An evaluation of the nutrition education and training program : Findings from Nebraska

This paper summarizes methods and findings from a classical randomized experiment used to evaluate the Nutrition Education and Training (NET) Program that was developed and implemented in Nebraska. The evaluation focused on assessing how well the program was implemented and the impact it had on children's nutrition-related knowledge, attitudes, preferences, and habits. Data were collected from over 2,300 children in 96 classrooms distributed across grades 1–6 in 20 schools spanning the state of Nebraska. The 20 participating schools were selected from 98 volunteers and were assigned to treatment or control status using a modified random assignment procedure that resulted in equivalent pretest means on outcome measures. Pretest data and two waves of posttest data were collected. The evaluation found strong positive effects in all grades on several measures of nutrition knowledge, positive effects on reported food preference and willingness to select new foods in the school lunch line in grades 1–3, positive effects on willingness to taste previously rejected foods in grades 4–6, and no consistent effects on food attitudes, reported food habits, or plate waste.     

Economic valuation of coastal water quality and protest responses: A case study in Mitilini, Greece

The aim of this study was to evaluate environmental benefits resulting from the construction of a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) in Mitilini, Greece. The main benefits identified were the improvement of the coastal water quality and subsequent impacts on citizens’ activities. The valuation was conducted using the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) through the elicitation of individuals’ willingness to pay (WTP). Due to the significant amount of zero and protest responses, different measurements of mean WTP were calculated and the need for further research on social factors which influence individuals’ valuation is emphasized.     

Attitudes to agricultural policy and farming futures in the context of the 2003 CAP reform: A comparison of farmers in selected established and new Member States

Farmers’ attitudes, to agricultural production, diversification and policy support, and behavioural intentions in five Member States of the EU (France, Lithuania, Slovakia, Sweden, England) are analysed comparatively. Groups of farmers with similarly held attitudes are identified using cluster analysis to investigate whether differences in attitudes are defined predominately according to national, east–west, size or other criteria. The results highlight that the vast majority of farmers in the enlarged EU retain a productivist mindset, wish to maintain an agricultural focus and strongly reject notions of policy liberalisation. However, while the overwhelming majority advocate protection they are more receptive to greater flexibility in terms of the instruments through which policy support may be delivered. Overall, the strongest opposition to policy liberalisation comes from farmers in the New Member States of the EU.     

Compulsive buying: Does it matter how it’s measured?

The primary purpose of the present study is to compare and contrast the validity and reliability of the Faber and O’Guinn [Faber, R. J., & O’Guinn, T. C. (1992). A clinical screener for compulsive buying. Journal of Consumer Research, 19, 459–469] and Edwards [Edwards, E. A. (1993). Development of a new scale for measuring compulsive buying behavior. Financial Counseling and Planning, 4, 67–84] compulsive buying scales within a nomological network. Although both psychometric scales were designed to measure compulsive buying, the two instruments appear to be distinct in how they conceptualize the compulsive buying phenomenon. The seven-item compulsive buying scale developed by Faber and O’Guinn (1992) is the most commonly used scale for measuring compulsive buying. The Edwards scale in contrast is not as well-known. Empirical results of the present study suggest that the two compulsive buying scales may be capturing either separate constructs, or different dimensions of the same compulsive buying construct. Edwards (1993) compulsive buying scale, for instance, is correlated with materialism but not with attitudes toward money while the Faber and O’Guinn scale is not correlated with materialism but is correlated with attitudes toward money. The present study’s results suggest, among other things, that it does in fact appear to matter how compulsive buying is measured.     

