Response style behavior: question format dependent or personal style?

In survey research, acquiescence response style/set (ARS) and extreme response style/set (ERS) may distort the measurement of attitudes. How response bias is evoked is still subject of research. A key question is whether it may be evoked by external factors (e.g. test conditions or fatigue) or whether it could be the result of internal factors (e.g. personality or social characteristics). In the first part of this study we explore whether scale length—the manipulated test condition—influences the occurrence of ERS and/or ARS, by varying scale length from 5 till 11 categories. In pursuit of this we apply a latent class factor model that allows for diagnosing and correcting for ERS and ARS simultaneously. Results show that ERS occurs regardless of scale length. Furthermore, we find only weak evidence of ARS. In a second step we check whether ERS might reflect an internal personal style by (a) linking it to external measures of ERS, and by (b) correlating it with a personality profile and socio-demographic characteristics. Results show that ERS is reasonably stable over questionnaires and that it is associated with the selected personality profile and age.     

The surplus prior to ruin and the deficit at ruin for a correlated risk process

This paper presents an explicit characterization for the joint probability density function of the surplus immediately prior to ruin and the deficit at ruin for a general risk process, which includes the Sparre-Andersen risk model with phase-type inter-claim times and claim sizes. The model can also accommodate a Markovian arrival process which enables claim sizes to be correlated with the inter-claim times. The marginal density function of the surplus immediately prior to ruin is specifically considered. Several numerical examples are presented to illustrate the application of this result.     

The holiday and Yom Kippur War sentiment effects: the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE)

Several empirical studies reveal that holidays generally create positive sentiment in the stock market, whereas negative events, such as wars or disasters, are accompanied by negative sentiment. However, what happens if a negative event occurs on a holiday? In such a case, we expect two conflicting sentiment effects, which may cancel one another out or, alternatively, one effect may dominate the other. The stock market in Israel provides a unique laboratory in which to test these two conflicting effects, as Israel faced a horrible war on the Yom Kippur holiday in 1973—a war whose influence is still strongly felt today. Indeed, we find two robust effects: A strong and significant positive holiday sentiment effect; and a negative war sentiment effect, which dominates the positive holiday effect. These results, which show how sentiment effects are created, are general and can easily be applied to other events and other markets when conflicting sentiment effects occur.     

The monetary economics of Jules Dupuit

This paper analyses Dupuit's views on money, bimetallism, free banking and credit. By means of textual and contextual analysis, I argue that Dupuit endorsed the quantity theory based on the neutrality of money. For him, the value of money was determined by supply and demand. The only exception concerned the redistributive effects of gold between trading nations. Dupuit's approach to credit and his views on the issuance of banknotes were distinct from those of most French liberals. He did not consider credit to be capital, and he warned against the overissue of banknotes.     

The importance of considering optimal government policy when social norms matter for the private provision of public goods

We study optimal government policy in a reference model (Rege, 2004, Journal of Public Economic Theory, 6, 65–77) of public good provision and social approval in a dynamic setting. We show that even if complete adherence to the social norm maximizes social welfare it is by no means necessarily optimal to push society toward it. We stress the different roles of social externality and the public good problem. We discuss the problem with the standard crowding in and out argument and analyze the relationship with Pigouvian taxes. We discuss the role of the cost of public funds and show how it can create path dependency, the multiplicity of both optimal equilibria and optimal paths, and discuss the role of parameter instability.     

Adoption and impact of improved maize varieties on maize yields: Evidence from central Cameroon

This study uses both the endogenous switching regression and propensity score matching models to analyze the adoption and impact of improved maize varieties on maize yields in central Cameroon. The results show that (i) education level, agricultural training, proximity to an Institute of Agricultural Research for Development branch and farmers’ perceptions of yield and risk of improved maize varieties significantly affect the adoption of improved maize varieties and (ii) the adoption of improved maize varieties enhances maize yields. Therefore, policies designed to stimulate adoption of improved maize varieties should be promoted. Improvement of access to school and agricultural training may serve as good strategies for promoting the adoption of improved maize varieties in Cameroon.     

