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.     

The Critical Role of the Initial Stages of Cross-Sector Partnerships and Their Implications for Partnerships’ Outcomes

The paper presents research findings on the initial stages of the life cycle of cross-sector partnerships in the social services. The findings clearly show the importance and impact of the initial stages on the establishment and institutionalization of the partnerships over time. These stages are mainly characterized by clarifying the common goals of the partnership, mobilizing support to achieve the goals, overcoming resistance and relieving fears while convincing opponents to change their attitudes toward the partnership, and formalizing and constructing administrative processes and procedures. Special attention is given to the emotional energy that the management and workers invest in the initial stages in order to overcome barriers as well as ideological, cultural, and procedural gaps between the partner organizations. The relationships between selected organizational properties that typify the initial stages of cross-sector partnerships and the achievement of goals and outcomes are presented, analyzed, and discussed.

     

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.

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.     

Fashioning Futures: Life Coaching and the Self‐Made Identity Paradox

Contemporary processes of individualization push people to construct single‐handedly their own identities. This urge runs counter to a fundament of sociology, which proposes that identities are social products that must be validated through social relations. Based on participant observation and in‐depth interviews with life coaches and their clients, I investigate life coaching as a social institution that aims to resolve the paradoxical nature of the desire for self‐creation. Locating life coaching in the larger identity‐fashioning market, this article illustrates how the artificial nature of outsourced social relations reconciles two apparently contradictory desires: the “need for help” and “wanting to find it on my own.” Three mechanisms are involved: creating an independent social space where identities can be crafted away from significant others; deliberately deemphasizing the coach and intentionally underwriting personal authorship; and encouraging clients to root identities in the social world while promoting an instrumental view of sociality. The article discusses the blurring of boundaries between intimate social relations and utilitarian market logic, and the implications of the ongoing outsourcing of identity support that reinforces the privileged ideal of self‐made identities.