The Impact of the Employment of the Wife on the Achievement of Home Ownership

A logistic regression analysis is used to assess the impact of the wife's income, wage rate, and hours worked on changing from rental tenure to home ownership among a subsample of husband-wife house-holds from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Age of the wife, education of the wife, family size, and residence in the Northeast are significant predictors of change in tenure status between 1979 and 1983; of the wife's employment variables tested, only the number of hours worked (a proxy for labor force commitment) is a significant predictor of the probability of changing from rental tenure to home ownership.     

Determinants of Household Expenditure on Computer Hardware and Software

This study investigated households’ expenditure on computer hardware and software using the 2000 Consumer Expenditure Survey. Based on neoclassical consumer theory, a conceptual model of computer expenditure was developed that included economic resources and consumer tastes and preferences. A double‐hurdle model was conducted to estimate whether or not households spent on computer hardware and software and the amount spent on computer hardware and software. Implications are offered for consumers and policy makers.     

Household Savings Motives

This study proposed a hierarchy of savings motives and identified factors that influence the movement to higher levels of the hierarchy. Continuation ratio analysis utilizing data from the 2001 Survey of Consumer Finances shows the likelihood of advancing to higher levels of savings motives from the current level. Age, family size, and length of the planning horizon are important predictors for advancing from lower levels to higher levels in the proposed hierarchy. Implications are offered for public policy regarding education and programs.     

Differences in the use of bank and retail credit cards in the U.S.A.

Data from the 1989 Survey of Consumer Finances¹ were analysed to find factors related to credit card use in U.S. households. Factors associated with the probability of using only retail cards were being a female-headed household, being older and being in a blue collar occupation. The use of bank cards only was associated with male heads of households, renting and a negative attitude toward credit. The use of both retail and bank cards was associated with a positive attitude toward credit, being in a professional or managerial occupation and home ownership. The results provide insight into credit card use and should help target educational efforts to those most likely to experience debt problems related to extensive use of credit cards.     

Older Self‐Employed Workers and Planning for the Future

This study examined retirement expectations of the older self‐employed utilizing two theories: the normative anticipation of retirement and cumulative advantage theory. Two‐thirds of the older self‐employed had no retirement plans. Multinomial logistic regression showed that those with no retirement plans were more likely to be unmarried, in poorer physical health, with few resources, and more obligations, but they expected to live a long time. Job skills programs and managerial training could improve the financial well‐being of the older self‐employed and enable them to plan for retirement.     

State Curriculum Mandates and Student Knowledge of Personal Finance

This study analyzes the relationship between high school students’ scores on a test of personal financial literacy and their state's personal finance curriculum mandate. At the time of the testing, twenty of the thirty‐one states included in the study had some kind of educational policy in the area of personal financial management. The results of the study show that curriculum mandates, broadly defined, are not generally associated with higher students’ scores. However, students in states that required specific financial education course work scored significantly higher than those in states with either a general mandate or with no mandate.     

Public Equity and Audit Pricing in the United States

To what degree are audit fees for U.S. firms with publicly traded equity higher than fees for otherwise similar firms with private equity? The answer is potentially important for evaluating regulatory regime design efficiency and for understanding audit demand and production economics. For U.S. firms with publicly traded debt, we hold constant the regulatory regime, including mandated issuer reporting and auditor responsibilities. We vary equity ownership and thus public securities market contextual factors, including any related public firm audit fees from increased audit effort to reduce audit litigation risk and/or pure litigation risk premium (litigation channel effects). In cross‐section, we find that audit fees for public equity firms are 20–22% higher than fees for otherwise similar private equity firms. Time‐series comparisons for firms that change ownership status yield larger percentage fee increases (decreases) for those going public (private). Results are consistent with litigation channel effects giving rise to substantial incremental audit fees for U.S. firms with public equity ownership.