Knowledge that Transforms

Isaac McFarlin of University of Michigan reviews “After Admission: From College Access to College Success” by James E. Rosenbaum, Regina Deil-Amen, Ann E. Person,. The EconLit Abstract of the reviewed work begins “Examines the problems that have arisen with the evolution of community colleges over the past few decades, explores why the problems occur, and considers how to improve these colleges so that they can effectively educate and graduate their new students. Discusses community colleges--traditional college procedures for nontraditional students; research methods; “warming up” the aspirations of community college students; the unintended consequences of stigma-free remediation; student information problems with college procedures; the social prerequisites of success; charter building and job contacts; labor-market linking among faculty; educational outcomes of labor-market linking; to teach or not to teach “social skills”; and organizational procedures to reduce student problems. Rosenbaum is Professor of Sociology, Education, and Social Policy, and Research Fellow, in the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University. Deil-Amen is Assistant Professor of Education with the Center for the Study of Higher Education in the College of Education at the University of Arizona. Person is a doctoral candidate in human development and social policy at Northwestern University. Index.”

Earl L. Grinols of Baylor University reviews “The Healthcare Fix: Universal Insurance for All Americans” by Laurence J. Kotlikoff,. The EconLit Abstract of the reviewed work begins “Explores the proposed Medical Security System as a possible solution to America's current healthcare crisis. Discusses the suicidal status quo in American health care; the dangers of allowing Medicare and Medicaid to continue in their current forms; restraining expenditure growth--an anatomy of failure; the imperatives of paternalism; universalizing health insurance; the Medical Security System; and the healthcare fix. Kotlikoff is Professor of Economics at Boston University. Glossary; index.”

Christopher Adam of University of Oxford and African Economic Research Consortium reviews “Capacity Building in Economics Education and Research” by Francois Bourguignon, Yehuda Elkana, Boris Pleskovic,. The EconLit Abstract of the reviewed work begins “Nineteen papers and nine comments, resulting from a conference hosted by the Central European University and the World Bank in Budapest in June 2005, contribute to readers' understanding of building local capacity in economics education and research in developing and transition countries. Papers focus on lessons of experience and future directions; regional perspectives; developing graduate economics education programs; and scaling up capacity building to underserved regions. Bourguignon and Pleskovic are with the World Bank. Elkana is at Central European University. No index.”

Elizabeth U. Cascio of Dartmouth College reviews “Passing the Torch: Does Higher Education for the Disadvantaged Pay Off across the Generations?” by Paul Attewell, David E. Lavin,. The EconLit Abstract of the reviewed work begins “Examines the experiences of students admitted under the City University of New York's “open admissions” policy and their children to determine whether widening college access can accelerate social mobility across generations. Discusses passing the torch--an overview; thirty years later--educational attainments; how families fared--the college payoff; breaking the cycle of disadvantage--maternal education and children's success; how college changes a mother's parenting and affects her children's educational outcomes; dads and neighborhoods--their contributions to children's success; mass higher education and its critics; and the bottom line--the difference that open access makes. Attewell and Lavin are Professors of Sociology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Index.”

Christopher L. Foote of Federal Reserve Bank of Boston reviews “Economic Turbulence: Is a Volatile Economy Good for America?” by Clair Brown, John Haltiwanger, Julia Lane,. The EconLit Abstract of the reviewed work begins “Explores the real impact of economic volatility on American workers and businesses. Discusses economic turbulence--what, who, and how much; the industries; firms, their workers, and their survival; firm turbulence and job ladders; turbulence and worker career paths; economic turbulence and middle-income jobs; and conclusions and implications for policy. Brown is Professor of Economics and Director of the Center for Work, Technology, and Society at the University of California, Berkeley. Haltiwanger is Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland. Lane is Senior Vice President and Director of the Economics, Labor, and Population Department at the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. Bibliography; index.”

