Does the Representation of Household Behavior Matter for Welfare Analysis of Tax-benefit Policies? An Introduction

A widely shared intuition holds that individual control over money matters for the decision process within the household and the subsequent distribution of resources and welfare. As a consequence, there are good reasons to depart from the unitary model of the household and to explore the possibilities offered by models of the family accounting for several decision makers in the household and for the potential impact of tax reforms on the balance of power. This paper summarizes both the methodological and empirical findings presented in the next three papers of this special issue of the Review of the Economics of the Household. This series of contributions primarily entails a concrete comparison of the policy implications of the choice between the unitary and a particular multi-person representation: the collective representation. On the one hand, it suggests a methodology to implement the collective model of labor supply in a realistic context where participation is modeled together with working hours, and where the full tax-benefit system is accounted for. On the other hand, the empirical part relies on comprehensive simulations of tax reforms in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom, and allows to quantify the distortions that may affect policy recommendations based on the unitary model.

Art Without A Market: Creating Artistic Value In A Provincial Art World

Symbolic interactionism is defined as the study of social acts and social objects. Paintings are social objects whose value is almost entirely created in the social acts called art worlds. Important art worlds are currently organized as art markets, in which art is created, exhibited, bought, sold and discussed by artists, museums, dealers, collectors, and critics. In St. Louis, where fieldwork was done, the art market is marginal; art schools and faculty artists replace dealers, collectors, museums, galleries, and critics in the local production of art, the creation of art value, and the determination of artistic status.     

Women,Welfare and Civil Society Organizations: Creating an Alternative Women's Welfare Sphere in Israel

This article examines the phenomenon of Israeli civil society organizations (CSOs) providing services to women as part of the creation of an alternative women's welfare sphere in Israel in recent years, and its influence upon the welfare state and women. The creation and the existence of the women's civil society sphere can be seen as part of a move by the Israeli welfare state towards a liberal‐style economic regime. The article examines the services and mode of operation of fourteen organizations offering welfare, health and educational services to women in Israel, using a qualitative research method. The study identifies four traits characterizing these organizations: their loose connections with the welfare state, the use of sectoral and selective criteria determining eligibility for their services, the mirroring of internal dynamics of the community and its response to gender issues, and the CSOs' holistic, sporadic and unprofessional services. The analysis highlights the gender dimensions of civil society organizations, the characteristics of structure and content of the services they offer, and the role and place of civil society organizations operating parallel to the welfare state. It sheds light on the complex nature of this sphere and its services, which contribute to the empowerment and improvement of women's lives but, simultaneously, strengthen and reinforce their exclusion and marginalization.     

Nonparametric density estimation for censored survival data: Regression-spline approach

A method for nonparametric estimation of density based on a randomly censored sample is presented. The density is expressed as a linear combination of cubic M -splines, and the coefficients are determined by pseudo-maximum-likelihood estimation (likelihood is maximized conditionally on data-dependent knots). By using regression splines (small number of knots) it is possible to reduce the estimation problem to a space of low dimension while preserving flexibility, thus striking a compromise between parametric approaches and ordinary nonparametric approaches based on spline smoothing. The number of knots is determined by the minimum AIC. Examples of simulated and real data are presented. Asymptotic theory and the bootstrap indicate that the precision and the accuracy of the estimates are satisfactory.     

Broadening the definition of environmental equity: A framework for states and local governments

We propose a framework for evaluating environmental inequity that includes desirable and undesirable characteristics. We also propose that state governments conduct the evaluations and that the local government scale (boroughs, cities, and townships) be the first scale analyzed. This framework recognizes the critical role of the state and local governments in the American federalist system. The 567 local governments of the State of New Jersey are used to illustrate the framework. Results of these analyses should be used to make initial decisions about local governments that warrant investigation at the neighborhood scale and preliminary, though not necessarily, final decisions about local governments and neighborhoods that deserve relief. We identify three important issues that each state will need to confront: selecting and weighting characteristics for analysis; choosing the most appropriate geographical units to use as a basis for decisions; and developing a process that will not be misused by groups seeking to avoid responsibility for their actions.     

COMMON COMPONENTS OF RISK AND UNCERTAINTY ATTITUDES ACROSS CONTEXTS AND DOMAINS: EVIDENCE FROM 30 COUNTRIES

Attitudes towards risk and uncertainty have been indicated to be highly context‐dependent, and to be sensitive to the measurement technique employed. We present data collected in controlled experiments with 2,939 subjects in 30 countries measuring risk and uncertainty attitudes through incentivized measures as well as survey questions. Our data show clearly that measures correlate not only within decision contexts or measurement methods, but also across contexts and methods. This points to the existence of one underlying “risk preference”, which influences attitudes independently of the measurement method or choice domain. We furthermore find that answers to a general and a financial survey question correlate with incentivized lottery choices in most countries. Incentivized and survey measures also correlate significantly between countries. This opens the possibility to conduct cultural comparisons on risk attitudes using survey instruments.     

For the Love of Art? Episodic Volunteering at Cultural Events

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - Although episodic volunteering is a popular form of volunteering and has received increasing attention from researchers,...     

Are antidepressant and antipsychotic drug trials registered? A cross-sectional analysis of registration and reporting of methodologic characteristics

Introduction: In 2005, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) proposed that all submitted trials in all 11 member journals must be prospectively registered in order to be considered for publication. Registering drug trials was meant to reduce the likelihood of selective reporting. The aim was to determine the proportion of antipsychotic and antidepressant trials that were registered.

Methods: We searched in Pubmed for all randomized controlled trials of any antidepressant or antipsychotic published between July and December 2014. The primary objective was to determine the proportion of trials that were registered. Secondary objectives included comparing the reporting of methodological details and positive study findings between registered and unregistered trials.

Results: Of the 67 studies identified, 58% were registered. 75% of the antipsychotic trials and 51% of the antidepressant trials were registered, respectively. Registered trials were more likely to report important methodological details associated with risk of bias in RCTs. There was no significant difference in trials reporting positive outcomes for the study intervention between registered and unregistered trials.

Conclusion: Approximately 60% of published antidepressant and antipsychotic drug trials during July to December 2014 were registered. Unregistered trials were less likely to report important methodological details.     

Can't Buy Me Love: Gift-Giving Among Members of Criminal Organizations

This paper problematizes gift relations in criminal organizations. It adopts a symbolic interaction perspective to focus scholarly attention on the way in which actants skillfully maneuver within the social expectations inherent in gift-giving relations. The study is based on insights from twenty interviews with ex-convicts and ten interviews with police officers or associates, and an in-depth analysis of memoirs, police reports, and newspaper articles. Our study expands the scope of symbolic interactionism by considering how the exchange of gifts and favors is emotionally stylized to achieve both social and operative goals. We aim to carefully deconstruct the performance of gift-giving and favor exchange in Israeli crime organizations, to understand how it is orchestrated to elicit genuine feelings among givers and recipients, as well as to control the use of violence. Finally, we identify gift-giving as a double-edged sword designed to lure recruits into a network of binding obligations, only to form a durable system of credit and debt wherein any transgressions are strictly punished.