FOOD AWAY FROM HOME AND CALORIC INTAKE: THE ROLE OF RESTAURANT MENU LABELING LAWS

We analyze whether local and state mandates to post calorie information on restaurant menus change the effect of consuming food prepared away from home (FAFH) on total caloric intake. Information on area demographics and the local food environment were used to construct a comparison group. For identification, we use differences in two days of dietary intake and timing variations in policy implementation. We find the effect of FAFH meals on total daily intake is reduced by 21 calories among adults and by 34 calories among young children for each year the mandate is in place. (JEL I12, I18, H75)     

THE EFFECT OF UNIT FEES ON THE CONSUMPTION OF QUALITY

A law-of-demand explanation to the Alchian-Allen, or "shipping the good apples out," proposition rests on a change in the relative price of quality when a unit fee is introduced. However, the manner in which quality is consumed is crucial. In some cases, for instance, there is no substitution between the quality attribute and the priced, quantity-measured attribute. This paper shows that in these cases the relative price of quality is unchanged by a unit fee. Nevertheless, while the "unit fee" proposition fails to obtain for individual choice, it does hold in aggregate.     

THE EMPLOYMENT EFFECT OF DEREGULATING SHOPPING HOURS: EVIDENCE FROM GERMAN FOOD RETAILING

We study the effect of deregulating weekday shop opening hours on employment in retailing. Using administrative data on all German food shops, a difference‐in‐differences analysis shows that relaxing restrictions on opening hours raised employment by 0.4 workers per shop corresponding to an increase by 4%. This effect is driven by part‐time employment and employment in large shops, and it implies an increase by 0.1 workers per additional actual weekly opening hour. While the wage bill increased by less than employment, the deregulation seems not to have reduced earnings of workers already employed in retailing before the deregulation. (JEL J23, L51, L81)     

THE EFFECT OF INSURANCE COVERAGE ON PREVENTIVE CARE

Despite the growth in health insurance products that differentially cover preventive care and nonpreventive care, little is known about how preventive care utilization responds to targeted changes in coverage. Using administrative data from a large company, this paper examines the implementation of an insurance benefit design which differentially increased the price of nonpreventive care while decreasing the price of prevention. Leveraging a difference‐in‐differences research strategy, we find that preventive care utilization did not increase and even declined due to the differential price change. This evidence indicates a meaningful negative cross‐price effect, suggesting that nonpreventive care and preventive care are complements. (JEL I13, I11)     

THE EFFECT OF TECHNICAL CHANGE ON MARKET STRUCTURE

The paper examines the effects of technical change on market structure. It is found that: 1) the role of independent inventors and small firms is much more important in the early stages of the evolution of a product; 2) the net effect of innovations on entry reverses itself over the product cycle; 3) there is a shift in the importance of various sources of innovation over the product cycle. The two forces which contribute to this result are: 1) a decline in the importance of innovations as technology matures and 2) the proliferation of products adapted to specialized uses.     

A NOTE ON THE VANISHING LIQUIDITY EFFECT OF MONEY ON INTEREST

This paper provides a brief review and critique of some of the results and conclusions of Melvin [1983] concerning the effects of inflation on the response pattern of interest rates to changes in money growth rates. It also presents results concerning the significance of two different measures of the inflationary environment ––– the actual rate of inflation and the variance of the inflation rate ––– in explaining this response. The conclusion drawn here is that the variance of the inflation rate better explains the changing money-interest relationship. This conclusion is rather different from that of Melvin.     

THE LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF THE COUPLE COMMUNICATION PROGRAM

The immediate and long-term impact of the Couple Communication Program was assessed. Seventeen married couples were assigned to training groups. Change was assessed using self-report measures of marital adjustment and communication quality along with behavioral ratings of couple verbal interaction. Couples increased significantly on all measures at immediate posttest. Marital adjustment returned to pretest levels by five month follow-up. Couple perceived communication quality and rater judged communication quality maintained posttest levels. The findings suggest a need for more skills training in the program, an increase in length of the program, and consideration of program improvements designed to enhance generalization.     

THE EFFECT OF DIRECT TO CONSUMER TELEVISION ADVERTISING ON THE TIMING OF TREATMENT

We examine how direct to consumer advertising affects the delay between diagnosis and pharmacological treatment for patients suffering from a common chronic disease. The primary data for this study consist of patients diagnosed with osteoarthritis (N = 18,235) taken from a geographically diverse national research network of 72 primary care practices with 348 physicians in 27 states over the 1999–2002 time period. Brand‐specific advertising data were collected for local and network television at the monthly level for the nearest media markets to the practices. Results of duration models of delay to treatment suggest advertising does affect the length of time that patients and physicians wait to initiate therapy. This evidence suggests that these effects may be welfare enhancing in that advertising tends to encourage more rapid adoption among patients who are good clinical candidates for the therapy and leads to less rapid adoption among some patients who are poor clinical candidates. (JEL D12, I11)     

A COMPARISON OF THE RELATIONSHIP ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM AND THE MINNESOTA COUPLE COMMUNICATION PROGRAM*

This study assessed the comparative effectiveness of the Relationship Enhancement Program (RE) and the Minnesota Couples Communication Program (CC). Couples in the treatment groups (RE-26, CC-20) received RE and CC training from certified leaders. Results at posttesting showed that RE was more effective in increasing marital communication (both behavioral and self-report) and marital satisfaction than CC. A three-month follow-up showed that RE couples' outcome remained superior to CC couples'. Additional analyses revealed that couples' experiencing low marital satisfaction prior to training were best helped by the RE program.     

