Cohesion? funded from the European Spatial Planning Observation Network (ESPON) programme (see www.espon.lu). Key words: internet access, digital divide, telecommunications infrastructure, spatial differences, ESPON

Kuvantulkinnasta kohti asiantuntijaröntgenhoitajuutta : kirjallisuuskatsaus

Radiologisten tutkimusten kokonaismäärä kasvaa. Varsinkin leikekuvantaminen sekä toimenpiteet työllistävät radiologeja entistä enemmän. Suomessa sonograaferitoiminta on esimerkki tehtävänsiirrosta radiologeilta röntgenhoitajille. Radiologipulaan ollaan Isossa-Britanniassa reagoitu kouluttamalla röntgenhoitajia tulkitsemaan röntgenkuvia. Röntgenhoitajien kuvantulkinta on tutkitusti korkealaatuista. Tämän opinnäytetyön tavoitteena oli tuottaa tietoa, jota voidaan hyödyntää, kun mietitään röntgenhoitajan ammatillista roolia ja koulutusta tulevaisuudessa. Tämän opinnäytetyön tarkoituksena oli kirjallisuuskatsauksen tekeminen röntgenhoitajan tekemästä kuvantulkinnasta. Opinnäytetyön tehtävänä oli löytää vastaus kysymyksiin: Millaisista röntgentutkimuksista röntgenhoitajat tekevät kuvantulkintaa Euroopassa tai muualla maailmassa? Minkälaisella koulutuksella ja vastuilla röntgenhoitajat tekevät kuvantulkintaa? Miten kuvantulkinta on yhteydessä röntgenhoitajan uralla etenemiseen ja asiantuntijuuteen? Röntgenhoitajat tulkitsevat luuston natiiviröntgenkuvia laajalti koko Isossa-Britanniassa ja Australiassa etenkin ensiavun toimintaympäristössä. Kuvantulkintakoulutuksen laajuudet vaihtelevat lyhytkursseista yliopisto-opintoihin. Koulutusmenetelmistä parhaina pidetään monimuoto-opintoja, joissa keskiössä on kliininen opettelu työpaikalla. Vastuukysymykset ovat vielä epäselkeitä. Red dot -menetelmä on yleissignaali lääkärille poikkeavasta löydöksestä röntgenkuvassa. Red dot -menetelmä tarkoittaa yhteisesti sovitun merkin, esimerkiksi punaisen pisteen tai tähti (*) -merkin lisäämistä röntgenkuvaan, jos siinä havaitaan murtuma tai luksaatio. Kuvantulkinta voi olla myös kirjallinen raportti. PCE (Preliminary Clinical Evaluation)-menetelmä tarkoittaa ennakoivaa kliinistä arviointia luisista vammoista. PCE -menetelmä on red dot -menetelmää tarkempi, sillä siinä kerrotaan sekä murtuman tai luksaation sijainti, tyyppi että asento lääketieteellisin termein. Asiantuntijaröntgenhoitajuus ei rajoitu pelkästään kuvantulkintaan. Tehtävänsiirrot radiologeilta röntgenhoitajille ovat laajentuneet biopsioihin sekä muihin invasiivisiin toimenpiteisiin, rajattuun lääkkeenmääräämisoikeuteen sekä potilasneuvontaan ja tutkimustuloksista informoimiseen. Asiantuntijaröntgenhoitajalta edellytetään myös opetus-, tutkimus- ja kehittämisosaamista sekä näyttöön perustuvan radiografiatyön edistämistä.A radiographer reporting service has been introduced to address the shortage of radiologists in the United Kingdom. At present in Finland task shifting from radiologists to radiographers is implemented in the modality of ultrasound. The purpose of the thesis was to provide information which can be utilised in radiographer`s professional role development and education in Finland. The data were collected using a narrative literature review. Thirteen articles were analyzed through summarizing and content analysis. It was found that radiographers provide plain radiograph reporting service particularly in emergency setting. Practice in competency recognition and liability issues vary widely. Role extension is not restricted solely to reporting. A higher-level competency can be achieved. Advanced practitioner status requires achievements in knowledge, service and practice development, leadership, education and training. Contribution to research and evidence based radiography is regarded significant. Possible recommendations to further study is to provide information how patient centredness appears in the radiographer reporting service