Twitter use related to reality television characters: Association with increased marijuana use

In the United States, there are debates about marijuana legalization for either medical or recreational use. These debates may be reflected in traditional media, such as reality television, and through social media, such as Facebook or Twitter. We study the relationship of social media use for reality television topics and marijuana use. We surveyed 572 college students about marijuana use, demographic characteristics, reality television related Facebook and Twitter use, and other reality television variables. Logistic regression analyses studied the relationships of these variables to marijuana use. Following a reality television character on Twitter was significantly associated with increased odds for marijuana use. Reality television Facebook use was not significantly associated with marijuana use. In addition, women and Asian Americans were significantly associated with decreased odds for marijuana use. Those born in the United States were significantly associated with increased odds for marijuana use. Attitudes for reality television is fun, perceived realism of reality television, and behavior of watching a reality television program on health/medical topics were not associated with marijuana use. As following a reality television character on Twitter is significantly associated with increased odds for marijuana use, marketing campaigns can play a role with use of Twitter whether advocating for use or against use of marijuana. Marketing implications are provided regarding Twitter use for the various areas where marijuana use is either illegal or legal.     

Implementation of individually rational social choice functions with guaranteed utilities

A simple mechanism is presented that allocates an indivisible object between two agents for almost any possible compensation rule. Furthermore, the equilibrium strategy guarantees a level of utility not less than −ε, where ε can be arbitrarily small.     

The efficacy and efforts of interest groups in post elections policy formation

This paper presents a new model of interest groups and policy formation in the legislature. In our setting, the already given party ideological predispositions and power distribution determine the expected policy outcome. Our analysis applies to the case of un-enforced or enforced party discipline as well as to two-party and multi-party (proportional representation) electoral systems. The interest groups’ objective is to influence the outcome in their favor by engaging in a contest that determines the final decision in the legislature. Our first result clarifies how the success of an interest group hinges on the dominance of its ideologically closer party and, in general, the coalition/opposition blocks of parties under un-enforced party or coalition/opposition discipline. Such dominance is defined in terms of ideological inclination weighted by power. Our second result clarifies how the success of an interest group hinges on the dominance of its ideology in the ruling coalition (party) in a majoritarian system with enforced coalition (party) discipline. We then clarify under what condition an interest group prefers to direct its lobbying efforts to two parties or the two coalition and opposition blocks of parties under un-enforced discipline rather than to the members of the ruling coalition (party) under enforced discipline. The lobbying efforts under un-enforced and enforced party discipline are also compared. Finally, we clarify the effect of ideological predispositions and power on the efforts of the interest groups.     

Income hedging and portfolio decisions

We examine whether the decision to participate in the stock market and other related portfolio decisions are influenced by income hedging motives. Economic theory predicts that the market participation propensity should increase as the correlation between income growth and stock market returns decreases. Surprisingly, empirical studies find limited support for the income hedging motive. Using a rich, unique Dutch data set and the National Longitudinal Survey of the Youth (NLSY) from the United States, we show that when the income-return correlation is low, individuals exhibit a greater propensity to participate in the market and allocate a larger proportion of their wealth to risky assets. Even when the income risk is high, individuals exhibit a higher propensity to participate in the market when the hedging potential is high. These findings suggest that income hedging is an important determinant of stock market participation and asset allocation decisions.     

Needed: A more rich,textured and nuanced view of the role of geography in international politics

The following comments divide into three sections. The first section questions Professor Spiegel's use of the traditional space vs. cyberspace dichotomy and the high‐technology/nationalistic/transitional states trichotomy as conceptual devices well‐suited ‘to illustrate the complexity of the new era’ (115). Contra Spiegel, I argue that the dynamic and multi‐faceted complexity characteristic of contemporary world affairs can not be readily captured by such crude analytical tools. The second section refers to what is omitted or missing in the Spiegel's article. Here, I question whether best‐known authors (such as Thomas Friedman, Robert Kaplan and Samuel Huntington) are also those best‐suited to assess the current state of IR geographical knowledge. I answer in the negative and call attention to the work of some lesser‐known scholars whose works reflect the beginning of serious reflection on the changing role of geography in international politics. Finally, I conclude by reiterating the need for sustained dialogues and collaborations between the spatial and the political disciplines.     

Consumption smoothing and portfolio rebalancing: The effects of adjustment costs

A household's response to income and return shocks depends on the costs of portfolio adjustment. In particular, the extent of portfolio rebalancing and consumption smoothing are influenced by the presence of non-convex portfolio adjustment costs. Suppose bonds can be adjusted costlessly while adjustments to stock accounts entail adjustment costs. Due to these portfolio adjustment costs, the household demands both stocks and bonds. A household can buffer some income fluctuations without incurring adjustment costs and engage in costly portfolio rebalancing less frequently. Using the estimated preference parameters and portfolio adjustment costs, the response to income and return shocks is nonlinear and reflects the interaction of portfolio rebalancing and consumption smoothing.     

Estimating the elasticity of intertemporal substitution accounting for stockholder-specific portfolios

This article estimates the elasticity of intertemporal substitution using stockholder actual return experience. The approach is motivated by numerous data sources indicating that the median US stockholder has a portfolio composed of only three or four individual stocks, rather than a well-diversified portfolio as suggested by portfolio theory. Therefore, representing an individual stockholder portfolio by a proxy financial index (the common approach taken in the literature) may be too rough an approximation of investor behaviour and lead to biased results about risk aversion and intertemporal substitution. Eschewing the financial index methodology, our results support the standard representative agent assumption that there is a high degree of homogeneity in the elasticity of intertemporal substitution across stockholders with different wealth levels. Our findings have implications for models that assess the comovement between consumption and return on stocks.