OPTIMAL STRATEGIES FOR WORKERS ON TEMPORARY LAYOFF

In this paper we analyze the worker's behavior when faced with job offers which include possible temporary layoff spells of varying (known) durations. We show that of the three strategies which can be optimal, two involve search in all or part of the layoffs. We also show that the duration of any particular spell plays no role in determining which strategy is optimal to pursue. And finally, we develop an index for evaluating jobs with different wage and layoff probabilities and show that the worker's reservation wage monotonically increases, decreases or remains constant during the course of a layoff.     

The Impact of "No Opinion" Response Options on Data Quality: Non-Attitude Reduction or an Invitation to Satisfice?

According to many seasoned survey researchers, offering a no-opinionoption should reduce the pressure to give substantive responsesfelt by respondents who have no true opinions. By contrast,the survey satisficing perspective suggests that no-opinionoptions may discourage some respondents from doing the cognitivework necessary to report the true opinions they do have. Weaddress these arguments using data from nine experiments carriedout in three household surveys. Attraction to no-opinion optionswas found to be greatest among respondents lowest in cognitiveskills (as measured by educational attainment), among respondentsanswering secretly instead of orally, for questions asked laterin a survey, and among respondents who devoted little effortto the reporting process. The quality of attitude reports obtained(as measured by over-time consistency and responsiveness toa question manipulation) was not compromised by the omissionof no-opinion options. These results suggest that inclusionof no-opinion options in attitude measures may not enhance dataquality and instead may preclude measurement of some meaningfulopinions.     

Children's experience of divorce

SUMMARY. Until very recently, little has been known about children's personal experiences of parental separation and divorce. Interviews with children from a representative sample of divorced families showed that they lacked information, that they suffered more distress than their parents realised, that their satisfaction with access was directly related to the speed with which it was arranged, and that relationships with custodial parents' new partners were similar to their relationships with absent parents     

Only children in Britain: popular stereotype and research evidence

SUMMARY. Only children are popularly believed to be spoiled, lonely and maladjusted, and few parents in Britain choose to have one child. This article documents existing prejudice against only children and their parents, and contrasts it with the very positive picture given by research. Analysis of data from a large scale survey of 16–17 year olds gives a presentation of the family background of only children in Scotland, and confirms that only children do well. The conflict between popular stereotype and research evidence is discussed, and some possible explanations are considered. The article concludes that the positive research findings on only children should be more widely known     

Mass and Elite Foreign Policy Opinions

Since the Vietnam War, public preferences on foreign policyissues have played a greater role in the American politicalprocess. Yet comparatively little is known about the mannerin which attitudes on international affairs are formed and howthey are related to other political cognitions. Using data fromtwo large studies of foreign policy opinion conducted by theChicago Council on Foreign Relations in 1974 and 1978, thisresearch examines the question of how mass and elite opiniondiffers in a number of foreign policy domains and looks at whetherthese distinctions have changed across years. In general, thereare patterns of difference in the foreign policy beliefs ofthe elites and the mass public, the most striking being in their"internationalist" view of the U.S. role in world affairs, withsmaller distinctions in the domains of human rights, detente,world problems, Americanism, and international organizations.     

ON THE CHOICE BETWEEN PROPERTY RULES AND LIABILITY RULES

When parties can bargain with each other in an externality situation, it is frequently argued that liability rules are preferable to property rules. The case for liability rules is thought to be strongest when the parties behave strategically, when the collective authority responsible for maximizing social welfare has perfect information, and when lump-sum transfers are not available. It is shown here that liability rules are not generally preferable to property rules in these circumstances because of their limited ability to redistribute income between the parties.