THE ROLE OF FINANCIAL LITERACY IN DETERMINING RETIREMENT PLANS

Workers nearing retirement face many important, and often irreversible, choices. We collected detailed demographic and financial literacy data on over 1,500 workers nearing retirement at three large companies to assess how individuals are planning for retirement. Many respondents display limited knowledge and understanding of public and company‐provided retirement benefits. Controlling for basic demographics and wealth, we find that misconceptions about eligibility ages and plan generosity influence workers' expected age of retirement. Although retirement‐related decisions will affect workers' well‐being for the remainder of their lifetimes, many do not possess enough basic financial knowledge to confidently make optimal choices. (JEL J26, J320, J240)     

Multi-valued strategy-proof social choice rules

In this paper we introduce a new definition of strategy-proofness for multi-valued social choice correspondences. We prove two Gibbard-Satterthwaite type results for strategy-proof social choice correspondences. These results show that allowing multiple outcomes as social choices will not necessarily lead to an escape from the Gibbard-Satterthwaite impossibility theorem. Received: 24 January 2001/Accepted: 19 March 2001     

Decision making for others involving risk: A review and meta-analysis

Are choices for others riskier than choices people make for themselves? This question has been asked by economists, psychologists, and other researchers in the social sciences – which has generated a diversity of research accounts and results. For example, a number of studies have found strong instances of a risky shift in choices for others, while other studies have found no such effect or have found that choices for others instead generate a cautious shift. In a meta-analysis of 128 effects from 71 published and unpublished papers (totaling 14,443 observations), we found a significant though small effect size (d = 0.105) in favor of a risky shift when people choose for others. Moreover, we found considerable variance between studies (Q = 1106.25), suggesting that the net effect is susceptible to moderating factors or study characteristics, which we identify and discuss as well (viz. choice recipient, decision frame, decision reciprocity, theoretical perspective, study design). Thus, we document not only whether decisions for others are riskier, but when (and when such decisions are less risky). We further discuss what is distinctly unique about decision making for others – how such choices are not just different in degree from personal choices but different in kind.     

Animating community supported agriculture in North East England: Striving for a ‘caring practice’

This paper draws on a case study of a new Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) scheme in the north of England to draw attention to some of the ethical issues encountered when using a participatory action research approach to animating CSA. Both CSA and participatory action research have been associated with the concept of ‘caring practice’ and an ‘ethic of care’. CSAs can be conceptualised as attempts to engage with ethical issues in the food system. Action research is also a value laden approach. The case study illustrates how the complexities of conducting this type of research leads to many instances of having to make ethical choices and claims that these decisions are helpfully framed by Warren’s (1999) claim that these choices should aim to result in ‘care practices’. Similar dilemmas and choices will arise in other contexts and require situated negotiation and decision making. Focussing on caring practice may help to construct a rationale for consistent choices.     

发展方式转变的科学化研究

转变发展方式虽然是国人的共同呼声，但对其艰难性应予以深刻认识，这里同样存在科学化问题。必须探明的至少是：转变什么，或称究竟应解决怎样的基本问题？如何科学地界定转变路径？通过基础性问题、关键性选择、阶段性制约和体制性突破四种视角进行思索，重点提出围绕产业升级、结构优化、低碳运行中的核心问题即技术进步平台或载体展开研究，并提出政府有序退出的体制性突破思路。     

Editorial

Abstract

Two language textbooks written in 17th century New England are examined, John Eliot's The Indian Grammar Begun and Roger Williams' A Key into the Language of America. Previously unnoticed links between these texts and traditional English forms of language teaching are demonstrated, and the argument is made that both men made conscious choices about how to adapt their experience of European linguistic models to the very different grammatical structures of Native American languages. These linguistic choices demonstrate the ways in which English and New English culture of the time used language to construct and display religious, social and national identities, using the contrast between Eliot's and Williams' lives and audiences at the time of writing in order to gain insight into the connections between language and identity in the period.     

Mediating the individual: journalistic cultures and the mechanisms of innovation at two daily newspapers

This paper examines two daily newspapers, The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Hartford (CT) Courant, and the organizational and occupational strategies the staff of each has used to maintain identity and cope with change. An underlying theme of this investigation is the significant role that the actions and choices of individuals –rather than groups or institutions – have in generating the social forces and behavioral patterns within a newsroom. Consequently, this research will explore the role of the “entrepreneur,” defined here as the goal-pursuing innovative social actor, whose choices may have shaped how process unfolds in the target newsrooms. Thus, the study will assess the interaction of the newsroom's occupational cultures, its organizational goals and its individual, entrepreneurial voices.     