Blake LeBaron of Brandeis University reviews “Complex Adaptive Systems: An Introduction to Computational Models of Social Life” by John H. Miller, Scott E. Page,. The EconLit Abstract of the reviewed work begins “Provides an account of complex adaptive social systems, focusing on the key tools and ideas that have emerged in the field since the mid-1990s, as well as the techniques needed to investigate such systems. Discusses complexity in social worlds; modeling; emergence; computation as theory; why agent-based objects; a basic framework; complex adaptive social systems in one dimension; social dynamics; evolving automata; some fundamentals of organizational decision making; and social science in between. Miller is Professor of Economics and Social Sciences in the Department of Social and Decision Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University and Research Professor at the Santa Fe Institute. Page is Professor of Complex Systems, Political Science, and Economics at the University of Michigan and an external faculty member at the Santa Fe Institute. Bibliography; index.”

Frank Levy of Massachusetts Institute of Technology reviews “Falling Behind: How Rising Inequality Harms the Middle Class” by Robert H. Frank,. The EconLit Abstract of the reviewed work begins “Explores how increased concentrations of income and wealth at the top of the economic pyramid have set off “expenditure cascades” that raise the cost of achieving many basic goals for the middle class. Discusses recent changes in income and wealth inequality; inequality, happiness, and health; envy or context; the rising cost of adequate; why we care about rank; what types of consumption are most sensitive to context; how middle-class families can afford to keep up; smart for one, dumb for all; looking ahead; and lessons for public policy. Frank is with the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University. Index.”

Peter Schmidt of Michigan State University reviews “Advanced Robust and Nonparametric Methods in Efficiency Analysis: Methodology and Applications” by Cinzia Daraio, Leopold Simar,. The EconLit Abstract of the reviewed work begins “Provides a systematic and comprehensive treatment of recent developments in efficiency analysis in order to overcome the drawbacks of the traditional nonparametric approach. Discusses the measurement of efficiency; statistical inference in nonparametric frontier estimation; nonparametric robust estimators--partial frontiers; conditional measures of efficiency; economies of scale, scope, and experience in the Italian motor vehicle sector; age, scale, and concentration effects in a public research system; and exploring the effects of manager tenure, fund age, and their interaction. Daraio is with the Institute of Informatics and Telematics and in the Department of Electrical Systems and Automation, School of Engineering, University of Pisa. Simar is in the Institute of Statistics at the Catholic University of Louvain. Author and subject indexes.”

Bumba Mukherjee of University of Notre Dame reviews “Democratic Processes and Financial Markets: Pricing Politics” by William Bernhard, David Leblang,. The EconLit Abstract of the reviewed work begins “Examines the conditions under which democratic events, including elections, cabinet formations, and government dissolutions, affect asset markets. Discusses democratic processes and political risk--evidence from foreign exchange markets; when markets party--stocks, bonds, and cabinet formations; the cross-national financial consequences of political predictability; cabinet dissolutions and interest rate behavior; bargaining and bonds--the process of coalition formation and the market for government debt in Austria and New Zealand; time, shares, and Florida--the 2000 presidential election and stock market volatility; polls and pounds--exchange rate behavior and public opinion in Britain; and political predictability and financial market behavior. Bernhard is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Leblang is Professor of Political Science and Research Associate at the Institute for Behavioral Sciences at the University of Colorado. Index.”

William J. Baumol of New York University reviews “Inside the Economist's Mind: Conversations with Eminent Economists” by Paul A. Samuelson, William A. Barnett,. The EconLit Abstract of the reviewed work begins “Sixteen papers present interviews with some of the world's most important economists, whose work contributed to the evolution of modern economic thought. Papers include interviews with Wassily Leontief; David Cass; Robert E. Lucas Jr.; Janos Kornai; Franco Modigliani; Milton Friedman; Paul A. Samuelson; Paul A. Volcker; Martin Feldstein; Christopher A. Sims; Robert J. Shiller; Stanley Fischer; Jacques Dreze; Thomas J. Sargent; Robert Aumann; and James Tobin and Robert J. Shiller on the “Yale Tradition” in macroeconomics. Samuelson is Professor Emeritus of Economics and Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Barnett is Oswald Distinguished Professor of Macroeconomics at the University of Kansas. No index.”