Background
Pollak, Robert Andrew was born on December 1, 1938 in New York City. Son of Harold R. and Carol (Prager) Pollak.
(Providing a valuable resource for government economists, ...)
Providing a valuable resource for government economists, academics, and research libraries, this volume contains twelve papers by Robert Pollak--four previously unpublished--that explore the theory of the cost of living index. In addition to Pollak's classic paper, "The Theory of the Cost of Living Index," the volume includes papers on subindexes, the intertemporal cost of living index, welfare comparisons and equivalence scales, the social cost of living index, the treatment of "quality," and consumer durables in the cost of living index.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195058704/?tag=2022091-20
(Archaeological analysis at the regional scale investigate...)
Archaeological analysis at the regional scale investigates the past by studying how people distributed themselves and their activities across a landscape of hundreds or thousands of square kilometers. Archaeological field survey methods developed over half a century combine with powerful new quantitative tools for spatial analysis (including GIS) to unleash new potential for identifying and studying ancient local communities and regional polities. Varied approaches to estimating regional population sizes in both relative and absolute terms are synthesized and their advantages and disadvantages assessed. Tools for quantitative analysis of regional demographic data are presented. Field survey methods developed around the world are compiled from widely scattered sources and best practices for collecting archaeological data to sustain demographic analysis are delineated. Concepts for improved sampling design in regional survey work are derived from fundamental statistical principles. In conclusion, promising directions for future methodological development are identified.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0989824942/?tag=2022091-20
(UNDERSTANDING AUTISM allows for a greater understanding o...)
UNDERSTANDING AUTISM allows for a greater understanding of autistic children and their families. This book is a very practical guide, spoken in plain English for the rest of us! It is for anyone who may ever come into contact with autistic children; and being that the autistic are unrecognizable at first glance, this book is for everyone! Parents can get so much helpful information from co-author, Lori Rakieski, who has 4 autistic children of her own. Police, Firefighters and other Emergency Personnel can learn invaluable information on how to find lost autistic children and how to deal with them when they encounter them. Social Workers, Caretakers, Teachers, and Physical and Sensory Therapists can use this book to better understand the parents' perspective in what they are going through. This book has 166 pages of sincere, heartfelt and valuable information that will help autistic children to live normal lives, while enabling society, in general, come to understand and have greater patience for the autistic.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0980070538/?tag=2022091-20
(The Demography of Victorian England and Wales describes i...)
The Demography of Victorian England and Wales describes in detail for the first time the changing population history of England and Wales between 1837 and 1914. Its principal focus is the great demographic revolution that occurred during those years, especially the secular decline of fertility and the origins of the modern rise in life expectancy. It is lavishly illustrated with numerous tables, figures and maps, many of which are reproduced in full color. This clear, comprehensive and engaging reference work makes a seminal contribution to demographic history.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0521782546/?tag=2022091-20
Pollak, Robert Andrew was born on December 1, 1938 in New York City. Son of Harold R. and Carol (Prager) Pollak.
Bachelor of Arts Amherst College, Master of Arts, 1960. Doctor of Philosophy Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass., USA, 1964.
Assistant professor economics University Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1964-1968. Economist United States Bureau Labor Statistics, Washington, 1968-1969. Associate professor economics University Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1968-1972, professor economics, 1972-1983, professor economics and social science, 1983-1990.
Professor economics University Washington, Seattle, since 1990. Visiting professor economics University Washington, Seattle, 1985-1989.
(Providing a valuable resource for government economists, ...)
(Archaeological analysis at the regional scale investigate...)
(The Demography of Victorian England and Wales describes i...)
(This book explores the principal issues involved in bridg...)
(UNDERSTANDING AUTISM allows for a greater understanding o...)
Author: The theory of the Cost of Living Index, 1989, (with T.J. Wales) Demand System Specification and Estimation, 1992, (with J.R. Behrman and P. Taubman) From Parent to Child, 1995, also articles in professional journals. Editor International Economic Review, 1976-1985, associate editor since 1985. Member board editors Journal Economic Literature, since 1985.Associate editor Review Economics and Statistics, 1987-1992, Demography, 1990-1993, Feminist Economics, since 1994.
My research on household behaviour has been shaped by the belief that economic theory can and should provide a frame-
work for empirical analysis. Four threads run through this work, much of it joint with Terence J. Wales. (1) Household budget data: Poliak and Wales (1978) established that, contrary to popular assumption, interesting demand systems such as the LES and QES are identified by as few as two budget studies despite the limited price variability in such data.
(2) Demographic effects: I have developed new procedures for incorporating demographic variables such as family size into empirical demand analysis (e.g. demographic translating) and challenged the welfare interpretation of such equivalence scales, arguing that one must distinguish between conditional and unconditional scales. (3) Functional forms: I have developed new forms for empirical demand analysis and new classes of functional forms (generalised separability, additive utility functions and linear Engel curves, and systems quadratic in expenditure). (4) Dynamic specifications: empirical
demand analysis must either assume that demand system parameters remain constant or specify how they change with time or past consumption.
I have proposed and estimated various dynamic specifications — the statistical superiority of dynamic over static specifications (the common empirical finding) might reflect misspecification or taste change.
I have developed the distinction between ‘rational’ and ‘myopic’ habit formation and examined the implications of endogenous preferences for welfare analysis, arguing again that one must distinguish between conditional and unconditional preferences. In collaboration with Jere Behrman and Paul Taubman, I have developed and estimated a ‘preference model’ of intrafamily resource allocation as an alternative to the standard ‘investment model’ of human capital theory. I have developed cost-of-living index theory in directions relevant to index number construction (e.g. subindexes, intertemporal indexes, group or social indexes, the treatment of quality).
In collaboration with Douglas Blair, I have characterised the class of social choice rules satisfying the Arrow axioms and
acyclicity, and argued that acyclicity is the appropriate rationality condition. We show that every such rule must contain a ‘vetoer’, someone who can veto almost all pairs of alternatives.
Fellow American Association for the Advancement of Science, Econometric Society. Member International Union for the Science Study of Population.
Married Vivian Rogosa. Children: Steven, Edward.