The earnings of men and remarriage

Focusing on the effects of men's earnings, this paper analyzes remarriage. Previous empirical research has not established what theoretical aspects of men's earnings are important. Here, data for Wisconsin high school graduates that include male respondents' Social Security earnings history are analyzed. The results indicate that absolute earnings, earnings instability, and earnings relative to peers have minimal effects on a man's probability of remarriage, but that permanent income positively affects remarriage. However, studies of marital disruption often find permanent income is not as important as relative earnings measures. Concluding remarks speculate about the meaning of these contrasting findings for the economics of marriage.     

Stretching the Truth: Elastic Justification and Motivated Communication of Uncertain Information

Although both cognitive and motivational factors can influence the communication of uncertain information, most of the work investigating the communication of uncertainty has focused on cognitive factors. In this article, we demonstrate that motivational factors influence the communication of private, uncertain information and we describe the relationship between elasticity (i.e. uncertainty and vagueness) and motivated communication. We report results from four experiments that demonstrate that motivated communication is not purely opportunistic. The values people report are constrained by the elasticity of private information even when the costs and benefits of misrepresenting information are held constant. Perceptions of justifiability mediate the relationship between elasticity and motivated communication, and we explain our results in terms of the self-justification process.     

New Directions for Social Work Education's Relationship with Government

Social work education has been beset in recent years by massive federal budget cuts and threats of total withdrawal of federal support. Like all crises this provides us with a threat and an opportunity. The opportunity is to examine our basic goals, our “mission,” and how these relate to government. This paper is addressed to these questions.     

Portfolio stock adjustment and the real exchange rate: The Dollar-Mark (DM) and Mark-Sterling

The advent of “freely floating” exchange rates in the 1970's coincided with the emergence of what is known as “monetary” or “asset” models of exchange rate behavior where exchange ratesmove to equilibrate demand for stocks of monies. The fundamental monetary model assumes purchasing power parity holds in the long-run, and therefore exchange rates are determined by the same factors that determine relative prices, to wit, money stocks, real incomes, and nominal interest rates. Though early proponents of the monetary view clearly emphasized its long-run nature, empirical testing has by and large neglected this caveat. Thus a model developed for long-run equilibrium exchange rates has instead been tested many times over on short-run equilibrium rates. The latter require a distinct model of their own. This paper develops a short-run equilibrium exchange rate model based on deviations of the short-run exchange rate from its long-run equilibrium. The model differs in that all variables are cast in real terms. It also differs in that the monetary and current account exchange rate versions are shown to be subsets of the more general wealth/portfolio framework used here. The present model considers, in addition to stocks of monies, stocks of foreign assets, and stocks of domestic wealth.     

Mother–Infant Person‐ and Object‐Directed Interactions in Latino Immigrant Families: A Comparative Approach

Cultural variation in durations, relations, and contingencies of mother–infant person‐and object‐directed behaviors were examined for 121 nonmigrant Latino mother–infant dyads in South America, Latina immigrants from South America and their infants living in the United States, and European American mother–infant dyads. Nonmigrant Latina mothers and infants engaged in person‐directed behaviors longer than Latino immigrant or European American mothers and infants. Mother and infant person‐directed behaviors were positively related; mother and infant object‐related behaviors were related for some cultural groups but not others. Nearly all mother and infant behaviors were mutually contingent. Mothers were more responsive to infants' behaviors than infants were to mothers. Some cultural differences in responsiveness emerged. Immigrant status has a differentiated role in mother–infant interactions.     

The case against union-only project labor agreements on government construction projects

Imposition of union-only PLAs in the public sector cannot be shown to serve the public interest. The government should not enter into the realm of labor management relations by arbitrarily creating a protected enclave for union work at the expense of taxpayers and to the detriment of fair and open competition. Government agencies that impose union-only PLAs in response to short-term political pressure from labor organizations will suffer long term consequences, in the form of litigation, increased costs of construction, and adverse taxpayer reaction. Mr. Baskin is a partner with the Washington, DC. law firm of Venable, Baetjer, Howard & Civiletti, LLP. He focuses on all aspects of labor and employment law representing management and serves as General Counsel of Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc.