UCL Grand Challenges invites you to a special discussion, ‘The Financial Crisis and the Labour Market’, featuring Professor Edward P Lazear (Stanford), 12.30-1.30pm on Saturday 19 June 2010, at the UCL Bloomsbury theatre.

This event is part of the 3rd International Conference held by the European Association of Labour Economists (EALE) and the Society of Labor Economists (SOLE), which this year is hosted by UCL. The aim of the conference is to facilitate the exchange of ideas and research results in the field of labour economics.

Professor Lazear is Jack Steele Parker Professor of Human Resources Management & Economics and Morris Arnold Cox Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford. He is a labour economist who is a founder of a field known as personnel economics. He was special advisor to George W Bush. His research centres on employee incentives, promotions, compensation and productivity in firms.

The Bertelsmann Transformation Index (BTI) is a project of the Bertelsmann Stiftung and Center for Applied Policy Research. It analyses the state of democracy and market based economy in over 119 nations worldwide. This is then produced in the form of a global ranking which users may download. Also accessible is a visual atlas of the results. Other features of the site include individual country reports that analyse the state of democracy, the political system, political management, rule of law and economic development and transition. Data is available from 2003 onwards.
Source: LIS-SOCIALSCIENCE@JISCMAIL.AC.UK

“The Ipsos MORI Research Methods Centre is pleased to present the first edition of its Newsletter. The Centre is keen to use this to update the UK research community on the methodological work which we are undertaking at Ipsos MORI. In it is presented material relevant to those with an interest in survey methods.  In this issue you will find results of meta-analysis of primacy effects found in our Omnibus data, suggestions for improving the quality of online panels, two experiments on postal surveys, and a thought piece from Dr Patten Smith, the editor.
http://www.ipsos-mori.com/Assets/Docs/RMC_understanding-research-methods-newsletter_may2010.pdf

The Research Methods Centre provides a hub of expertise in sampling, survey methodology and advanced data analysis for researchers across the company and to clients. Its mission is to develop a widely respected cutting-edge methodological unit, and to maximise company-wide quantitative methodological knowledge and expertise. The team comprises a core group of five statistical and methodological experts, led by Dr Patten Smith and Dr Andrew Zelin, who have published a number of methodological reports and papers in academic journals.  For further information, please see:
http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchtechniques/rmc.aspx “