TAXPAYER WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM: A CONTINGENT VALUATION ANALYSIS

A key criterion for evaluating policies to expand health insurance coverage is weighing the costs of such policies against the willingness of the public to pay for coverage expansions. We use new panel survey data from New York State to estimate residents' willingness to pay (WTP) to expand public insurance coverage. Using a nonparametric double‐bounded contingent valuation (CV) approach, we specifically ask residents about their WTP to reduce the rate of uninsurance in the state. Our results imply an aggregate lower‐bound WTP of over $2,800 per year to cover one person. We also analyze heterogeneity in WTP by sub‐group and changes in individual WTP over time between 2008 and 2010. We find that a large majority of residents are willing to pay additional taxes to reduce the number of uninsured in the state, and that average WTP remained remarkably stable despite the economic downturn and the politically polarized discussions surrounding the Affordable Care Act. Decomposing the changes in individual WTP, we find that economic factors related to the recession, including changes in income and employment status, cannot explain changes in individual WTP, whereas individual changes in political opinions about health insurance reform between 2008 and 2010 are strongly correlated with changes in WTP. (JEL H20, H42, H51, H75, I13)     

The Economic Value of Career Counseling Services for College Students in South Korea

This study investigated college students’ perception of the monetary value of career counseling services by using the contingent valuation method. The results of a multivariate survival analysis based on interviews with a convenience sample of 291 undergraduate students in South Korea indicate that, on average, participants’ expressed willingness to pay (WTP) for such services ranged from U.S. $10.22 to $10.54 per hour of individual career counseling. Self‐stigma and attitudes toward counseling had positive effects on their WTP, whereas the year in college and social stigma had negative effects. The results provide policy makers with preliminary evidence of the monetary value of career counseling.     

An exploration of older Hong Kong residents’ willingness to make copayments toward vouchers for community care

Because of its rapidly aging population, Hong Kong faces great challenges in the provision and financing of long-term care (LTC) and needs to explore sustainable funding mechanisms. However, there is a paucity of research on older people’s willingness to pay (WTP) for LTC services in Hong Kong. This study utilizes data collected in Hong Kong in 2011 (N = 536) to investigate older people’s receptivity to this financing mode by assessing their co-payments for a community care service voucher scheme and then testing how potential factors affect respondents’ amount of co-payment. Results show that respondents’ WTP was positively associated with family financial support, financial condition, and positive attitudes toward this novel policy and negatively associated with family caregiving support. Direct and moderating effects of family financial support on WTP were found. The policy-related implications of LTC financing to improve older people’s acceptance of co-payment mechanisms, financial condition, and shared responsibility of care are discussed.     

A DYNAMIC EXPLANATION OF THE WILLINGNESS TO PAY AND WILLINGNESS TO ACCEPT DISPARITY

Recent evidence from laboratory experiments suggests that important disparities exist between willingness to pay (WTP) and compensation demanded for the same good. Because a fundamental postulate in neoclassical theory is that with small income effects and many available substitutes, the willingness to accept (WTA) and WTP measures of value for a commodity should be roughly equivalent, this finding has vast implications in both a positive and normative sense. This study advances, and experimentally tests, a new explanation of the WTP/WTA disparity—a dynamic theory based on the presence of commitment costs. Although to date neoclassical models have not explained the observed data patterns well, we find that the commitment cost theory combined with a simple behavioral anomaly is able to lend insights into the causes and severity of the WTA/WTP disparity. Furthermore, we find that market experience attenuates the behavioral anomaly, consistent with the notion that no value disparity exists for agents with sufficient market experience. (JEL Q21, Q26)     

Can willingness to pay capture the value of altruism? An exploration of Sen’s notion of commitment

Amartya Sen’s distinction between sympathy and commitment is used to examine the assertion that willingness to pay (WTP) can capture the value of altruism in health care. Willingness to pay values for a vaccination program stated to benefit only one’s self in the first instance and only other people in the second instance were elicited from a small convenience sample. Qualitative methods were then used to explore the meaning of the responses. Commitment was found to be a motivating factor and drove a wedge between willingness to pay and valuation of the program. The consequences of this for health economic research are discussed.     

Willingness to Pay, Compensating Variation, and the Cost of Commitment

Hicksian welfare theory is static in nature, but many decisions are made in a dynamic environment. We present a dynamic model of an agent's decision to purchase or sell a good under the realistic conditions of uncertainty, irreversibility, and learning over time. Her willingness to pay (WTP) contains both the intrinsic value of the good as in Hicksian theory plus a commitment cost associated with delaying to obtain more information. The Hicksian equivalence between WTP/Willingness to accept (WTA) and compensating and equivalent variations no longer holds. The WTP and WTA divergence may arise and observed WTP values are not always appropriate for welfare analysis.     

