SIMULATING A MULTIPRODUCT BARTER EXCHANGE ECONOMY

We describe a multiproduct barter trading experiment in which students exchange real goods in an open market based on their own personal preference. The experiment is designed for simulating a pure exchange market in order to demonstrate the role of money and its functions in real economies by showing the limitations and inefficiencies of the traditional barter economy. In addition, the simulation is very effective in highlighting some of the key features that an object that serves as money needs to possess in order to function as an efficient medium of exchange, unit of account, and store of value.     

INTENSIFIERS IN BEHAVIORAL FREQUENCY QUESTIONS

Intensifiers, words such as "very" and "extremely", are usedto magnify the meaning of the phrases to which they are applied.In a series of studies we investigate how intensifiers in questionstems affect response patterns in social surveys. Our researchindicates that even apparently important differences in questionwording may in some situations have little or no impact; addingan intensifier to a root did not create a response shift forseveral intensifier/root combinations in large-scale surveys.Using both field and laboratory techniques we explore the situationsin which shifts do occur and go some lengths toward describingwhy this happens. Response shifts were observed for two situations.First, when "extreme" was applied to "physical pain" there wasa substantial and significant response shift. Second, when respondentswere asked a question without an intensifier and then had thequestion repeated immediately afterward with an intensifier,a response shift was produced. In addition to the practicalsignificance for survey methodologists, these results are importantto cognitive psychologists interested in word meaning.     

PLANNED AND UNPLANNED BEQUESTS

We distinguish between bequests that are planned as part of a lifetime optimization process and those that are the unplanned result of errors in forecasting the date of death. Given the initial endowment we expect a positive relation between the bequest and the planning horizon, and a negative relation between unexpectedly long life and the bequest. A unique data set on wealthy decedents and their parents provides measures of expected horizons based on parents' longevity. Both predictions are confirmed, and there is an especially large and significant positive relation between the bequest and the length of the planning horizon.     

SURVEY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE FREQUENCY OF VAGUELY DEFINED EVENTS: THE EFFECTS OF RESPONSE ALTERNATIVES

Experimental research has shown that the choice of responsealternatives can influence responses to questions about thefrequency of vaguely defined target events (e.g., feeling annoyed);the set of response alternatives is treated as information thatcontributes to the interpretation of the question. In a seriesof split ballot experiments we investigate whether such effectsoccur in a large-scale survey context for sets of response alternativesthat might be used interchangeably by survey researchers. Thepredicted response shifts were found in our field experiments.Those presented with response alternatives discriminating atlow frequencies reported fewer of the target episodes than thosepresented with higher-frequency response alternatives. However,the size of the observed shifts varied from zero to 13 percentand depended on a number of characteristics of the survey, forexample, the presence of "priming" questions and the orientationof the response scales. Response alternatives are not neutraland therefore must be carefully considered when constructinga survey question.     

A List Sequential Sampling Method Suitable for Real-Time Sampling

Abstract.  A flexible list sequential π ps sampling method is introduced and studied. It can reproduce any given sampling design without replacement, of fixed or random sample size. The method is a splitting method and uses successive updating of inclusion probabilities. The main advantage of the method is in real-time sampling situations where it can be used as a powerful alternative to Bernoulli and Poisson sampling and can give any desired second-order inclusion probabilities and thus considerably reduce the variability of the sample size.     

THE EFFECT OF PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT LAWS ON YOUTH SUICIDE

Using state‐level data on suicides from the period 1987 to 2003, we find that the adoption of a law requiring a parent's notification or consent before a minor can obtain an abortion is associated with an 11%–21% reduction in the number of 15‐ through 17‐year‐old females who commit suicide. In contrast, the adoption of a parental involvement law is not associated with a reduction in the number of older females who commit suicide or in the number of 15‐ through 17‐year‐old males who commit suicide. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that parental involvement laws represent an increase in the expected cost of having unprotected sex, and, as a consequence, serve to protect young females from depression and what have been termed “stressful life events” such as conflict with a parent or an abortion. (JEL I18, I10, J13)     

IS AGENCY THEORY SELF‐ACTIVATING?

This article examines the conditions under which the principal-agent model is self-activating/socially causal. We do so by exploring a principal-agent framework that allows for the possibility that rational agents may hold intrinsic preferences for autonomy in decision making and experience disutility from being monitored. Using a dynamic model of preference formation, we identify conditions under which the principal-agent model is self-activating in that, over time, the introduction of the model in an otherwise efficient monitor-worker relationship leads to the inefficient adoption of the agency model. We also examine the extent to which the agency model is robust when autonomy-preferring agents are introduced into the population. ( JEL G30, L20, C72)     

SPATIAL COMPETITION AND THE PRICE OF COLLEGE

This article provides the first evidence that universities compete directly on price, and that the market for students depends on the proximity of competitors. Exploiting detailed data from private U.S. universities, price competition is tested by introducing geographic proximity into a spatial-autoregressive tuition model. Standard spatial models show that list and net tuition are inversely related to distance between institutions, consistent with price competition in higher education. An extension to the spatial-econometrics literature relaxes a constraint that estimated spatial relationships are common across all observations, implying that spatial effects differ across qualitative classes of institutions . ( JEL C21, I2, L11)     

LEVIATHAN AT BAY: CONSTITUTIONAL VERSUS POLITICAL CONTROLS ON GOVERNMENT

I integrate constitutional constraints in a model of electoral control of politicians. Two types of politicians compete for office: angels, who never misuse power, and knaves, who abuse delegated power. Political theory suggests that constitutional constraints and elections are substitutes; I find a more complicated relationship. Elections sometimes substitute for constraints, while constraints complement and strengthen electoral controls based on politicians' payoffs. Elections must work perfectly to generally allow constraints to be dispensed with. Knaves might self-select out of politics with constitutional constraints, which consequently appear inconsistent with the observed character of politicians. ( JEL H1, D72)