ECONOMIC MAN AS A MORAL INDIVIDUAL

We propose a concrete method for including moral concerns in preferences. In our framework, the agent maximizes utility subject to constraints, but the utility from consuming a specific commodity bundle varies in a "lumpy" or "discontinuous" way with the concurrent moral content of the individual's behavior. Our method also indicates how constraints vary with this moral content. Our approach seems more intuitively appealing than several competing frameworks, and can be used to explain a number of otherwise puzzling phenomena. ( JEL D11, A13)     

Job Satisfaction and Organizational Structure: A Comparative Study of Nine Social Service Departments

Summary The authors investigated the relationship between aspects oforganizational structure and job satisfaction as experiencedby personnel employed in nine social service departments. Aftera series of unstructured interviews from 28 respondents in oneauthority, interview schedules were used for three distinctgroups of 603 respondents in nine organizations: those makingexecutive decisions, those making supervisory assessments andthose primarily concerned with client interaction. The bestpredictors of organizational structure were dimensions of centralizationand formalization which related significantly but negativelyto job satisfaction. The relevance of these findings is discussedin relation to the rapid growth of social services and the effectit has had on social workers and other employees.     

THE DEMAND FOR CASINO GAMING WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO A SMOKING BAN

This study adds to the limited literature on the demand for casino gaming. The major focus is on the effect of a statewide smoking ban. A system of slot machine demand equations, one each for the three Delaware racinos (racetrack casinos), was developed. The number of slot machines at a racino, at competing in-state racinos, and income were significant demand determinants. Competing out-of-state gaming venues had insignificant effects on gaming demand over the study period. The smoking ban had a significant negative impact on demand, which was not significantly different across the three racinos. The smoking ban reduced gaming demand 15.9%. ( JEL L83)     

FISCAL DECENTRALIZATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: SPENDING VERSUS REVENUE DECENTRALIZATION

This article examines whether the efficiency gains accompanying fiscal decentralization generate higher growth in more decentralized economies, applying pooled‐mean group techniques to a panel dataset of 23 Organization for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) countries, 1972–2005. We find that spending decentralization has tended to be associated with lower economic growth while revenue decentralization has been associated with higher growth. Since OECD countries are substantially more spending than revenue decentralized, this is consistent with Oates' (1972) hypothesis that maximum efficiency gains require a close match between spending and revenue decentralization. It suggests reducing expenditure decentralization, and simultaneously increasing the fraction financed locally, would be growth‐enhancing. (JEL E62, H71, H72)     

Career Navigator: Its Use With College Students Beginning the Job Search Process

This study explored the effects of the Career Navigator program on college student self-rated knowledge and skill in the job search process as compared to a professional development business administration course and a no-treatment control group.     

THE STATE OF THE FEDERAL BUDGET AND THE STATE OF THE ECONOMY

This paper tests systematic responses of the Federal budget to forecasts of inflation and unemployment. Estimated coefficients from fiscal policy reaction functions are examined to determine whether there are such systematic responses. Additionally, the coefficients of these estimated fiscal policy reaction functions are used to test several hypotheses concerning fiscal policy which have been advanced in the political business cycle and public choice literatures.