Electronic funds transfer at point of sale: a consumer viewpoint*

The first section examines the advantages and disadvantages of electronic funds transfer at point of sale (EFTPOS) as a payment method for consumers. The next section looks at the legal issues and especially at consumer problems arising from the use of wellestablished related technology, automated teller machines (ATMs). The third part sets out the European Commission's strategy for EFTPOS. Finally, the last section summarizes the consumer issues involved and suggests that an international legal framework is needed to deal with them.     

Building State Capacity: Reforming Mexican State Food Aid Programmes in the 1990 s

Recent studies of state food aid to poor households in Mexico by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Food First point to a rare case of successful second-generation reform in the social sector. This article analyses a critical juncture at the start of the 1990 s in which policy-makers predisposed to reform gained an upper hand and over time improved state capacity in an area in which prolific corruption, middle class and urban favouritism and pervasive partisan clientelism reigned for decades. Across Latin America, crisis-inspired state downsizing (“first-generation reform”) has given way to a desire to build state capacity (“second-generation reform”). To date, the regional record is mixed; however, one thing is certain, the context for first-generation reform—macroeconomic instability and foreign lender conditionality—offers an unsatisfactory guide to why and under what circumstances governments embrace, delay or reject second-generation reform.     

Bad Credit,No Problem? Credit and Labor Market Consequences of Bad Credit Reports

We study the financial and labor market impacts of bad credit reports. Using difference-in-differences variation from the staggered removal of bankruptcy flags, we show that bankruptcy flag removal leads to economically large increases in credit limits and borrowing. Using administrative tax records linked to personal bankruptcy records, we estimate economically small effects of flag removal on employment and earnings outcomes. We rationalize these contrasting results by showing that, conditional on basic observables, “hidden” bankruptcy flags are strongly correlated with adverse credit market outcomes but have no predictive power for measures of job performance.     

CONSUMER PROTECTION,CONSUMERS AND BUSINESS

This paper is based on a speech given to an OYEZ-IBC Conference in London on 10 November 1979. It argues that U.K. consumers and business generally have benefited from recent changes in the law. The ‘backlash’ against consumer protection legislation by some elements in business is wholly misguided.     

Ombudsman schemes for financial services in the U.K.: a consumer view

The ombudsman schemes that have been set up in the financial services sector in the U. K. are intended to meet the needs of consumers for rapid, effective and cheap redress. This paper examines the extent to which these schemes have fulfilled their objectives and draws up a balance sheet from the consumer viewpoint. Suggestions are made for the future development of the schemes. The paper is based on a speech given at the Office of Fair Trading Conference on Consumer Redress, Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London, January 1991.     

Permitting Protest: Parsing the Fine Geography of Dissent in America

The ability to dissent and to protest is a cornerstone of western liberal democracies. But dissent always threatens to exceed its bounds and to become a threat. The issue facing liberal states, then, has not only been how to incorporate dissent, but also how to shape dissent. In this project, the politics of public space has assumed a central role, as material public spaces have become a primary venue for the shaping of dissent. This article examines the ways in which dissent is incorporated into the liberal democratic state through a case study of protest in Washington, DC. In that city, as in others throughout North America and Western Europe, protest permit systems have evolved as a bureaucratic means to actively shape, if not directly control, public dissent. And yet, even as permit systems are becoming fully regularized, debates over their legitimacy suggest that geographically based permit systems might be inadequate to the task of incorporating dissent. As we indicate, recent protest activity shows just how important geography is to regulating, incorporating and policing dissent, even as those protests expose just how blunt and how fragile a tool that geography is. Pouvoir être en désaccord et le manifester est l’une des pierres angulaires des démocraties libérales occidentales. Pourtant, le désaccord risque toujours de dépasser ses limites pour devenir une menace. La difficulté rencontrée par les États libéraux n’était pas tant d’intégrer la divergence d’opinion que de la façonner. Dans ce projet, la politique d’espace public a joué un rôle central, les espaces publics physiques étant devenus un site primordial pour ce façonnage. Les méthodes d’intégration du désaccord dans l’État démocratique libéral apparaissent à travers l’étude de cas de la protestation à Washington DC. Là, comme dans d’autres villes d’Amérique du Nord et d’Europe de l’Ouest, les systèmes d’autorisation de manifestation ont évolué en un moyen bureaucratique de façonner effectivement, si ce n’est maîtriser directement, le dissentiment public. Pourtant, tandis que ces systèmes se régularisent totalement, la mise en cause de leur légitimité suggère que les régimes d’autorisation de type géographique seraient inappropriés pour intégrer le désaccord. Récemment, l’activité de protestation a démontré l’importance de la géographie pour réguler, intégrer et contrôler le dissentiment, même si ces manifestations révèlent aussi combien la géographie est un outil limité et fragile.     

EFFECT OF SURVEY CONDITIONS ON SELF-REPORTED SUBSTANCE USE

This paper examines the impact of survey conditions on the self-reported use of marijuana, cocaine, and alcohol in the 1984 and 1988 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). The analysis obtains probit estimates of lifetime and current participation rates and ordered probit estimates for the current frequency of use. The results clearly indicate that the manner in which the NLSY survey is administered significantly affects the self-reported substance use data. The presence of others at administration, self-administration, and data collection by telephone interview are particularly important influences .