Heterogeneity and nonstationarity typically present in sociological time series have prevented rigorous testing of the axiom of cumulative inertia (McGinnis, 1968). An hypothesis test is presented for event history effects in a collection of short event series controlling for heterogeneity and...

In extending survival models to include frailty effects, the relative merits of parametric and nonparametric formulations are unclear. The epidemiological emphasis (Clayton, Statist. in Med. 7 (1988) 819–841) has been upon nonparametric specification of conditional effects while, within...