Poverty in US Lesbian and Gay Couple Households

Poverty is a widely researched topic in economics. However, despite growing research on the economic lives of lesbians and gay men in the United States since the mid 1990s, very little is known about poverty in same-sex couple households. This study uses American Community Survey data from 2010 to 2014 to calculate poverty rates for households headed by different-sex versus same-sex couples. Comparing households with similar characteristics, the results show that those headed by same-sex couples are more likely to be in poverty than those headed by different-sex married couples. Despite that overall disadvantage, a decomposition of the poverty risk shows that same-sex couples are protected from poverty by their higher levels of education and labor force participation, and their lower probability of having a child in the home. Lastly, the role of gender – above and beyond sexual orientation – is clear in the greater vulnerability to poverty for lesbian couples.     

Preventing wildlife crime with a focus on orangutans: Applying social influence techniques to public education efforts

Orangutans are projected to become critically endangered or extinct this century if humans continue to destroy their habitat. Threats include legal and illegal clearcutting of rain forests to establish palm oil plantations, climate change, and transnational organized crime. This study examines how self-benefit and other benefit appeals, knowledge of threats, concern about habitat loss, and liking orangutans are associated with (a) intent to protect habitat due to licit threats and crimes against wildlife, and (b) seeking information to save habitat. Upon entry to a zoo, 251 (118 men, 128 women, and 5 unknown) persons viewed posters highlighting the benefits of habitat conservation to self or others and completed a survey. Concern, threat knowledge, liking, and self-benefit and other benefit appeals accounted for 28% of the variance associated with intent to take action to protect the habitat. Integrating social influence principles into zoo displays and addressing barriers that prevent conservation behavior are discussed. The ideas in this paper are relevant to many primates and endangered species.     

Money Does Not Grow on Trees: An Argument for Usury

Usury, charging a higher interest rate than thought by some to be “fair,” has had and still has, a bad press. Historically, it was heavily punished. It was then, and all too often is now, thought to be exploitative. Yet, as even the most economically unsophisticated must realize, both sides of these transactions must necessarily gain at least in the ex ante sense, otherwise one or the other would refuse to enter into the deal in the first place. The present paper is an attempt to justify the practice of charging interest on loans, at any rate agreeable to both borrowers and lenders.     

WHY IS CASH (STILL) SO ENTRENCHED? INSIGHTS FROM CANADIAN SHOPPING DIARIES

One similarity among many developed economies is the predominance of cash over electronic payments in terms of payment frequency, especially for the low‐value transactions that are the bulk of retail payments. We use the Bank of Canada's 2009 Methods‐of‐Payment Survey, which collected information on consumers' payment choices through shopping diaries, to estimate a simple model of choice between cash and other payment methods. Results suggest that the main reasons cash is still a popular payment instrument in Canada, especially for low‐value transactions, are its wide acceptance among merchants compared with other alternatives, speed and ease of use, and low marginal cost when on hand. (JEL E41, D12, L81)     

Parametric Identification of Multiplicative Exponential Heteroscedasticity

Harvey ( 1976 ) first proposed multiplicative exponential heteroscedasticity in the context of linear regression. These days it is more commonly seen in latent variable models such as Probit or Logit where correctly modelling the heteroscedasticity is imperative for consistent parameter estimates (Yatchew and Griliches, 1985 ). However, it appears the literature lacks a formal proof of point identification for the parametric model. This paper presents several examples that show the conditions presumed throughout the literature are not sufficient for identification. As a contribution, this paper discusses when identification can and cannot be easily obtained and provides proofs of point identification in common specifications.     

The economic burden of uncontrolled gout: how controlling gout reduces cost

Aim: To evaluate the burden of uncontrolled gout by examining estimated costs and cost drivers.

Materials and methods: Data from the 2012 and 2013?US National Health and Wellness Survey (NHWS; 2012 NHWS, n?=?71,157 and 2013 NHWS, n?=?75,000) were utilized in this study. Based on self-reported gout diagnosis and gout symptoms, respondents were categorized into three groups: controlled gout (n?=?344), uncontrolled gout (n?=?2,215), and non-gout controls (n?=?126,360). Chi-square tests and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVAs) were used to assess group differences on work productivity loss, healthcare resource utilization, and costs. Zero-inflated negative binomial regressions were used to assess the burden of uncontrolled gout on total costs after controlling for covariates.

Results: Patients with uncontrolled gout had higher presenteeism, overall work impairment, activity impairment, and number of emergency department visits than those with controlled gout or controls. Overall, uncontrolled gout patients had both higher indirect and total costs compared to patients with controlled gout. After controlling for confounders, those with uncontrolled gout had higher total costs than controlled gout respondents and non-gout controls; there was no significant difference in total costs between patients with controlled gout and non-gout controls.

Limitations: Results were based on cross-sectional, self-reported data, making causal inferences more uncertain. Additionally, sample size was small for controlled-gout respondents. Lastly, sampling weights were not used, thus potentially limiting generalizability.

Conclusion: Gout can be an expensive condition, particularly if it is not properly controlled. This study provides support that controlling symptoms (e.g. flares) can reduce the economic and societal burden of gout. Therefore, more attention needs to be paid to effective management of gout symptoms.     

Deterring Rearrests for Drinking and Driving

This study assesses why some individuals are rearrested for driving while intoxicated (DWI). Using longitudinal data from North Carolina containing information on arrests and arrest outcomes, we test hypotheses that individuals prosecuted and convicted of DWI are less likely to be rearrested for DWI. We allow for possible endogeneity of prosecution and conviction outcomes by using instrumental variables for the prosecutor's prosecution rate and the judge's conviction rate. With a three‐year follow‐up, the probability of DWI rearrest was reduced by 6.6% if the person was prosecuted for DWI and, for those prosecuted, by 24.5% if convicted on this charge. Prosecution and conviction for DWI deters rearrest for DWI.     

The Wild West of executive coaching

Annual spending on executive coaching in the United States is estimated at 1 billion dollars. Yet information about coaching's effectiveness is scarce and unreliable. No one has yet demonstrated conclusively what qualifies an executive coach or what makes one approach to executive coaching better than another. Barriers to entry are nonexistent--many executive coaches know little about business, and some know little about coaching. The coaching certifications offered by various self-appointed bodies are difficult to assess, and methods of measuring return on investment are questionable. But strategic coaching can provide critical help both to individuals and to organizations. In this article, Stratford Sherman, a senior vice president of Executive Coaching Network, and Alyssa Freas, the founder and CEO, explore the popularity of executive coaching and investigate ways to make the most of the experience. They argue that coaching is inevitably a triangular relationship between the client, the "coachee," and the coach. Its purpose is to produce behavioral change and growth in the coachee for the economic benefit of the client. The best way to maximize the likelihood of good results is to qualify all the people involved. Even so, many triangular relationships continue to generate conflict among all three parties. At the most basic level, coaches serve as suppliers of candor, providing leaders with the objective feedback they need to nourish their growth. Coaching gets executives to slow down, gain awareness, and notice the effects of their words and actions. On a larger scale, the best coaching fosters cultural change for the benefit of the entire organization. It provides a disciplined way for businesses to deepen relationships with their most valued employees while also increasing their effectiveness.