PRICE LEVEL UNCERTAINTY, SAVING, AND LABOR SUPPLY

This paper derives the implications, for individual saving and labor supply, of increased uncertainty about the future price level. The framework for the analysis is a two-period model in which saving and labor supply are alternative sources of both present disutility and future income. The individual is assumed to make simultaneously his saving and labor supply decisions prior to the resolution of the uncertainty about the future price level. We find that, under theoretically plausible and empirically relevant assumptions about attitudes toward risk, an increase in future price level uncertainty increases individual saving and labor supply. These results imply that, for the economy as a whole, increased uncertainty about the future price level increases output and employment, while decreasing the real rate of interest, the present price level, and economic welfare.     

AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF BANKRUPTCY STATUTES

Personal bankruptcy statutes are analyzed as social insurance agreements. The risk-sharing and incentive effects resulting from changes in bankruptcy laws are studied. It is shown that increasing the leniency of bankruptcy statutes may have unambiguous short-term benefits to potential bankrupts, but may be detrimental in the long-run.     

CO-MOVEMENTS IN RELATIVE COMMODITY PRICES AND INTERNATIONAL CAPITAL FLOWS: A SIMPLE MODEL

Suppose a number of countries produce a commodity which employs local labor and a type of capital that is internationally mobile. Within the framework of a specific-factors model the paper argues that there is a presumption about the international movement of capital when the relative price of the industry using that capital rises on world markets. Capital flows towards countries less heavily involved in producing the commodity; internal labor flows contribute toward worldwide industry dispersion; and the volume of international trade in that commodity tends to fall.     

Introduction: Demography of American Indians and Alaska Natives

Population Research and Policy Review -     

FACTOR DEMAND UNDER CONDITIONS OF PRODUCT DEMAND and SUPPLY UNCERTAINTY

The paper develops a theory of factor demand under uncertainty, that encompasses neo-classical factor demand and Keynesian effective factor demand as special cases. The model allows factor demand and output to move positively with product demand, even with a constant product price. This, in turn, permits real wages to move pro-cyclically in response to product demand shocks. In addition the model provides a new perspective on the "adding-up" problem (which posits that total factor payments exceed output if increasing returns to scale exist), and generates positive uncertainty profits that are similar in spirit to those of Frank Knight.     

Education,economic dissatisfaction,and nonconf idence in Canadian Social institutions*

Cet écrit rapporte les conclusions sur la non-confiance exprimée dans sept institutions principales canadiennes en relation avec le statut éducationnel et le mécontentement économique, aprés contrôles. Les données sont d'après un sondage adulte national (1974). Les analyses sont pour les Canadiens anglais et franqais, séparément et ensemble, avec contrôles de revenu, occupation, langue et âge. Les analyses sont guidées par deux variantes de l‘ interprétation “endoctrinement” de la signification du contact de personnes aux niveaux d’éducation plus élevés pour leurs attitudes politiques. Les constatations supportent l'opinion que les personnes traitent l‘éducation comme un investissement économique dans le futur et que ceci a des conséquences différentes sur la relation entre le statut éducationnel et les attitudes politiques, parmi adultes, dépendant de leurs niveaux de mécontentement économique. Il existe une relation positive entre statut éducationnel et non-confiance dans les institutions parmi les personnes qui sont mécontentes économiquement; et aucune relation ou le contraire entre statut éducationnel et non-confiance parmi les personnes satisfaites économiquement. Les implications de ces conclusions pour la théorie et la recherche y sont discutées. This paper reports findings on the relationships between expressed non confidence in seven major Canadian institutions, and educational status and economic dissatisfaction, after controls. The data are from a national adult sample (1974). The analyses are for English- and French-Canadians, separately and together, with controls for income, occupation, language, and age. The analyses are guided by two variants of the “indoctrination” interpretation of the significance of persons' exposure to higher levels of education for their political attitudes. The findings support the view that persons treat education as an investment in the interest of future economic rewards and that this has differing consequences for the relationship between educational status and political attitudes among adults depending on their level of economic dissatisfaction. There is a positive relationship between educational status and non confidence in institutions among persons who are economically dissatisfied; and no relationship or the opposite type of relationship between education and non confidence among economically satisfied persons. Theoretical and research implications of these findings are discussed.