ENTITLEMENT EFFECTS, UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE AND EMPLOYMENT DECISIONS

Many studies have identified the work disincentive effects of unemployment insurance. This paper points out the entitlement effect of this and other social insurance programs on employment, as the risks of labor-market participation are reduced by the existence of unemployment benefits. This employment-increasing effect can offset the disincentive effect, with the net impact on employment becoming an empirical issue. Using data on a sample of married women for 1971, we find that on net there is a slight negative effect on employment of higher unemployment insurance benefits. The entitlement effect on employment is, though, generally positive and significant, suggesting that the provisions of social insurance induce increased labor-force participation among women who otherwise would remain out of the labor force.     

CONSUMPTION BENEFITS OF NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE GAME TRIPS ESTIMATED FROM REVEALED AND STATED PREFERENCE DEMAND DATA

This paper examines the demand for hockey game trips among metropolitan and nonmetropolitan residents of Alberta, Canada. Using data on both revealed and stated preference game‐trip behavior from a telephone survey conducted throughout Alberta, we estimate the effect of ticket prices, team quality, arena amenities, and capacity on the latent demand for National Hockey League hockey games. We find that lower ticket prices, higher team quality, and additional capacity encourage attendance. In the status quo scenario, consumer surplus per game is $50 for those who had attended hockey games and about 50% less for those who had not attended games. Exploiting the stated preference data, we develop a number of other consumer surplus estimates. We also include travel costs in the estimation of the demand function and estimate the full value of the game trip considering both ticket prices and travel costs. Sold‐out arenas in Calgary and Edmonton generate annual consumption benefits of $40 and $35 million when only ticket prices are used to calculate consumer surplus (i.e., excluding travel costs). Considering the full‐price consumer surplus for the Calgary Flames of $103 per game trip, the annual consumption benefits may be as high as $82 million. (JEL R22, L83, D61)     

Disclaimer mannerisms of students: How to avoid being labelled as cheaters

Là où l'on trouve une règle, on trouve aussi des gens qui seront tentés de l'enfreindre. Or, on court toujours le risque de se faire qualifier de «déviant,» qu'on enfreint les règles ou non. Les examens d'université sont des événements hyper-réglementés où règne une atmosphère chargée de soupçons dans laquelle des moniteurs sont à l'affǔt du moindre geste, tels des sentinelles prětes à surprendre le tricheur à l'oeuvre. Conscients des enjeux, les étudiants doivent éviter tout signe suspect et se protéger contre les conséquences extrěmement graves d'une accusation de tricherie. Les stratégies d'évitement consistent à «gérer» les impressions en opposant des dénégations aux regards soupçonneux. Les auteurs décrivent les comportements bizarres et apparemment paranoïaques adoptés par les étudiants lorsqu'ils passent leurs examens pour qu'on ne les prennent pas pour des tricheurs: le détournement du regard, le déploiement des livres et des notes, le choix de l'emplacement dans la salle … Tout en s'intéressant plus particulièrement aux non-tricheurs innocents, la communication commente brièvement le cas des personnes effectivement coupables. Wherever there are rules there will be temptations for people to break them. Consequently, there is always the possibility of people being labelled deviant whether or not they do break the rules. University examinations are rule-riddled events shrouded in a ‘suspicion awareness context’ where suspecting invigilators are on guard against possible cheaters. Students, aware of this, must avoid all taint of suspicion and the dire consequences of being labelled a cheater. These avoidance strategies consist of impression management in the form of disclaimers. It is the purpose of this article to describe the bizarre and seemingly paranoid length students writing exams go to in: the control of their eyes, deployment of books and notes, and choice of space to avoid the stigma of being labelled a cheater. The emphasis is primarily on the innocent noncheaters but there is brief treatment also of the guilty.     

