Doing good when times are bad: volunteering behaviour in economic hard times

This paper examines how the 2008–9 recession has affected volunteering behaviours in the UK. Using a large survey dataset, we assess the recession effects on both formal volunteering and informal helping behaviours. Whilst both formal volunteering and informal helping have been in decline in the UK since 2008, the size of the decline is significantly larger for informal helping than for formal volunteering. The decline is more salient in regions that experienced a higher level of unemployment during the recession and also in socially and economically disadvantaged communities. However, we find that a growing number of people who personally experienced financial insecurity and hardship do not explain the decline. We argue that the decline has more to do with community‐level factors such as civic organizational infrastructure and cultural norms of trust and engagement than personal experiences of economic hardship.     

On improved estimation of a gamma shape parameter

This paper deals with improved estimation of a gamma shape parameter from a decision-theoretic point of view. First we study the second-order properties of three estimators – (i) the maximum-likelihood estimator (MLE), (ii) a bias corrected version of the MLE, and (iii) an improved version (in terms of mean squared error) of the MLE. It is shown that all the three estimators mentioned above are second-order inadmissible. Next, we obtain superior estimators which are second order better than the above three estimators. Simulation results are provided to study the relative risk improvement of each improved estimator over the MLE.     

Dynamic principal component analysis with missing values

Dynamic principal component analysis (DPCA), also known as frequency domain principal component analysis, has been developed by Brillinger [Time Series: Data Analysis and Theory, Vol. 36, SIAM, 1981] to decompose multivariate time-series data into a few principal component series. A primary advantage of DPCA is its capability of extracting essential components from the data by reflecting the serial dependence of them. It is also used to estimate the common component in a dynamic factor model, which is frequently used in econometrics. However, its beneficial property cannot be utilized when missing values are present, which should not be simply ignored when estimating the spectral density matrix in the DPCA procedure. Based on a novel combination of conventional DPCA and self-consistency concept, we propose a DPCA method when missing values are present. We demonstrate the advantage of the proposed method over some existing imputation methods through the Monte Carlo experiments and real data analysis.     

Strategies for urban conservation: A case example of George Town, Penang

George Town, Penang has more than 200 years of urban history and the largest collection of heritage shophouses in Southeast Asia. These heritage buildings have remained unchanged since the 1800s in spite of the lack of conservation legislation. The objective of this paper is to determine which public policy instruments have been effective in protecting the urban heritage of George Town. In particular, the role played by the Control of Rent Act, 1966, is evaluated. Upon examination of records on property transaction, rent-control records, development applications and demographic trends, no conclusive evidence was found that this Act was instrumental in protecting heritage buildings. Instead it was the unintentional effects of various development policies that saved George Town's urban heritage.     

Impulsivity and predictive control are associated with suboptimal action-selection and action-value learning in regular gamblers

Heightened impulsivity and cognitive biases are risk factors for gambling problems. However, little is known about precisely how these factors increase the risks of gambling-related harm in vulnerable individuals. Here, we modelled the behaviour of 87 community-recruited regular, but not clinically problematic, gamblers during a binary-choice reinforcement-learning game, to characterize the relationships between impulsivity, cognitive biases and the capacity to make optimal action selections and learn about action-values. Impulsive gamblers showed diminished use of an optimal (Bayesian-derived) probability estimate when selecting between candidate actions, and showed slower learning rates and enhanced non-linear probability weighting while learning action values. Critically, gamblers who believed that it is possible to predict winning outcomes (as ‘predictive control’) failed to use the game's reinforcement history to guide their action selections. Extensive evidence attests to the ease with which gamblers can erroneously perceive structure in the reinforcement history of games when there is none. Our findings demonstrate that the generic and specific risk factors of impulsivity and cognitive biases can interfere with the capacity of some gamblers to utilize structure when it is available in the reinforcement history of games, potentially increasing their risks of sustaining gambling-related harms.     

Can ‘refundable’ state Earned Income Tax Credits explain child poverty in the American states?

This study estimates the effect of ‘refundable’ state Earned Income Tax Credits (EITCs) on child poverty from 1994 through 2003. Research results indicate that a refundable state EITC is associated with reductions in child poverty, holding all other variables constant. For example, states with refundable state EITCs have observed a 40% greater reduction in child poverty rates compared to states without refundable state EITCs. This study also discusses policy implications for implementing the ‘refundable’ state EITC.     

Testing the effect of treatment on survival time with an immediate intermediate event

In this paper, we consider testing the effects of treatment on survival time when a subject experiences an immediate intermediate event (IE) prior to death or predetermined endpoint. A two-stage model incorporating both (i) the effects of the covariates on the immediate IE and (ii) survival regression with the immediate IE and other covariates is presented. We study the likelihood ratio test (LRT) for testing the treatment effect based on the proposed two stage model. We propose two procedures: an asymptotic-based procedure and a resampling-based procedure, to approximate the null distribution of the LRT. We numerically show the advantages of the two stage modeling over the existing single stage survival model with interactions between the covariates and the immediate IE. In addition, an illustrative empirical example is provided.     

The Roles of Relationship With Family and Life Values in the Housing Choices of Elderly Koreans

Housing choice is a significant factor in forecasting the housing market. In an aging population in which the wealth of the elderly is found mostly in housing equity, the housing choices of the elderly are an increasingly important yet underrepresented research theme. In addition to lower income and greater leisure time, the change of family relationships of the elderly are likely to result in significantly different housing choices from those made by younger groups. This article investigates the roles of family relationships and life values in the housing choices (tenure and location) of elderly Koreans. Subjective life satisfaction and propensity for expenditure were found to be significant determinants in the choice of housing tenure, whereas the choice of location is influenced by circumstances, especially their relationship with their children. These findings provide new insight into the Asian housing market, in which the elderly of traditional large families have a children-oriented mindset and maintain a geographic proximity with their children despite a growing trend toward family nuclearization.