Deterrence and the Morally Committed*

The deterrence literature suggests that perceptions of the threat of legal sanctions influence the extent of involvement in illegal behavior only among those individuals who have not internalized legal norms. Individuals who are morally committed to a norm will not violate it, regardless of their perceptions of the certainty and severity of legal sanctions. We argue that this hypothesis relegates coercion to a position of secondary importance in a theory of social control; and we offer a rationale for an alternative hypothesis that perceived sanction threat has a deterrent effect at all levels of moral commitment. Our analysis, using refined measures of the variables which have emerged in recent research, supports our alternative hypothesis.     

User cognitive types for decision support systems

This paper describes and presents the results of an experiment that was used to investigate the relationships between cognitive types, information presentation and their effect on decision making performance within the context of an MIS/DSS. The experimental task required subjects to specify production levels for future periods given information on prior results. Ninety-six subjects performed the experiment, with 24 in each of the four Jungian cognitive type groups. All subjects received the same information for making decisions but different information presentation modes. The information presentation modes included raw and statistically summarized data and graphical and tabular layouts. The subjects were provided their results after each of their ten decision ‘runs’ via hard copy output. Decisions were entered at CRT terminals by the subjects. Experimental results demonstrated significant differences in performance by cognitive types. Decision performance rankings were partially supported by the results. Hypothesized pairings of cognitive types and information presentation modes were also partially supported. Implications of the results for MIS/DSS design are explored.     

Cross-country analyses don't estimate health-health responses

Health-Health analysis has attracted considerable attention as one way to evaluate the costs of regulatory policy to people. When a regulation is adopted to reduce the “risk” experienced by a particular group, health-health analysis seeks to evaluate when the indirect effects of an increase in prices or reduction in income offsets the direct effects intended by the regulation. If these indirect effects are large enough, then the general population can experience an increase in their overall risk. The article considers health-health analysis as it relates to policy decisions from conceptual and empirical perspectives. A comparative static analysis was a simple model is used to illustrate the factors influencing the relative effects of income and policy variables on risk. The empirical analysis also suggests that results with aggregate cross-country data and simple reduced-form models for the relationship of mortality to income are sensitive to model specifications and the sample composition.     

Population forecasting standards: Some consideralions concerning their necessity and content

This paper discusses the nature of population forecasting and provides guidelines for standards that are in line with good professional practice yet do not stifle creativity or technical advances.