Assortative mating on risk attitude

Spousal correlation in risk attitude is estimated using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel over the period 2004–2009. We apply the bivariate panel ordered probit model to the analysis of the simultaneous determination of the male’s and the female’s risk attitude, using the survey question about general willingness to take risk, provided on a 0–10 Likert-scale. The correlations between both the individual-specific effects of the two partners and the two within-individual errors are separately estimated, and found to be +0.285 and +0.310, respectively. We consider the former to be a key parameter, since its positive sign may be interpreted in terms of positive assortative mating on risk attitude: individuals tend to form partnerships with others having a similar risk attitude. We also find evidence that this correlation increases with years of marriage, suggesting either a form of spousal socialization or a selection process in which marriage breakdown is more likely in poorly matched couples.     

DELIBERATION AND LEARNING IN MONETARY POLICY COMMITTEES

We use records from Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meetings to investigate the importance of deliberation and learning in monetary policy decision making in the period from 1970 to 1978 when Arthur Burns served as Chairman. We first propose a model of Bayesian learning in which FOMC members learn from each other as they sequentially reveal their policy preferences in a committee meeting. Then, as an alternative, we investigate a model in which members defer to an emerging consensus. Neither model is supported by the data, suggesting that within‐meeting deliberation might have had little effect on the quality of monetary policy decisions in the Burns era. (JEL E520, E580)     

TWO TO TANGO? GENDER DIFFERENCES IN THE DECISIONS TO PUBLISH AND COAUTHOR

The existence of old boy networks has long been postulated as a possible explanation for the presence of gender differences in market outcomes but with little empirical support because of the difficulty of measuring network access. This article exploits the unique attributes of academic labor markets and detailed data on individuals and jobs for PhD economists over nearly four decades. The results suggest that networks impact the joint decision to publish and coauthor, that these network effects differ by gender, and that gender differences in network access change over time as women become more well represented in a profession. (JEL J44 , J77 , J24 )     

Criteria for the selection of reporting method

Identification of optimal reporting method by analysis requires that a criterion be available for selecting those ‘best’ practices which are to act as the norms for standardisation. ‘Predictive ability’ has been suggested as such a criterion. This article argues that ‘predictive ability’ should be rejected in favour of an overriding economic criterion for the design of reporting methods and information systems. An information system is only valuable as part of a wider system. This article proposes that the wider system in which we are interested must be ‘more valuable’ in contemplation of change than without it, if changes in information systems are to be justified.     

Constructing Collective Ethnic Identities: The Case of Second Generation Asian Indians

This paper examines the role of micro-level social interactions in the construction and maintenance of collective ethnic identity, taking as a case in point collective ethnic identity among the children of Asian Indian immigrants. An extensive ethnographic study of the behavior of first and second generation voluntary organizations reveals that the common public rhetoric claiming the second generation is stuck between two worlds bears little resemblance to the identity created as the second generation appropriates and reinterprets the rhetoric of first generation public life to differentiate itself from the immigrant generation. The analysis stresses the overlap of the social processes of collective identity formation and coming of age.     

LABOR FORCE MIGRATION AND ALLOCATIVE EFFICIENCY IN THE UNITED STATES: THE ROLES OF INFORMATION AND PSYCHIC COSTS

This paper examines the relative importance of information, psychic and other costs of relocation as mitigating factors (off-sets to spatial earnings differentials) within the migration decision. The methodology employed for this examination is based upon: (1) observation of relationships between the geographic allocation and personal characteristics of labor force migrants, and (2) inferences, drawn from these observations, on the relative importance of various relocation cost components. Empirical analyses of the migration decision based upon this indirect methodology provide important insights on both the determinants and allocative efficiency of interstate labor force migration in the United States.