Novel application of a discrete choice experiment to identify preferences for a national healthcare-associated infection surveillance programme: A cross-sectional study

Objective: To identify key stakeholder preferences and priorities when considering a national healthcare-associated infection (HAI) surveillance programme through the use of a discrete choice experiment (DCE). Setting: Australia does not have a national HAI surveillance programme. An online web-based DCE was developed and made available to participants in Australia. Participants: A sample of 184 purposively selected healthcare workers based on their senior leadership role in infection prevention in Australia. Primary and secondary outcomes: A DCE requiring respondents to select 1 HAI surveillance programme over another based on 5 different characteristics (or attributes) in repeated hypothetical scenarios. Data were analysed using a mixed logit model to evaluate preferences and identify the relative importance of each attribute. Results: A total of 122 participants completed the survey (response rate 66%) over a 5-week period. Excluding 22 who mismatched a duplicate choice scenario, analysis was conducted on 100 responses. The key findings included: 72% of stakeholders exhibited a preference for a surveillance programme with continuous mandatory core components (mean coefficient 0.640 (p<0.01)), 65% for a standard surveillance protocol where patient-level data are collected on infected and non-infected patients (mean coefficient 0.641 (p<0.01)), and 92% for hospital-level data that are publicly reported on a website and not associated with financial penalties (mean coefficient 1.663 (p<0.01)). Conclusions: The use of the DCE has provided a unique insight to key stakeholder priorities when considering a national HAI surveillance programme. The application of a DCE offers a meaningful method to explore and quantify preferences in this setting.

Key Factors Influencing Economic Relationships and Communication in Finnish Food Chains

The aim of this report is to discuss the role of the relationship type and communication in two Finnish food chains, namely the pig meat-to-sausage (pig meat chain) and the cereal-to-rye bread (rye chain) chains. Furthermore, the objective is to examine those factors influencing the choice of a relationship type and the sustainability of a business relationship. Altogether 1808 questionnaires were sent to producers, processors and retailers operating in these two chains of which 224 usable questionnaires were returned (the response rate being 12.4%). The great majority of the respondents (98.7%) were small businesses employing less than 50 people. Almost 70 per cent of the respondents were farmers. In both chains, formal contracts were stated to be the most important relationship type used with business partners. Although for many businesses written contracts are a common business practice, the essential role of the contracts was the security they provide regarding the demand/supply and quality issues. Relative to the choice of the relationship types, the main difference between the two chains emerged especially with the prevalence of spot markets and financial participation arrangements. The usage of spot markets was significantly more common in the rye chain when compared to the pig meat chain, while, on the other hand, financial participation arrangements were much more common among the businesses in the pig meat chain than in the rye chain. Furthermore, the analysis showed that most of the businesses in the pig meat chain claimed not to be free to choose the relationship type they use. Especially membership in a co-operative and practices of a business partner were mentioned as the reasons limiting this freedom of choice. The main business relations in both chains were described as having a long-term orientation and being based on formal written contracts. Typical for the main business relationships was also that they are not based on the existence of the key persons only; the relationship would remain even if the key people left the business. The quality of these relationships was satisfactory in both chains and across all the stakeholder groups, though the downstream processors and the retailers had a slightly more positive view on their main business partners than the farmers and the upstream processors. The businesses operating in the pig meat chain seemed also to be more dependent on their main business relations when compared to the businesses in the rye chain. Although the communication means were rather similar in both chains (the phone being the most important), there was some variation between the chains concerning the communication frequency necessary to maintain the relationship with the main business partner. In short, the businesses in the pig meat chain seemed to appreciate more frequent communication with their main business partners when compared to the businesses in the rye chain. Personal meetings with the main business partners were quite rare in both chains. All the respondent groups were, however, fairly satisfied with the communication frequency and information quality between them and the main business partner. The business cultures could be argued to be rather hegemonic among the businesses both in the pig meat and rye chains. Avoidance of uncertainty, appreciation of long-term orientation and independence were considered important factors in the business cultures. Furthermore, trust, commitment and satisfaction in business partners were thought to be essential elements of business operations in all the respondent groups. In order to investigate which factors have an effect on the choice of a relationship type, several hypotheses were tested by using binary and multinomial logit analyses. According to these analyses it could be argued that avoidance of uncertainty and risk has a certain effect on the relationship type chosen, i.e. the willingness to avoid uncertainty increases the probability to choose stable relationships, like repeated market transactions and formal written contracts, but not necessary those, which require high financial commitment (like financial participation arrangements). The probability of engaging in financial participation arrangements seemed to increase with long-term orientation. The hypotheses concerning the sustainability of the economic relations were tested by using structural equation model (SEM). In the model, five variables were found to have a positive and statistically significant impact on the sustainable economic relationship construct. Ordered relative to their importance, those factors are: (i) communication quality, (ii) personal bonds, (iii) equal power distribution, (iv) local embeddedness and (v) competition.