THE EFFECT OF NONCONTRIBUTORY PENSIONS ON SAVING IN MEXICO

This paper examines the effects of noncontributory pension programs at the federal and state levels on Mexican households' saving patterns using micro data from the Mexican Income and Expenditure Survey. We find that the federal program curtails saving among households whose oldest member is either 18–54 or 65–69 years old, possibly through anticipation effects, a decrease in the longevity risk faced by households, and a redistribution of income between households of different generations. Specifically, these households appear to be reallocating income away from saving into human capital investments, like education and health. Generally, state programs have neither significant effects on household saving, nor does the combination of federal and state programs. Finally, with a few exceptions, noncontributory pensions have no significant impact on the saving of households with members 70 years of age or older—individuals eligible for those pensions, plausibly because of their dissaving stage in the lifecycle. (JEL D14, J26, O12, H55)     

THE EFFECT OF PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT LAWS ON YOUTH SUICIDE

Using state‐level data on suicides from the period 1987 to 2003, we find that the adoption of a law requiring a parent's notification or consent before a minor can obtain an abortion is associated with an 11%–21% reduction in the number of 15‐ through 17‐year‐old females who commit suicide. In contrast, the adoption of a parental involvement law is not associated with a reduction in the number of older females who commit suicide or in the number of 15‐ through 17‐year‐old males who commit suicide. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that parental involvement laws represent an increase in the expected cost of having unprotected sex, and, as a consequence, serve to protect young females from depression and what have been termed “stressful life events” such as conflict with a parent or an abortion. (JEL I18, I10, J13)     

THE EFFECT OF PRAYER ON GOD'S ATTITUDE TOWARD MANKIND

This paper uses data available from the National Opinion Research Center's (NORC) survey on religious attitudes and powerful statistical methods to evaluate the effect of prayer on the attitude of God toward human beings. ( JEL C21, Z12)     

THE EFFECT OF POST-HIGH SCHOOL SOCIAL CONTEXT ON SELF-ESTEEM

This study examines the effect of post-high school social context on self-concept development by assessing changes in positive self-esteem (i.e., self-confidence) in a national longitudinal sample of males who entered the full-time labor force, the active federal military, or college after high school. The data are from Bachman's Youth in Transition study of 2,213 American high school students in five data waves between 1966 and 1974. Estimation of a LISREL structural equation model shows that of the three contexts, the military has the most significant (negative) net impact on self-concept, followed by work (slightly negative), and college (no impact). It is argued that the observed negative effect of the military context (and possibly the work context) is rooted in the larger sociohistorical processes impinging on the individual, and on the workers' and servicemen's low organizational positions. College's lack of effect appears to be due to the students' relatively high prior self-esteem and the possibility that college impacts social and political values more than self-worth. The number of months in a context positively relates to later self-esteem. It is argued that duration may work through acclimation to the role demands of one's context and to an increase in feelings of mastery and control.     

THE EFFECT OF FEAR OF SEXUAL VICTIMIZATION ON ADOLESCENT FEAR OF CRIME

The author examines the effect of fear of sexual victimization on fear of crime among adolescents. Criminologists have indicated that gender is one of the strongest predictors of fear of crime: Women are more fearful than men. Some authors (Warr 1984, and Ferraro 1995, among others) have suggested that this differential fear among women can mostly be attributed to their inordinate fear of sexual victimization. This relationship, however, has only been examined among adults. Using a sample of 725 adolescents, the effect of fear of sexual victimization and other demographic and contextual variables on fear of criminal victimization is examined. Results indicate that fear of sexual victimization is the best predictor of fear of nonsexual victimization, whereas the effects of other variables are contingent on race and gender. The reasons for this finding, as well as the implications for social policies, are discussed.     

CONFLICTING VIEWS ON THE EFFECT OF OLD-AGE AND SURVIVORS INSURANCE ON RETIREMENT

The literature explaining the sharp drop in labor force participation of the elderly in recent decades is examined. Several recent studies made by economists outside the Social Security Administration have found the impact of OASI to be much more important than was found by surveys made within the social security system. An examination of census and manpower data lends support to the view that OASI has had an important role in encouraging retirement at earlier ages. The drop in labor force participation among the elderly has impeded government efforts to improve the economic condition of elderly persons.