Deciding Not to Adopt: The Role of Normative Family Ideologies in Adoption Consideration

ABSTRACT

Americans view adoption favorably, yet few consider adopting or actually adopt a child. Using qualitative data from the representative National Survey of Fertility Barriers, we explored why women who had considered adoption decided not to pursue it as a pathway to parenthood. Our sample includes responses from 1,747 women who considered adoption at some point. Seven themes emerged: prioritization of biology, economic concerns, family building prerequisites, relationship barriers, barriers to adoption, family barriers, and change of heart. Findings highlight that barriers to adoption are not always the primary reasons women opt out of adoption; normative conceptualizations of “family” are also important.     

The impact of minimum taxation by an imputable wealth tax on capital budgeting and business strategy of German companies

An alternative minimum tax (AMT) that guarantees a minimum tax payment even in case of losses is often regarded desirable. We analyze the influence of a wealth tax designed as AMT on marginal investment decisions and provide an analytical approach and numerical analyses identifying distortive effects. We present a wealth tax AMT paradox under loss offset restrictions. Modelling enterprises of different structure, industry, size and legal status we show that companies in the financial services sector are more frequently subjected to this AMT than capital intensive industries. This result runs counter to well-known effects of a common wealth tax. We resume that whenever income is taxed correctly, AMT is dispensable.

基于顾客策略行为和缺货损失的供应链定价与订购决策

顾客基于理性预期决定购买时机的策略行为造成供应链决策困难,影响到供应链利润。针对单生产商、单零售商组成、具有高支付意愿与低支付意愿两类顾客的供应链,利用均衡分析方法和理性预期理论建立了考虑缺货损失下高支付意愿顾客分别为策略型顾客与短视型顾客时供应链的分散式决策二层规划模型和集中式决策模型,对该四种模型进行了求解与对比分析、以及数值仿真和敏感性分析,算例表明了模型的合理性和结论的有效性。研究表明:高WTP顾客为策略型顾客时,集中式供应链与分散式供应链相比,其订货量高、但零售价低,故利润反而较低;高支付意愿顾客为策略型顾客时分散式供应链和集中式供应链的利润小于高支付意愿顾客为短视型顾客下的情形;四种供应链模式下的订货量随单位缺货损失的增加而增加,但供应链的利润降低。限量销售、回购剩余产品、提高顾客心目中的产品价值等策略可有效降低顾客策略行为对供应链的影响。本文将促进基于顾客策略行为的供应链理论研究与管理实践。     

Modelling of how lotto players select their number combinations dynamically

By examining a unique dataset, the authors build a time series model that can describe the dynamics of lotto players’ betting behaviour. The results are derived from a database maintained by a lottery operator in Taiwan, which consists of number combinations selected by players for 203 consecutive draws in 2 years, including those placed through certain systematic schemes. The dynamic models that the authors established show that the players’ number selection over time is influenced by three factors: the numbers that they chose in the last draw, the winning numbers of the previous draw and the numbers with the highest observed winning frequencies in the past. The first factor reflects the mean-reverting nature of the lotto players’ selection behaviour. The second reaffirms the well-known gambler’s fallacy in which players believe that they can improve their chances of winning by avoiding numbers that recently won. The third exhibits the players’ bias towards certain numbers with an above-average probability to be drawn. The two latter types of misconceptions are found to be more predominant in systematic betters, which suggests that the extent of the lotto players’ behavioural biases may vary according to how they place their bets.     

引“情”入法:清代州县诉讼中习惯如何影响审断

清代诉讼中州县官凭借律例和情理审断案件,其中的情既包括人情也包括民情.通过考察四川省南部县全清档案中州县官对"义让"和"转房"案件审断情况,可以发现符合律意的习惯和不符合律意的习惯,在州县审断中的影响.当习惯为国家律例所不禁,则州县官大胆运用,直接将民情引入审断,此为"道统"高于"治统"的必然;当其为国家律例所禁止,但考虑到地方的特殊性,州县官虽然不直接引用,但仍常以人情为借口,以"看似通达人情,实则迁就习惯"的方式平息讼争,此为现实高于理想的必然.     