Estimating customer utility of energy efficiency standards for refrigerators

A frequent argument against efficiency standards is that they prohibit products that represent optimal choices for customers and thus lead to reduced customer utility. In this paper we propose and test a method to estimate such losses. Conjoint analysis is used to estimate utility functions for individuals that have recently bought a refrigerator. The utility functions are used to calculate the individuals' utility of all the refrigerators available in the market. Revealed utility losses due to non-optimal choices by the customers seem consistent with other data on customer behaviour. The same utility estimates are used to find losses due to energy efficiency standards that remove products from the market. Contrary to previous claims, we find that efficiency standards can lead to increased utility for the average customer. This is possible because customers do not make perfect choices in the first place.     

Battered women and the myth of masochism

Domestic violence is a major health issue. Research on this problem is just in its infancy. It remains a problem because there has been widespread acceptance of violence in our culture as a means of solving and dealing with problems. Women have been the targets. Waites admonishes health professionals to stop using the concept of masochism as an explanation for abusive behavior. She asks instead for us to look at female motivation in terms of the actual choices that are available and the realistic consequences of these choices. Perhaps only then will health professionals become able to break the cycle of violence and intervene in a way that stops the woman from becoming another homicide statistic.     

Use of a conceptual model of societal drivers of ecological change in South Florida: Implications of an ecosystem management scenario

Human-dominated ecosystems such as in South Florida's Everglades region are greatly affected by societal actions and choices, and efforts to restore degraded ecosystems must take into account the societal drivers of ecosystem change. A conceptual model of societal-ecological interactions within the region illustrates connections between major societal drivers, such as water management and land use, and ecological stressors, such as loss of habitat and nutrient loading. Using the conceptual model as an initial guide for discussion, examination of a restoration scenario for the region shows that social and economic effects from activities proposed in a restoration scenario will likely affect most sectors of South Florida. Political effects from changing land and water management practices likely will be significant, as will the physical effects of changing water structures and management practices. Conceptual models such as this can aid in the initial stages of ecosystem restoration discussions and can assist in planning for subsequent social science evaluations of specific societal impacts of actual proposed governmental restoration alternatives. In crafting restoration scenarios, local, regional, and national decision makers can use conceptual models such as this to help broaden the early considerations of how possible future changes in societal drivers, including management choices, will change ecological stressors that affect ecosystem health.     

“Paradigms lost”: Some thoughts on choosing methods in evaluation research

Patton agrees with us concerning the need for a catholic approach to method choices in evaluation. However, Patton criticizes us for setting up a straw man when we argued that quantitative and qualitative methods are not inevitably linked to different “paradigms” and that allegiance to a particular paradigm does not force the evaluator into a choice between mutually exclusive qualitative and quantitative methods. The first part of this article shows how some of the past literature creates the impression both of an inevitable method-paradigm linkage and of a forcedchoice between qualitative and quantitative paradigms. It is argued that such impressions could have pernicious consequences for evaluation practice by artificially restricting method choices. In the final section, we consider some of the difficulties of making method choices and suggest that the purposefully developed strengths of different methods should not be completely ignored.     

Intertemporal stability of uncertainty preferences

We analyze the stability of ambiguity preferences experimentally, by repeatedly eliciting ambiguity attitudes towards multiple 3-color Ellsberg urns over a period of two months. 57% of the choices show stable preferences over this time period. This is significantly higher than random choices would suggest, but significantly lower than the level of consistency when measures are taken back-to-back (75%). Over the same time frame, we do not find a significant change in the consistency of risk preferences. For subjects who are able to recall their ambiguity decision after two months correctly, the share of consistent choices does not drop significantly over time.     

Wage inequality and team production: An experimental analysis

Numerous survey studies report that human resource managers curb wage inequality with the intent to avoid detrimental effects on workers’ morale. However, there exists little controlled empirical evidence demonstrating that horizontal social comparisons and wage inequality have adverse effects on worker behavior. In this paper, we present data from a laboratory experiment that studies the impact of wage inequality on participation and effort choices in team production. Overall, we do not find evidence that wage inequality has a significant impact on either participation or effort choices.     

