Sex hormones and choice under risk

We study the correlation of choice under risk in Holt–Laury lotteries for gains and losses with gender, the use of hormonal contraceptives, menstrual cycle information, salivary testosterone, estradiol, progesterone, and cortisol as well as the digit ratio (2D:4D; length of the index finger to the ring finger of the right hand) in more than 200 subjects (45% females). In males, salivary testosterone is negatively correlated with risk aversion for gains only. In females, salivary cortisol is positively correlated with risk aversion for gains only. No other significant correlations between risk preferences and salivary hormones are observed. No significant correlations between risk preferences and the menstrual cycle are observed in naturally cycling females. No significant correlations between risk preferences and the digit ratio are observed in either gender and/or race.     

Pro-social behavior in the TV show “Come Dine With Me”: An empirical investigation

We investigate the influence of social approval, reputation, and individual characteristics on voting behavior in the German version of the TV show “Come Dine With Me”. Five contestants prepare a dinner for each other during the course of a week and evaluate each other’s performance. The winner receives a monetary prize. Evaluations remain concealed until the show is broadcast. Because actual voting behavior remains concealed during the show, a contestant could evaluate his/her opponents as zero in an effort to increase his/her own chances of winning, without risking later punishment in the form of low scores. However, this behavior is not observed in our dataset, which runs from 2006 to 2011. We find that all of the following have a significant influence on the evaluating behavior: the objective sophistication of a meal; the order of cooking; whether a person has already cooked; and the social similarity between contestant and evaluator. These findings help to improve understanding of the impact that reputation and social approval have on economic decision making.     

Predictors of General Well-Being Among Female Single Parent College Students

The purpose of Ulis study was to investigate whether socioeconomic status, social support systems, self-esteem, family envi- ronment, and length of Lime as a single parent were associated with the general well-being of female single parent college shidents (n = 51). Statistically sigruficant relationships were found between social support systcms, self-esteem, family environment, and the general well-being of the subjects.     

论《墨子》经济思想中的生态因子及对当代的启迪

墨家的经济思想蕴涵着丰富的生态因子,这一点在其生产观、消费观、赋税观及分配观中这几个领域得到了充分的体现.墨家的这种思想给身处生态困境中的当代人类以深刻的启迪.     

Because they were there: Access,deliberation, and the mobilization of networks for support

When people need help, what is the process through which they decide whom in their network to turn to? Research on social support has described a process that is deliberative in nature: people determine their needs, assess who in their network has the needed attributes—such as skill, trustworthiness, intimacy, and accessibility—and then activate that tie. Nevertheless, research in behavioral economics and other fields has shown that people make many decisions not deliberatively but intuitively. We examine this possibility in the context of social support by focusing on one factor: accessibility. Although researchers have argued that people weigh the accessibility of potential helpers as they do any other attribute, accessibility may be not only an attribute of the helper but also a condition of the situation. We develop a framework to make this question tractable for survey research and evaluate competing hypotheses using original data on an analytically strategic sample of ∼2000 college students, probing concrete instances of social support. We identify and document not one but three decision processes, reflective, incidental, and spontaneous activation, which differ in the extent to which actors had deliberated on whether to seek help and on whom to approach before activating the tie. We find that while the process was reflective (consistent with existing theory) when skill or trustworthiness played a role, it was significantly less so (consistent with the alternative) when accessibility did. Findings suggest that actors decide whom in their network to mobilize through at least three systematically different processes, two of which are consistent less with either active “mobilization” or explicit “help seeking” than with responsiveness to opportunity and context.     

Demand for gambling: development and assessment of a gambling purchase task

Self-report purchase tasks are a novel approach examining the reinforcing value of addictive behaviour relative to increasing monetary costs required to access the addictive behaviour (i.e. demand). These measures reveal a positive relationship between the indices of demand and addiction problem severity and can elucidate factors associated with motivation for substance use. Gambling is an addictive behaviour that has not been examined using this paradigm. This study seeks to adapt and examine the purchase task for gambling behaviour. A gambling purchase task was devised that asked individuals how often per month they would gamble at various cover charges. Participants were 73 adults from the community with either gambling disorder (n = 28) or alcohol use disorder (n = 24) or were a healthy control (n = 21). Both the alcohol and gambling purchase tasks were administered. Results demonstrate discriminant validity of the gambling purchase task, as individuals with gambling disorder have significantly greater demand for accessing gambling than other groups. The alcohol purchase task also evidenced discriminant validity in that individuals with alcohol use disorder have significantly greater demand for alcohol than other groups. These findings support the use of the gambling purchase task to assess the demand for gambling.     