可持续发展形势下管理会计的创新

随着可持续发展理论的提出 ,企业责任由对所有者负责向对利益关系人负责转化 ,经营目标由追求股东经济价值最大化向追求可持续经营转变。在此形势下 ,管理会计也要有相应的改进和创新。这包括扩大成本范围、建立环境成本会计、纳环境因素于战略投资评价和综合业绩评价体系等。     

加征关税下的跨国供应链决策及补贴策略研究

本文讨论加征关税视角下的供应链决策及补贴策略问题。基于本国制造商、分销商与国外进口零售商所组成的三级跨国供应链,分别讨论了政府不补贴、政府补贴下的供应链决策,研究加征关税和补贴对供应链的影响,并分析保持产品销售价不变补贴策略(I)、保持制造商利润不变补贴策略(II)及社会福利最大化补贴策略(III)的效应。结果表明,加征关税导致产品销售价增大和本国企业批发价、供应链各企业利润及社会福利的降低,但政府提高补贴使得产品销售价减小和供应链各企业利润增大,而社会福利随着补贴的增大先增大后减小。随着加征关税税率及补贴的增大,供应链更多地表现为补贴的作用,补贴能有效减小加征关税的影响。在较低关税税率下,策略(III)激励产品出口作用显著,但政府补贴支出过高;策略(II)相较策略(I)激励效果更显著,但补贴支出更大。在较高关税税率下,策略(II)更能激励制造商出口,策略(I)以较低的补贴支出激励制造商出口,更有利于维持国际市场稳定。     

Class origin and young adults’ re-enrollment

This paper examines re-enrollment decisions taken by adults who have previously participated in the labor market in the US. We investigate the influence of social origin on re-enrollment and test hypotheses based on the “status reproduction” argument. We find that young adults from the lower classes re-enroll less often than those from the upper classes and that these differences can be attributed to a large extend to different ability or performance. Beyond the effects of social origin as such, we also scrutinize the effects of the child's class position relative to family status as a more direct implication of the “status reproduction” argument. Our analyses reveal that once young adults from higher status positions have reached their parents’ class, re-enrollment is somewhat less likely to occur. However, this effect of the child's relative class to the parents’ is rather weak.     

The mismatch between employment and child care in Italy: the impact of rationing

In Italy the women’s participation is among the lowest in Europe. The female employment rate stands almost 13 percentage points below the EU average and 22 below the Lisbon target. One of the most important reasons is related to the characteristics of child care system. We analyze the characteristics of the child care system in Italy and its relationship to the labor market participation decision of mothers. The two decisions are jointly considered in a discrete choice framework, which also allows for simple forms of rationing. We go on to estimate a bivariate probit model of the child care and employment decisions and find evidence that rationing is an important factor in interpreting price effects on utilization rates and employment decisions. Responsible editors: Deborah Cobb-Clark & Tito Boeri     

How Anxiety Leads to Suboptimal Decisions Under Risky Choice Situations

The current research proposes that situationally activated anxiety—whether incidental or integral—impairs decision making. In particular, we theorize that anxiety drives decisionmakers to more heavily emphasize subjective anecdotal information in their decision making, at the expense of more factual statistical information—a deleterious heuristic called the anecdotal bias. Four studies provide consistent support for this assertion. Studies 1A and 1B feature field experiments that demonstrate the role of incidental anxiety in enhancing the anecdotal bias in a choice context. Study 2 builds on these findings, manipulating individuals’ incidental anxiety and showing how this affects the anecdotal bias in the context of message evaluations. Study 2 also provides direct evidence that only high‐arousal negative emotions such as anxiety/worry enhance the anecdotal bias, not just any negative emotion (e.g., sadness). While the first three studies examine how incidental anxiety impacts choice, the last study demonstrates the effect of integral anxiety on decision making, manipulating anxiety by intensifying participants’ perceived risk. Our results show that—consistent with findings from our first three studies—the anecdotal bias is enhanced when anxiety is heightened by individuals’ perception of risk.