Interpreting satisfaction variables: the case of working hours

When they are asked about their satisfaction with respect to various domains (job, financial situation, and so on) individuals give responses which may be misinterpreted because they both report their situation and their judgment about it. Although satisfaction is generally correlated with objective characteristics of the individuals situation the correlation may be spurious due to personality traits that are likely to influence expressed satisfaction. We argue that despite their hybrid nature, satisfaction variables may be informative. When they are used jointly with objective data, these variables allow to infer or estimate distributions of other variables, which are unobserved or cannot be easily measured. But this is valid on the condition that we are able to control for personality traits. To show that we take the example of satisfaction with respect to working hours. We rely on a very simple model to prove that preferences about working time may theoretically be inferred from expressed satisfaction provided that we observe the employees actual working hours. The model allows us to identify the problems posed by the specific nature of satisfaction variables in order to deal with them adequately when empirically estimating the model. We use the 8 waves of the French part of the European Household Panel and estimate the mean value of the employees preferred working hours. We show that empirical models that ignore the specificity of satisfaction variables, generate strongly biased estimates.satisfaction variables, working time

Female labor force participation in France: a cohort analysis

In France the female labor force participation has doubled over the last thirty years. But at the same time part-time work and unemployment developed considerably. So it is not sure that the female labor force participation measured by the number of hours worked still increases. Subsequently the difference between men and women may not be reducing any more. The aim of this paper is to answer some of these questions. To do this we carry out a cohort analysis. The data are the enquêtes Emploi 1982-2002. For each cohort of women (born in a given year) we estimate an "average participation rate between 25 and 59 years old. We propose several definitions of participation according to whether it includes or not unemployment and part-time. We then compare the rates of the different cohorts and measure thus the growth of the female participation over time. The main results are as follows. The participation of the women (in employment or unemployment) does continue to grow. As a consequence the gap between men and women continues to reduce. But if unemployment and partial time are taken into account the participation no more increases: other things being equal the generation 1965-1970 will have the same participation rate (in full-time equivalent) as the generation 1955-1960. Moreover, the participation stopped to increase earlier for unqualified women than for qualified women. Nevertheless the difference between men and women continues to reduce because the male participation tends to decrease.Female participation, labor market, cohort analysis

Carrier-free enzyme immobilization by cross-linked enzyme aggregates (CLEA) technology

Biocatalyst in the form of enzymes is widely used in diverse applications. Unfortunately, free enzymes are quite unstable and may undergo denaturation even under mild conditions, thus hampering their usefulness, and this may lead to higher cost in enzyme based applications. A credible solution is to immobilize the enzymes prior to usages. This procedure was proven to improve the performances in term of stability, activity and selectivity of the enzymes. In addition, separation of product from the used enzyme was made easier and enzyme recyclability was possible. However, carrier-supported enzyme immobilization suffers from many disadvantages, such as large amounts of non-catalytic mass and expensive carrier beads. Thus, to overcome this problem, cross-linked enzyme aggregates (CLEA) has been since widely researched. It involves simple procedure and has many benefits; for example, this procedure does not need purified enzyme. The technique involves an initial precipitation of enzymes using, either organic solvents, salts, non-ionic polymers or acids to obtain aggregates. It is then followed by cross-linking the aggregates by polyfunctional reagents, such as glutaryldehyde, whereby the enzyme molecules react among themselves, leading to the formation of ‘solid biocatalyst’. This chapter aims at deliberating the CLEA technique for enzyme immobilization. Lipase extracted from cocoa pod husk (CPH), an agricultural waste product, has been chosen as the model enzyme, and upon immobilization, the biocatalyst is termed as CLEA-lipase. The production of CLEA-lipase was carried out under an optimum condition and this was followed by experimental comparison with the free-form, on the temperature and pH optima and stabilities. Additionally, recyclability of CLEA-lipase was also studied. Finally, the morphology of the solid biocatalyst, which has bearings towards its activity, was examined by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM)

The reframing of family policies in France: processes and actors

French family policy is generally considered as one of the oldest, most explicit and extensive in Europe. To understand the changes in this public policy sector during the past decades, we first discuss the roots and scope of family policy and then propose a 'process tracing' to identify sequences, based on two sets of opposing principles that have shaped French family policy history: universality versus selectivity and French 'familialisme' versus individualism. In the last two sections, a detailed analysis of the dynamics of change is presented before focusing on the role of the different protagonists of this change: political actors, high-ranking civil servants, family associations and experts. We underline the importance of a small group of high-ranking civil servants, called the 'welfare elite', in this specific sector, whose contribution explains the permanent French specificity and path dependency