BIRTH ORDER AND RISKY ADOLESCENT BEHAVIOR

It is commonly believed that birth order is an important determinant of success. However, previous studies in this area have failed to provide convincing evidence that birth order is related to test scores, education, or earnings. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth–1979, we investigate the association between birth order and adolescent behaviors such as smoking, drinking, marijuana use, sexual activity, and crime. Our estimates show that middle borns and last borns are much more likely to use substances and be sexually active than their firstborn counterparts. These results provide the strongest evidence to date that birth order is related to measurable behaviors. (JEL I12 , J12 , J13 )     

MARKET STRUCTURE AND POLITICAL INFLUENCE: NEW DATA ON POLITICAL EXPENDITURES, ACTIVITY, AND SUCCESS

This paper utilizes new data to evaluate the determinants of the political influence of thirty-five manufacturing industries on the U.S. Congress during 1976–80. Several measures of influence serve to distinguish between political activity and success. Seller concentration and geopolitical dispersion increase both activity and success, but neither industry size nor leading-firm size proves significant. We test whether political expenditures facilitate obtaining the favors conferred on an industry by its market structure or by influence independent of that strurture; statistical inference strongly confirms both roles.     

Baseball in England: A Case of Prolonged Cultural Resistance

Abstract  The concern within this paper is to examine how, notwithstanding the growing global power of the USA and the declining power of Britain over a period of fifty years from 1874 to 1924, a series of attempts made by American entrepreneurs to establish the game of baseball in England were, to all intents and purposes, rebuffed. On four separate occasions during this period various American baseball entrepreneurs put on exhibition matches of baseball. On each occasion, baseball was given short shrift within the English press. We provide an empirical account before engaging in some theoretical reflections utilising a figurational sociological approach.     

‘Are we not [Civilized] Men?’: The Formation and Devolution of Community in Northern Mexico

Abstract The paper engages several of the issues raised by Cohn and Dirks’ statement on The Nation State, Colonialism and the Technologies of Power’ (“Beyond the Fringe’1988). It presents an account of the relationship between a community of armed peasants and the state in northern Mexico. The argument is that despite cyclic periods of coincidence and antagonism between the politico-ideological projects of state and community, an historical analysis of the experience of the people and town of Namiquipa, Chihuahua, reveals certain continuities in the forging of an alternative political-cultural space, regardless of the character of the community's relationship to the state at any time. In Mexico - as everywhere - the function of the State is the maintenance of the existing order, i.e. the maintenance of social inequality. A task for the social scientist is to document and analyse the regional strategies of the State, through the study of both the federal government and the actors who receive delegated power from it…. [T]he State apparatus is also in charge of distributing differential benefits among the population. The logic of this distribution transcends rural aspects and regional boundaries and refers to the historical dynamics of the Mexican nation, which manifests itself in the configuration of the State at different periods of time and is conditioned by the existing correlation among international forces. But from such macro-political panorama one must descend to its implications for regional development (Guillermo de la Pefia 1981: 259–260). Neither the peasants nor the State is an autonomous entity. Both are associated with other complex dependencies, with other forces and pressures. Both are stratified within and divided by interests that often contradict each other. The contradiction between the peasants and the State is not the only one in the country, and thanks to a coalition of many interests, it is not even the most apparent. However, it is the essential one in the sense that the changes that would radically and basically affect the entire situation can only be generated within it (Arturo Warman 1980:7).     

Reinserting the professional into the study of globalizing professional service firms: the case of law

Abstract In discussions of the globalization of professional service firms there is an increasing recognition that understanding the ‘social construction’ of organizational architectures is essential. In this article we argue, using the management of transnational law firms as an example, that to understand effectively these social constructions we must reincorporate an understanding of the principles of professionalism into discussions. We highlight the importance of occupational autonomy to professionals and how this is likely to influence the strategies that global professional service firms use. We also point to what we term the ‘varieties of professionalism’ and the spatially variable professional projects that underlie the values and identities of lawyers. This reveals the way rational and efficient forms of organizing have to be adapted as a result of professional values and the diverse ideals and beliefs of lawyers in different international jurisdictions.