Financial Issues Associated with Having a Child with Autism

Data from the Family Experiences with Autism Survey are used to identify factors associated with financial problems in families that have a child with autism. Likelihood of financial problems was positively associated with use of medical interventions, having unreimbursed medical or therapy expenses, and having relatively lower income. Use of speech and language therapy was negatively associated with likelihood of financial problems. Many survey respondents forfeited future financial security and even experienced bankruptcy to provide needed therapy for a child with autism. Specific ways that financial advisors can help families that have a child with autism are outlined.

Did State Children’s Health Insurance Program Affect Married Women’s Labor Supply?

While the relationships between health insurance and the labor supply of women have been explored in the literature, little is known about the effects of offering public health insurance on the labor supply decisions of married women. This paper examines how the enactment of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) affected the labor supply decisions of married women. Our empirical analysis showed that certain groups of married women reduced their number of hours worked upon SCHIP implementation. The results imply it is possible that some wives decreased their labor supply in order to make their children eligible for public health insurance.

Public Management at the Ballot Box: Performance Information and Electoral Support for Incumbent English Local Governments

Publishing performance information about local public services,an increasing trend in many Organisation for Economic Co-operationand Development countries, matters politically because it hasan effect on incumbent local governments' electoral support.Voters are able to use performance information to punish orreward incumbents in the elections that follow their publication,which may fill a gap in the chain of accountability betweenvoters and governments. We model the introduction of publishedComprehensive Performance Assessments of local authorities inEngland, which make summary information about performance availableto voters, as a "shock" to the relationship between voters andincumbents. Controlling for an unpublicized measure of performancechange over time, change in the local tax level, change in localeconomic conditions, and whether the local incumbent is theparty of the incumbent government at the national level, wefind negativity bias. Incumbents in local authorities in the"poor" performance category experience a substantial reductionin aggregate vote share at the election following publication,but there is no similarly sized reward for those in the highestperformance category.     

Vulnerabilities and risks in population and environment studies

In the study of risks , different sciences use the same category in different ways, each related to its own ontological assumptions. But many of these fields communicate very little with one another. This article seeks to approximate two of these areas of study that have shown similar concerns and that can mutually strengthen one another, namely, geography and demography. Geography was one of the first disciplines to include risk in its environmental dimension and has had broad experience in simultaneously focusing on social and natural dynamics. Demography, on the other hand, faces greater difficulties because only recently has it incorporated the environmental dimension into its scientific scope. Both have brought the concept of vulnerability into their conceptual framework as complementary to that of risk. Geographers understand vulnerability as a more symbiotic form of the relationship between society and nature, whereas demographers give it a strong socioeconomic component. In this regard, the conceptual discussion on risks and vulnerabilities, in its attempt at approximating these two fields, is a way of conceptually advancing and strengthening the different approaches to empirical work, especially in population–environment studies which is the common ground for the dialogue between the two disciplines.

Organizational Computing as a Facilitator of Operational and Managerial Decision Making: An Exploratory Study of Managers' Perceptions*

Much of the current knowledge pertaining to information technology (IT) and decision making is based on decades old technologies that revolved around a central computing function and application-specific systems. The purpose of this research is to examine the IT decision-making relationship within the emerging organizational computing (OC) environment permeated by spontaneous utilization of both application-and nonapplication-specific computing and communication technologies. Specifically, this study seeks to explore managers' perceptions of the emerging OC environment as a facilitator of their decision-making activities. To achieve a higher level of clarity than previous works, a two-dimensional research framework is developed with the IT dimension consisting of computing and communication, and the decision-making dimension differentiated between operational and managerial decisions. A survey instrument was constructed that measured the computing and communication dimensions of information technology use and their perceived effects upon operational and managerial decisions. The major findings of the study confirmed that managers recognize the value of general, nonapplication-specific information technologies in decision making, and that this recognition is highly associated with how intensively these information technologies are used. Additionally, it was found that the two dimensions of IT differ in their relationships to decision making, and that IT usage relates to managerial decisions differently than operational decisions. These study findings have significant implication for practice and research, especially in the context of information resource management in which the primary purpose of the IS function is the delivery of general information service to users rather than the development of specific IS applications.     

A PROFIT-MAXIMIZATION MODEL FOR A RETAILER'S STOCKING DECISIONS ON PRODUCTS SUBJECT TO SUDDEN OBSOLESCENCE

A product has been formally denned as being subject to sudden obsolescence if its lifetime is negative exponentially distributed. Using an approximate model, Masters suggested that the traditional method of incorporating obsolescence cost as a component of inventory holding costs in the economic order quantity (EOQ) model was appropriate-for products subject to sudden obsolescence, provided that the obsolescence cost component was computed properly. Unfortunately, current practice of the EOQ model seriously underestimates the costs of sudden obsolescence. An exact model demonstrating that Masters' model also underestimated true lifetime costs and overestimated the optimal order quantity has been presented. Neither of these models addressed quantity discounts. Furthermore, with their cost-minimization focus, these models fail to identify situations when minimized costs exceed expected revenues. We extend Joglekar and Lee's model to focus on maximizing profits, rather than minimizing costs. This model answers such questions as whether to stock the product at all, whether to accept a quantity discount offer, and what order quantity to use. Numerical examples and sensitivity analyses suggest that Masters' model provides a significant improvement over the traditional model in moving toward true optimality. However, they also illustrate situations where both the traditional and the Masters' model accept a quantity discount that deserves to be rejected and stock a product that should not be stocked. In such situations, it seems important that a retailer uses the profit-maximization model presented here.     

Does IO Economics Really Make the Case for Investments in IT: A Rejoinder

The preceding critique [1] of the paper “The Information Problems in Organizations: A Research Model for the Value of Information and Information Systems” [3], reaches general conclusions with respect to the original paper and the applicability of economics to MIS research. These conclusions are based on arguments developed at a different level of analysis than that used in the original paper, and without considering the goals and intent of the original paper. The differences between the critique and the original paper are highlighted.     

Master Scheduling in Assemble-To-Order Environments: A Capacitated Multiobjective Lot-Sizing Model

Basic characteristics of an assemble-to-order environment make effective master scheduling extremely difficult. Limited resource capacities and dynamic customer end-item demand contribute to the complexity of the master production scheduling problem. To gain flexibility and responsiveness within this system, the master production schedule (MPS) focuses at the component level. This research proposes a master scheduling technique for manufactured components which combines a multiobjective capacitated multi-item/multi-stage lot-sizing model with an interactive multiple objective optimization solution procedure. To evaluate the model's performance as a realistic and practical master scheduling tool, this study focuses on the National Cash Register (NCR) electronics manufacturing facility in Columbia, South Carolina.