TESTING COMMITMENT COST THEORY IN CHOICE EXPERIMENTS

In choice experiments, it is commonly assumed that individuals make choices in static and certainty decision‐making conditions. Real‐world choices, however, are usually made in a dynamic setting. Committing a purchase decision under conditions of uncertainty might have a “Commitment Cost” (CC). In this study, we test CC theory using a nonhypothetical choice experiment. Specifically, we test whether choice behavior and willingness to pay estimates differ when individuals have the option to gain present or delayed information or reverse the transaction. Our results suggest that the construction of a dynamic decision context can be relevant in the design of choice experiments. (JEL C90, C93, Q18)     

Power and control in gay strip clubs

The gay strip club is a place in which more than displays of male beauty take place. The mix of customers, performers, liquor, and nudity results in fascinating dynamics. Of interest in this article are the power relationships and issues of control played out both among and between strippers and customers. Based on extensive participant observation conducted in eight cities and numerous bars/clubs and including more than 150 in-depth interviews, this article concerns just one aspect of the world of male strippers who perform for men.     

EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CHILD SAFETY SEATS AND SEAT BELTS IN PROTECTING CHILDREN FROM INJURY

Young children are required to use child safety seats, and the age threshold at which children can legally graduate to seat belts has steadily increased. This article tests the relative effectiveness of child safety seats, lap‐and‐shoulder seat belts, and lap belts in preventing injuries among motor vehicle passengers aged 2–6 yr. We analyze three large, representative samples of crashes reported to police, as well as linked hospital data. We find no apparent difference in the two most serious injury categories for children in child safety seats versus lap‐and‐shoulder belts. Child safety seats provide a statistically significant 25% reduction in the least serious injury category. Lap belts are somewhat less effective than the two other types of restraints but far superior to riding unrestrained. (JEL I18)     

Dynamic issues in the planning and control of integrated manufacturing hierarchies

Integrated manufacturing operations typically are organized along hierarchical lines. Characterized by product aggregation and time horizon, hierarchical decompositions aim at easing problems associated with the complexity and scale of the manufacturing function taken as a whole. Static models have been developed and employed which facilitate the analysis and functioning of these organizations. Existing models are valuable aids in assisting goal-planning functions, but provide little guidance for directing the pursuit of goals. This paper presents a new hierarchical model of integrated manufacturing operations based on concepts of management control. The model is congruent with commonly used static planning models, while at the same lime depicting real-time, goal-achievement efforts within a dynamic operating environment. Emphasizing the interactions between goal planning and goal achievement, the dynamic model provides a means of assessing the effects of decentralization and autonomy on the goal planning and achievement process. The model is used to identify two resource-consuming chain reactions linked to replanning and goal pursuit within the hierarchy. A simple example based on the dynamic extension of a typical static decomposition illustrates the key findings.     

Does a helping hand put others at risk?: affirmative action,police departments,and crime

Will increasing the number of minority and women police officers make law enforcement more effective by drawing on abilities that have gone untapped and creating better contact with communities and victims? Or will standards have to be lowered too far before large numbers of minorities and women can be hired? Using cross‐sectional time‐series data for U.S. cities for 1987, 1990, and 1993, I find that hiring more black and minority police officers increases crime rates, but this apparently arises because lower hiring standards involved in recruiting more minority officers reduces the quality of both new minority and new nonminority officers. The most adverse effects of these hiring policies have occurred in the areas most heavily populated by blacks. There is no consistent evidence that crime rates rise when more women are hired, and this raises questions about whether norming tests or altering their content to create equal pass rates is preferable. The article examines how the changing composition of police departments affects such measures as the murder of and assaults against police officers.     

RATIONING BY SELLER'S PREFERENCE AND PACIAL PRICE DISCRIMINATION

This paper investigates the behavior of a seller who has a preference for a certain group of customers. The seller maintains stable prices over time and supplements price rationing with a nonprice rationing. In this situation the preferred buyers would have priority over nonpreferred buyers in purchasing the commodity, and if the latter purchase the commodity they may be paying higher prices. It is proposed here that the premium paid by the nonpreferred buyers is a necessary bribe to induce the seller to forego his search for the preferred buyers.     

Scheduling and the problem of computational complexity

Why is it that the problem of scheduling is so computationally difficult to solve? At last recent developments in modern mathematical complexity theory are providing some insights. The paper describes in essentially non-mathematical terms the computational technique known as the ‘Branch and Bound Method’. This, the best general optimising technique available for scheduling, is also shown to have its limitations. It now appears that efficient computational and optimising algorithms are unlikely ever to be found for all except special cases of the general industrial scheduling problem. It seems that heuristic (rule-of-thumb) methods leading to approximate solutions are likely to offer the only real promise for the future.     

Procedural Justice and the Cooperative Worker: An Interactional Model of Union Participation

Using data collected from a United Steelworkers of America local, we examine the extent to which fair union decision-making processes (procedural justice) and member disposition interact to promote union-supportive behavior. Although results indicate both procedural justice and a collectivist work disposition are positively related to union-supportive behavior, hierarchical regression reveals that procedural justice influences the behavior of members with individualistic work dispositions but not the behavior of members with a collectivist work disposition. So, employers who adopt human resource practices consistent with the high- performance work paradigm may foster increased levels of union-supportive behavior, and unions may need to take member disposition into account when selecting training programs aimed at fostering union-supportive behavior.