Key Words knowledge, productivity, workplace reform, distributional effects of technological change I Abstract We define the knowledge economy as production and services based on knowledge-intensive activities that contribute to an accelerated pace of technical and scientific advance, as well as rapid obsolescence. The key component of a knowledge economy is a greater reliance on intellectual capabilities than on physical inputs or natural resources. We provide evidence drawn from patent data to document an upsurge in knowledge production and show that this expansion is driven by the emergence of new industries. We then review the contentious literature that assesses whether recent technological advances have raised productivity. We examine the debate over whether new forms of work that embody technological change have generated more worker autonomy or greater managerial control. Finally, we assess the distributional consequences of a knowledge-based economy with respect to growing inequality in wages and high-quality jobs.

Significance Childhood and youth obesity represent significant US public health challenges. Recent findings that the childhood obesity ‘‘epidemic’’ may have slightly abated have been met with relief from health professionals and popular media. However, we document that the overall trend in youth obesity rates masks a significant and growing class gap between youth from upper and lower socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds. Until 2002, obesity rates increased at similar rates for all adolescents, but since then, obesity has begun to decline among higher SES youth but continued to increase among lower SES youth. These results underscore the need to target public health interventions to disadvantaged youth who remain at risk, as well as to examine how health information circulates through class-biased channels.

Compares complaining behaviour in traditional and technology-based service encounters. Drawing on 160 negative critical incidents within Finnish retail banking, shows that, contradictory to common predictions, there are no significant differences in the complaining rates between the two types of service encounters. Attributes this finding to the high reliance of traditional complaining methods in both types of service encounters. Finds, however, that complaints about technology-based service encounters have significantly higher response rates than complaints about traditional service encounters. Also, when focusing on technology-based service encounters, finds that customers who actually consider themselves guilty for the outcome were the most frequent complainers, while the ones attributing the outcome to technology failures or service process failures complain less often. These findings have interesting implications for designers of service recovery systems.

Two hundred and ninety-five licensed floorball players from Finnish premier to fifth division were observed prospectively for one season to study the incidence, nature, causes and severity of floorball injuries. During the study period, 100 out of the 295 (34 %) players sustained 120 injuries. Thirty-seven percent (73/199) of the male players and 28 % (27/96) of the females suffered from an injury. The injury rate was 1.0 per 1000 practice hours for both sexes. The injury rates per 1000 game hours were 23.7 for men and 15.9 for women. One hundred injuries (83 %) were acute and the remaining 20 (17 %) were overuse injuries. Sprain was the most common type of injury in men while overuse injuries were the most frequent injury type in women. The lower extremity was involved in 62 %, spine or trunk in 19 % and upper extremity in 10 % of the injuries. The most commonly injured sites were the knee and ankle (22 % and 20 % of all injuries), followed by head and neck (8 %). In both sexes the majority of injuries were minor, level II, injuries. Ten of the knee injuries (38 %) were serious, level IV injuries, of which seven were ACL ruptures. In conclusion, the individual risk of injury in floorball is relatively low in game practice while rather high during the game itself. Before initiation of clinical trials on prevention of floorball injuries, an exact knowledge of the risk factors and mechanisms of floorball injuries are needed.

In this study the prevalence of eating disorders in a population-based cohort of 89 female patients with type 1 diabetes, 14-18 y of age, was compared with that in age-matched healthy controls. Of all diabetic girls in the study area, 92% participated in the study. The majority were treated with multiple insulin injections and the mean HbA1c of the participants was 8.4%. On average, diabetic girls were 6.8 kg heavier than the controls. A two-stage design was used. The first consisted of a validated self-report questionnaire, the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI). Girls who had high scores were then interviewed about eating habits and mental health using a semistructured interview, the BAB-T (Assessment of Anorexia-Bulimia - Teenager version). No cases of anorexia or bulimia nervosa were found, but 15 diabetic patients (16.9%) compared with 2 control girls (2.2%), p<0.01, had disturbed eating behaviour according to the questionnaire. In 6 of these 15 diabetic girls an eating disorder was confirmed at the interview, mainly binge eating and self-induced vomiting. None of the control girls showed an eating disorder. Overweight diabetic girls scored higher on EDI than non-overweight diabetic girls (chi2 = 4.9; p = 0.038). No relationships were found between EDI scores and metabolic control (HbA1c), dose of insulin, frequency of hypoglycaemia or diabetic ketoacidosis.

Engström I, Kroon M, Arvidsson C-G, Segnestam K, Snellman K, Å man J. Eating disorders in adolescent girls with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus: a population-based case-control study. Acta Paediatr 1999; 88: 175-80. Stockholm. ISSN 0803-5253 In this study the prevalence of eating disorders in a population-based cohort of 89 female patients with type 1 diabetes, 14-18 y of age, was compared with that in age-matched healthy controls. Of all diabetic girls in the study area, 92% participated in the study. The majority were treated with multiple insulin injections and the mean HbA 1c of the participants was 8.4%. On average, diabetic girls were 6.8 kg heavier than the controls. A two-stage design was used. The first consisted of a validated self-report questionnaire, the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI). Girls who had high scores were then interviewed about eating habits and mental health using a semistructured interview, the BAB-T (Assessment of Anorexia-Bulimia -Teenager version). No cases of anorexia or bulimia nervosa were found, but 15 diabetic patients (16.9%) compared with 2 control girls (2.2%), p`0.01, had disturbed eating behaviour according to the questionnaire. In 6 of these 15 diabetic girls an eating disorder was confirmed at the interview, mainly binge eating and self-induced vomiting. None of the control girls showed an eating disorder. Overweight diabetic girls scored higher on EDI than non-overweight diabetic girls (w 2 = 4.9; p = 0.038). No relationships were found between EDI scores and metabolic control (HbA 1c ), dose of insulin, frequency of hypoglycaemia or diabetic ketoacidosis. & Adolescence, diabetes mellitus, eating disorder, insulin dependent, overweight J Å man,

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We examine investor responses to board diversity and highlight a previously unexplored mechanism to explain negative market reactions to senior female appointments. Drawing on signaling theory, we propose that an increase in board diversity leads investors to update their beliefs about firm preferences. Specifically, we argue that a gender-diverse board is interpreted as revealing a preference for diversity and a weaker commitment to shareholder value. Consequently, firms with more female directors will be penalized. We test our argument using 14 years of panel data on U.S. public firms. We find that firms that increase board diversity suffer a decrease in market value and that this effect is amplified for firms that have received higher ratings for their diversity practices across the organization. These results suggest that observers respond to the presence of female leaders not simply on their own merit but as broader cues of firm preferences and that firms may counteract any potential signaling effect through careful framing.