Pellonomistajien näkemyksiä tilusjärjestelyiden tarpeellisuudesta

Maataloudessa on menossa rakennekehitys, jonka seurauksena tilojen määrä vähenee, mutta tuotannossa olevan pellon määrä ei kuitenkaan laske. Aktiivitilojen kasvu perustuu ennestään pieniin lohkoihin, jotka ovat etäällä toisistaan. Epäedullinen tilusrakenne vaikeuttaa olennaisesti tuotantoaan kehittävien aktiivitilojen tuottavuuskehitystä ja kannattavuustavoitteiden saavuttamista. Tilusjärjestelyiden tavoitteena on järjestää pellonomistajien pirstoutuneita tiluksia isoimmiksi lohkoiksi ja näin edesauttaa parempaan tilusrakenteeseen. Tilusjärjestely tehdään aina pellonomistajien pyynnöstä ja yhteistyössä maanmittaustoimiston kanssa. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on koota aineisto, jonka avulla voitiin arvioida pellonomistajien asenteita pellon tilusjärjestelyitä kohtaan. Tutkimuksessa sekä kuvattiin että mallinnettiin pellonomistajien tietoisuutta ja asenteita liittyen tilusjärjestelyiden tarpeellisuuteen. Erityisesti huomiota kiinnitettiin tekijöihin, jotka selittivät pellonomistajien myönteisiä ja kielteisiä asenteita pellon tilusjärjestelyitä kohtaan. Tutkimusaineistona käytettiin rekisteriaineistoa sekä postikyselyaineistoa, joka on MTT Taloustutkimuksen toimesta yhdistetty yhdeksi suureksi Suomalainen pellonomistaja-aineistoksi. Lähtökohtana mallintamiseen käytettiin Suomalainen pellonomistaja aineistosta saatavia pellonomistajaa kuvaavia tekijöitä, jotka korreloivat tilusjärjestelyhalukkuuden kanssa. Mallintamiseen käytettiin logit-mallia. Tutkimuksen kannalta tärkein tulos oli, että isojen tilojen omistajat olivat tietoisempia pellon tilusjärjestelyistä kuin pienten tilojen omistajat. Pienemmissä tilasuuruusluokissa pellonomistus liittyy usein harrastusviljelyyn sekä pellon poisvuokraukseen. Maa- ja metsätalousyrittäjät olivat tietoisimpia tilusjärjestelyistä kuin eläkeläiset ja palkansaajat. Suurin osa pelloista on sellaisten pellonomistajien omistuksessa, jotka eivät itse määrittele itseään viljelijöiksi. Tämän kehityssuunnan oletetaan jatkuvan, joten pellonomistajien tilusjärjestelytietoisuuden voidaan olettaa heikkenevän tulevaisuudessa. Pellonomistajien asenteet pellon tilusjärjestelyihin eivät ole homogeeniset. Tutkimuksessa selvisi uutena tietona se, että maataloustuloa painottavat pellonomistajat ja maataloutta edistävät tilat suhtautuivat tilusjärjestelyyn myönteisemmin kuin muut.