Faking it: Personality and individual difference predictors of willingness to buy counterfeit goods

Counterfeiting is now widely regarded as a serious social, economic, and political issue. This study examined demographic, personality, and individual difference predictors of willingness to buy counterfeit goods (WBCG) in a community sample of British adults. Two-hundred and thirty-seven participants completed a questionnaire that assessed their willingness to buy 19 types of counterfeit goods, attitudes towards counterfeiting, material values, Big Five personality traits, and demographics. Structural equation modelling showed that attitudes towards counterfeiting were the strongest predictors of WBCG. In addition, material values predicted both WBCG directly and indirectly through attitudes towards counterfeiting. Older participants showed lower WBCG, although this effect was moderated by participants’ conscientiousness, material values, and attitudes towards counterfeiting. There were no sex differences in WBCG once participants’ age and conscientiousness had been taken into account. These results are discussed in relation to the extant literature on the profiles of consumers who buy counterfeit products.     

Older Adults and Emerging Digital Service Delivery: A Mixed Methods Study on Information and Communications Technology Use,Skills, and Attitudes

Based on data from a survey (n = 3291) and 14 qualitative interviews among Danish older adults, this study investigated the use of, and attitudes toward, information communications technology (ICT) and the digital delivery of public services. While age, gender, and socioeconomic status were associated with use of ICT, these determinants lost their explanatory power when we controlled for attitudes and experiences. We identified three segments that differed in their use of ICT and attitudes toward digital service delivery. As nonuse of ICT often results from the lack of willingness to use it rather than from material or cognitive deficiencies, policy measures for bridging the digital divide should focus on skills and confidence rather than on access or ability.     

The relationship of materialism to spending tendencies, saving, and debt

This study is a response to the Richins and Rudmin [J. Econ. Psychol. 15 (1994) 217–231] call for work examining the relationship between materialism and aspects of economic psychology. The research was designed to investigate how people with differing levels of materialism vary in their propensity to spend and/or save and their attitudes and behaviors toward borrowing money. The results indicate that highly materialistic people are more likely to view themselves as spenders and have more favorable attitudes toward borrowing. These differences were evident in behavioral measures, although the differences were strongest for behaviors related to debt rather than saving. The implications of these findings for establishing a more comprehensive view of materialism in modern society are discussed.     

The effect of a “safer sex” film as mediated by erotophobia and gender on attitudes toward condoms

This experiment tested the hypothesis that viewing an erotic demonstration of condom placement would affect a positive change in attitudes toward condoms and willingness to use them. It was expected that the effect would be mediated by erotophobia and gender. Subjects were classified as erotophobic or erotophilic and viewed a film that demonstrated either sex with condom use, sex without condom‐use, condom information without sex, or neutral subject material. Subjects were pre‐and post‐tested on the Attitude Toward Condoms Scale (Brown, 1984) and on willingness to use condoms. The results showed that those who viewed sex with condom‐use demonstrated a change in attitudes, regardless of gender or erotophobia classification. The discussion includes suggestions for increasing willingness to use condoms in men and the application of erotophobia to contraceptive attitudes and behavior.     

Gender differences in willingness to compete: The role of public observability

A recent literature emphasizes that gender differences in the labor market may in part be driven by a gender gap in willingness to compete. However, whereas experiments in this literature typically investigate willingness to compete in private environments, real world competitions often have a more public nature, which introduces potential social image concerns. If such image concerns are important, and men and women differ in the degree to which they want to be seen as competitive, making tournament entry decisions publicly observable may further exacerbate the gender gap. We test this prediction using a laboratory experiment (N = 784) that varies the degree to which the decision to compete, and its outcome, is publicly observable. We find that public observability does not alter the magnitude of the gender gap in willingness to compete in an economically or statistically significant way.     

