Financial Literacy as More than Knowledge: The Development of a Formative Scale through the Lens of Bloom's Domains of Knowledge

For well over a decade, financial literacy has been a primary lens through which researchers approach financial education. Unfortunately, in most cases, this potentially rich construct is reduced to mere financial knowledge. This myopic conceptualization hampers the development of the concept and programs to build financial literacy. Despite research that reveals these limits, the field has either persisted with this narrow definition of financial literacy or abandoned the model altogether in favor of capability or similar constructs. Using Bloom's domains of knowledge, we redefine financial literacy as the combination of three different indicators reflecting three domains of knowledge: financial skill, self‐efficacy, and explicit knowledge. Using data from a national survey, we apply the methods of formative scale development to construct and validate a more robust conceptualization and measurement of financial literacy. We explore how this financial literacy index might inform development of innovative financial education programs.     

Lotteries,Litigation, and Education Finance

In 1993, the state of Georgia instituted a lottery that earmarked new funds for instructional and capital expenditures in public schools. In that same year, Tennessee began court-ordered education finance reforms that were also designed to promote instructional and capital expenditures. Using district-level panel data, this study presents empirical evidence on how these disparate policies influenced the patterns of educational revenues by source and expenditures by function. The results suggest that both state policies increased the state aid to the poorest districts and promoted some spending on the targeted functions. However, the results also suggest that these reforms influenced spending in several other functional areas.     

Optimal control problems from second-order difference equations

We examine solutions x?l_∞(Rⁿ) of the equations $\text{F}{}_{\mathrm{t}}\text{(}\text{x}{}_{\mathrm{t?1}}\text{,}\text{x}{}_{\mathrm{t}}\text{,}\text{x}{}_{\mathrm{t+1}}\text{) = 0}$ and derive conditions for the existence of objective functions G_t so that $\text{x}$ solves max_x?l∞ΣG_t(x_t, x_t+1). We specialize the conditions to time autonomous equations and apply them to a competitive industry in temporary equilibrium. The objective function in the example is of the cost-benefit form: consumer surplus minus opportunity cost of labor minus industry-wide cost of investment.     

Fundraising and the Elderly: A Content Analysis

Direct marketing, as an avenue for fundraising, provides nonprofit organizations with the ability to fulfill their missions and donors the opportunity to support a worthy cause. There are concerns, however, when sophisticated marketing practices target potentially at-risk consumers. Demographic studies clearly show that the percentage of elderly Americans, aged 65 and over, is rising with a corollary increase in the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. These facts suggest this may be a group whose defining characteristics make them especially vulnerable. This exploratory study identifies and qualifies persuasive tactics used by several linked nonprofit organizations targeting one elderly Alzheimer’s victim over a 14-month period. The carefully designed direct mail solicitations utilize appeals that engender low elaboration likelihood and peripheral route processing. In addition, there is some evidence that even those appeals that might encourage high elaboration likelihood become heuristic cues for individuals with cognitive decrease. Taken together, the incorporation of multiple tactics within each solicitation, an approach referred to here as shotgunning, may have significant implications for future research and practice in communication, ethics, and public policy.     

Teens' consumer interaction styles: the impact of assertive and aggressive behaviour on attitudes towards marketing practices

Over half‐billion global teens between the ages of 13 and 18 years represent a dynamic opportunity for marketers who wish to grow their businesses and build consumer loyalty. Consumer interaction styles are the consistent behaviour patterns that individuals employ in transactions or exchanges in the marketplace. Assertiveness and aggressiveness represent two distinct interaction styles that enable individuals to achieve a desired outcome. Because teen consumers are an important consumer segment and subscribe to the notion that their voices must be heard, understanding their interaction styles is necessary for businesses and marketers. The purpose of this study was to examine teens' consumer interaction styles according to specific demographic and lifestyle characteristics and investigate the impact of assertive and aggressive interaction styles on attitudes towards marketing practices (i.e. product, retailing, advertising, and pricing). Data were collected from a US teen sample (n = 467) at both rural and urban high schools. Independent t‐tests compared the propensity of teens' assertive and aggressive consumer interaction styles according to specific demographic and lifestyle characteristics. Structural Equation Modeling using AMOS 6.0 program was performed to test the hypothesized relationships. Results indicated that an assertive interaction style was pervasive among US teen consumers, while the aggressive interaction style had disparities according to unique demographic and lifestyle characteristics. Assertive and aggressive interaction styles demonstrated negative influences on teen consumers' attitudes towards products and retailing practices. By interpreting the negative impact of teens' assertive and aggressive consumer interaction styles, marketers can develop effective strategies that appeal to this demanding consumer.     

IEEE 802.11s and the Philosophers' problem

IEEE 802.11s is the task group in the IEEE that is in the process of standardizing wireless mesh networks. A hot topic in this standardization effort concerns the need for additional medium access functionality beyond the basic IEEE 802.11 carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA). In this paper, we discuss the connection between CSMA/CA and Dijkstra's classical Philosophers' problem, and its implications for the debate inside IEEE 802.11s. In an alternative view of this paper, we state some new mathematical models, theorems and conjectures related to the Philosophers' problem.     

The Effects of Government size on Economic Performance: a Quantitative Assessment of a Budget Reduction

A question featuring prominently in policy debates over the last few years is whether Australia can gain from having smaller government. Proponents have stressed beneficial impacts on the supply side of the economy; opponents have stressed the deflationary impact from possible reductions in demand. This article provides a quantitative assessment of this essentially empirical question, namely, whether supply or demand responses would dominate. It suggests that over the short term, demand contraction may be important. In the longer term, increased incentives can expand Australia's productive capacity, although incentives to work longer appear less important than incentives created for capital accumulation. But the longer term expansion may be crucially dependent on foreign investor acquiescence to increased involvement in the Australian economy.