Using a botanic garden collection to test a bioclimatic vegetation scheme

Vegetation maps and bioclimatic zone classifications communicate the vegetation of an area and are used to explain how the environment regulates the occurrence of plants on large scales. Many practises and methods for dividing the world’s vegetation into smaller entities have been presented. Climatic parameters, floristic characteristics, or edaphic features have been relied upon as decisive factors, and plant species have been used as indicators for vegetation types or zones. Systems depicting vegetation patterns that mainly reflect climatic variation are termed ‘bioclimatic’ vegetation maps. Based on these it has been judged logical to deduce that plants moved between corresponding bioclimatic areas should thrive in the target location, whereas plants moved from a different zone should languish. This principle is routinely applied in forestry and horticulture but actual tests of the validity of bioclimatic maps in this sense seem scanty. In this study I tested the Finnish bioclimatic vegetation zone system (BZS). Relying on the plant collection of Helsinki University Botanic Garden’s Kumpula collection, which according to the BZS is situated at the northern limit of the hemiboreal zone, I aimed to test how the plants’ survival depends on their provenance. My expectation was that plants from the hemiboreal or southern boreal zones should do best in Kumpula, whereas plants from more southern and more northern zones should show progressively lower survival probabilities. I estimated probability of survival using collection database information of plant accessions of known wild origin grown in Kumpula since the mid 1990s, and logistic regression models. The total number of accessions I included in the analyses was 494. Because of problems with some accessions I chose to separately analyse a subset of the complete data, which included 379 accessions. I also analysed different growth forms separately in order to identify differences in probability of survival due to different life strategies. In most analyses accessions of temperate and hemiarctic origin showed lower survival probability than those originating from any of the boreal subzones, which among them exhibited rather evenly high probabilities. Exceptionally mild and wet winters during the study period may have killed off hemiarctic plants. Some winters may have been too harsh for temperate accessions. Trees behaved differently: they showed an almost steadily increasing survival probability from temperate to northern boreal origins. Various factors that could not be controlled for may have affected the results, some of which were difficult to interpret. This was the case in particular with herbs, for which the reliability of the analysis suffered because of difficulties in managing their curatorial data. In all, the results gave some support to the BZS, and especially its hierarchical zonation. However, I question the validity of the formulation of the hypothesis I tested since it may not be entirely justified by the BZS, which was designed for intercontinental comparison of vegetation zones, but not specifically for transcontinental provenance trials. I conclude that botanic gardens should pay due attention to information management and curational practices to ensure the widest possible applicability of their plant collections.

Factors affecting partitioning of private forest holdings in Finland.

Questions of the small size of non-industrial private forest (NIPF) holdings in Finland are considered and factors affecting their partitioning are analyzed. This work arises out of Finnish forest policy statements in which the small average size of holdings has been seen to have a negative influence on the economics of forestry. A survey of the literature indicates that the size of holdings is an important factor determining the costs of logging and silvicultural operations, while its influence on the timber supply is slight. The empirical data are based on a sample of 314 holdings collected by interviewing forest owners in the years 1980-86. In 1990-91 the same holdings were resurveyed by means of a postal inquiry and partly by interviewing forest owners. The principal objective in compiling the data is to assist in quantifying ownership factors that influence partitioning among different kinds of NIPF holdings. Thus the mechanism of partitioning were described and a maximum likelihood logistic regression model was constructed using seven independent holding and ownership variables. One out of four holdings had undergone partitioning in conjunction with a change in ownership, one fifth among family owned holdings and nearly a half among jointly owned holdings. The results of the logistic regression model indicate, for instance, that the odds on partitioning is about three times greater for jointly owned holdings than for family owned ones. Also, the probabilities of partitioning were estimated and the impact of independent dichotomous variables on the probability of partitioning ranged between 0.02 and 0.10. The low value of the Hosmer-Lemeshow test statistic indicates a good fit of the model and the rate of correct classification was estimated to be 88 per cent with a cutoff point of 0.5. The average size of holdings undergoing ownership changes decreased from 29.9 ha to 28.7 ha over the approximate interval 1983-90. In addition, the transition probability matrix showed that the trends towards smaller size categories mostly involved in the small size categories, less than 20 ha. The results of the study can be used in considering the effects of the small size of holdings for forestry and if the purpose is to influence partitioning through forest or rural policy.

