Search

In the South African context, the schooling returns of young African males aged 20-29 increased significantly between 1975 and 1985, whereas the returns enjoyed by older African males improved only negligibly. This paper shows that an improvement in schooling quality for Africans between the early sixties and early seventies partly explains the rise in schooling returns. (28 references) (MLH)

By 1975, the effect of a year's primary schooling upon the wages of Africans in South Africa had fallen to about 2.5 percent -- one of the lowest primary schooling returns in the world. Secondary schooling returns were high throughout the period 1960-90. The collapse of primary schooling returns was due to declining school quality, an increase in the supply of primary school graduates, an increase in mining wages in the mid-seventies, and wage regulation by the Industrial Councils and Wage Boards. The low level of the return, compared with the returns to other races in South Africa, is due to the low quality of African primary schools. Implications for education spending patterns and wage regulation are pointed out., South African primary education for the period 1960-1990 has deteriorated greatly as evidenced by a drop in wages of those primary school graduates over the 30-year period. Such quality drop is attributed to the increase in pupil-teacher ratio and the lack of public financing for primary education. This finding only applies to blacks as whites seldom drop out of school. On the other hand, secondary school education had a favorable effect on wages.

Although many people have heard of the Club of Rome in one way or another it took a journey around the world and three years of thorough investigation to really find out who they are and what impact the Club has had. From 1986 to 1989 I was given the chance to study this group and the area of scientific work they stimulated while meeting many of its members. Travelling throughout Europe, the USA (including Hawaii) and Japan I met about half the Club's members and many other people from the wider scientific and political field surrounding the debates the Club started in the early 1970s. This article focuses on the origins, impact and future prospects of this group. It is a short introduction into the fascinating history of the impact of the Club of Rome, which at the same time is a story about the beginnings of modern environmentalism and future studies. (Reprinte by permission of the publisher. )

Does industry wage dispersion constitute evidence of either efficiency wages or rent sharing? Comparison of the industry wage premia of whites and Africans in South Africa casts doubt upon the rent extraction and the gift exchange explanations of the industry wage structure. Unions, combined with union threats, fail to explain the data. Other explanations (unobserved ability, compensating differentials, and the shirking/monitoring and turnover models) are rejected here, as they have been before. Remaining possibilities are expense preference theory and internal equity rules. Implications for future research are pointed out.

This article takes a critical look at futures organizations. It suggests that, while many of them play important roles in a number of areas, they are also held back by counterproductive priorities, structures and processes. The authors base their analysis largely on Western examples. Hence, they do not presume to speak for other regions, but hope to encourage similar critical overviews written by citizens of these regions. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

The paper analyses the gap in earnings between white and colored people in South Africa in 1970 and 1980. The gap is decomposed into its 'explained' and 'discrimination' components and, from a model of occupational attainment, into wage- and job-discrimination. Job discrimination decreased between 1970 and 1980. Colored people in younger experience cohorts experienced a significant decline in discrimination between 1970 and 1980, most of which was due to a decline in job discrimination. Discrimination against those in older experience cohorst appears not to have declined.

The overall situation for futures studies in the Federal Republic of Germany is not great. Until recently there was not a single institution dealing specifically with futures studies. It is therefore remarkable that in April 1990 a new Secretariat for Futures Studies (SFZ) could start operations. It was founded as an independent and non-profit research body. Its location is Gelsenkirchen, a town of about 300,000 residents in the Ruhr District of Northrhine-Westfalia, the formerly heavy industrial 'heartbeat' of the country in the North-west. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Discusses the potential receptivity to information technology found in the Caribbean and describes the establishment of regional information networks for the exchange of scientific and technical information. The role of the librarian is explored, and an outline for an assessment of the continuing education needs in information technology is provided. (Author/CLB)

Objectives: Spouses of cancer patients play a crucial role in deciding on therapeutic choices. The aim of our study was to assess their role in counseling for radical prostatectomy.Methods: We analyzed 30 videotaped preoperative consultations prior to radical prostatectomy. Thereof, 14 included the patients' female partner and 16 took place without partner attendance. We performed quantitative and qualitative conversation analysis to compare both settings.Results: Mean age of patients was 61 (47-73) years; 13% (4/30) did not have a partner. Duration of preoperative consultations was 20 (10-32) min. Physicians spoke most of the time (93%, range 71-99%), followed by patients (7%, range 1-20%) and spouses (2%, range 0-8%). Patients whose spouse was present at the consultation tended to have a more averted posture (50% vs. 25%, p = 0.04) and tended to speak less often (5% vs. 8%, p = 0.02). In 4 of 14 (29%) consultations, the spouses tended to be more dominant, speaking more frequently. Qualitative analysis showed several examples of emotional support and helpful contributions by spouses. Difference of opinion occurred when pros and cons of a nerve-sparing approach were discussed. The spouses' impact appeared to influence the final decision of men contemplating a nerve-sparing approach in 1 of 14 conversations.Conclusions: Spouses appear to play a complex and sometimes ambivalent role in counseling for radical prostatectomy. Especially when discussing a nerve-sparing approach, urologist should focus on the patients' true needs while interacting with both partners. Personalized decision aids might help to identify possible conflicts in advance.Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]