Sociotropes, Systematic Bias, and Political Failure: Reflections on the Survey of Americans and Economists on the Economy

Objectives . Economic models of politics typically make two assumptions about voters: first, their motives are egocentric, not sociotropic; second, their beliefs are rational, not subject to systematic bias. Political scientists have presented strong evidence against the first assumption (Mansbridge, 1990), but have become increasingly willing to accept the second (Page and Shapiro, 1992; Marcus and Hanson, 1993). This article tests these two assumptions, then explores the tests' broader implications. Methods . I use the Survey of Americans and Economists on the Economy to test for egocentricity of motivation and rationality of belief. Results . Both standard assumptions fail for the case where the economic approach would seemingly be most relevant: economic beliefs. Conclusions . This is not necessarily cause for greater optimism about the efficiency of democracy: sociotropic voters with biased economic beliefs are more likely to produce severe political failures than are selfish voters with rational expectations.     

Job Satisfaction,Work Environment,and Rewards: Motivational Theory Revisited

A model of job satisfaction integrating economic and work environment variables was developed and used for testing interactions between rewards and work environment hazards. Data came from a representative panel of Danish employees. Results showed that psychosocial work environment factors, like information about decisions concerning the work place, social support, and influence, have significant impacts on the level of job satisfaction. Maximizing rewards did not compensate public employees to an extent that ameliorated the negative effects on job satisfaction of experiencing low levels of any of these factors whereas influence did not impact job satisfaction of private employees.     

The Adverse Consequences of Share-Based Pay in Risky Companies

Shareholders increasingly regard it as desirable to link director pay packages to the share price, in order to align directors’ incentives with those of the shareholders. The result of such remuneration packages is that directors’ wealth will become concentrated in one stock, giving them an undiversified portfolio of shares. The resulting need to diversify will encourage directors to exercise their share options, irrespective of their expectations about future stock price performance. This benefit to diversifying will be greater the riskier the stock. Consistent with this, this paper finds that only option exercises in relatively low risk companies are informed, and precede significantly negative abnormal returns over the following 2-month period. As a result, providing directors in riskier companies with share-based pay packages might not be effective in aligning their incentives with those of the shareholders.     

Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility and Value Creation among Large Firms: Lessons from the Spanish Experience

Can corporate social responsibility (CSR) be a source of good and a wellspring of innovation, competitive advantage and value creation for the firm? Although CEOs and government leaders insist in public that CSR projects create value for the firm, privately they admit that they do not know if CSR pays off. To address this question and drawing on experience for the Spanish context, we test one of the few efforts to model how the strategic management of CSR may contribute to improving firm profitability (Burke and Logsdon, 1996). To do this, we examine the impact of three strategic CSR variables – visibility, appropriability, and voluntarism – on value creation among large Spanish corporations. The conclusions from these findings suggest that managers need to understand how CSR is similar to and different from other traditional corporate market activities if they are to pursue value creation through CSR. We also suggest avenues for future research to explain how CSR may be integrated into firm processes to create resources (assets) and capabilities (routines) that may lead to competitive advantage and superior economic performance.     

A value of information framework for assessing the trade-offs associated with uncertainty,duration, and cost of chemical toxicity testing

A number of investigators have explored the use of value of information (VOI) analysis to evaluate alternative information collection procedures in diverse decision-making contexts. This paper presents an analytic framework for determining the value of toxicity information used in risk-based decision making. The framework is specifically designed to explore the trade-offs between cost, timeliness, and uncertainty reduction associated with different toxicity-testing methodologies. The use of the proposed framework is demonstrated by two illustrative applications which, although based on simplified assumptions, show the insights that can be obtained through the use of VOI analysis. Specifically, these results suggest that timeliness of information collection has a significant impact on estimates of the VOI of chemical toxicity tests, even in the presence of smaller reductions in uncertainty. The framework introduces the concept of the expected value of delayed sample information, as an extension to the usual expected value of sample information, to accommodate the reductions in value resulting from delayed decision making. Our analysis also suggests that lower cost and higher throughput testing also may be beneficial in terms of public health benefits by increasing the number of substances that can be evaluated within a given budget. When the relative value is expressed in terms of return-on-investment per testing strategy, the differences can be substantial.     

Long-Term RCT outcomes for adolescent alcohol and cannabis use within a predominantly Hispanic sample

Because adolescents are unlikely to seek, receive, or complete treatment for alcohol and/or cannabis misuse, it is important to enhance the lasting impact of clinical contacts when they do occur. Adolescents (N = 506; 72.5% Hispanic) were randomized to motivational interviewing (MI) versus alcohol and cannabis education (ACE). Latent growth models estimated change over time. Significant reductions in alcohol use were observed, with slightly greater reductions by 12-month follow-up for MI. Both interventions significantly reduced cannabis use, with no treatment group differences. When outcomes were examined comparing Hispanic to non-Hispanic participants, there were no significant differences in intervention efficacy by group. MI's inherently client-centered and culturally adaptive approach may contribute to its equitable degree of behavior change for youth across race/ethnic backgrounds.