Awareness of low self-control: Theory and evidence from a homeless shelter

Survey measures of self-control provide a potential low-cost alternative to incentivized elicitation. However, asking respondents to introspect on their self-control problems may instead measure their awareness of them, especially in populations with low self-control. We illustrate this with the Ameriks, Caplin, Leahy, and Tyler (2007) survey, which captures self-control problems through the deviation between self-reported ideal and predicted behavior (Expected Deviation, ED). Previous empirical evidence from high income or highly educated populations correlates larger ED with worse outcomes. We theoretically show that the reverse will be true in settings where awareness can play a large role: when self-control is low and costly commitment devices are available. We empirically show that, for residents of a homeless shelter, ED is positively correlated to savings in shelter lockboxes, a costly commitment device. This correlation is stronger for those likely to experience more self-control problems: individuals with past addiction problems.     

THE ANSWERING MACHINE GENERATION: WHO ARE THEY AND WHAT PROBLEM DO THEY POSE FOR SURVEY RESEARCH?

Increased incidence of telephone answering machines and theuse of such devices to screen calls pose a potential threatto the representativeness of samples in telephone surveys. Usingdata from nine statewide surveys, this analysis examines theextent to which answering machines are used to screen callsand the demographic characteristics associated with answeringmachine use and call screening. Results show that at most twoto three percent of households use answering machines to screencalls, and that such screening is more likely to take placein households with higher family incomes, outside rural areas,and which include individuals who are younger and have higherlevels of education. While call screening does not presentlythreaten the representativeness of samples in telephone surveys,the increased incidence of answering machines together withthe increased percentage of households indicating these devicesare sometimes used to screen calls demonstrate that the potentialbias from this source is growing.     

Child neglect and adolescent violence: examining the effects of self-control and peer rejection

Child maltreatment researchers have often suggested that experiences with child neglect have long-term, negative effects. Child neglect is thought to have particularly adverse effects on self-control, peer relations, and delinquency. In this research, we examine the relationship of child neglect with adolescent violence via self-control and peer rejection. Using prospective, longitudinal data from a community sample, we find that child neglect adversely affects peer rejection and violence. Neglected children were more likely to be rejected by their peers in early adolescence and were more likely to be violent later in adolescence. Contrary to theoretical predictions, child neglect was not a significant predictor of self-control. Implications for delinquency and child maltreatment researchers are discussed.     

Low Self-Control and Co-occurrence of Gambling with Substance Use and Delinquency Among Chinese Adolescents

Relatively little is known about gambling co-morbidity in Asian youth populations. The role of trait self-control in co-morbidity also remains under-explored in the gambling literature. This study examined the association between gambling, substance use and delinquency among Chinese adolescents, and the extent to which these forms of risk behavior are commonly predicted by low self-control. Data from a cross-sectional questionnaire survey of a stratified, random sample of 4,734 high school students aged 12–23 years in Hong Kong were analyzed. The prevalence of gambling pathology, frequency and attitudes showed statistically significant, positive and consistent relationships with tobacco use, alcohol use, and delinquent acts at the p < .001 level. Further analyses revealed that low self-control significantly (p < .001) predicts at-risk/probable pathological gambling, frequent gambling, strong permissiveness toward gambling, heavy use of tobacco and alcohol, and delinquent involvement, even after controlling for the potential shared correlates of socioeconomic characteristics, parental monitoring and peer delinquency. Hence, the concept that gambling problems and strong receptivity to gambling are likely to be part of a general problem behavior syndrome is evinced cross-culturally among young people in a Chinese context. It may also be cost-effective to increase intervention efforts to improve the self-control deficit in adolescents, as this should reduce their gambling and concurrent problem behavior.     

Can Demographic Variables Predict Lottery and Pari-mutuel Losses? An Empirical Investigation

Using data from the 2004 and 2005 Consumer Expenditure Surveys (CES) comprising of 15,000 respondents, this study examines two research questions. The first of these considers the demographic differences between households whose members lose money playing the lottery and/or engaging in pari-mutuel betting and those whose members do not lose money participating in such activities. The second assesses demographic differences among households whose members lose money playing the lottery and/or engaging in pari-mutuel betting. It was found that respondents living in money-losing households are slightly older, better off financially, more likely to be married or divorced, more likely to live in a state with at least one legal casino and more likely to live in the Northeast than respondents living in non-money-losing households. Among those living in money-losing households, the least wealthy and African American respondents are more likely to lose a higher proportion of their respective incomes purchasing lottery tickets and engaging in pari-mutuel betting than wealthier respondents and whites.     

