THE ROOTS OF MODERN ‘SOCIAL COST OF GAMBLING’ ESTIMATES

We discuss some critical issues in social cost of gambling methodologies which suggest that many social cost estimates are arbitrary. Rather than using monetary estimates of costs and benefits, we argue policy‐makers should focus on fundamental issues: consumer sovereignty, property rights and the role of government in free societies.     

Identifying innovative behavior patterns using canonical analysis

Marketers are vitally interested in the relationships between personal attributes and consumer behavior. This study was developed to examine, using canonical analysis, the relationships of personality and socioeconomic data with innovative behavior of housewives. The Gordon Personal Profile and Inventory provided the personality variables, and socioeconomic variables used were age, marital status, income, and number of children living at home. All respondents were women who represented middle-class housewives in the Columbia, South Carolina, metropolitan area. An initial sample was used to scale a list of products as to their degree of innovativeness in their effect on consumption and usage patterns. A sample of 152 middle-class housewives were then contacted and 142 of these supplied completed questionnaires suitable for analysis. A great many combinations of innovative products and personality and socioeconomic variables were run. Several strong relationships were found. The major ones were between products and socioeconomic variables. However, one analysis showed the most significant levels of association with the innovative products when personality variables were used alone. A brief analysis of the major canonical root for this analysis indicates a woman who uses more malt liquor and club cocktails and who has a microwave oven. Associated with these innovative products are the personality variables of ascendancy, slightly irresponsible, less cautious, and highly sociable. This interpretation might indicate the profile of a woman who is on the way up and likes to socialize without regard to what others think. Many other interesting profiles are also described. The study is exploratory in nature but provides stimulus for additional research and also provides support for previous consumer behavior findings.     

Summary annual reports: length,readability and content

This paper examines summary annual reports (SAR) as an alternative channel for communicating financial information. We use a sample of New Zealand local governments (councils) that are required to report audited SAR. Using various measures, we compare document length and readability of SAR and annual reports (AR). We find that SAR are approximately 10 percent of the AR length and both have a ___very difficult___ readability score. We then use a disclosure index to examine the relation between SAR report length and the level of disclosures. After controlling for other factors that impact the level of disclosure, we conclude that the reduction in SAR is driven by lower levels of content. We then discuss the policy implications of our findings.