A Comparative‐Advantage Approach to Government Debt Maturity

We study optimal government debt maturity in a model where investors derive monetary services from holding riskless short‐term securities. In a setting where the government is the only issuer of such riskless paper, it trades off the monetary premium associated with short‐term debt against the refinancing risk implied by the need to roll over its debt more often. We extend the model to allow private financial intermediaries to compete with the government in the provision of short‐term money‐like claims. We argue that, if there are negative externalities associated with private money creation, the government should tilt its issuance more toward short maturities, thereby partially crowding out the private sector's use of short‐term debt.     

CRIME, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, AND LABOR FORCE WITHDRAWAL

This article explores the links between self-admitted drug dealing and labor force behavior to determine if and/or how returns to employment influence the decisions by both blacks and whites to enter drug dealing. Using data collected on inmates in prisons and jails in California, Michigan, and Texas, this analysis concludes that black and white offenders vastly differ in their perceptions of criminal opportunities. But the dominant factor contributing to entry into drug selling, especially among black males, is unattractive market opportunities. One cannot determine unambiguously whether this results from the lure of drug dealing for its entrepreneurial attractiveness or simply results from crime versus employment choices. In any case, evidence presented clearly shows that racial differences in returns to employment explain most of the gap between black and white drug dealing.     

IMPACTS OF VIOLENT CRIME ON BLACK FAMILY STRUCTURE

Violent crime contributes to depleting the supply of marriageable males in minority communities. Young black males die disproportionately due to homicides. Also, a disproportionate number of young black males are in prisons and jails. Consequently, they are withdrawn from the productive labor force and become less desirable mates and fathers. They become "marginalized." Black families, in turn, are deprived of productive male heads. This paper, using Current Population Survey data for 1985, demonstrates that a direct effect of reducing the supply of marriageable mates is to increase the proportion of black families headed by females. The impacts of homicide and incarceration far exceed those of public welfare in influencing changing black family structures.     

An Exploratory Behavioral and Socio-Economic Profile of Consumer Action About Dissatisfaction with Selected Household Appliances

Dissatisfactions of consumers with household appliances and consumers' attempts to get action to overcome their dissatisfaction are frequently discussed and reported. However, only limited empirical research that permits generalization is available. This study provides additional insight into characteristics of consumers experiencing dissatisfaction with some household appliances as well as a profile of those consumers who express their dissatisfactions and those who don't and the places turned to by those consumers who do complain.     

Do the Poor Pay More for Food? An Analysis of Grocery Store Availability and Food Price Disparities

Do the poor pay more for food? To answer this question, this study was conducted to provide an empirical analysis of grocery store access and prices across inner city and suburban communities within the Minneapolis and St. Paul metropolitan area. The comparison among different types of grocers and geographic areas is drawn from a survey of approximately fifty grocery items for fifty-five stores. Results indicate that the poor pay only slightly more in the Twin Cities grocery market. More significantly, those who shop in non-chain stores pay a significant premium, and the poor have less access to chain stores. This study reveals that the biggest factor contributing to higher grocery costs in poor neighborhoods is that large chain stores, where prices tend to be lower, are not located in these neighborhoods.     

Share Issuance and Factor Timing

We show that characteristics of stock issuers can be used to forecast important common factors in stocks' returns such as those associated with book‐to‐market, size, and industry. Specifically, we use differences between the attributes of stock issuers and repurchasers to forecast characteristic‐related factor returns. For example, we show that large firms underperform after years when issuing firms are large relative to repurchasing firms. While our strongest results are for portfolios based on book‐to‐market (i.e., HML), size (i.e., SMB), and industry, our approach is also useful for forecasting factor returns associated with distress, payout policy, and profitability.     

MAPs: Labor-Based Peer Assistance in the Workplace

An offshoot of management-based Employee Assistance Programs, Member Assistance Programs (MAPs) are peer-based programs designed to help union members suffering from substance abuse and other personal problems. Although a relatively recent phenomenon, MAPs are rooted in traditional union principles of voluntarism and mutual aid. This article examines the emergence and growing popularity of MAPs, differences in MAP structure and orientation across unions, and the potential significance of MAPs to unions and industrial relations.     

Underreaction to Dividend Reductions and Omissions?

Using a sample of 2,337 cash dividend reduction or omission announcements over the 1927 to 1999 period, this study reports significant negative post‐announcement long‐term abnormal returns, which last 1 year only. However, this long‐term abnormal performance is driven by the post‐earnings‐announcement drift. After controlling for the earnings performance and the skewness of buy‐and‐hold abnormal returns, there is no compelling evidence of a post‐dividend‐reduction or post‐dividend‐omission price drift.