THE IMPORTANCE OF ASSET INCOME AMONG THE ELDERLY*

This paper focuses on the income patterns among the elderly. The life cycle hypothesis suggests that income and assets will decline after retirement. Data from the 1980 U.S. decennial census confirms that total income declines for succeeding elderly cohorts. The census data, however, shows that income from assets for elderly cohorts increases until the cohort aged 85 years and older. This pattern is similar for different sex-marital groups. Recent research that has addressed the issue of savings among the elderly is summarized and four possible explanations for the increase in income from assets found in the decennial census are discussed. We conclude by suggesting the implications of this data for the life cycle theory and public policy.     

Escalation bias: Does it extend to marketing?

Escalation bias implies that managers favor reinvestments in projects that are doing poorly over those doing well. We tested this implication in a marketing context by conducting experiments on advertising and product-design decisions. Each situation was varied to reflect either a long-term or a short-term decision. Besides these four conditions, we conducted three replications. We found little evidence of escalation bias by 365 subjects in the seven experimental comparisons. J. Scott Armstrong has been a professor at The Wharton School since 1968. During this time he has also been a visiting professor in Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina. He is a founder and past editor of the Journal of Forecasting and the International Journal of Forecasting. In addition to forecasting, he has published research on strategic planning, the scientific method, social responsibility, and survey research methods. holds an M.Sc. (Technology Management) and B.Comm. (Marketing) from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. Nicole’s dissertation research focuses on the internationalization process of software developers. In particular, she examines “deviations” in international linkage development by small firms, with a focus on marketing management issues. Her other research interests relate to entrepreneurial growth, the marketing/manufacturing interface, and strategic planning processes. Barbara Safranek worked as a marketing consultant in Japan and was then co-president of the Friends of Japan (Tokyo, Japan) for three years. Currently she is vice-president of Japanese Equities-Sales at S.G. Warburg & Co.     

Effects of compound messages on global characteristics of Galileo spaces

The present article investigates the effect of messages compounded of many assertions on the overall size of a Galileo space. A Galileo space is a space within which objects and attributes are arrayed in such a way that the differences in meaning between any two objects in the space is given by the distances between those objects. Thus attributes that seem to be similar are located close to each other, and objects which are seen to embody a given attribute are located close to that attributes. Similarly, objects thought to be similar to each other are located close to each other. Results show that, following approximately a ten hour latency period, the space shows a substantial increase in size, followed by a return to its original dimensions. There is some indication that the expansion of the space may be periodic, which gives rise to the possibility that human beliefs and attitudes may be modelled as a damped oscillating system. Should this be the case, human cognitive processes, such as attitude and belief changes, might be modelled by the equations for dampled oscillations.     

Global peace as a professional concern,III

This paper proposes that global peace should be a professional concern because the issues are complex and require critical and creative thinking, and because professionals have status enabling them to convey information to empower others. Professionals must examine priorities in society's needs for application of their particular knowledge areas, and must each make their own unique contribution towards a more peaceful, less threatened planet.Dr. Joanna Santa Barbara is a child psychiatrist practising in Hamilton, Ontario and Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, McMaster University. She is a member of Canadian Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and the Harvard Center for Psychological Studies in the Nuclear Age. She teaches an undergraduate course in Introductory Peace Studies at McMaster University.The articles by Thomas L. Perry, Gilles D. Hurteau, and Joanna Santa Barbara are the result of a three-person panel presentation and therefore appear under the same title. At the publisher's discretion, roman numerals have been included to distinguish these articles.     

Cost analysis of a food insurance scheme for developing countries

The authors describe a proposed tool to alleviate the food insecurity problems of developing countries: an international food insurance scheme. Their discussion includes details on the mechanics of the scheme, consideration of whether to include a buffer stock, funding possibilities, and cost projections.     

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Information bundling and securities litigation

We exploit the exogenous shock of a 2005?U.S. Supreme Court decision on securities class action loss causation requirements to examine two ways that firms bundle information with restatements: “positive bundling” of good news and “noise bundling” of additional bad news. We find that positive bundling offsets price declines and results in less litigation. In contrast, noise bundling magnifies price declines, but nevertheless deters litigation by confounding which bad news caused a decline. Non-bundled restatements are 5.94 times more likely to result in litigation. Bundled restatements have 8.17 times higher dismissal rates and $21.17 to $23.45 million lower settlement amounts.     

Tax reforms and the underground economy: a simulation-based analysis

This paper studies the effects of several tax reforms in an economy where taxes are partially evaded by means of undeclared work. To this purpose, we consider a two-sector dynamic general equilibrium model calibrated to Italy which explicitly accounts for underground production. We construct various tax reform scenarios, such as ex ante budget-neutral tax shifts from direct to indirect taxes, and tax cuts on labor and business financed by decreases of government spending. Our results indicate that neglecting the existence of the underground sector may lead to severely miscalculating the macroeconomic effects of tax reforms. Further, the dimension of the underground sector is permanently and considerably reduced by changes in the tax mix that diminish the labor tax wedge. Reductions of the business tax prove to be highly expansionary in the presence of a sizable informal sector.