TRIBAL CASINO IMPACTS ON AMERICAN INDIANS WELL‐BEING: EVIDENCE FROM RESERVATION‐LEVEL CENSUS DATA

After the passage of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in 1988, tribal gaming revenues increased dramatically. Using a differences‐in‐differences methodology with 1990 and 2000 census data, this study finds that American Indians (AI) on gaming reservations experience a 7.4% increase in per capita income and reductions in both family and child poverty rates relative to AI on non‐gaming reservations. Large and medium casinos are associated with changes in well‐being while smaller casinos are not. These results are sensitive to the inclusion of the Navajo reservation, a large non‐gaming reservation with increased income during the 1990s. (JEL I32, L83)     

Bureaucratic Advice and Political Governance

This paper studies the conflict of interest between politicians and better-informed bureaucrats when they have differing preferences over a public project. We start with a baseline model where a bureaucrat advises a single decision maker (politician) whether to adopt a project. The bureaucrat can be punished if his misrepresentation of the project is detected. We extend this to multiple projects and multiple bureaucrats, and compare the level of Type I and Type II errors generated with centralized and decentralized decision making. This typically depends on the form of the distribution function that determines the bureaucrats' expectation of being disciplined.     

The influence of various factors on the main meal format served in New Zealand households

The traditional main meal served in New Zealand households has been based on that of the British, i.e. a meat-based main course that includes potatoes and other vegetables followed by a dessert. In recent years consumption figures for meat suggest that New Zealanders are making changes in their diets. This study investigates whether this change has involved a change for New Zealanders in the format of their meal. It also examines the factors that influence meal choices. It was found that cultural traditions are strongly associated with meal format and that the meal format varies most for those who hold strong ecological beliefs. This finding suggests that nutrition educators attempting to bring about changes in a population's diet should institute changes within accepted meal formats.     

Taxes and the time allocation patterns of married women with children: cross-cultural comparisons between the United States and Canada

It is widely recognized in the family economics literature that the structure of an income tax system affects labour supply. This paper examines and contrasts the effects of U.S. and Canadian tax policies on one particular group: married women with children. Using a household production model of time allocation, it is initially argued that U. S. tax policies promote market work for this group, while Canadian tax policies discourage market work for similar women. What is found is that Canadian women display weaker labour force attachment than American women and they spend more time in home production activities. These effects are consistent with initial predictions.     

An Analytical Model for External Auditor Evaluation of the Internal Audit Function Using Belief Functions

The purpose of this paper is to advance research in internal audit (IA) evaluation by developing an IA assessment model that considers interrelationships among specific factors used by external auditors to evaluate the strength of the IA function. The model is based on three factors identified by auditing standards and by prior academic research: Competence, Work Performance, and Objectivity. We develop an analytical expression of the model using the belief function framework in order to overcome limitations of prior research. Our results reveal that modeling the “And” relationship is essential for assessing the strength of the IA function. As far as interrelationships are concerned, the analysis shows that, when the three factors have a strong or a perfect relationship, the strength of the IA function remains high even if there is positive or negative evidence about one of the factors. This result holds as long as there are high levels of belief about the other two factors. Further, we demonstrate how the quality of corporate governance affects the evaluation of the IA function and how a cost–benefit analysis can be applied to this framework to help determine the amount of external audit work needed to comply with standards. Our analysis reveals that the extent of external audit work to be carried out by the external auditor depends on the strength of the IA function and the amount of litigation and regulatory costs likely to be faced by the external auditor.     

Is There a Macroeconomic World of One Simple Model?: Reply*

Two questions arise from the note by Hughes: is there a choice for policy in the short term between more production and less inflation and can special factors, such as institutional arrangements for the fixing of wages, have an influence on outcomes for inflation? We will take these questions in turn.