MENTAL ILLNESS AND THE DEMAND FOR ALCOHOL, COCAINE, AND CIGARETTES

This article estimates the effect of mental illness on demand for addictive substances, allowing for structural endogeneity and simultaneity between mental illness and addictive consumption. Results show that individuals with a history of mental illness are 26% more likely to consume alcohol, 66% more likely to consume cocaine, and 89% more likely to consume cigarettes. This high-participation group is also price-responsive, although their price elasticities differ somewhat from those without mental illness. The results provide added justification for higher taxes and supply reduction activities. Furthermore, subsidizing the treatment of mental illness can reduce addictive consumption.(JEL I1 )     

Financial literacy and the design of retirement plans

We design and administer a financial literacy test tailored to a specific defined contribution plan. We find that participants show fairly good knowledge of the basic mechanics of the plan, but are unable to differentiate among various investment options. Knowledge is particularly low among women, low income and low education employees. We also find some evidence that personal contributions lead to more knowledge. These results support plan designs that have few investment options and encourage personal contributions.     

An input-output model of the Irish economy

The article describes the use of an Input-Output Model in Ireland. It is a development of that originally described by R.C. Geary in a paper and has formed part of the author's Ph.D. dissertation. There is a main-level model, for which the Gross Fixed Capital Formation vector of Final Demand is taken as predetermined; a sub-model estimates the components of this GFCF vector. Because similar observed relations between economic variables are likely to occur in economies of somewhat similar size and stage of development, the Irish experience might be of interest to some other countries.     

Resilience in maltreated children: implications for special needs adoption.

Children in the child welfare system face renewed issues of loss as they enter adoptive placements. Every move is a loss and an exercise for the child in establishing the perception of a "safe" environment. Resilient children who have been abused develop coping skills to adapt to their abusing "unsafe" environments. When these children become part of an adoptive family, these coping skills need to be recognized as providing important cues to the child's world, rather than as challenging behaviors. The author deconstructs the words of resilient children into five themes that can help provide access into the children's world, a fresh viewpoint from which to assess the adopted children's reactive behaviors, and a foundation on which an adoptive relationship can be built.     

Risk-taking, attitudes toward aggression, and aggressive behavior among rural middle school youth

This study examined the relationship between risk-taking, general acceptance of aggression (GAA), verbal harassment (VH), and aggressive behavior (AB) in the last 30 days among 1440 seventh- and eighth-grade rural middle school youth. Higher levels of risk-taking predicted higher GAA and VH. Significant interactions for AB indicated that, excepting Black youth, higher risk-taking was related to higher levels of violent behavior. Among Black youth the highest levels of AB occurred at moderate levels of risk-taking. Level of risk-taking is an important risk factor that should be taken into account in the study of attitudes toward aggression and aggressive behavior among rural youth.     

Dynamic risk control for project development

A statistical methodology for dynamic risk control is discussed. The research is aimed at constructing tools for the analysis of expert opinions within a company about the risks involved in the production of a new commercial product or service. Focus is on risk events and on the analysis of the expert assessments of probabilities, losses and correlations of such events. A rescoring loop of risk assessments and preventive actions taken by the company on the basis of these assessments is illustrated through an example on software development. Relevant literature on risk and subjective elicitations is reviewed.     

Simultaneity in the use of maternal-child health care and contraceptives: evidence from developing countries

This study examined the relationship between the use of maternal-child health (MCH) care and the use of contraceptives. The high correlation between the two may be due to the independent effect of one on the other or to an association of both with the same or similar background factors. We used structural equation models to examine the relationship between these two interventions. The data were derived from six Demographic and Health Surveys: Zimbabwe from Sub-Saharan Africa, Thailand from Asia, Egypt and Tunisia from North Africa, and Guatemala and Colombia from Latin America. The results show that in all six countries, the use of contraceptives and MCH care are significantly associated, independent of intervening factors; this finding suggests that families develop a joint demand for better-quality health and limited family size and translate these demands into action by using health services for mothers and for children and by voluntarily regulating fertility.