Inflation and Welfare

This paper surveys research on the welfare cost of inflation. New estimates are provided, based on U.S. time series for 1900–94, interpreted in a variety of ways. It is estimated that the gain from reducing the annual inflation rate from 10 percent to zero is equivalent to an increase in real income of slightly less than one percent. Using aggregate evidence only, it may not be possible to estimate reliably the gains from reducing inflation further, to a rate consistent with zero nominal interest.     

FUNDRAISING INTERMEDIARIES INHIBIT QUALITY‐DRIVEN CHARITABLE DONATIONS

Charitable donations are frequently raised by an intermediary, which accepts donations and subsequently sends the proceeds to the chairty—for example, a workplace campaign for United Way, a 5‐km walk for Susan G. Komen, or buying cookies from a local troop for the Girl Scouts. These fundraisers can greatly increase donations received by a given charity, but how do they affect what types of charities we support? This article shows intermediary fundraisers can make donors insensitive to differences in charity quality: Unattractive charities can receive the same financial support as an attractive charity. In a series of across‐subject experiments, when donations are framed as going directly to the charity, unattractive charities receive fewer and smaller contributions relative to attractive charities; however, when donations for the same charities are collected by (meaningless) intermediary fundraising campaigns, donations become indistinguishable across charities. The fundraising campaign does not affect donor recall of charity identity or evaluation of charity quality; it simply precludes donors from using these data in the donation decision. Follow‐up experiments suggest the results are driven by information overload. (JEL A13, C91, C93, D61, D64, H41)     

Nest design in a changing world: Great tit <Emphasis Type="Italic">Parus major</Emphasis> nests from a Mediterranean city environment as a case study

Investigations of urbanization effects on birds have focused mainly on breeding traits expressed after the nest-building stage (e.g. first-egg date, clutch size, breeding success, and offspring characteristics). Urban studies largely ignored how and why the aspects of nest building might be associated with the degree of urbanization. As urban environments are expected to present novel environmental changes relative to rural environments, it is important to evaluate how nest-building behavior is impacted by vegetation modifications associated with urbanization. To examine nest design in a Mediterranean city environment, we allowed urban great tits (Parus major) to breed in nest boxes in areas that differed in local vegetation cover. We found that different measures of nest size or mass were not associated with vegetation cover. In particular, nests located adjacent to streets with lower vegetation cover were not smaller or lighter than nests in parks with higher vegetation cover. Nests adjacent to streets contained more pine needles than nests in parks. In addition, in nests adjacent to streets, nests from boxes attached to pine trees contained more pine needles than nests from boxes attached to other trees. We suggest that urban-related alterations in vegetation cover do not directly impose physical limits on nest size in species that are opportunistic in the selection of nesting material. However, nest composition as reflected in the use of pine needles was clearly affected by habitat type and the planted tree species present, which implies that rapid habitat change impacts nest composition. We do not exclude that urbanization might impact other aspects of nest building behaviour not covered in our study (e.g. costs of searching for nest material), and that the strengths of the associations between urbanization and nest structures might differ among study populations or species.     

The Validity of the Day Reconstruction Method in the German Socio-economic Panel Study

The Day Reconstruction Method (DRM) is a useful tool for evaluating short-term changes in emotional experiences over a variety of daily situations. However, traditional method of collecting DRM data can be time-intensive for both researchers and participants. In this paper we provide evidence that a random-sampling approach to DRM assessment can provide useful data that are largely consistent with previous research that used the full version of the DRM. In a nationally representative sample of 2303 people, we demonstrate that (1) there is variability in emotional ratings of episodes that replicates what has been found in prior studies, (2) correlations with global measures are typically small in magnitude (<0.30), (3) correlations with personality are for the most part negligible, (4) correlations with global ratings of domain satisfaction are higher for domain-relevant situations, and (5) parents report more positive affect while providing care for their children when compared to other activities, and this effect can account for the observed differences in emotional experiences of parents and non-parents.     

A note on the modelling and interpretation of a public goods game experiment

This paper presents an alternative interpretation of an experimental public goods game dataset, particularly on the understanding of the observed antisocial behaviour phenomenon between subjects of a public goods experiment in different cities around the world. The anonymous nature of contributions and punishments in this experiment are taken into account to interpret results. This is done by analysing dynamic behaviour in terms of mean contributions across societies and their association with antisocial punishment. By taking into account the heterogeneity between the cities in which the public goods experiment has been performed, this analysis shows a contrasting interpretation. Instead of one trend across cities, two opposite trends are seen across different cities. In addition, we find that the presence of these trends to have an impact on the role of antisocial and pro-social behaviour in public goods games. When accounting for these trends, the antisocial and pro-social behaviour is found to have a significant role in Western societies.     

His and Hers: Economic Factors and Relationship Quality in Germany

Research has linked economic factors to relationship quality in the United States, primarily using cross‐sectional data. In the current study, 2 waves of the Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics data (n = 2,937) were used to test the gendered association between economic factors and relationship satisfaction among young German couples. In contrast to U.S.‐based studies, the findings showed striking gender differences in the association between economic factors and relationship satisfaction for Germans. In cross‐sectional models, women's relationship satisfaction was positively associated with receiving government economic support, and men's satisfaction was positively associated with poverty status and negatively associated with being a breadwinner. Longitudinal models revealed that changes in poverty status are associated with women's satisfaction, but men's satisfaction remains tied to their role as family provider. These unexpected results suggest that men's satisfaction is positively associated with a more equal division of labor market activity between partners.     

Voluntas Symposium: Comments on Salamon and Sokolowski’s Re-conceptualization of the Third Sector

With their “Beyond Nonprofits: Re-conceptualizing the Third Sector”, Salamon and Sokolowski have made an important contribution to the ongoing debate on how to define the third sector. This Voluntas symposium brings together the comments of five leading scholars both supportive and critical of the new definition. The comments are based on a debate held at the conference of the International Society for Third Sector Research, in Stockholm in 2016.     

Enforcement matters: The effective regulation of labour

The distinction between de jure and de facto regulation is well understood in theory, but has rarely been applied to cross‐country empirical work on the impact of labour regulation on labour market outcomes for lack of data. Policy debate has been based on measures of stringency of law, suggesting a negative correlation between labour regulation and labour market outcomes. This article provides new cross‐country measures of labour law enforcement and evidence of a negative correlation between stringency and intensity of enforcement. Previous results concerning the consequences of labour regulation and the legal origins theory no longer hold when a measure of effective labour regulation is used.     

Positivity conditions for stochastic state space modelling of time series

This short paper clarifies some aspects of the balancing method for state space modelling of observed time series. This method may fail to satisfy the so-called positive real condition for stochastic processes. We illustrate this by theoretical spectral analysis and also by simulating univariate ARMA (1,1) models.     

A FEW GOODMEN: SURNAME‐SHARING ECONOMIST COAUTHORS

We explore the phenomenon of coauthorship by economists who share a surname. Prior research has included at most three economist coauthors who share a surname. Ours is the first paper to have four economist coauthors who share a surname, as well as the first where such coauthors are unrelated by marriage, blood, or current campus. (JEL Y9)