THE EFFECT OF YOUTH ALCOHOL INITIATION ON HIGH SCHOOL COMPLETION

The social environment inherent in schools impacts both alcohol consumption onset and high school completion. The results reported here, based on data from the 1979–96 NLSY panels, show that the social coincidences between alcohol consumption and education are important determinants of both education completion and alcohol onset. Ignoring the social nature of these simultaneous decisions underestimates the impact of alcohol onset on education. After correcting for the presence of an endogenous positive relationship between schooling and alcohol consumption, we find that alcohol initiation before age 14 significantly reduces the probability of timeously completing high school by between 7% and 22%. (JEL I18 , I21 )     

THE EFFECT OF DIVORCE ON SUICIDE IN DENMARK, 1951–1980

Past research on the effect of marital dissolution on suicide is limited largely to the cultural and institutional framework of the U.S. The present article studies Denmark, a nation with a different social context. A Cochrane-Orcutt iterative regression analysis replicates the American-based pattern for Denmark. The divorce index is more closely associated than the unemployment rate with changes in the suicide rate. A 1% increase in divorce is associated with a 0.32% increase in suicide. Divorce trends also predict the incidence of youth suicide. The study further confirms the generalization that links rapid change in kinship structures to suicide in industrial societies.     

THE EFFECTS OF PARENTAL LOSS ON THE FORMATION OF INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS*

Effects of parental loss on subsequent intimate relationships were studied with a sample of young married couples and with a sample of college students. Compared to those with no parental loss, young adults with parental loss tended to exhibit one of two patterns: avoidance of intimacy, or accelerated courtship. Persons with parental death exhibited both of the described patterns, but tended as a group to be more hesitant about intimate relationships. Persons with parental divorce generally indicated accelerated courtship patterns. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.     

EFFECTS OF THE PARENTAL COALITION ON ADOLESCENT EMANCIPATION FROM THE FAMILY

This study examined the relationship between late adolescents' perception of their parents' marital coalition and academic success as a college freshman. The hypothesis was tested that late adolescents from families with a primary cross-generational bond (e.g., mother-son) have more difficulty emancipating from the family than offspring from families in which mother and father are the primary dyadic alliance in the family. Academic success as a college freshman was utilized as one measure of the late adolescents' success in separating from the family. The subjects were 36 18–year-old freshman males placed on academic probation and 36 passing males matched on ethnicity and SAT scores. The principal results were that subjects reporting a primary marital alliance were more likely to succeed academically and were more internal on the Rotter I-E scale than subjects who reported a nonmarital alliance as primary. The findings provide support for the theory of structural family relations, and clarify familial processes that affect late adolescent emancipation from the family.     

THE EFFECT OF CONCEALED WEAPONS LAWS: AN EXTREME BOUND ANALYSIS

Lott and Mustard [1997] provide evidence that enactment of concealed handgun ("right-to-carry") laws deters violent crime and induces substitution into property crime. A critique by Black and Nagin [1998] questions the particular model specification used in the empirical analysis. In this paper, we estimate the "model uncertainty" surrounding the model specified by Lott and Mustard using an extreme bound analysis (Leamer [1983]). We find that the deterrence results are robust enough to make them difficult to dismiss as unfounded, particularly those findings about the change in violent crime trends. The substitution effects are not robust with respect to different model specifications. (JEL K42)     

FATHERS TAKING PARENTAL LEAVE AND THEIR INVOLVEMENT WITH CHILDREN

Parental leave has been promoted as a way to enhance employed fathers’ involvement with their children. Leave patterns, factors affecting these patterns and the impact of taking leave on involvement with children were assessed for fathers in 38 couples. Parents, contacted through their employers, completed self-administered questionnaires on their work schedule changes after the arrival of a baby, reactions to these changes, childcare activities and attitudes. The mother's and father's assessments in each couple were averaged to measure 21 different aspects of fathers’ involvement. Fathers who took leave were more likely to share some specific childcare tasks with mothers than fathers who did not take leave but no differences were found for time spent with children or taking responsibility for childcare. Parents’ equalitarian beliefs, income and education had more impact than taking leave on fathers’ overall involvement in childcare.

Se ha promovido La Licencia de Paternidad como una forma para ayudar a los padres que están empleados a involucrarse con sus hijos. Los patrones de estas licencias, los factores que afectan estos patrones, y el impacto que tiene esta licencia en las relaciones con los niños fueron evaluadas por los padres en 38 parejas. Los padres, contactados por sus empleadores, completaron cuestionarios sobre los cambios en sus horarios de trabajo después de la llegada del bebé, las reacciones a esos cambios, actividades para el cuidado del niño, y sus actitudes. Se hizo un promedio midiendo los 21 diferentes aspectos del involucro de los padres presentado en las evaluaciones hechas por la madre y el padre en cada pareja. Los padres que tomaron licencia de paternidad, generalmente compartieron con la madre algunos aspectos específicos para el cuidado del niño a diferencia de los padres que no tomaron la licencia, pero no se encontraron diferencias sobre el tiempo empleado con los niños o en las responsabilidades del cuidado de los mismos. En general, las creencias sobre la igualdad, la situación económica y la educación de los padres, tuvo más impacto que el involucrarse totalmente en el cuidado de los niños de los padres con licencia de paternidad.     

GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION TO PREVENT BANKRUPTCY: THE EFFECT OF BLIND‐BIDDING LAWS ON MOVIE THEATERS

In the 1970s motion picture studios increased their use of blind bidding and nonrefundable guarantees in an attempt to reduce the risks associated with producing a small number of large budget films. However, theater owners claimed that blind bidding and guarantees shifted risk to them and increased the likelihood of bankruptcy, because they were required to bid for the right to exhibit a movie without seeing it first. In response to the lobbying of theater owners, 24 states passed laws between 1978 and 1984 that banned blind bidding, while 7 states also banned nonrefundable guarantees. This paper provides the first empirical analysis of the conflicting claims made by theater owners and movie studios about the impact of these laws on the survival rates of independent theaters, admission prices, and delays in the release of movies. We find that the laws were not only ineffective in keeping theater owners at risk of bankruptcy from exiting the market; they may have been even detrimental to those theater owners converting theaters to multiplexes at that time. (JEL K, L)     

THE AMBIGUOUS CONSEQUENCES OF ANTI-DUMPING LAWS

The anti-dumping law is most often applied in oligopolistic industries, while most analyses focus on the monopoly model. I analyze a duopoly model where a foreign firm engages in price-based dumping. Under Cournot behavior, the anti-dumping law has ambiguous price and welfare effects. When the home firm is a Stackleberg leader, two disquieting effects emerge. First, the home firm can use the anti-dumping law to curtail competition even when the foreign firm does not initially engage in dumping. Second, the anti-dumping law can increase profits of both firms at the expense of domestic consumers.     

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.     

EFFECTS OF RESIDENTIAL SEGREGATION AND NEIGHBORHOOD OPPORTUNITY STRUCTURE ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF BLACK AND WHITE YOUTH

The object of this article is to consider the impact of local labor market opportunities on the employment of youth, and to evaluate the extent to which residential segregation is detrimental to the employment of young blacks. In the study, labor force statistics for white and black youth are related to job availability estimates derived from Dun and Bradstreet business data for 74 neighborhood communities in the city of Chicago. The findings underscore the unique role of local labor markets, especially for youth enrolled in school. Job availability has a strong impact on the employment ratio of blacks, but affects the employment of white youth only slightly. It appears, however, that when job availability is controlled, blacks benefit somewhat from segregation. The implications for job redistribution and its possible effect on the racial employment gap are discussed.     

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 SOCIAL CONTEXT OF RELIGIOUS INTEGRATION AND SUICIDE:

Recent research suggests that Durkheimian ideas on the impact of religious affiliation on suicide need to be updated and tailored to the modern cultural landscape of the United States. Following up on the importance of how historical context has shifted the integrative power of denominational networks, this article pursues the potential utility of a networks, perspective by suggesting that a significant contextual element has been neglected to date: Geographical context, both regional and rural-urban dimensions, also delimits the differential ability of religions to form a "community' of social support capable of integrating individuals. If the network approach provides a useful direction, the effects of religious affiliation across geographical areas should vary in a manner consistent with notions of how social structural opportunity and tradition (of lack thereof) affect religious network strength. Analyses of detailed suicide, religion, and sociodemographic data by region and population density in U.S. county groups do, in fact, indicate that for many major religious groups the effects of religious affiliation on suicide vary across geographical areas, consistent with network theory. For example, while Judaism's protective effect is small overall, it is large in the Northeast and reversed in the South. The protective strength also is reversed for Catholicism in the South and many Evangelical Protestant groups in the Northeast. Overall, the results suggest that region exerts a greater impact on religious affiliation effects than does population density, though the latter does impact on Catholic and Jewish effects.     

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.     

THE EFFECT OF THE FOOD STAMP PROGRAM ON NUTRIENT INTAKE

Receipt of food stamps is often observed to be positively correlated with intake of nutrients. However, this observed fact could be the result of self-selection into the food stamp program by those individuals who are more interested in maintaining good nutrition. We observe that, controlling for participation in the food stamp program, nutrition is negatively affected by food stamp income for a sample of elderly people. However, we find that the levels of nutrients do not decrease enough to cause individuals to fall below the Recommended Dietary Allowance.