Lähiruokavalikoiman vaikutus vähittäiskaupan asiakasuskollisuuteen

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli tutkia vähittäiskaupan lähiruokavalikoiman ja asiakasuskollisuuden yhteyttä. Elintarvikemarkkinoilla kilpailijoista erilaistettuja toimintamalleja tulee kehittää kohdemarkkinoiden muutokset huomioiden. Yhteiskunnalliset muutokset ja kasvava kuluttajakysyntä osoittavat lähiruokamarkkinan kasvupotentiaalia. Lähiruokamarkkinoiden ollessa elinkaarensa alkuvaiheessa voi lähiruoka toimintamallin kehittäminen mahdollistaa vähittäiskauppaympäristön erilaistamisen ja valikoimien kehittämisen asiakasuskollisuuden parantamiseksi sekä kilpailukyvyn säilyttämiseksi. Tutkimuksen teoriaosassa tarkastellaan lähiruokajärjestelmää elintarvikemarkkinoiden kontekstista ja vähittäiskaupan näkökulmasta. Asiakasuskollisuutta tarkastellaan aikaisempien määritelmien pohjalta ja liiketoiminnallisesta näkökulmasta. Tutkimuksen empiriaosan vaatimukset huomioiden keskityttiin erityisesti käyttäytymispohjaisen asiakasuskollisuuden teoriapohjaan. Tutkimuksen empiriaosassa lähiruokavalikoiman vaikutus asiakasuskollisuuteen rajattiin koskemaan leipäosaston valikoimarakennetta. Tutkimuksessa myymäläkohtaisen asiakasuskollisuuden mittaamisen mahdollistaa yhteistyöyrityksen asiakastietokannan talouskohtaiset ostohistoriatiedot, jotka perustuvat ostotapahtuman yhteydessä käytettyyn kanta-asiakaskorttiin. Lähileipävalikoimarakennetta ja asiakasuskollisuutta tarkasteltiin 39 myymälän aineistolla syysmarraskuun 2010 tarkastelujaksolla. Myymäläkohtaiset kyselylomaketiedot valikoimarakenteesta ja asiakastietokantatiedot mahdollistavat kvantitatiivisen tutkimusotteen hyödyntämisen. Pääanalyysin tilastollisena menetelmänä käytettiin Logit-mallia. Logit-malli mahdollisti myymäläkohtaisen asiakasluokka- ja leipävalikoimarakenteen riippuvuuden analysoinnin. Tutkimuksen pääanalyysin tuloksien perusteella myymälän pääostopaikka-asiakkaista uskollisten asiakkaiden osuus kasvaa, mutta myös täydennysostopaikka-asiakkaiden osuus asioineista talouksista lisääntyy lähileipävalikoiman suhteellisen osuuden kasvaessa. Lisäksi uskollisten asiakasryhmien tarkempi analyysi osoitti, että myymälän lähileipävalikoimaosuuden ja myymälän avainasiakasosuuden välillä ilmeni positiivinen yhteys. Tutkimustuloksia voidaan pitää kaupallisesti mielenkiintoisina ja tulosten taustalla vaikuttavat tekijät sekä liiketoiminnalliset mahdollisuudet vaativat jatkotutkimusta.

