An Anomaly in Political Perception

This article uses two theories of political perception, displacementtheory and political cue theory, to analyze the abortion issue.Although both theories are supported, neither can account forthe anomaly of collective misperception of Ted Kennedy's position.Experimentally manipulating the salience of politics and religionaffected perception of Kennedy's position in a way that supportedan extended version of political cue theory.     

FIRST-PRICE COMMON VALUE AUCTIONS: BIDDER BEHAVIOR AND THE "WINNER'S CURSE"

Experimental auction markets are characterized by a strong winner's curse in early auction periods as high bidders consistently lose money, failing to account for the adverse selection problem inherent in winning the auction. With experience and bankruptcy on the part of the worst offenders, subjects earn positive average profits, but these are far below Nash equilibrium predictions as a sizable minority of bids exceed the expected value of the item conditional on having the highest estimate of value. Individual bidding behavior is explored to identify the mechanism whereby market outcomes no longer display the worst effects of the winner's curse.     

MIGRATION TRENDS AND EARNINGS OF FREE AGENTS IN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL, 1976–1979

This paper is an empirical investigation of the effect of team characteristics on the migration pattern of free agents in Major League Baseball during the period 1976–1979. The results indicate that high-quality free agents tend to leave winning teams and move to teams in cities with large or rapidly growing populations. The compensation paid to free agents is shown to depend on these team characteristics as well as the players' personal characteristics and market conditions.     

MULTIPLE-MEASURE ASSESSMENT OF PARTY IDENTIFICATION

Recent research has focused attention on the importance of accountingfor measurement error in party identification when modelingthe stability of partisanship and the determinants of the vote.Measurement error estimates have in the past been based on asingle measure of partisanship observed at multiple points intime, a test-retest methodology that requires fairly strongassumptions about the character of change over time. This articleassesses the reliability of the Michigan party identificationscale using multiple measures of partisanship at a single pointin time. Our data not only corroborate previous test-retestresults but also suggest that the accuracy with which partisanshippredicts candidate preferences can be enhanced using multiplemeasures. One measure in particular, a labeled 7-point self-placementcontinuum, is found to hold significant potential to supplementand illuminate the Michigan scale.