OPTIMAL INVENTORIES: THE SQUARE ROOT RULE AND PROFIT MAXIMIZATION

Inventory models are usually based on the existence of transaction costs and explain inventories from efficiency considerations alone. The simplest model involves a "square root rule" where inventory varies with the square root of its determinants. Accounting for profit maximizing behavior relaxes those rigid results and alters their interpretation. The analysis integrates inventory demand theory with the neoclassical theory of the firm and industry.     

OCCUPATION AND ELECTORAL SUCCESS IN CANADA: THE 1974 FEDERAL ELECTION*

Des données professionnelles sont examinées pour les candidats au Parlement en 1974. Pour tous les parties politiques, les professions de rang élevéétaient sur-représentées, par comparaison aux données du marché du travail, et principalement dans les parties Libérale et Conservateur. Uniquement dans le cas du Crédit Social, a-t-on rencontré une majorité numérique de candidats venants de professions de rang inférieur. En examinant le succes électoral, on a trouvé que indépendamment de l'attache politique, un candidat d'une profession de rang élevé a presque une probabilité deux fois plus grande d'être élu qu'un candidat d'une profession d'un rang inférieur. Les données montrent un phénomène double, dans le sens que premièrement l'ensemble de tous les candidats constitute une plus grande proportion de personnes de rang élevé que la population adulte du Canada et deuxièmement les membres finalement élus constituent encore une plus grande proportion de personnes de rang élevé. Occupational data were examined for all candidates for Parliament in 1974. For all parties, high status occupations were over-represented, relative to labour force statistics, expecially in the Liberal and the Progressive Conservative parties. Only in the Social Credit party did we find a numerical majority of lower status candidates. In examining electoral success, it was found that regardless of political affiliation, a high status candidate had almost twice as high a probability of election as a low status candidate. The data illustrate a two-step phenomenon, wherein the pool of all candidates contains a larger proportion of higher status persons than the total adult Canadian population, while the elected members contain yet a larger proportion of high status persons.     

ASSERTION VERSUS INTERROGATION FORMAT IN OPINION SURVEYS QUESTIONS ENHANCE THOUGHTFUL RESPONDING

Two surveys on ostensibly new consumer products were administeredin order to assess the impact of presenting opinion items inan interrogation versus an assertion format. In addition tomanipulating the format of the opinion item, the back groundinformation about the product was varied so that it presentedeither a strong or a weak product attribute. In both surveys,opinions in response to the interrogation items were more polarizedthan those in response to the assertion items. These resultssuggest that the interrogation opinion format elicits more thoughtfulresponses than the assertion format.     

RESPONSE LATENCY VERSUS CERTAINTY AS INDEXES OF THE STRENGTH OF VOTING INTENTIONS IN A CATI SURVEY

This CATI study compares two measures of attitude strength,accessibility and certainty, for the purpose of predicting discrepanciesbetween voting intentions and voting behavior. Accessibilitywas indexed by response latency to a voting intention questionand certainty by a question about the finality of the votingintention. Logistic regression showed response latency to bea better predictor of discrepancies between voting intentionsand voting behavior than certainty. The theoretical implicationsof this finding as well as the practical implications of a methodfor measuring response latencies in CATI election studies arediscussed.     

DEVIATIONS FROM CONSTITUENT INTERESTS: THE ROLE OF LEGISLATIVE STRUCTURE AND POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE STATES

This paper investigates the determinants of state spending over 1960—1990. Recent empirical studies suggest that state government expenditure is greater than the electorate desires. Our main finding is that expenditure was positively related to the number of seats in a state's legislature. This is consistent with the hypothesis that logrolling leads representatives to spend more than their constituents would like. We also find that political parties do not have a pronounced effect on overall levels of expenditure, but do influence the composition of spending. In particular, Democratic control of state government is associated with higher levels of welfare spending.