What Workers Want

[Excerpt] This updated edition of What Workers Want keeps the core text and chapter structure of the first edition (Chapters 1-7 in the current book), while eliminating its appendices. The appendices reported the methodology, telephone questionnaires, and written materials used in the two waves of the Worker Representation and Participation Survey (WRPS), all of which is no available online at www.nber.org/~freeman/wrps.html. That site also offers an integrated dataset of all findings, ready for download by interested researchers, and links to other national surveys, modeled on the WRPS, conducted since. New to the updated edition are a new introduction and conclusion. The Introduction examines how our original findings stand up in light of the survey research that others have done since the WRPS. The Conclusion offers suggestions on how to reform our labor relations system so that it delivers to workers what they want in the form of workplace representation and participation

The Market-based Lead Phasedown

The U.S. lead phasedown was effective in meeting its environmental objectives, and did so more quickly with the allowance of permit banking. The marketable lead permit system was highly costeffective, saving hundreds of millions of dollars relative to comparable policies not allowing trading or banking. Estimates suggest that transaction costs brought about only a modest reduction in program efficiency. The market-based nature of the program also provided incentives for more efficient adoption of new lead-removing technology, relative to a uniform standard. Distributionally, it is likely that the program was actually more responsive to the cost concerns of small refiners than a similar uniform standard would have been. The flexibility of the program likely increased the amount of violations, however, and added an unexpected monitoring and enforcement burden. On the other hand, one of the efficiency advantages of the incentive-based program is that it provided opportunities for unanticipated means of cost-effective compliance.lead phasedown, gasoline, tradable permit, market-based policy, technology adoption

THE CYCLICAL NATURE OF POLITICS AND THE U.S. FOOD SYSTEM

Agricultural and Food Policy, Political Economy,

GROUND BEEF: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE SOUTHEASTERN U.S. BEEF INDUSTRY

Livestock Production/Industries,

Food Manufacturing Activities of the Largest Agricultural Cooperatives: Market Power and Strategic Behavior Implications

Agribusiness,

Agricultural Cooperatives and Market Performance in Food Manufacturing

Support for the cooperative yardstick hypothesis was found using a standard structure-performance model that was extended to include a cooperative market share variable and was estimated with a large cross-section of food manufacturing markets. Market concentration and advertising intensity were positively related to price-cost margins. In addition, the aggregate market share of the one hundred largest agricultural marketing cooperatives was inversely related to price-cost margins. The magnitude of the effect was largest in the more concentrated markets. This suggests that. where cooperatives have vertically extended themselves into food processing. more competitive outcomes are found even in highly concentrated markets.Agribusiness, Marketing,

Teaching with Technology to Engage Students and Enhance Learning

Teaching technology effects on student learning in a large lecture introductory statistics course were tested. Findings show in-class personal response systems and on-line homework/quizzes significantly improve student exam scores. We infer proven small class techniques, participating in class and doing homework via technologies, can restore sound pedagogy in larger classes. The experiment was conducted using just one class, but factors usually unaccounted for in assessment research were controlled, especially the instructor and other materials. The technologies investigated here can provide learning benefits to students even in larger courses often criticized for their inability to provide students quality learning experiences.Teaching, technology, statistics, active learning.