Economics,psychotherapy and politics

The paper explores the application of ideas derived from psychotherapy to questions of economic and social policy. It is argued that disputes concerning human nature underlie many debates on economic theory. Class is reviewed from internal and emotional perspectives. Psychological obstacles to the achievement of economic inequality are explored and ways of overcoming them critically discussed. Particular attention is paid to the operation of economic sadism in the behaviour of individuals and societies. A range of possible gender differences in relation to money is reviewed. Inherited wealth is explored from the perspective of ‘therapy thinking’. The paper proposes that we reconsider what is deemed to be realistic and what is deemed to be (hopelessly) idealistic in thinking about economics. The paper concludes by proposing a deeper discussion of the problematic of sacrifice in connection with sustainable economics.     

Regression Analysis of Restricted Mean Survival Time Based on Pseudo-Observations

Regression models for survival data are often specified from the hazard function while classical regression analysis of quantitative outcomes focuses on the mean value (possibly after suitable transformations). Methods for regression analysis of mean survival time and the related quantity, the restricted mean survival time, are reviewed and compared to a method based on pseudo-observations. Both Monte Carlo simulations and two real data sets are studied. It is concluded that while existing methods may be superior for analysis of the mean, pseudo-observations seem well suited when the restricted mean is studied.     

Arbeitsmarktforschung und Arbeitsmarktstatistik aus der Sicht der wirtschaftspolitischen Beratung: Erfahrungen und Perspektiven

Zusammenfassung: Dieser Beitrag beleuchtet aus der Sicht der wirtschaftspolitischen Beratung einige Anforderungen an die Arbeitsmarkt?konomik und Arbeitsmarktstatistik. Drei Bereiche werden angesprochen: die Arbeitslosenstatistik, die Tariflohnpolitik und die aktive Arbeitsmarktpolitik. Dabei werden zun?chst die Bemühungen hinsichtlich einer realistischeren Erfassung der Unterbesch?ftigung gewürdigt, zugleich aber Hinweise auf Verbesserungsm?glichkeiten gegeben. Anforderungen an die amtliche Statistik ergeben sich des Weiteren hinsichtlich der Tarifentgelte. In diesem Zusammenhang wird die Umsetzung der Erkenntnisse der Arbeitsmarkt?konomik in eine lohnpolitische Orientierungshilfe skizziert. Schlie?lich erfolgt eine kritische Einsch?tzung des Erfolgs der aktiven Arbeitsmarktpolitik, wobei eine zunehmende Willigkeit zur Bereitstellung der für die Evaluation erforderlichen Daten konstatiert werden kann.

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Summary: This paper deals with three demands on labor economics and labor statistics put forward from the point of view of an advisor to economic policy. Despite several improvements of unemployment statistics, a lot of work remains to be done. With respect to wage policy attempts by the German Council of Economic Experts are discussed how to formulate a guidance for wage policy both on scientific grounds and understandable by the public. Finally, a critical assessment of active labor market policies is presented together with a plea for adequate individual data in order to carry out a sound evaluation of these policies.

* Vortrag für die „Statistische Woche“, die Jahrestagung der Deutschen Statistischen Gesellschaft am 20. September 2004 in Frankfurt/Main. Der Vortragsstil wurde beibehalten. Die hier vorgetragenen Auffassungen liegen allein in der Verantwortung des Autors und stellen nicht notwendigerweise die Auffassungen anderer Institutionen dar. Ich danke Bernd Fitzenberger (Universit?t Frankfurt/Main und ZEW), Joachim M?ller (Universit?t Regensburg), Bernhard Boockmann und Tobias Hagen (ZEW), Irmtraud Beuerlein und Dirk Heinlein (Statistisches Bundesamt) für hilfreiche Kommentare und Anregungen. Verbleibende M?ngel gehen—leider—zu meinen Lasten.