Agricultural change and restructuring: recent evidence from a survey of agricultural households in England

Despite widespread speculation about the likely future extent of agricultural restructuring in the UK, researchers and policymakers are surprisingly ignorant of the nature and extent of farm household adjustment in the period since the mid 1990s. Meanwhile, claims that agriculture is in crisis and on the threshold of radical structural change continue to receive widespread media attention. Critics point out that because European policy debates are constructed in ways which emphasise the vulnerability of farmers and their businesses, there is a lack of attention to the true status and economic sustainability of agricultural households themselves. This paper reports results from a recent survey of agricultural business restructuring within six English study areas selected to span a range of agricultural settings and designed to identify the different trajectories of change to be found there. It concludes that while there is some evidence of disengagement from mainstream agriculture and an increasingly diverse set of relationships between the occupation and management of land, commitment to remaining in agriculture remains strong amongst farming families. A substantial proportion of agricultural and agri-environmental assets seem likely to remain in the same hands for the foreseeable future.     

Commitment and weakness of will in game theory and neoclassical economics

This paper draws on theoretical and experimental studies in game theory and on the neoclassical concept of intertemporal inconsistency in choice to argue that the motivational theory shared by neoclassical economics and noncooperative game theory is mistaken in assuming that commitment never takes place in human decisions. The paper first gives two parallel examples, one of intertemporal inconsistency in a financial decision, and the other of noncooperative (subgame perfect) equilibrium in a game in extensive form. So far as one decision-maker is concerned, the two decisions are isomorphic, and both can be associated with weakness of will. By contrast, the cooperative analysis of the game (along the lines originally suggested by von Neumann and Morgenstern) predicts a different decision associated with commitment to a particular conditional sequence of “behavior strategies”, i.e. a particular pure strategy. In effect the cooperative analysis assumes perfect strength of will. The paper then argues that strength of will and rationality of decisions are independent dimensions of a decision process and reviews some experimental evidence that suggests that both traditions are mistaken in their extreme assumptions about commitment or strength of will: neoclassical economics and noncooperative game theory in assuming that commitment never takes place, and cooperative game theory in assuming that it always does. The evidence indicates moreover that commitment is more likely in at least one context of value judgments than in its absence. The value context is reciprocity. It is suggested that a focus of research on the circumstances that favor commitment – rather than on modifications of an assumed utility function to accommodate non-self-regarding motivations – might lead to a more fruitful behavioral economics and behavioral game theory.     

Your Money or Your Life: Managing Health,Managing Money

Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, this paper examines the relationship between non-collateralized debt (NCD) and health behaviors. The results reveal that households whose members tend to lead less healthy lifestyles are more likely to hold NCD. There are three possible underlying hypotheses that may explain these relationships: (a) common factors, such as preferences, shaping both debt and poorer health behaviors; (b) poorer health and health behaviors causing debt; and (c) debt causing poorer health behaviors. Our findings are not consistent with a causal relationship between health behaviors and NCD. It is likely that other factors, such as time preferences, risk aversion and self-control may underlie the observed correlation.

The Ability of Women to Repay Debt After Divorce

SUMMARY

This study uses questions on household repayment problems from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to examine how the transition from marriage to divorce affects default rates by gender. The results show that divorced women are more likely to have repayment problems than divorced men and married-couple households. Further analysis reveals that divorced women who are receiving welfare are significantly less likely to default. Because average welfare benefits decreased in the early 1990s, the results suggest that this decrease provides a partial explanation for why the default rate increased between 1991 and 1995 for divorced women. The effect of welfare on the default rates of divorced men and married couples is insignificant. And there is no evidence that receiving child support and alimony payments significantly affects the probability of default.     

