The Working Families’ Tax Credit and Some European Tax Reforms in A Collective Setting

A framework for simplified implementation of the collective model of labor supply decisions is presented in the context of fiscal reforms in the UK. Through its collective form the model accounts for the well known problem of distribution between wallet and purse, a broadly debated issue which has so far been impossible to model due to the limitations of the unitary model of household behavior. A calibrated data set is used to model the effects of introducing two forms of the Working Families’ Tax Credit. We also summarize results of estimations and calibrations obtained using the same methodology on data from five other European countries. The results underline the importance of taking account of the intrahousehold decision process and suggest that who receives government transfers does matter from the point of view of labor supply and welfare of household members. They also highlight the need for more research into models of household behavior.

Collective Models of Labor Supply with Nonconvex Budget Sets and Nonparticipation: A Calibration Approach

We suggest a methodology to calibrate a collective model with household-specific bargaining rules and marriage-specific preferences that incorporate leisure externalities. The empirical identification relies on the assumption that some aspects of individual preferences remain the same after marriage, so that estimation on single individuals can be used. The procedure maps the complete Pareto frontier of each household in the dataset and we define alternative measures of a power index. The latter is then regressed on relevant bargaining factors, including a set of variables retracing the potential relative contributions of the spouses to household disposable income. In its capacity to handle complex budget sets and labor force participation decisions of both spouses, this framework allows the comparison of unitary and collective predictions of labor supply reactions and welfare changes entailed by fiscal reforms in a realistic setting (see Michal Myck et al., 2006; Denis Beninger et al., 2006).

Helping the helpers: Post‐traumatic distress and need for help among Israeli social workers in foster care agencies following armed conflict

This study examined the associations between exposure to armed conflict, perceived support, work experience, needing help, and post‐traumatic distress among Israeli social workers in foster care agencies based on Conservation of Resources theory. The study used a mixed‐methods design. Six months after the end of an armed conflict, 82 social workers responded to a web‐based questionnaire with closed‐ and open‐ended questions. Results showed that exposure to the armed conflict was moderately associated with post‐traumatic stress symptoms and functional impairment. Only the workers' perceived need for personal help (but not help for professional matters) was positively associated with their psychological distress. The qualitative analysis suggests that social workers showed strengths and wanted help mainly to improve their professional skills. Yet they also elaborated on the complexities involved in conducting their professional work, especially home visits, because such visits put their own lives in danger and meant deserting their own families. Practice implications are as follows: Foster care agencies should make greater efforts to provide knowledge and skills, support, supervision, and a “safe haven” for their workers, in the context of armed conflict.     

Case and Frame: Teaching Case Study Composition

Here is an explanation of the case and frame pedagogy that I use to teach case study composition. It is a “how-to” type teaching resource that describes a general outline of my work with students, and it is a “why” I think it is important to teach the case study. I use an example from my class to show how I take case material from its beginning stages and help a writer to craft her case study as a project in self-reflexivity and narrative with interdisciplinary theoretical frameworks. I discuss the intersection of the social sciences and the humanities in the case study as a way to de-silo knowledge across disciplines using the workshop model.     

Development and implementation of online training modules on abuse,neglect, and exploitation

Online training for care managers to identify, report, and prevent abuse, neglect, and exploitation was developed for a demonstration involving the dually eligible Medicare and Medicaid population. It was composed of three modules covering background, screening, and reporting abuse. Of 453 enrollees, 273 completed at least one module and 212 completed all three. Pre- and post-training surveys for each module were used to examine changes in the proportion of correct answers for each question, using the related-samples Cochran’s Q statistic. Improvements in knowledge from pre- to post-training were evident in modules covering background on abuse and reporting abuse, but not in the module about communication principles and screening for abuse. Its content may have already been familiar to the trainees, who were primarily social workers and nurses. Lessons learned are being used to adapt the training for a wider audience to increase public awareness of abuse.     

Divorce and the business cycle: a cross-country analysis

In this paper, we examine the role of the business cycle in divorce. To do so, we use a panel of 29 European countries covering the period from 1991 to 2012. We find the unemployment rate negatively affects the divorce rate, pointing to a pro-cyclical evolution of the divorce rate, even after controlling for socio-economic variables and unobservable characteristics that can vary by country, and/or over time. Results indicate that a one-percentage-point increase in the unemployment rate involves almost 0.025 fewer divorces per thousand inhabitants. The impact is small, representing around 1.2 % of the average divorce rate in Europe during the period considered. Supplementary analysis, developed to explore a possible non-linear pattern, confirms a negative relationship between unemployment and divorce in European countries, with the inverse relationship being more pronounced in those countries with higher divorce rates.     

Achieving the Optimal Vaginal State: Using Vaginal Products and Study Gels in Uganda,Zimbabwe, and South Africa

Preferences and practices related to the vaginal condition have implications for the use of vaginal HIV prevention products. The authors used qualitative methods to explore narratives relating to the vaginal state amongst women in South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe who had previously participated in a biomedical HIV prevention trial. They investigated women's behaviors related to optimizing the vaginal state, experiences and perceptions of the gel's effect on the vaginal state and on penile-vaginal intercourse, women's narratives on male partner perceptions, and how preferences relating to the vaginal state may have interfered with gel use.     

The faces of local TV news in America: youth,whiteness, and gender disparities in station publicity photos

TV news is a visual medium that requires its on-air journalists to look good, but a history of lawsuits and survey research suggests that this burden is spread unevenly. Critics charge that women are expected to look younger and sexier, and minority broadcasters are held to a White standard of beauty. This project investigated the reality behind those complaints by examining the faces of on-air journalists working for local stations in the US according to race, gender, and attractiveness. The resulting content analysis of more than 400 online publicity photos suggests that a certain look dominates for men and for women and that the range of appearance standards is wider for men than women.     

Testing independence conditions in the presence of errors and splitting effects

This paper presents experimental tests of several independence conditions implied by expected utility and alternative models. We perform repeated choice experiments and fit an error model that allows us to discriminate between true violations of independence and those that can be attributed to errors. In order to investigate the role of event splitting effects, we present each choice problem not only in coalesced form (as in many previous studies) but also in split forms. It turns out previously reported violations of independence and splitting effects remain significant even when controlling for errors. However, splitting effects have a substantial influence on tests of independence conditions. When choices are presented in canonical split form, in which probabilities on corresponding probability-consequence ranked branches are equal, violations of the properties tested could be reduced to insignificance or even reversed.     

Live together: does culture matter?

Review of Economics of the Household - This paper studies the role of culture in determining the decision to live together (as a married or unmarried couple). To examine this issue, we utilize data...