The difference in microwave oven ownership and use in London,U.K. and Atlanta,Georgia

In the present study of microwave oven ownership and use, three hypotheses were tested with data from 100 households in London, U.K. and 100 households in Atlanta, Georgia. The data were collected with a survey instrument administered by door-to-door interviews. The results of the study show that microwave owners are younger, have higher incomes, Larger families, and are more innovative than non-owners. The study also revealed that country of residence made a great difference in level of use. Households from Atlanta, Georgia, are younger, have larger families, have microwaves with many more features, and have owned a microwave longer than low level microwave users. The research reinforces the need for cross-cultural studies of this type.     

Truth in Investing: The Need for Legislation

This paper shows that a wide variety of techniques are used to calculate yields on consumer investment instruments. No regulation comparable to the Federal Reserve System's Truth in Lending statute (Regulation Z) exists to standardize yields on consumer investments, and thus the consumer is not given the information necessary to make proper comparisons among alternative investments. The paper reviews yield calculation methods and reinvestment assumptions; it also examines the potentially deceptive use of Treasury bill yields as the ceiling for bank and thrift accounts. In order to reduce confusion and standardize reported yields, it is proposed that disclosure be required of both the simple yield and the annualized effective yield, assuming reinvestment at the initial rate of return.     

Cars,Employment, and Single Mothers: The Effect of Welfare Asset Restrictions

This article measures the effect of asset rules for welfare eligibility on car ownership among single mothers without a college education, and investigates whether these changes lead to changes in employment. We combine micro‐level data with data on state welfare asset rules and find that the probability of owning a car is greater in states with higher overall asset limits, states that value vehicles on an equity basis, and states with exemptions for multiple vehicles.     

THE IMPACT OF FINANCIAL HELP AND GIFTS ON HOUSING DEMAND AND COST BURDENS

Financial transfers are an important source of income for many households and recipients may use these funds to pay for housing services. This paper examines the separate impact of financial help and substantial gifts on both housing demand and housing cost burden. The results indicate receiving gifts has a positive and statistically significant impact on housing demand. Households receiving help or gifts have substantially higher housing cost burdens, all else being held constant. These findings have implications for the financial well-being of recipient households and ultimately, the mortgage industry . ( JEL R20, R21)     

UNCED in the context of globalisation

It is interesting and salutary to look back and review together the books by Naomi Klein, Noreena Hertz and George Monbiot, all of which have gained a certain fame since they were published two or three years ago. They emerged from the backlash against the recent wave of globalisation and have attained almost iconic status within the anti-globalisation movement. All share a common theme: that ‘globalisation’ is above all built on the back of the corporate takeover of economic, political and cultural life. This means that global capitalism not only now dictates the nature of our consumption habits to an unprecedented degree (Klein), but that it has undermined all democratic activity (Hertz) and has led to the capture of the state by commercial interests as well (Monbiot—who concentrates on Britain in particular).     

‘NOT AN INSTRUMENT OF PUNISHMENT’: PRISON DIET IN THE MID-NINETEENTH CENTURY

This paper examines some of the issues involved in devising a suitable dietary for nineteenth century prisoners. It begins with a section defining and explaining the application of the ‘less-eligibility’ principle—a principle which still strikes a chord with many people today. The paper goes on to describe the lack of standardized diet in the early part of the century, which first led the prison inspectors to investigate the properties of food. The inspectors, however, were administrators, not nutritionists, and the next section is concerned with the work of such medical men as Dr Guy and Dr Smith, who made more scientific experiments and observations in the 1850s and 1860s. In the final paragraphs, prison diet is compared with the sort of food consumed by working class families of the Victorian period. Both at the beginning and at the end of the paper, an attempt is made to demonstrate that the problem of reconciling humane treatment for the prisoner, with society's demands for justice, is just as great for the prison administrator of today as it was in the previous century.