Addressing Heterogeneous Preferences Using Parametric Extended Spike Models

Some public programs simultaneously provide a mix of non-rejectable public goods and public bads. Consequently, some individuals would pay for the program, while others might instead need to becompensated. In this paper we estimate twoparametric extended spike models that accountfor positive and negative preferences as wellas indifference for the public good. Weillustrate the models using data on valuationof prescribed burning of underbrush in forests,which reduces the risk of catastrophicwildfires but also produces smoke emissions(the public bad). We compare the two empiricalapproaches to estimate willingness to pay (WTP)for the program and contrast these results withthose obtained from modeling specificationsthat only account for non-negative preferences.Substantial differences in public net benefitswere found between the most flexible parametricextended spike model and the simple spike modelwhere negative responses were coded as zero anda standard binary logit of only positivebidders. The results from the extended spikemodels demonstrated that accounting forindifference and negative values towards thepublic good resulted in substantially lowerwillingness to pay estimates.     

Crafting Well-Being: Meanings and Intentions of Stay-at-Home Mothers' Craft-Based Leisure Activity

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to explore the meanings of and intentions behind craft-based leisure activities among stay-at-home mothers. The study attempts to shed light on the meanings of craft in relation to the participants’ and their families’ well-being. This qualitative study was based on the written narratives of 34 stay-at-home mothers, ages 23–40. The meanings of craft-making was described by home centeredness, items as personal fingerprints, mental resources, personal growth and identity, and social relationships. The intentions behind crafting were to help the stay-at-home mothers escape their daily worries, to pursue craft as a form of enjoying their family-centric life, and to enhance self-realization without the added stress of having to do so while negotiating their family's needs. The findings revealed that although the participants’ intentions were to enhance their subjective well-being, they in fact reflected their concern for the well-being of their families.     

The winnowing away of behavioral accounting research in the US: The process for anointing academic elites

This paper reports the results of a study of the most prolific publishers in the four recognized most prestigious journals in accounting for the period 1963 through 1999. The focus is on learning whether the widespread perception that behavioral accounting research (BAR) has diminished in significance as a prominent paradigm in the US accounting academy has any validity and to identify whether a new generation of US BAR researchers is emerging to join the academic elite. Based on the characteristics of persons who have appeared as authors five or more times during the study period, it seems that BAR is in recession in shaping the US academic agenda in accounting. The power of successful individuals to shape the academic agenda as evidenced by service on editorial boards of prominent journals is dominated by those individuals who are graduates of a set of elite schools utilizing a neoclassical economics based research paradigm. The power of this group seems to be growing in the US. In spite of the interest in BAR among accounting doctoral students and faculty, it is not a pursuit that now leads to academic status, which, in turn, diminishes its potential contribution towards the shaping of the accounting academic agenda.     

Mortality risk assessment in the elderly: the utility of delayed word recall

Cognitive impairment is an important predictor of mortality in the elderly. An extended delayed word recall (DWR) is one of the most sensitive tests for cognitive impairment. A mortality study was performed on a population of long-term care insurance applicants aged 70 and older who were underwritten during the years 1995-2003 and who had cognitive testing by DWR. Within this relatively short period of time, individuals with DWR score of 0-5 compared to those with DWR score of 6-10 had a markedly worse mortality outcome overall and also when analyzed by gender, underwriting age, underwriting year or smoking status.     

Evaluating the Impact of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs

Several developing economies have recently introduced conditionalcash transfer programs, which provide money to poor familiescontingent on certain behavior, usually investments in humancapital, such as sending children to school or bringing themto health centers. The approach is both an alternative to moretraditional social assistance programs and a demand-side complementto the supply of health and education services. Unlike mostdevelopment initiatives, conditional cash transfer programshave been subject to rigorous evaluations of their effectivenessusing experimental or quasi-experimental methods. Evaluationresults for programs launched in Colombia, Honduras, Jamaica,Mexico, Nicaragua, and Turkey reveal successes in addressingmany of the failures in delivering social assistance, such asweak poverty targeting, disincentive effects, and limited welfareimpacts. There is clear evidence of success from the first generationof programs in Colombia, Mexico, and Nicaragua in increasingenrollment rates, improving preventive health care, and raisinghousehold consumption. Many questions remain unanswered, however,including the potential of conditional cash transfer programsto function well under different conditions, to address a broaderrange of challenges among poor and vulnerable populations, andto prevent the intergenerational transmission of poverty.      

The Expiration of IPO Share Lockups

We examine 1,948 share lockup agreements that prevent insiders from selling their shares in the period immediately after the IPO (typically 180 days). While lockups are in effect, there is little selling by insiders. When lockups expire, we find a permanent 40 percent increase in average trading volume, and a statistically prominent three-day abnormal return of −1.5 percent. The abnormal return and volume are much larger when the firm is financed by venture capital, and we find that venture capitalists sell more aggressively than executives and other shareholders. We find limited support for several hypotheses that may explain the abnormal return, but no complete explanation.     

Political Knowledge and Attitudes towards Centralisation in Europe

We analyse the impact of political knowledge on the attitudes of European citizens towards the possible distribution of competences between the European Union (EU) and the Member States. Our hypothesis is that citizens who are more informed about the EU will support the centralisation of competences in some policy areas according to the lines predicted by the fiscal federalism literature. We test our hypothesis using micro data from the Eurobarometer survey, taking into account the endogeneity of political knowledge. We find that more knowledgeable citizens are more willing to favour centralisation to the EU in areas where public intervention by individual Member States causes externalities, where economies of scale in the provision of public goods are important and where redistributive and stabilisation functions have to be pursued.     

‘Brexit’ and International Insolvency Beyond the Realm of Mutual Trust

The outcome of the referendum held in the UK in June 2016 is of far‐reaching and unpredictable consequences. This article focuses on the particular field of international insolvency with a view to identifying some of them, all arising out of the fact that the UK will be leaving the EU area of justice and the strong cooperation based on mutual trust between member states. This will make UK–EU insolvency cases clearly less efficient and effective. The consequences of Brexit could be mitigated by the already existing coordination among the international instruments dealing with these matters, in particular the European Insolvency Regulation and the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross‐Border Insolvency. However, not all EU member states have in place rules dealing with these issues as regards to third states. In order to lessen the impact of Brexit in this sensitive area of law, the implementation of the Model Law in order to deal with extra‐EU cross‐border insolvency could be of avail. Copyright © 2017 INSOL International and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd