Assessing the needs of assisted reproductive technology users of an online bulletin board

Consumers who are infertile and decide to use assisted reproductive technologies undergo lengthy, expensive and potentially risky medical procedures in their quest for a pregnancy and a live birth. In this research we use a consumer model of decision making to analyse the process. We review information available to consumers and we assess use of an online bulletin board which gives consumers social support and medical information during the process. We conclude with the needs for consumer education and protection.     

Comment on 'Capacity Utilization,Foreign Portfolio Investment and International Debts and Deficits'

The linear structure of the model in Mertzanis (2000) points to errors in his Table 1. In a number of cases, inequality constraints on the model's endogenous variables are violated. Satisfying all constraints imposes restrictions on the model's parameters. The focus here is on wage shares which must be restricted to ensure a meaningful solution. Depending on savings propensities, full utilization of capital at a higher interest rate may require higher rather than lower wage shares in one or both countries.     

Report of the Editor‐in‐Chief

2009 has seen a further increase in submissions to the Journal, which continue to show an increasingly international pattern, although with no corresponding increase in accepted papers. Response times continue to meet our target of four months, with fewer regrettable lapses, and an improvement in mean time to decision from 2008. The JAE’s citation impact factor has improved to 1.2 in 2008. Wiley‐Blackwell continue to provide a strong publishing platform with the full archive of JAE papers now online.     

Vertical externalities in tax setting: evidence from gasoline and cigarettes

A common feature of federal systems is that tax bases are joint property. Consequently, state and federal tax setting decisions are interdependent. Our aim here is to put forward a rudimentary theoretical analysis of this phenomenon, and to use the theory as a framework for econometrically estimating the magnitude of the responses. We find that when the federal government increases taxes, there is a significant positive response of state taxes. For example, a 10-cent per gallon increase in the federal tax rate on gasoline leads to a 3.2-cent increase in the state tax rate.     

Agri‐environmental Relationships and Multi‐functionality: Further Considerations

Multi‐functionality is a currently fashionable argument, especially within the EU, for continued support of the farming sector. However, there is a substantial danger that this will be used, and be seen to being used, as a façade for continued traditional support and protection. If so, the current trend towards liberalised agricultural markets, on which much of the developing world depends, will be frustrated. Nevertheless, farming does matter to many communities, over and above its marketable surplus and the incomes so generated. It follows that any negotiations aimed at liberalising agricultural trade have to take these arguments seriously. To do so requires that the critical elements of the debate be widely understood. This paper outlines these critical elements, in the light of a previous contribution from Hodge (2000) . It argues that there are ways in which quasi‐market systems can be used to correct market failures implicit in the notion of multi‐functionality. It also argues that proper compensation to existing supported farmers is a necessary and separate condition for sensible policy reform. Much of the commentary on farm trade liberalisation confuses the two separate conditions for reform: multi‐functionality and compensation. This confusion threatens progress towards agricultural trade liberalisation, without generating any reliable benefits of a more multifunctional agriculture.     

Justifying Deviant Behavior: The Role of Attributions and Moral Emotions

We present two studies investigating the impact of causal perceptions and the moral emotions of anger, shame, and guilt on the justification of deviant workplace behavior. Study 1 tests our conceptual framework using a sample of undergraduate business students; Study 2 examines a population of practicing physicians. Results varied significantly between the two samples, suggesting that individual and contextual factors play an important role in shaping the perceptual and emotional processes by which individuals form reactions to undesirable affective workplace events. Implications of these findings for the study of ethics, emotions, and attributions, as well as for promoting ethical behavior, are discussed.     

MULTIPLE LABOR GROUPS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON SMALL CITY AND TOWN SAMS AND CGE MODELS

This paper extends Schwarm and Cutler (2003) by incorporating three labor groups while using their methods to source data and provide an organizational framework that allows effective and straightforward creation of social accounting matrices (SAMs) and regional computable general equilibrium (CGE) models. While CGE models typically describe relatively large geographical areas and are therefore not able to capture the uniqueness of individual cities or towns within the region, our model allows simulations of small cities and towns that highlight regional similarities or differences. The differing effects of both an increase in manufacturing and a change in the sales tax are examined to demonstrate the insights and regional characteristics that such methods allow a researcher to obtain.