Real men do not read labels: the effects of masculinity and involvement on college students' food decisions

Consumer literature shows that a decision's degree of personal importance and relevance--one's level of involvement in the decision--indicates which type of intervention strategy will be effective in influencing consumers' choices. The authors surveyed 358 college students at a state university in the western United States to test the applicability of involvement on issues of obesity and eating habits. They found food decisions to be of greater personal importance and relevance to female students than to their male counterparts. The results suggest that efforts to address levels of obesity and being overweight among male college students must recognize that men's food choices are very much rooted in the ideology of what it means to be female and male in contemporary American society. The authors advance 5 peripheral-route intervention strategies to augment existing cognitive-oriented, information-based intervention programs.     

SIMILARITY JUDGMENTS AND ANOMALIES IN INTERTEMPORAL CHOICE

This article demonstrates that choices based on similarity judgments will exhibit not only common ratio and reflection effects under uncertainty but also common difference and reflection effects in intertemporal contexts.     

基于城市转型的韩国知识城市研究

进入后城市化时代的韩国在城市转型为知识城市中一直走在亚洲前列,充分分析韩国城市转型中的几个典型案例,有助于我国在城市化快速发展阶段吸纳新经验,创新新模式,增加新的路径选择。     

Social capital and economic development in regional Australia: A case study

This article reports the findings of a case study of social capital and economic development conducted in two towns in regional Australia between 2001 and 2002. The hypothesis driving the research states that a town displaying a high level of social capital will also display a high level of economic development, while a town with a low level of social capital will display a low level of economic development. Moreover, it is suggested the social capital will exert a positive causal influence on economic development. The study goes some way to confirming this hypothesis and provides empirical evidence to suggest that both bonding and bridging social capital are important for successful community economic development outcomes.     

RELIABILITY OF STATED PREFERENCES FOR CHOLERA AND TYPHOID VACCINES WITH TIME TO THINK IN HUE,VIETNAM

We examine the effect of giving respondents time to think about their stated choices (SC) in a survey of cholera and typhoid vaccine preferences in Hue, Vietnam. Because neither vaccine is widely available in Vietnam, we used the SC approach (a stated preference technique) and gave half of our respondents overnight to think about their choices to make the hypothetical valuation scenario as similar to a real‐life choice situation as possible. Respondents who were given extra time made fewer choices that violated internal validity tests of utility theory, and had lower average willingness to pay (WTP), confirming a result found in similar studies in the contingent valuation literature. (JEL D12, I18, C25)     

Risky choice in interpersonal context: Do people dare because they care?

This paper presents an experimental study investigating the interplay of individuals’ other-regarding preferences and individuals’ risk attitude. Participants (N = 120) had to make choices between a certain and risky payoff only for themselves (individual context) and choices in which the participants were paired with another randomly assigned participant who functioned as a passive recipient (interpersonal context). In the interpersonal context the risky option was beneficial for the other person while the certain option was not. Thus, the interpersonal choice context was an abstract representation of the incentive structure in helping situations, which yield risk only for the helper. Risky options in the interpersonal context yielded different payoff distributions, which allowed us to identify how considerations of fairness affect interpersonal risky choices. To assess other-regarding preferences, a dictator game was played. First we found that participants were generally less risk averse in the interpersonal choices; however, the degree of risk aversion was affected by the distribution of payoffs between decider and recipient. Furthermore, we found that changes of risk aversion in an interpersonal context could be predicted with the proposed splits in the dictator game.     

Transport Policy Scenarios for the EU: 2020 Images of the Future

It is essential to take a longer term view if sustainable mobility is to become a reality. This paper takes a perspective to 2020 and constructs Images of the future which conform to the principles of sustainable mobility. Set at the EU level, clear environmental, regional development and efficiency targets are set, within which strategies are developed, based on different combinations of technological innovation and the decoupling of economic growth from transport growth. The external political situation is taken as given with either a move towards greater co-operation (and extension) or towards greater fragmentation (and regionalisaization) in Europe. The three Images of the future (2020) demonstrate that challenging targets for sustainable mobility can be achieved through a range of different policy actions within the transport sector and more widely. Immediate action is required and even more difficult choices will have to be made in the EU 15, if large-scale extension of the EU takes place. Improvements in vehicle technology alone will not achieve the targets. More fundamental changes have to take place in the way in which people make travel choices and in the means by which freight is transported. All of these measures must involve less travel, more efficient and cleaner travel modes.