Migration,Livelihood Strategies,and Agricultural Outcomes: A Gender Study in Rural China

In this study we examine whether the gender composition of migrants from rural households affects household economic strategies and agricultural productivity, which is the fundamental economic activity for rural Chinese. Using data from the 2010 and 2012 Chinese Family Panel Studies, this study treats households as the unit of analysis. Our results show that households with migrants are less likely to engage in agricultural activities or operate small businesses than households with no migrants. However, households with female migrants are less likely to engage in agricultural activities to a greater extent than those with male migrants, whereas the latter pose an obstacle to running small family businesses. This suggests that women may have to shoulder the burden of agricultural work when men migrate, whereas having male migrants from the households hampers households from engaging in local nonagricultural activities. Finally, although having male migrants who have left does not significantly discourage households from continuing agricultural activities, it does reduce agricultural productivity.     

The impact of migration on the well-being of transnational families: new data from sending communities in Mexico

We present results from a new study of the effects of migration to the USA on the well-being of transnational families in high emigration communities within Mexico. Our survey measured the well-being of family members in a variety of domains: economic, health, education, and child development for a representative sample drawn from high migration municipalities. Compared to those with no recent emigrants to the USA, Mexican households sending non-caregivers to the USA appear to gain economically without contributing to problems faced by children. However, when family caregivers migrate to the USA, the remaining members in Mexico struggle to meet the family's needs and children are more vulnerable to educational, emotional, and health problems. Children in households where a caregiver migrated were more likely to have frequent illnesses (10% vs. 3%, p<0.0001), chronic illness (7% vs. 3%, p=0.011), emotional problems (10% vs. 4%, p=0.006), and behavioral problems (17% vs. 10%, p=0.018) compared with children in households where the migrant was not a caregiver. Research, policy, and program implications of these findings are discussed.     

The antecedents of donor commitment to voluntary organizations

The past decade has seen a rapid growth in the number of regular or so‐called committed giving schemes. Charities have been increasingly eager to solicit donors onto a low‐value monthly donation, collected automatically from their bank account or credit card. Although the initial costs of donor acquisition are higher than for cash donations, charities find that committed givers are less likely to lapse and therefore offer substantially higher lifetime values over time. In this article, we examine to what extent these individuals are truly committed, that is, whether they are more committed than occasional cash givers and the factors that might drive that commitment. The results of a series of ten focus groups conducted on behalf of five large national charities are reported and a model of the antecedents of commitment hypothesized. Implications for fundraising strategy are explored.     

Gender and housing : The provision of accommodation for young adults in three Mexican cities

The literature on gender and housing is oddly distorted, for it is dominated by research on households which are ‘women-headed’, even where the majority of women may live in households conventionally regarded as being headed by men. This literature shuns the ‘traditional’, male-headed, nuclear household and regards ‘non-traditional’ households as being those headed by single mothers or women living alone. The first part of this paper argues that it is important not to restrict discussion of gender and housing to the problems facing single mothers or women living alone, because there is a danger of rendering the majority of women, once again, invisible.Equating ‘traditional’ and ‘non-traditional’ households with ‘nuclear’ and ‘women-headed’ households, respectively, confuses structure with headship and overlooks cultural variations in what constitutes a ‘traditional’ household — the nuclear household is not necessarily the traditional norm. The second part of this paper explores a little-documented housing arrangement in which large numbers of women are involved in urban Mexico: sharing. ‘Sharing’ occurs when two or more households occupy the same plot of land; one household owns the plot, allowing the other(s) to live there rent-free. Sharing mostly involves the adult sons or daughters of the plot owners, and may be regarded as a variation on the extended household structure. Sons are more likely to be allowed to bring their wives to their parents' home, whereas daughters are more likely to leave. Women living with their in-laws lack security of tenure and there is often conflict between wives and members of their husband's family of origin, particularly their mothers-in-law.The anthropological literature has identified gender relations as the source of conflict between women in extended households. Sharing reduces the potential for conflict by giving the younger household greater autonomy. Furthermore, concern for their daughters' welfare leads many parents to offer accommodation to married daughters as well as sons. Single mothers, however, are more likely to live as part of their parents' household than to share. In this respect, the nuclear household norm is reinforced, since sharing seems to be a privilege accorded only to those who are married.     

