WHY THE SOCIAL INSURANCE BUDGET IS TOO LARGE IN A DEMOCRACY

This paper develops a majority voting model to analyze the determination of taxes and transfers in a system of pay-as-yougo social insurance. The major implication is that the equilibrium size of the system is too large if votes are fully aware of the consequences of the policy. In addition, it seems likely that voters are rationally ignorant of a large portion of the cost of social insurance due to the hidden nature of the employer contribution and to the effect of the system on capital accumulatoin. This fiscal illusion works to exacerbate the overexpansion of the social insurance system.     

FINDING THE WORDS: SOCIAL WORK FROM A DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVE

Dialogue is at the heart of social work. In conversations with the professional, clients speak out about their pains and sorrows, and about their hope and beliefs. The conversation is the place where social worker and client try to find new words to express these emotions. In doing that, they construct new meanings and create new perspectives.

The role of dialogue in child development is used to understand this underlying process of social work. It shows how children learn to use language as an instrument to organize their world. The role of social workers is similar to that of parents, to help their clients to find the words that enable them to reposition themselves. As soon as they become the author of their life story again, they will be better able to reconstruct their lives.     

BRIDGING THE NATURAL AND THE SOCIAL: SCIENCE AND CHARACTER IN JEVONS'S POLITICAL ECONOMY

A common characterization of the "marginalist revolution" is that it focused on individuals, depicted economics as the universal application of behavioral laws of choice, and made a clear distinction between the analyses of "pure" economic theory and economic policy. This characterization effaces a number of important differences between the work of W. Stanley Jevons and later supply and demand theories. Using Jevons's discussion of reductions in working hours to illustrate the analysis, the paper shows how he used the Victorian language of "civilization" and "character" to designate class and race behavior in the Theory of Political Economy.     

THE ORGANIZATION AND CONSEQUENCES OF SOCIAL PASTS IN CRIMINAL COURTS

This article demonstrates the contributions of Katovich and Couch's (1992) formal theory of social pasts to conceptualizations of social world contexts and processual order (Strauss 1978; 1993). Using interview and observational data from three criminal courts, I focus on the interrelationship of two social world contextual features: (1) the organization of participants' social pasts, and (2) the degree of ideological consensus between participants in terms of sentencing goals. These two factors interact to influence interorganizational relationships in the three courts; and, in combination with individual criminal case characteristics, influence actors' case processing strategies. The article concludes by discussing the implications of the organization of social pasts in criminal courts and organizational arenas in general for the availability and attractiveness of alternative action strategies, as well as the management of uncertainty in organizational decision making. I also suggest several directions for further research.     

SOCIAL STRESS AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE SOUTHERN BLACK BELT

Black Belt counties in the southeastern United States are among the very poorest of all. Much of the economic, political, and social landscape of the region still echoes the problems of its antebellum past. Black white relations in the region are still characterized by antagonisms at all levels of social life. In this study, I examine the impact of social and material conditions of the Black Belt on mental health. I use data from a sample of Black and White workers in North Carolina, a state that re ects many of the racial dynamics found across the Southeast. Findings show that racial patterns in psychological distress are associated with the strength of political and economic elites in the Black Belt who have historically maintained power through racial subjugation. In conclusion, I discuss the theoretical implications of the findings.     

COMMENT ON "MONITORING AND BUDGET MAXIMIZATION IN THE CONTROL OF POLLUTION"

Lee's model of optimal pollution taxation and costly monitoring is examined. It is argued that his conclusions regarding the nature of the optimal tax and monitoring levels need to be modified to account for the likelihood of a corner solution to his first order conditions. Additionally, the predictions of Lee's version of the budget-maximizing pollution control bureaucracy are compared to some (more or less) inconsistent facts.     

PRICE ELASTICITY AND ADVERSE SELECTION IN THE DEMAND FOR SUPPLEMENTARY HEALTH INSURANCE

Probit regression estimates show the effects of the price of insurance, anticipated medical expenditures, and other factors on reported decisions about purchasing hypothetically offered supplementary insurance policies. The demand estimates can characterize how much supplemental insurance would be purchased under different tax policies affecting health insurance purchases. Although eliminating the current tax subsidy to insurance is shown to decrease demand, the results indicate a substantial demand for supplementary insurance even in the absence of present tax incentives. However, our results on adverse selection raise concerns about the potential stability of supplemental insurance markets.     

NUDGING LIFE INSURANCE HOLDINGS IN THE WORKPLACE

Using data from a university, we analyze a policy designed to increase employer‐sponsored life insurance. The university increased basic life insurance holdings, which nudged employees with supplemental coverage to have more life insurance. In large part due to inertia, the nudge increased life insurance holdings one‐for‐one for those who could have undone it. Additionally, we find that expanding coverage options significantly increased total life insurance holdings for new hires who were not subject to inertia. These policy changes reduced uninsured vulnerabilities for two‐thirds of employees. Our findings have important policy implications for addressing widespread disparities in life insurance coverage. (JEL D31, G22, D03, J32, J33, J38, H20)     

SEASONALITY AND THE MONETIZATION OF FEDERAL BUDGET DEFICITS

Prior findings that federal government budget deficits promptly lead to increases in the monetary base are unreliable. These findings are due largely to inadequate treatment of seasonality in post-war quarterly data. Once seasonality is properly modeled, no further short-run relation is apparent. Theory suggests that there may be a long-run relation between deficits and money growth. If such a relation exists, the sample of postwar U.S. data is too small to identify it.     

THE URBAN BLACK COMMUNITY AS NETWORK: TOWARD A SOCIAL NETWORK PERSPECTIVE

The social organization of Afro-American urban communities has often been viewed in a negative manner. As an alternative to traditional approaches to urban social organization that stress "pathology," a network analytic perspective is developed. Drawing on the work of Barry Wellman, the author reconceptualizes the "community question" in network terms and examines it empirically, using survey data about the personal networks of 352 blacks who live in three Los Angeles metropolitan neighborhoods. The results contradict the stereotypical view of urban black communities.     

NONLINEARITIES AND THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THE GOVERNMENT'S INTERTEMPORAL BUDGET CONSTRAINT

We analyze the sustainability of the government's intertemporal budget constraint and the corresponding fiscal reaction function within a nonlinear error‐correction framework. Our empirical analysis, based on Italy, provides some evidence that the Italian government is meeting its intertemporal budget constraint. Nevertheless, we show that the burden of correcting budgetary disequilibria is entirely carried out by changes in the average tax rate, with a weakly exogenous government spending, possibly determined by the political process. We also document some rigidities of the tax instrument, in terms of downward inflexibility of the average tax rate with respect to its long‐run level. Finally, we provide some evidence in favor of a nonlinear adjustment toward a sustainable long‐run equilibrium, as the average tax rate adjusts faster the further away it gets from the equilibrium. By considering the behavior of taxes across the economic cycle, we also provide some evidence of inflexibility of the tax instrument during bad times. (JEL C32, C51, C52, H20, H50)     

THE STATE OF THE FEDERAL BUDGET AND THE STATE OF THE ECONOMY

This paper tests systematic responses of the Federal budget to forecasts of inflation and unemployment. Estimated coefficients from fiscal policy reaction functions are examined to determine whether there are such systematic responses. Additionally, the coefficients of these estimated fiscal policy reaction functions are used to test several hypotheses concerning fiscal policy which have been advanced in the political business cycle and public choice literatures.