Diffusion of language change: Accommodation to a moving target

The paper focuses on motivations for the spread of new features within a speech community, and on the trajectories the changes follow during diffusion. One set of data represents language use, and here focus is on two changes which have been going on in Danish over the past 40 years, one grammatical and one phonetic. The other set of data are results from a nationwide speaker evaluation experiment which tests the subconscious attitudes to different types of speech among the youth in five different places covering Denmark from east to west. Results show that changes spread centrifugally from Copenhagen, even to the extent that reversal of changes spreads from Copenhagen. Furthermore, the attitudes reflected in the speaker evaluation experiment support the theory that language change is motivated by social psychological factors. Finally, it is argued that it is worthwhile considering the possibility of media being involved in processes of linguistic change.     

Assessing Psychological Separation and Academic Performance in Nonresident-Father and Resident-Father Adolescent Boys

This article initially reviews the psychoanalytic and empirical literature on the facilitative role that fathers play in children's development and functioning. Empirical evidence is presented comparing the academic performance of 25 nonresident-father boys and 25 resident-father boys between the ages of 14 and 17. The study also assesses whether the degree of psychological separation from mother and father, quality of mother–son/father–son relationship, and frequency of contact with father had a mediating effect on academic performance. The study found that boys living in nonresident-father homes were under-functioning when compared to boys living in father-resident homes. Results also showed that boys living in nonresident father homes who were more similar in regard to their father's attitudes and beliefs, performed better academically. In assessing the group as a whole, results revealed that academic performance improved when boys were more dependent on father in regard to having concrete needs met and when their attitudes and beliefs were similar to father's. In regard to the perceived quality of mother–son/father–son relationship, results for nonresident-father boys showed a positive correlation between the quality of relationship with father and academic performance. Similarly, when assessing the group as a whole, a positive correlation was found between the quality of father–son relationship and academic performance. Finally, for nonresident-father boys, a positive correlation was found between frequency of father–son contact and academic performance.     

Linking economics with psychology an economist's view

This article deals with some mutual prejudices between economists and other social scientists. By means of a rather new instrument of research, the so-called Income Evaluation Question (IEQ). it is shown that norms with respect to income can be measured quantitatively. It is basically an attitude question. The results are used to derive equivalence scales for family size and climate differences. In the psychological field they are used to estimate the impact of past experiences and the anticipated future on present norms. In the sociological field we mention an application to derive the impact of the social reference group of an individual on the individual's norms. The examples show that research instruments from the psychologist's list of instruments may be fruitfully combined with economic model building to shed some light on central problems in the social sciences, economics included.     

Risk Preferences and Immigration Attitudes: Evidence from Four East Asian Countries

Economic interests, such as increased job market competition or tax burden in the host countries, often explain attitudes toward immigration. Some empirical studies that have adopted this economic perspective report, however, that an individual's economic circumstances are not directly linked to his or her attitudes toward immigration, emphasizing that people can have different interpretations even under the same circumstances. We argue that risk preferences (i.e., willingness to take risks) shape personal perceptions about the costs and benefits of immigrant workers in the job market and immigration. Using the 2008 East Asian Social Survey from China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, we find that individuals who like to take more risks are more likely to be positive about immigration. Our study indicates the importance of psychological tendency in the formation of native citizens' attitudes toward immigration.     

Framing the Other: cosmopolitanism and the representation of difference in overseas gap year narratives

This paper engages with debates surrounding contemporary cosmopolitanism and the outcomes of cultural encounters. It considers if overseas gap years, often put forward in the UK as a way of becoming a global citizen, enable young Britons to ‘broaden their mind’. I explore representations of the people and places encountered during these periods of time out through an analysis of young people's travel blogs. Four key themes are highlighted in these narratives: the exotic place; feeling ‘out of place’; the importance and outcomes of local interaction; and the historical legacies that are implicated in constructing places as ‘different’. Gappers display a willingness to interact with and gain knowledge about their host communities. Yet as gap years are designed to be distinct from the normal course of things, they also demonstrate the ‘difference’ of places. This can often result in the reproduction of established ways of representing the Other in order to frame them as meaningful. There is a tension in the narratives between ‘globally reflexive’ and ‘globally reproductive’ representations of difference, and I suggest that we might question the development of cosmopolitan attitudes and competencies through undertaking a gap year.