Estudio de adopción de la variedad Brachiaria brizantha (CIAT 6780) en cuatro municipios del departamento de Matagalpa, Nicaragua

En Nicaragua, la ganadería aporta el 23% de la exportaciones, generando fuentes de empleo y alimentación para los nicaragüense; aunque los sistemas de producción se enfrentan a diversos problemas como los bajos rendimientos de leche y carne (producción) debido a la mala alimentación por ser ésta a base de pasturas con déficit de nutrientes, las cuales no llenan los requerimientos nutricionales de los animales. A finales de los años 80, se introdujo en Nicaragua el pasto brachiaria brizantha CIAT 6780, las pruebas de adaptabilidad realizadas por el INTA, recomiendan iniciar el proceso de difusión en los departamentos de Matagalpa y Jinotega, proceso que dio in icio en el año 1999 (Blandón, 1999). Para conocer el grado de difusión y a dopción de este pasto, en el año de 2003 se realizó un estudio en el departamento de Matagalpa en los municipios de Muy Muy, Matiguás, Río Blanco y Paiwas; cu yo objetivo es el estimar la tasa de adopción e identificar los factores que influyen en la decisión de adoptar la tecnología. La metodología que se utilizo es la encuesta formal para un total de 130 ganaderos del departamento de Matagalpa. El nivel de adoptadores en el presente estudio es del 82% de la muestra, el 16% son no adoptadores y el 2% so n desadoptadores. Los resultados reflejan que el patrón de difusión ha sido acelerado, el 95% de los productores han establecido B. brizantha ( Cv Marnadu) en 15% del área total de pasto. El modelo logit, identifica las variables: mayor nivel educativo (leer y escribir), topografía, proyecto, asistencia técnica y resistente a la Suquia con alto grado de significancia en la adopción. Se confirma que en áreas mas pequeñas y manejadas por productores jóvenes la probabilidad de adopción es mayor. La percepción de los productores adoptadores sobre las ventajas del pasto es que es resistente a la sequía y por ende mejora los rendimientos de producción y mayor producción de forraje. Se recomienda continuar transfiriendo estas tecnologías e impulsar la producción de semilla artesanal como mecanismo para ponerla a disposici ón de los productores.

La incidencia del trabajo infantil en Argentina

Resumen: El tema “trabajo infantil” es complejo de abordar debido a la falta de unicidad en su conceptualización y por la heterogeneidad y multiplicidad que lo caracteriza. No obstante, la diversidad de análisis (tanto descriptivos como estadísticos) en diferentes países sobre la cuestión, ha probado el gran avance en el sorteamiento de estas dificultades, como también brindado la base del diseño de planes de erradicación eficientes. Argentina ha sido una excepción a la regla. A pesar de la existencia de reportes e informes provenientes de organismos gubernamentales nacionales e internacionales se encuentra muy poco desarrollada la investigación basada en las herramientas econométricas. Por consiguiente, este análisis busca ampliar los conocimientos sobre el trabajo infantil en Argentina mediante la construcción de un modelo Logit binario que permita así examinar tanto la incidencia de los factores condicionantes más populares de la bibliografía internacional, así como la llamada “paradoja de la riqueza” planteada por Bhalotra y; por último la obtención de conclusiones sobre el impacto de las asistencias sociales en el trabajo infantil.

Bienestar subjetivo en la Argentina durante el período 2005-2007 : determinantes de la felicidad, según la Encuesta de la Deuda Social Argentina (EDSA)

Este artículo tiene como principal objetivo estudiar los determinantes de la autopercepción de felicidad en la Argentina entre 2005 y 2007, utilizando información de la Encuesta de la Deuda Social Argentina (EDSA) relevada por la Universidad Católica Argentina (UCA). El estudio se lleva a cabo mediante un análisis estadístico descriptivo y una serie de modelos econométricos multivariados de tipo logit ordenado que permitieron identificar la percepción de suficientes determinantes que afectan la autopercepción de felicidad de manera positiva y estadísticamente significativa: el ingreso; el estado de salud autopercibido; el empleo y su calidad; el estado civil; la cantidad de hijos en el hogar; la menor discriminación percibida; estar en comunión con Dios; y el tiempo libre.

