Wage Differentials among Regulated, Private and Government Sectors: A Case Study

This paper compares gender and racial wage gaps in the government, regulated, and private sectors, using data from a national sample of electrical engineers. The results reveal that, for blacks and whites, wage disparities due to discrimination (as opposed to disparities due to differences in human capital characteristics) are greatest in the private and regulated sectors, and nonexistent in the public sector. The patterns for gender gaps show virtually no discrimination against women in the private sector and about equal amounts of discrimination in the regulated and government sectors. No single theory of intersectoral wage discrimination can account for these findings.

Presentation of Graves' orbitopathy within European Group On Graves' Orbitopathy (EUGOGO) centres from 2012 to 2019 (PREGO III)

Background: Graves' orbitopathy (GO) is subject to epidemiological and care-related changes. Aim of the survey was to identify trends in presentation of GO to the European Group On Graves' Orbitopathy (EUGOGO) tertiary referral centres and initial management over time. Methods: Prospective observational multicentre study. All new referrals with diagnosis of GO within September-December 2019 were included. Clinical and demographic characteristics, referral timelines and initial therapeutic decisions were recorded. Data were compared with a similar EUGOGO survey performed in 2012. Results: Besides age (mean age: 50.5±13 years vs 47.7±14 years; p 0.007), demographic characteristics of 432 patients studied in 2019 were similar to those in 2012. In 2019, there was a decrease of severe cases (9.8% vs 14.9; p<0.001), but no significant change in proportion of active cases (41.3% vs 36.6%; p 0.217). After first diagnosis of GO, median referral time to an EUGOGO tertiary centre was shorter (2 (0-350) vs 6 (0-552) months; p<0.001) in 2019. At the time of first visit, more patients were already on antithyroid medications (80.2% vs 45.0%; p<0.001) or selenium (22.3% vs 3.0%; p<0.001). In 2019, the initial management plans for GO were similar to 2012, except for lid surgery (2.4% vs 13.9%; p<0.001) and prescription of selenium (28.5% vs 21.0%; p 0.027). Conclusion: GO patients are referred to tertiary EUGOGO centres in a less severe stage of the disease than before. We speculate that this might be linked to a broader awareness of the disease and faster and adequate delivered treatment

Development of the PSYCHS: Positive SYmptoms and Diagnostic Criteria for the CAARMS Harmonized with the SIPS

Aim: To harmonize two ascertainment and severity rating instruments commonly used for the clinical high risk syndrome for psychosis (CHR-P): the Structured Interview for Psychosis-risk Syndromes (SIPS) and the Comprehensive Assessment of At-Risk Mental States (CAARMS). Methods: The initial workshop is described in the companion report from Addington et al. After the workshop, lead experts for each instrument continued harmonizing attenuated positive symptoms and criteria for psychosis and CHR-P through an intensive series of joint videoconferences. Results: Full harmonization was achieved for attenuated positive symptom ratings and psychosis criteria, and modest harmonization for CHR-P criteria. The semi-structured interview, named Positive SYmptoms and Diagnostic Criteria for the CAARMS Harmonized with the SIPS (PSYCHS), generates CHR-P criteria and severity scores for both CAARMS and SIPS. Conclusions: Using the PSYCHS for CHR-P ascertainment, conversion determination, and attenuated positive symptom severity rating will help in comparing findings across studies and in meta-analyses

Management by results: Student evaluation of faculty teaching and the mis-measurement of performance

Using data on 4 years of courses at American University, regression results show that actual grades have a significant, positive effect on student evaluations of teaching (SETs), controlling for expected grade and fixed effects for both faculty and courses, and for possible endogeneity. Implications are that the SET is a faulty measure of teaching quality and grades a faulty signal of future job performance. Students, faculty, and provost appear to be engaged in an individually rational but socially destructive game of grade inflation centered on the link between SETs and grades. When performance is hard to measure, pay-for-performance, embodied by the link between SETs and faculty pay, may have unintended adverse consequences.

Discovering whether programs work : A Guide to statistical methods for program evaluation

vii, 184 p.; 23 cm