Stock price informativeness and analyst coverage

We examine whether more analyst coverage translates into more informative stock prices and apply this to both developed and emerging markets. We measure price informativeness using the association between current stock returns and future earnings. We argue that more informative stock prices contain more information about future earnings. Results indicate that analysts' activities do not contribute to the impounding of future earnings information into current stock prices, in accordance with the view that analysts are outsiders who do not have full access to firm‐level information. We also find that analysts specialize according to industry and that “industry expertise” is limited to developed countries. Overall, our evidence is consistent with the explanation that analysts focus on gathering and mapping industry‐ and market‐level information (macroeconomic information) into stock prices. Copyright © 2013 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evidence on the Relationship between Low Income and Poor Health: Is the Government Doing Enough?

The government's report, Opportunity for All: Tackling Poverty and Social Exclusion (Department of Social Security, 1999), identified poor health as one of the major problems associated with low income. However, much of the available evidence on the relationship between income and health is of little help in forming policies to reduce health inequalities, as it has tended to be based on cross‐section surveys and is therefore unable to shed much light on causal effects. Here, we make use of two British longitudinal datasets to examine the longer‐term influences of income on health within a life‐course perspective. We then use the results of our analysis to provide a brief critical assessment of the likely success of the government's anti‐poverty strategy in reducing health inequalities. A more detailed assessment of government policy in this respect can be found in Benzeval et al. (forthcoming).     

Developing Alteratives: Energy,Offices and the Environment

This paper maps some of the social and commercial forces shaping the debate around ‘realistic’ or ‘appropriate’ levels of energy specification in the commercial office market. It discusses how the dynamics of the market, alternative lease arrangements, enhanced building management standards, technological innovation and shifts in cultural taste are all redefining contemporary office space and presenting new opportunities for environmental innovation. Drawing upon interviews with developers, investors, agents, occupiers and property researchers in Britain and France, the changing, often conflicting, priorities underpinning decisions about energy standards are explored. The paper explores possible ‘futures’ for office development processes in the United Kingdom. Highlighting the ebb and flow of the market, the paper points to the changing nature of tenant demand and current ‘opportunities’ for the development of alternative, more ‘realistic’ energy specification levels. Looking beyond the current property slump it examines the cultural and structural shifts likely to sustain any reformation of British real estate practices. In particular, the paper highlights contemporary debates around transformation of the institutional lease and legislative codification of energy and environmental standards. It is argued that this loose constellation of social forces promises a significant, new mutuality of interests between developers and occupiers which is cultivating ‘appropriate’ specification and procurement practices. Cet article retrace certaines des formes sociales et commerciales qui modèlent le débat sur les niveaux ‘réalistes’ ou ‘appropriés’ de spécification de l'énergie dans le marché des bureaux commerciaux. Il explique comment les dynamiques du marché, l'organisation alternative du bail, une meilleure gestion des immeubles, la nouveauté technologique et le changement des goûts culturels redéfinissent l'espace contemporain du bureau et présentent de nouvelles opportunités d'innovation de l'environnement. M'appuyant sur des entrevues avec des promoteurs, des agents, des occupants et des chercheurs sur les propriétés immobilières en Grande-Bretagne et en France, j'examine les priorités changeantes et souvent contradictoires qui supportent les décisions quant aux niveaux d'énergie. Cet article explore les ‘futurs’ possibles pour les processus de développement des bureaux au Royaume Uni. Soulignant le va et vient du marché, cet article démontre la nature changeante de la demande des locataires et les ‘opportunités’ actuelles quant au développement de niveaux alternatifs et plus ‘réalistes’ de spécification de l'énergie. En regardant par delà l'effrondement actuel du marché immobilier, il examine les mouvements culturels et structuraux qui pourraient supporter une réforme des pratiques des agents immobiliers britanniques. Cet article souligne en particulier les débats contemporains sur la transformation du bail institutionnel et la codification législative de la qualité de l'environnement et de l'énergie. Je soutiens que cette constellation décousue de forces sociales promet une nouvelle et significative mutualité d'intérêts entre les promoteurs et les occupants qui cultive les spécifications ‘appropriées’ et les pratiques d'acquisition.     

World problems and human potential: A data interlinkage and display process

“World problems” have been the subject of intense debate for some time. Concern and action have tended to focus on “important” problems as determined by their visible effects and consequent political significance, so that it is rare for more than ten problems to be named in the same context. The author argues for the representation of problems, and the organised resources brought to bear on them, by interlinked networks, thus permitting computer-assisted, non-quantitative analysis and display of such structures to aid detection and comprehension of their strengths and weaknesses of policy-making significance.