Predicting crime story salience: A replication

This study examined the presentation of crime stories in the media, and filled three gaps within the large body of research in this area: First, it examined the presentation of crime news in different sized cities with significantly different crime rates. Second, it examined not only the content of crime stories, but importantly addressed what factors explain the prominence of crime stories. Third, it demonstrated the importance of using multivariate statistical techniques in conjunction with content analysis. Consistent with previous research in this area, the study found that journalistic decision-making on crime news was influenced primarily by the seriousness of the offense. In addition, the occupation of the defendant was also important. This study also showed, however, that there was considerable variation depending on the size of city. Specifically, the seriousness of a crime event had a limited impact in cities with lower crime rates. Implications for media studies are discussed.     

Sex differences in earnings: An analysis of Malaysian wage data

The conventional human capital earnings function is applied to a rich set of Malaysian wage data in an attempt to determine the origins of sex differences in average earnings. Several findings are of interest, the first being that the relationships estimated from the earnings function are similar to those typically reported for non‐LDCs. Second, less than a third of the average monthly wage difference between the sexes of about 34 per cent appears to be the consequence of either females having lower (measured) productivity than males, or females receiving lower rates of return to human capital than males. The major part of the earnings difference is apparently a consequence of employment distributions: females are much more likely to be in the low‐paying occupations.