Avoiding the curves: Direct elicitation of time preferences

We propose and test a new method for eliciting curvature-controlled discount rates that are invariant to the form of the utility function. Our method uses a single elicitation task and obtains individual discount rates without knowledge of risk attitude or parametric assumptions about the form of the utility function. We compare our method to a double elicitation technique in which the utility function and discount rate are jointly estimated. Our experiment shows that these methods yield consistent estimates of the discount rate, which is reassuring given the wide range of estimates in the literature. We find little evidence of probability weighting, but in a second experiment, we observe that discount rates are sensitive to the length of the front-end delay, suggesting present bias. When the front-end delay is at least two weeks, we estimate average discount rates to be 11.3 and 12.2% in the two experiments.     

The impact of incomplete geocoding on small area population estimates

Small-area population estimates are often made using geocoded address data in conjunction with the housing-unit method. Previous research, however, suggests that these data are subject to systematic incompleteness that biases estimates of race, ethnicity, and other important demographic characteristics. This incompleteness is driven largely by an inability to complete georeference address-based datasets. Given these challenges, small-area demographers need further, and to date largely unavailable, information on the amount of error typically introduced by using incompletely geocoded data to estimate population. More specifically, we argue that applied demographers should like to know if these errors are statistically significant, spatially patterned, or systematically related to specific population characteristics. This paper evaluates the impact of incomplete geocoding on accuracy in small-area population estimates, using a Vintage 2000 set of block-group estimates of the household population for the Albuquerque, NM metro area. Precise estimates of the impact of incomplete geocoding on the accuracy of estimates are made, associations with specific demographic characteristics are considered, and a simple potential remediation based on Horvitz-Thompson theory is presented. The implications of these results for the practice of applied demography are reviewed.     

Challenges to and Strategies for Formal Service Utilization among Caregivers in an Underserved Community

Family caregivers face enormous challenges when attempting to oversee the medical, legal, financial, and daily affairs of loved ones with chronic or life-limiting illness. While formal services and agencies exist to assist caregivers with some of these tasks, caregivers in underserved communities do not utilize these services, or utilize them with unsatisfactory results. This study used focus groups (N = 5 groups) with underserved, minority caregivers (N = 22) to explore their experiences related to care provision, including barriers to support service use and challenges navigating systems related to the broad spectrum of caregiving demands. Thematic content analysis revealed three main themes: (1) prior difficulties with formal service use, (2) difficulties navigating financial, legal, and medical systems, and (3) caregivers’ personal strategies to address challenges associated with formal service use and systems navigation. Findings from this study identify underserved caregivers’ challenges in utilizing formal services, as well as caregiver-identified strategies for supporting their caregiving activities.     

Exploring Links among Imitation,Mental Development,and Temperament

Links among imitation, performance on a standardized test of intellectual development, and laboratory‐assessed temperament were explored in 311 24‐month‐old twin pairs. Moderate phenotypic associations were found among imitation, mental development, and temperament dimensions of Affect/Extraversion and Task Orientation. Covariance between imitation and mental development reflected genetic and shared environmental influences, whereas associations between imitation and temperament reflected genetic, shared, and nonshared environmental influences. Genetic factors linking imitation and temperament were the same as those linking temperament and mental development. Nonetheless, approximately 62% of total genetic variance on imitation was independent of genetic influences on mental development and temperament, suggesting that young children's imitation is not simply an index of general cognitive ability or dispositional style but has many underlying genetic influences that are unique.     

A Look Back at Ten Years of “Serials Spoken Here”

Abstract

Column editor Susan Davis celebrates the ten-year anniversary of “Serials Spoken Here” with a short review and history of the column.     

School Progress Among Children of Same-Sex Couples

This study uses logit regressions on a pooled sample of children from the 2012, 2013, and 2014 American Community Survey to perform a nationally representative analysis of school progress for a large sample of 4,430 children who reside with same-sex couples. Odds ratios from regressions that compare children between different-sex married couples and same-sex couples fail to show significant differences in normal school progress between households across a variety of sample compositions. Likewise, marginal effects from regressions that compare children with similar family dynamics between different-sex married couples and same-sex couples fail to predict significantly higher probabilities of grade retention for children of same-sex couples. Significantly lower grade retention rates are sometimes predicted for children of same-sex couples than for different-sex married couples, but these differences are sensitive to sample exclusions and do not indicate causal benefits to same-sex parenting.