Adopción del pasto Brachiaria brizantha CIAT 6780 CV Marandú en cuatro municipios de Matagalpa, Nicaragua

La ganadería bovina constituye un rubro muy importante en la sociedad nicaragüense, esta se basa principalmente en pastos y forrajes, lo que la vuelve frágil ante los cambios en distribución del hato ganadero, malas prácticas pecuarias y cambio climático. Como una alternativa para mejorar los sistemas de producción se ha investigado mucho en las gramíneas del género Brachiarias, sin embargo, si no hay adopción de las mismas, todo esfuerzo es en vano. Este estudio identificó que los factores socioeconómicos más importantes en los municipios de Matiguás, Rio Blanco, Muy Muy y Paiwas para la adopción del pasto Marandú son: Presencia de proyectos en la zona, topografía, resistencia del pasto a la sequía, asistencia técnica, nivel de escolaridad y que en productores donde confluyan estos factores la probabilidad de adopción es del 95%. Para llegar a estos resultados se hicieron encuestas a 130 productores de los municipios mencionados y se analizaron mediante un modelo logit, donde la variable independiente era adopción y las dependientes se agruparon en características del productor, del sistema, del pasto y factores externos.

La internacionalización de la empresa manufacturera española: Efectos del capital humano genérico y específico

[ES] La eficiencia y capacidad competitiva de las organizaciones depende —además de otros factores— de la calidad del capital humano de que disponen. Así, el objetivo de este trabajo es analizar el efecto del capital humano de la empresa tanto en la decisión de entrar en los mercados internacionales como en la intensidad de ventas realizadas en dichos mercados utilizando modelos de regresión logit y tobit. El trabajo empírico se realiza sobre una muestra de empresas manufactureras españolas. El capital humano se evalúa desde una doble óptica, por un lado se considera la formación genérica de los empleados y por otro lado la formación específica de los mismos. Los resultados muestran que la formación genérica y la específica tienen un efecto positivo y significativo tanto sobre la decisión de entrar en los mercados internacionales como en la intensidad de ventas realizadas en dichos mercados.

Técnicas multivariantes de apoyo a la gestión del conocimiento

La tesis contiene 4 capítulos principales. El primero de ellos recapitula sobre el concepto de data mining y su tipología, desde la perspectiva del análisis de datos de encuestas. Se realiza una clasificación entre técnicas exploratorias y técnicas predictivas, poniendo el énfasis en los análisis de componentes, de correspondencias simples, múltiples y clasificación, por un lado, y la metodología PLS path modelling y modelos Logit por otro. En el siguiente capítulo se realiza una aplicación de los métodos anteriores sobre los datos obtenidos de una encuesta on-line sobre satisfacción respecto a una institución y la viabilidad de una tienda de productos corporativos con el logotipo de la misma, comparando los resultados de las diferentes técnicas empleadas. El siguiente capítulo trata sobre una técnica relacionada con las técnicas exploratorias expuestas anteriormente que tiene que ver con la situación que se produce cuando se quieren analizar varias tablas de datos simultáneamente y de forma equilibrada. En particular trata sobre el problema que se presenta cuando esas tablas contienen distintos y distinto número de individuos. Se presenta una modificación del método original que permite dicho análisis y cuya efectividad es probada mediante un pequeño ejercicio de simulación así como el análisis práctico de una encuesta real sobre desigualdad social en un conjunto de 10 países diferentes. Para acabar, el último capítulo considera el caso en el que se quieren analizar respuestas a diferentes tipos de preguntas en un análisis de tipo exploratorio. En particular, cuando las preguntas dan lugar a variables continuas, categóricas y frecuencias provenientes de corpus textuales generados a partir de las respuestas a una pregunta abierta. Se considera en concreto la situación producida cuando existen dos tipos de entrevistados diferenciados por el idioma en que contestan, generando corpus distintos. Se muestra una posible manera de tratar esta situación, utilizando para ello la misma encuesta del primer capítulo.

