PREDICTING RETIREMENT SAVINGS USING SURVEY MEASURES OF EXPONENTIAL‐GROWTH BIAS AND PRESENT BIAS

In a nationally representative sample, we predict retirement savings using survey‐based elicitations of exponential‐growth bias (EGB) and present bias (PB). We find that EGB, the tendency to neglect compounding, and PB, the tendency to value the present over the future, are highly significant and economically meaningful predictors of retirement savings. These relationships hold controlling for cognitive ability, financial literacy, and a rich set of demographic controls. We address measurement error as a potential confound and explore mechanisms through which these biases may operate. Back of the envelope calculations suggest that eliminating EGB and PB would increase retirement savings by approximately 12%. (JEL D91, D14)     

Employment relations and dismissal regulations: Does employment legislation protect the health of workers?

Sociologists have long acknowledged that being in a precarious labour market position, whether employed or unemployed, can harm peoples' health. However, scholars have yet to fully investigate the possible contextual, institutional determinants of this relationship. Two institutions that were overlooked in previous empirical studies are the regulations that set minimum compensation for dismissal, severance payments, and entitlements to a period of notice before dismissal, notice periods. These institutions may be important for workers' health as they influence the degree of insecurity that workers are exposed to. Here, we test this hypothesis by examining whether longer notice periods and greater severance payments protect the health of labour market participants, both employed and unemployed. We constructed two cohorts of panel data before and during the European recession using data from 22 countries in the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (person years = 338,000). We find more generous severance payments significantly reduce the probability that labour market participants, especially the unemployed, will experience declines in self‐reported health, with a slightly weaker relationship for longer notice periods.     

Petrochemical releases disproportionately affected socially vulnerable populations along the Texas Gulf Coast after Hurricane Harvey

Hurricane Harvey resulted in a natural-technological disaster in which flooding caused petrochemical facilities to release hazardous chemicals. Natural-technological disasters are rarely analyzed from an environmental justice (EJ) perspective. We calculated a Hurricane Harvey petrochemical hazard density index (PHDI) based on the locations of 42 facilities with reported releases along the Texas Gulf Coast. We used sociodemographic data from the American Community Survey to examine census tract-level social inequalities in PHDI (n?=?1099 tracts). Results from generalized estimating equations indicate that tracts with higher proportions of Hispanic, disabled, or young residents had greater PHDI. PHDI was positively associated with tract poverty, with a slight downward curve at high poverty. Under conditions of higher Hispanic composition, the positive effect of poverty on PHDI was amplified. With more frequent storms predicted, regulatory agencies need to ensure that the petrochemical industry prepares for rapid shutdowns in order to protect residents from natural-technological disasters.

     

Parental socialization of positive affect,adolescent positive affect regulation,and adolescent girls’ depression in India

An emerging body of research shows that parental socialization of positive affect (PA) is implicated in youth functioning, although most evidence comes from Western countries. In this study, focusing on adolescent girls in India, we examined associations among reports of parents’ responses to adolescent PA, adolescent PA regulation, and adolescent depression. A total of 238 adolescent girls (13–18 years) and one of their parents (54% mothers) were recruited. Participants completed questionnaires at the beginning of the school year (time 1) and five months later (time 2). At the bivariate level, parents’ dampening and adolescent girls’ dampening responses were each associated concurrently with adolescent depression at time 1. However, there were no significant direct associations between time 1 parents’ dampening or enhancing responses and time 2 adolescent girls’ depression (after controlling for time 1 depression). Using half‐longitudinal models, a significant indirect effect was found from parental dampening of PA to increased adolescent depression via adolescent girls’ own increased dampening. No indirect effect was found from parental enhancing to adolescent depression via adolescent girls’ increased positive rumination. These findings are the first to demonstrate the relevance of PA socialization for girls in a non‐Western culture.     

Pension policy design changes in EU countries since the mid‐1990s

Recent decades have been characterised by significant pension reforms. This article reviews this process, focusing on five policy design issues that have concerned policymakers: optimising poverty alleviation effectiveness; redefining the state's role in smoothing incomes over the life‐course; balancing contributions to benefits; adjusting the system to respond to demographic, economic and social changes; and ensuring that reforms will be long‐lasting. While the role of state pensions is diminishing, there is a growing realisation of the need to ensure that they remain adequate, reigniting interest in minimum pensions and contribution credits. The expanding role of private pensions has led governments to intervene more in their operation. Policymakers have shown interest in automatic adjustment mechanisms to bring about required economic changes. However, there is greater understanding that for these to happen, the state has to engage more with its citizens.     

Environmental Concern of Labor Union Members in the United States

The labor and environmental movements have had a complicated relationship with periods of cooperation as well as conflict, but recently there has been increasing collaboration at the national level. Whether such a trend of cooperation can be sustained will partially depend on grassroots‐level connections between the two movements. However, there has been little empirical research on the environmental attitudes of union members, which is important for understanding the potential for shared values between union members and environmental activists. This article analyzes 1993, 2000, and 2010 General Social Survey data to examine if the environmental attitudes of people in union households have changed given shifting labor–environment relations and broader political‐economic conditions. We find that union membership does not influence environmental concern in weaker economic times (1993 and 2010) but that it has a positive effect on environmental concern in stronger economic times (2000). Thus, union households are generally no less concerned about the environment than nonunion households. Therefore, strengthening connections between union members and environmental activists may be a feasible strategy for invigorating both the labor and environmental movements.     

A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Home Environment and Home Social Behavior Data from the Elementary School Success Profile for Families

The purpose of the current study was to test the factor structure and scale quality of data provided by caregivers about the home environment and child behavior at home using the Elementary School Success Profile (ESSP) for Families. The ESSP for Families is one component of the ESSP, an online social-environmental assessment that also collects information from students and teachers. Confirmatory factor analyses with Mplus and weighted least squares means and variances adjusted estimation took into account the hierarchical nature and ordinal level of the data. The sample comprised caregivers of 692 third- through fifth-grade students from 13 elementary schools in four districts. A primary model and an alternative model were tested. Models were tested on a random calibration sample and validated with another sample. A nine-factor first-order solution demonstrated superior fit to the data. Scores from the nine scales also demonstrated acceptable internal consistency reliability. Implications for practice and further research are presented.     

Self‐Service Operations at Retail Stores: The Role of Inter‐Customer Interactions

Inter‐customer interactions are important to the operation of self‐services in retail settings. More specifically, when self‐service terminals are used as part of customers’ checkout processes in retail operations without the explicit involvement of retailers as the direct service providers, inter‐customer interactions become a significant managerial issue. In this article, we examine the impact of inter‐customer interactions at retail self‐service terminals on customers’ service quality perceptions and repeat purchase intentions at retail stores. We conduct a scenario‐based experimental design (N = 674) using a 2 × 2 factorial design in which inter‐customer interactions are divided into “positive” vs. “negative” and occur during the “waiting” or during the actual “transaction” stages of self‐services at a retail store. We use attribution theory to develop the hypotheses. The results demonstrate that, through their interactions, fellow customers can exert influences on a focal customer's quality perceptions and repeat purchasing intentions toward a retail store. Furthermore, these influences were impacted by how customers attribute blame or assign responsibility toward the retail store. Service operations managers should leverage these interactions by designing into self‐service settings the capacities and interfaces that are best suited for customers’ co‐production of their self‐service experiences.