Housing hardship and energy insecurity among native-born and immigrant low-income families with children in the United States

The costs for rent and utilities account for the largest share of living expenses, yet these two critical dimensions of material hardship have seldom been examined concurrently in population-based studies. This paper employs multivariate statistical analysis using American Community Survey data to demonstrate the relative risk ratio of low-income renter-occupied households with children experiencing ‘rent burden', ‘energy insecurity', or a ‘double burden’ as opposed to no burden. Findings suggest that low-income households are more likely to experience these economic hardships in general but that specific groups are disproportionately burdened in different ways. For instance, whereas immigrants are more likely to experience rental burden, they are less likely to experience energy insecurity and are also spared from the double burden. In contrast, native-born African Americans are more likely than all other groups to experience the double burden. These results may be driven by the housing stock available to certain groups due to racial residential segregation, decisions regarding the quality of housing low-income householders are able to afford, as well as home-country values, such as modest living and energy conservation practices, among immigrant families. This paper also points to important policy gaps in safety net benefits related to housing and energy targeting low-income households.     

Cross‐national variations in the division of household labor

Using data from the International Social Justice Project, we describe the division of household labor in married couple households using a sample of 13 nations (N= 10,153). We find significant differences in the division of household labor based upon respondents’ nations of residence. We find support for the time availability approach; households where the wife is employed outside the home for pay are more likely to respond that husbands perform at least half of the household labor. We also find support for the relative resources approach; in households where wives’ education equals or exceeds that of their husbands, husbands are more likely to perform half of the household labor. We find little support for the economic dependence approach. We suggest that future cross‐national research should place individuals in context to determine why there are nation differences in the reported division of household labor.     

Who cares and how much: exploring the determinants of co-residential informal care

The importance of informal care provided inside the household (co-residential care) is widely acknowledged in policy circles. However, the factors that determine the likelihood and scale of provision are not fully understood. A two-part model (2PM) is used to investigate both participation and levels of provision. Random effects dynamic panel specifications are employed. Results show that co-residential informal care competes with other time demanding activities, such as childcare and employment. Wealthier individuals are less likely to be caregivers, whereas wealthier households have a higher tendency towards caregiving. Evidence of both substitution and complementarity is found between formal and informal care. Informal care and health status are significantly related, with carers more likely to report worse General Health Questionnaire scores than non-carers. Finally, significant dynamic effects are observed with the continuance of the provision of informal care being more likely than the initiation of such activity, while heavy commitment in the past increases the hours provided in the current period.

IS RICARDIAN EQUIVALENCE A GOOD APPROXIMATION?

Ricardian equivalence may be a good approximation even if all households have finite horizons, many households have short horizons, and an appreciable fraction of wage income is received by liquidity-constrained households. The approximation is likely to be better, the more imperfect annuity markets are.     

THE FUNCTIONS OF THE SOCIAL BOND

Travis Hirschi's control or social bonding theory argues that those persons who have strong and abiding attachments to conventional society (in the form of attachments, involvement, investment, and belief) are less likely to deviate than persons who have weak or shallow bonds. Later, Gottfredson and Hirschi moved away from the social bond as the primary factor in deviance, and toward an emphasis on self-control. In short, low self-control is associated with higher levels of deviance and criminality irrespective of the strength or weakness of one's social bonds. In this article I argue that Talcott Parsons' AGIL schema easily incorporates Hirschi's social bond into its broader analytical framework. Furthermore, from within the logical framework of Parsons' system, Hirschi's move from an emphasis on social bonds to an emphasis on self-control is wholly compatible with, and even anticipated by, the AGIL schema. The article illustrates, and argues for, the continuing importance of theoretical subsumption in sociology and criminology. Lastly, a set of testable hypotheses is generated based upon this theoretical reformulation.     

Does International Migration Affect Labor Supply,Non‐farm Diversification and Welfare of Households? Evidence from Egypt

This study examines the effect of international migration in Egypt using fixed‐effect regressions and panel data from Egypt Labour Market Panel Surveys in 2006 and 2012. We find that men and people with higher education are more likely to migrate than women and people with lower education. Middle‐aged people are also more likely to migrate than young or old people. International migration does not seem to affect the overall employment of remaining members of migrant‐sending households. However, it tends to increase the self‐employed work of members of migrant‐sending households. Finally, international migration also helps migrant‐sending households increase their wealth index. Remittances are used to improve living conditions (housing) and purchase more assets and durables. This finding supports the theory as well as the policy to increase migration as a way to stabilize consumption and reduce poverty in low income countries.