Dataset on silver-maple-tree growth regulators

A trivariate summary measure based upon the number of sprouts, the lengths of the sprouts, and the number of intemodes per sprout was developed to compare the effects of growth suppressants on tree regrowth after trimming. A new graphic, the tree picture, was developed to display this information. The tree picture is easy to interpret and revealed clear results for the data given. These results demonstrate how innovative graphical methodology can be applied as a summary device in the absence of or as a supplement to a statistical testing procedure.     

Living Healthy and Living Long: Valuing the Nonpecuniary Loss from Disability and Death

This analysis uses three valuation approaches—risk–risk tradeoff, paired risk–dollar comparison, and utility function estimation—to estimate the nonpecuniary cost associated with disability in late life. In addition, we obtain an estimate of the value of life using a paired risk–dollar comparison. The data were obtained from interviews with 548 persons using an iterative computerized questionnaire. Respondents reported a median value of life of $12 million. They were willing-to-pay .7–1.4 million to avoid disability in late life or approximately $47–$95 thousand for each year of disability over age 62. The results were robust to the valuation technique employed.     

Adolescents' and parents' affect in relation to discrepant perceptions of parental warmth in daily life

The current study aimed to evaluate how adolescents' and parents' perceptions of daily parenting—and their discrepancies—relate to daily parent and adolescent affect. Daily parental warmth and affect were assessed using electronic diaries in 150 American adolescent–parent dyads (61.3% females, M_age = 14.6, 83.3% White; 95.3% mothers, M_age = 43.4; 89.3% White) and in 80 Dutch adolescents with 79 mothers and 72 fathers (63.8% females, M_age = 15.9, 91.3% White; M_age = 49.0, 97.4% White). Results of preregistered models indicated that individuals' affect may be more important for perceptions of parenting than discrepancies between parent–adolescent reports of parenting for affect, stressing the need to be aware of this influence of affect on parenting reports in clinical and research settings.     

Adverse Selection,Bequests, Crowding Out,and Private Demand for Insurance: Evidence from the Long-term Care Insurance Market

Adverse selection, moral hazard, and crowding out by public insurance have all been proposed as theoretical reasons for why the market for private long-term care insurance has been slow to evolve in the U.S. Using national samples of the elderly and near elderly, this study investigates which is most important. The data contain direct measures of risk aversion, expectations of future nursing home use and living to old age, and the bequest motive. For both groups, we find evidence of adverse selection, and, for the elderly, crowding out of private long-term care insurance by Medicaid. However, we do not find that demand for such insurance is motivated either by bequest or exchange motives.     

Loss volatility,bankruptcy, and the demand for reinsurance

Insurers in our model reinsure to lower the risk of bankruptcy. In the conceptual part of the study, we show that given bankruptcy cost, reinsurance may be demanded even if the insurer is risk-neutral. The model allows us to assess how the insurer's surplus, size, and volatility of losses affect the amount of reinsurance the insurer purchases. As predicted by our comparative statics analysis, we find empirically that property/casualty and medical malpractice insurers with higher prereinsurance loss volatility, lower surplus-to-premium ratios, and smaller sizes demand more reinsurance.     

Hospital ownership and performance

This study compares the performance of three ownership forms of hospitals: for profit, private nonprofit, and public, further classified according to whether or not the hospital is run by a hospital chain. Data come from a 1979 national survey of U.S. hospitals. The authors find that hospital cost is quite similar among alternative ownership forms as is profitability. The results do not provide much empirical support for standard property rights theory. Several reasons are suggested why this may be so.     

The relationship between individual expectations and behaviors: Mortality expectations and smoking decisions

Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, we assess the accuracy of subjective beliefs about mortality and objectively estimated probabilities for individuals in the same sample. Overall, subjective beliefs and objective probabilities are very close. However, there are differences conditional on behaviors, with current smokers being relatively optimistic and never smokers relatively pessimistic in their assessments. In the aggregate, individuals accurately predict longevity, but at the individual level, subjective beliefs provide information in addition to the estimated objective probabilities in predicting actual events, which may arise from the effect of past or anticipated decisions on these beliefs.

Nonprofit Leader Perceptions of Operating Reserves and Their Substitutes

This exploratory study has three objectives: (1) to understand the various ways academics, consultants, and practitioners conceptualize operating reserves; (2) to explore differences among academic findings, consultant recommendations, and nonprofit leader perceptions of operating reserves; and (3) to identify how practitioners operationalize operating reserves within their organizations. Using intensive interviews with nonprofit executives, we find that the operating reserve ratio (ORR) commonly used in the nonprofit literature does not accurately indicate whether an organization holds an operating reserve according to nonprofit leaders. In addition, results indicate that experienced nonprofit leaders perceive a variety of other fund types including endowment and investment savings as well as ability to borrow, other assets, sister foundations, and donor networks as legitimate substitutes for a reserve.     

Thai Adolescents' Normative Beliefs of the Popularity of Smoking Among Peers,Adults, the Successful and Elite,and Parents

The purpose of this study was to assess the perceptions of Thailand adolescents regarding the prevalence of smoking, the popularity of smoking among successful/elite elements of society, and disapproval of smoking by friends and parents. These perceptions were analyzed in conjunction with actual smoking and smoking susceptibility rates among the subjects to determine whether beliefs and behaviors were associated with each other. This study was conducted among a school‐based sample of 2516 Chiang Mai, Thailand upper secondary and vocational students. Although perceived prevalence of smoking was not associated with smoking outcomes, perceived popularity of smoking among the successful and elite was associated with higher risk, and perceived disapproval by friends/parents was associated with lower risk. Youth smoking programs should consider assessing and taking these social normative factors into account when considering educational intervention strategies that aim to lower adolescent smoking rates.