Bipolar Multicandidate Elections with Corruption

The goals of democratic competition are not only to implement a majority's preference on policy questions, but also to provide a deterrent against corrupt abuse of power by political leaders. We consider a simple model of multicandidate elections in which different electoral systems can be compared according to these two criteria. Among a wide class of single‐winner scoring rules, only approval voting is found to satisfy both effectiveness against corruption and majoritarianism for this model.     

Union responses in electronics: a globalised environment

This article examines union responses to a hostile environment in the electronics sector in four European countries. All unions saw the need for change, but those with the greatest need to develop strategic responses were not those which were in the best position to do so.     

The British merger movement: the importance of the ‘aggressive’ unions

Union mergers in Britain are dominated numerically by transfers of engagements from minor unions to major unions. Just five major or acquiring unions were responsible for absorbing 79% of all transfers to TUC affiliated unions between 1978 and 1994. This study establishes the extent of this domination, examines the characteristics of the five unions’ aggressive merger policies and considers the consequences of the findings for theories of union mergers.     

The Test of Economic Literacy: Development and Results

In this study, the authors report on the revision of the Test of Economic Literacy for the fourth edition. The Test of Economic Literacy is a nationally-normed and standardized measure of the economic understanding of U.S. high school students. The economic content of the test is based on the Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics, which is used to establish the content validity for the test. The revision process is described and evidence on the test reliability and construct validity is presented from the test score analysis. The Test of Economic Literacy has a long and successful history of use by educators and researchers interested in economic education in high schools. The new edition should provide an improved instrument to continue that testing and research work.     

A Survey of Economic Understanding in U.S. High Schools

The recent widespread adoption of online competitions in economic education provides a unique opportunity to make frequent assessments of economic literacy in U.S. classrooms. In this survey, student responses to test items from the Test of Economic Literacy (TEL) are used to create economic concept and content area achievement benchmarks. These benchmarks provide an interim renorming of the TEL and allow the authors to gauge the status of economic understanding among high school students. The data also allow the authors to compare learning outcomes between regular and advanced economics classes. Finally, the authors find that students in advanced economics classes significantly outperform students in regular classes.     

Financial Services and the Trust Deficit: Why the Industry Should Make Better Governance a Top Priority

The U.S. economy, while recovering, is still feeling lingering effects of the 2008 financial crisis and the recession that followed. Although government has acted to prevent a future recurrence, much needs to be done—particularly in corporate governance of financial firms. Currently, there is a pervasive lack of trust in the financial industry, which will be difficult to undo. Nonetheless, finance is so important that it is critical that trust be restored. This is particularly true in an era in which planning for retirement is inadequate, and financial literacy is increasingly important. This implies a critical role for a financial services industry whose guidance can be trusted. This trust must be built through appropriate corporate governance on the part of all stakeholders, and specific recommendations are advanced for bringing this about.     

Increasing public involvement to reduce depreciative behavior in recreation settings

Abstract

Managers of public recreation areas are concerned about the increase in vandalism, littering, and user disregard for regulations and the rights of others. Several strategies are available to reduce or control depreciative behavior, but little empirical evidence exists as to what approaches are really successful, where, when, and under what conditions. This report evaluated a program to increase the involvement of campers in the management of depreciative behavior. Results suggested that users who witness littering can be encouraged to help either by reporting infractions to authorities, dealing directly with the litterer, or picking up the litter. Overall, an appeal made to help resulted in a 22 percent increase in one or more types of involvement compared to control conditions.