Measuring the Effect of Subsidized Training Programs on Movements In andOut of Employment

We present a variety of alternative estimates of the effect of training on the probability of employment for adult male participants in the 1976 Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) program. Our results suggest that CETA participation increased the probability of employment in the three years after training by from 2 to 5 percentage points. Classroom training programs appear to have had significantly larger effects than on-the--job programs, although the estimated effects of both kinds of programs are consistently positive. We also find that movements in and out of employment for the trainees and a control group of nonparticipants are reasonably well described by a first-order Markov process, conditional on individual heterogeneity. In the context of this model, CETA participation appears to have increased both the probability of moving into employment, and the probability of continuing employment.

Financial innovation, strategic real options and endogenous competition : theory and an application to Internet banking

Innovations in financial services continuously influence the scope of financial intermediation and the nature of competition between intermediaries. This paper examines the optimal exercise of strategic real options to invest in such an innovation, Internet banking technology, within a two-stage game, parameterized by the distribution of bank size and uncertainty over the profitability of investment, and empirically tests the results on a novel data set. Unlike traditional options, in which the distribution of the future value of the underlying asset is exogenous and the timing of exercise affects only the return to the option holder, the timing of the exercise of real options in a strategic context allows the option holder to manipulate the distribution of returns to all players. The value of the strategic investment option in our model, as a consequence, depends on both expected future profits as well as the variance of those profits. Expected profits to an entrant depend, in equilibrium, on its size, as measured by existing market share (concentration) or total assets, relative to its rivals. Conditional on the degree of uncertainty, larger banks should, as a consequence, exercise their options earlier than smaller banks, for purely strategic advantages, and act as market leaders in the provision of Internet banking services. Like ordinary options, however, the value of the strategic investment option to both large and small banks increases in uncertainty, implying that early exercise will be more likely the more information is available about potential demand. We test these hypotheses on investment in Internet banking services with data from a sample of 1,618 commercial banks in the tenth Federal Reserve District during 1999. Evidence indicates that relative bank size, as measured by either market share or asset size, positively influences the likelihood of entry into Internet banking, and trend-adjusted variation in income per person (a proxy for uncertainty of demand) negatively influences the likelihood of entry into Internet banking. In addition, market concentration of a bank's competitive rivals has a negative relationship with the likelihood of entering the market for Internet banking services. These relations are evident in both bivariate analysis and in multivariate logit regression analysis.Competition ; Internet ; Internet banking

UN FORUM SERIES – competition, collaboration, and corporate accountability rankings

This post was contributed by David Sullivan, an independent consultant specializing in technology and human rights. Tech companies are in a tough sport when it comes to censorship and surveillance. Governments continue to demand new levels of access and control over their data, ostensibly to fight terrorism, even as public opinion polls show growing global support for Internet freedom

A Comprehensive Analysis of Food Insecurity and Solutions in Worcester, Massachusetts

Worcester, Massachusetts is a postindustrial city with high levels of potential that faces the persistent obstacle of food insecurity for its low-income and ethnic minority communities. This research thesis examines food insecurity in general and explores data and trends in Worcester, then combines this with conceptual frameworks which explain how socioeconomic factors play into food security. It also explains the systemic inequalities present as a result of food insecurity and critiques academic assumptions surrounding food insecurity. One of these assumptions is that food deserts on their own can explain food insecurity in Worcester and elsewhere, though it has been found that food swamps and food mirages are more accurate representations of the reality of food insecurity. With this theoretical foundation set, the paper builds towards general solutions to food insecurity and specific solutions that work for Worcester. It is found that food insecurity is ultimately a complex issue rooted in systemic inequalities, especially when it comes to the disproportionate rate of food insecurity among ethnic minority communities in Worcester and around the U.S. Recommendations are made, mostly depending on the key strength that is Worcester’s highly collaborative network of community organizations, businesses, nonprofits, and government which combats food insecurity in a coordinated manner, with different organizations fulfilling different roles of relief and social justice empowerment. With Worcester at a turning point as it begins to see more and more economic development investments, it is important that the city’s organizations continue to collaborate on eliminating food insecurity and develop a cohesive, equitable economic development strategy so all residents can enjoy the opportunity that Worcester promises

Letter from David Sullivan, Managing Director, Blackfriars Theatre

Providence College Department of Theatre, Dance & Film Letter from David Sullivan, Managing Director, Blackfriars Theatre regarding tickets to How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.https://digitalcommons.providence.edu/business_2001_pubs/1001/thumbnail.jp

Memo from David Sullivan, Managing Director, to Cast and Crew of A Flea In Her Ear & Theatre Faculty

Providence College Department of Theatre, Dance & Film Memo from David Sullivan, Managing Director, to cast and crew of A Flea In Her Ear & theatre faculty. October 22, 2001https://digitalcommons.providence.edu/flea_pubs/1006/thumbnail.jp

Russell\u27s Transcendental Argument Revisited

This paper seeks to delineate some of the significant modes of philosophical resistance to, and subversion of, British Idealism already operational in Russell\u27s earliest work. One key tactic employed in An Essay On the Foundations of Geometry (1897) is to reorient the findings of the modern logic of Bradley and Bosanquet by employing some transcendental or neo-Kantian strategies. Russell thereby arrives at a number of conclusions with a metaphysical or epistemological import at wide variance with the approach of the British Idealists. Yet, despite this divergence, Russell does retain a basic commitment to at least one of their fundamental logical dogmas: the unity of analysis and synthesis. Should this reading prove fruitful, philosophical analysis in Britain, from its earliest strivings and first manifestations, can be seen as deriving significant sustenance from both Idealist and neo-Kantian sources

Letter from David Sullivan, Managing Director, Blackfriars Theatre

Providence College Department of Theatre, Dance & Film Letter from David Sullivan, Managing Director, Blackfriars Theatre regarding tickets for A Flea in Her Ear.https://digitalcommons.providence.edu/flea_pubs/1003/thumbnail.jp