Research Note: The Social Behaviour of Injecting Drug Users

Correspondence to Professor J. G. Barber, School of Social Work, Newnham Drive, Newnham, P.O. Box 1214, Launceston, Tesmania 7250, Australia. Summary As part of a larger interview schedule conducted with 1245 injectingdrug users in Sydney, Australia, respondents were asked aboutthe degree to which their drug use is conducted within a groupcontext. They were also asked about the size of their user groupsand the extent of needle-sharing that occurs in the groups.Results revealed that injecting drug use was a social behaviourapproximately half of the time for the overall sample, but thatthere were statistically significant differences according tothe age, gender, and drug experience of the user. The studyalso found an alarming amount of needle-sharing among the sampleoverall. Females, younger users, and those less experiencedin injecting drug use were more inclined to inject in groups,while needle-sharing was more common among older and more experiencedusers.     

TOWARD AN ECONOMIC THEORY OF FASHION

Competition for rank within animal societies is an innate drive recognized in sociobiological and evolutionary theory. In human societies, fashion signals social rank or status. We extend standard economic theories of competitive and noncompetitive markets to analyze fashion by including the status-seeking incentive. In the competitive case, the conditions under which fashion cycles occur are examined. In the noncompetitive case, producers of fashion services discriminate between customers intertemporally to sustain the fashionability of their services. Unlike the standard models of fashion that populate marketing textbooks, our theory of fashion does not require that demand curves slope upward.     

REWARDS, EXPERIENCE AND DECISION COSTS IN FIRST PRICE AUCTIONS

Consistent with a model of asymmetric risk aversion, subjects in first price auctions consistently bid above the risk neutral Nash prediction. It has been argued that this is due to low opportunity cost of deviating from the risk neutral bid. We increase opportunity cost (and payoff levels) by factors of 0, 1, 5, 10, and 20, from the normal levels generating payoffs up to $250 for risk neutral subjects and observe an insignificant increase in the slope of individual bid functions. The RMSE of bids declines significantly. This is consistent with a reward/decision cost model of bidding behavior.     

TRANSACTION RISK AND BIDDING BEHAVIOR

This paper analyzes a model of consumer behavior where transaction risk in the form of a divergence between bid and executed demand is incorporated into the consumer's decision process. A neutral assumption concerning risk preferences, combined with income and expenditure constraints, is shown to be sufficient to generate behavior commonly associated with risk aversion. Such responses to transaction risk are referred to as objective reactions as opposed to subjective attitudes toward risk. The income effect is shown to play an important role in determining behavioral reactions to this type of risk.     

THE WELFARE COST OF THE UNDERGROUND ECONOMY

This paper estimates the welfare cost of taxes that create an incentive for resources to flow to the underground, or untaxed, sector in the United States. Using a general equilibrium model of the American economy, the welfare cost is found to be large and growing in absolute and relative terms over time. In 1980 the welfare cost may be as much as $220 billion, or over 9 percent of output; even conservative estimates place the loss at nearly $100 billion. It also is found that small reductions in tax rates substantially reduce the welfare cost.     

Work and social participation in a contemporary urban-industrial society: a review of the literature and analysis of Canadian data*

Les études qui ont tenté d'expliquer la ségrégation dans les activités sociales de la famille, relativement à la communauté, en insistant sur son statut socio-économique et la cohérence de son réseau (network connectedness), ont été en grande partie peu concluantes. Cette étude entreprend une critique d'évaluation de ces 2 façons d'aborder la question et explore ensuite un autre raisonnement voulant que l'explication de la ségrégation sociale puisse se retrouver dans l'expérience de travail du salarié qui la transmet à sa vie de famille. Plusieurs études théoriques et empiriques admettent l'hypothèse que la ségrégation dans les activites sociales de type primaire et centrées sur l'organisation, est une réaction aux contraintes professionnelles et aux orientations spécifiques provenant de dispositions de travail fortement bureaucratiques, de travaux automatisés et de carrières déréglées. A l'aide d'analyses de classification multiples (Multiple Classification Analysis) on a examiné ces hypothèses avec des données portant sur 105 unités familiales à salaire unique de la région de York Est, à Toronto. Les données ont confirmé ces hypothèses alternatives. Il y a eu un certain appui pour les hypothèses de statut socio-économique, mais aucune conclusion définitive n'est ressortie de l'hypothese du réseau. Les resultats de cette recherche indiquent le besoin de remplacer les études conventionnelles centrées sur le statut socio-économique et les réseaux communautaires par d'autres qui se pencheraient sur la participation sociale relativement aux différentes composantes de l'expérience de travail. Les implications de ces résultats sont discutées en réponse à certaines opinions qui semblent minimiser les répercussions des pressions du travail sur la vie de famille dans les communautés industrielles qui vivent dans l'abondance. Studies that have attempted to explain segregation in community-related social activities of the family by concentrating on its SES and network connectedness have been largely inconclusive. Following a critical evaluation of these two approaches, this paper explores an alternative argument that suggests that an explanation of social segregation may be sought in the work experience of wage-earners which they carry over to their family life. Several theoretical and empirical studies are reviewed to hypothesize that segregation in both primary and organization-focused social activities occurs in response to occupational constraints and specific orientations that stem from highly bureaucratic work settings, mechanically-paced jobs and disorderly work careers. Using Multiple Classification Analysis, these hypotheses are examined with data on 105 intact, single-earner families of East York, Toronto. The data showed a greater support for these alternative hypotheses. There was some support for the SES hypothesis but no definitive findings emerged on the network hypothesis. The findings of this study indicate a need for shifting the conventional focus from SES and social networks to studies of social participation in relation to different components of the work experience. The implications of these findings are discussed for certain competing views that seem to underplay the impact of work pressures on family life in affluent industrial societies.