The use of multilevel modeling with data from population-based surveys is often limited by the small number of cases per Level 2 unit, prompting a recent trend in the neighborhood literature to apply cluster techniques to address the problem of data sparseness. In this study, the authors use...

Two-level theories explain outcomes with causal variables at two levels of analysis that are systematically related to one another. Although many prominent scholars in the field of comparative analysis have developed two-level theories, the empirical and methodological issues that these theories...

Previous studies on hospitals’ efficiency often refer to quite restrictive functional forms for the technology (Aigner et al., 1977, J. Econom., 6, 21–37) . In this paper, referring to a study about some hospitals in Lombardy, we formulate convenient correctives to a statistical model based...

Although suicide accounts for a small percentage of deaths in Scotland (1.4% in 1999), it has been steadily increasing over the last two decades. In the US, Australia, England and Wales the greatest rises in suicide for this time period, occurred in rural areas. This study describes the pattern...

Consider a website and the surfers visiting its pages. A typical issue of interest, for example while monitoring an advertising campaign, concerns whether a specific page has been designed successfully, i.e. is able to attract surfers or address them to other pages within the site. We assume...