Strategic Votes and Sincere Counterfactuals

The Random Utility Model (RUM) of voting behavior can account for strategic voting by making use of proxy indicators that measure voter incentives to vote strategically. The contribution of this paper is to propose a new method to estimate the RUM in the presence of strategic voters, without having to construct proxy measures of strategic voting incentives. Our method can be used to infer the counterfactual sincere vote of those who vote strategically and provides an estimate of the size of strategic voting. We illustrate the procedure using post-electoral survey data from Spain. Our calculations indicate that strategic voting in Spain is about 2.19 per cent

Awakening a sleeping giant: The riddle of Latino political participation

For some time now, the Latino voice has been gradually gaining strength in American politics, particularly in such states as California, Florida, Illinois, New York, and Texas, where large numbers of Latino immigrants have settled and large numbers of electoral votes are at stake. Yet the issues public officials in these states espouse and the laws they enact often do not coincide with the interests and preferences of Latinos. The fact that Latinos in California and elsewhere have not been able to influence the political agenda in a way that is commensurate with their numbers may reflect their failure to participate fully in the political process by first registering to vote and then consistently turning out on election day to cast their ballots.

To understand Latino voting behavior, I first examine Latino political participation in California during the ten general elections of the 1980s and 1990s, seeking to understand what percentage of the eligible Latino population registers to vote, with what political party they register, how many registered Latinos to go the polls on election day, and what factors might increase their participation in politics. To ensure that my findings are not unique to California, I also consider Latino voter registration and turnout in Texas for the five general elections of the 1990s and compare these results with my California findings.

I offer a new approach to studying Latino political participation in which I rely on county-level aggregate data, rather than on individual survey data, and employ the ecological inference method of generalized bounds. I calculate and compare Latino and white voting-age populations, registration rates, turnout rates, and party affiliation rates for California's fifty-eight counties. Then, in a secondary grouped logit analysis, I consider the factors that influence these Latino and white registration, turnout, and party affiliation rates.

I find that California Latinos register and turn out at substantially lower rates than do whites and that these rates are more volatile than those of whites. I find that Latino registration is motivated predominantly by age and education, with older and more educated Latinos being more likely to register. Motor voter legislation, which was passed to ease and simplify the registration process, has not encouraged Latino registration . I find that turnout among California's Latino voters is influenced primarily by issues, income, educational attainment, and the size of the Spanish-speaking communities in which they reside. Although language skills may be an obstacle to political participation for an individual, the number of Spanish-speaking households in a community does not encourage or discourage registration but may encourage turnout, suggesting that cultural and linguistic assimilation may not be the entire answer.

With regard to party identification, I find that Democrats can expect a steady Latino political identification rate between 50 and 60 percent, while Republicans attract 20 to 30 percent of Latino registrants. I find that education and income are the dominant factors in determining Latino political party identification, which appears to be no more volatile than that of the larger electorate.

Next, when I consider registration and turnout in Texas, I find that Latino registration rates are nearly equal to those of whites but that Texas Latino turnout rates are volatile and substantially lower than those of whites.

Low turnout rates among Latinos and the volatility of these rates may explain why Latinos in California and Texas have had little influence on the political agenda even though their numbers are large and increasing. Simply put, the voices of Latinos are little heard in the halls of government because they do not turn out consistently to cast their votes on election day.

While these findings suggest that there may not be any short-term or quick fixes to Latino participation, they also suggest that Latinos should be encouraged to participate more fully in the political process and that additional education may be one means of achieving this goal. Candidates should speak more directly to the issues that concern Latinos. Political parties should view Latinos as crossover voters rather than as potential converts. In other words, if Latinos were "a sleeping giant," they may now be a still-drowsy leviathan waiting to be wooed by either party's persuasive political messages and relevant issues.

The Determinants of Energy Efficiency Investments in the U.S.

31 p.