The Panel Study of Income Dynamics, with support from the National Institute on Aging, announces a call for papers that use the PSID Dataset to conduct research in the area of pensions, retirement planning, and financial well-being over the life course. Papers will be presented at a two-day conference on life course financial well-being November 20-21, 2008 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The PRI Library had received announcement from the Columbia University Population Center for the Fragile Families Summer Data Workshop. It will be held June 30-July 2, 2008 at Columbia University School of Social Work

PRI Library has received announcement of the 2008 NPC Summer Workshop at the University of Michigan: Analyzing Poverty and Socioeconomic Trends Using the American Community Survey (ACS). Workshop will be held in Ann Arbor June 23-27, 2008.

Biostatistician Andrew Vickers writes in the New York Times that many cancer researchers refuse to share their data, even when sharing it could potentially save lives.The National Institutes of Health (NIH) request that researchers they fund share their data:

The NIH expects and supports the timely release and sharing of final research data from NIH-supported studies for use by other researchers. Starting with the October 1, 2003 receipt date, investigators submitting an NIH application seeking $500,000 or more in direct costs in any single year are expected to include a plan for data sharing or state why data sharing is not possible. (NIH Data Sharing Policy)

The latest issue (volume 7, number 3) of The Stata Journal is now available online to PRI affiliates. To access the journal, log in with your POP username and password.

Contents of this issue:

Articles and Columns
Multiple imputation of missing values: further update of ice, with an emphasis on interval censoring
Enhanced routines for instrumental variables/generalized method of moments estimation and testing
Causal inference with observational data
A generic function evaluator implemented in Mata
Mata Matters: Structures
Speaking Stata: Counting groups, especially panels

Notes and Comments
Stata tip 52: Generating composite categorical variables
Stata tip 53: Where did my p-values go?
Stata tip 54: Post your results
Stata tip 55: Better axis labeling for time points and time intervals

Software Updates

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has announced that it plans to add more locations to the National Children’s Study, “a large, long-term longitudinal study of environmental influences on children’s health and development.” The NICHD plans to issue an RFP within the next month.

A growing world population is not a problem, but increasing consumption as people in developing countries strive for a first-world lifestyle is, argues Jared Diamond, professor of geography at UCLA, in a New York Times opinion piece.

Just as it is certain that within most of our lifetimes we’ll be consuming less than we do now, it is also certain that per capita consumption rates in many developing countries will one day be more nearly equal to ours. These are desirable trends, not horrible prospects. In fact, we already know how to encourage the trends; the main thing lacking has been political will. … I am cautiously optimistic. The world has serious consumption problems, but we can solve them if we choose to do so.

The Chronicle of Higher Education summarizes Diamond’s argument and some responses to it.

Note: The Chronicle article is available online to subscribers. PRI affiliates can read the Chronicle in the PRI Library or request online access from library@pop.psu.edu.

The PRI Library had received a position announcement from the Kirwan Institute at Ohio State for a postdoctoral fellowship.

PRI released one working paper in 2007: Gender Discord and Family Change (PDF), by Robert Schoen (07-01)

A complete list of PRI working papers dating back to 1989 is available on our web site. PRI affiliates and graduate students are encouraged to submit papers to the series - see the submission guidelines for details.

The Center for Immigration Studies has compiled a list of immigration-related dissertations completed in 2006.

Members of the Penn State community can get help locating dissertations from University Libraries. PRI associates and affiliates may also request assistance from the PRI Library.