Over time, increases in hours of work per capita have created the intuitively plausible notion that there is less time available to pursue social interactions. The approach taken by Saffer and Lamiraud (NBER, 2008) is to use an exogenous decline in hours of work in France due to a new employment law. Their results show that the employment law reduced hours of work but there is no evidence that the extra hours went to increased social interactions.
The Effect of Hours of Work on Social Interaction
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Ultra Long Term Health Effects
I have a weakness for sword'n'sandal type historical fiction set in Ancient Rome. One author I particularly enjoy is Steven Saylor who writes detective novels set in Ancient Rome, which manage to combine a modern sensibility - with the archetypal cynical, Sam Spadeish detective hero - with a real immersion into the foreign world of the classical past. The most recent book of his I've read, Arms of Nemesis, really brought home how horrific it must have been to be a slave. And it got me thinking - millions of people, possibly the majority in the classical world (as far as I recall, the number of Athenian citizens, who were of course all free males, was a tenth of the number of Athenian slaves) lived in this state of permanent insecurity, literally dehumanised and debased.
This, to say the least, can't help but have had some profound psychological effects. And considering that, presumably, of people alive at the present moment, a good proportion have slavery somewhere, perhaps very deep, in their ancestry, perhaps this underlies many of the enduring psychological difficulties we call personality disorders. After all, we are still only beginning to realise the intergenerational effects of traumas such as the post World War II exodus and expulsions of Germans from Eastern Europe Martin's post on the enduring health effects of 9/11 rekindled this train of thought.
Obviously in the U.S. there's an ongoing controversy about reparations for slavery, the assets of companies who profited even indirectly during the Holocaust, and other such issues. Perhaps we should all try and lobby the Italian government for reparations from the slave holding of the Ancient Romans!
This, to say the least, can't help but have had some profound psychological effects. And considering that, presumably, of people alive at the present moment, a good proportion have slavery somewhere, perhaps very deep, in their ancestry, perhaps this underlies many of the enduring psychological difficulties we call personality disorders. After all, we are still only beginning to realise the intergenerational effects of traumas such as the post World War II exodus and expulsions of Germans from Eastern Europe Martin's post on the enduring health effects of 9/11 rekindled this train of thought.
Obviously in the U.S. there's an ongoing controversy about reparations for slavery, the assets of companies who profited even indirectly during the Holocaust, and other such issues. Perhaps we should all try and lobby the Italian government for reparations from the slave holding of the Ancient Romans!
An economic analysis of apathetic behavior: Theory and experiment
This looks worth reading.But I can't be bothered.
Aiko Shibataa, Toru Morib, Makoto Okamurac and Noriko Soyamad
Journal of Socio-Economics
Volume 37, Issue 1, February 2008, Pages 90-107
Abstract
The apathy of bystanders often prevails when instances of bullying, hidden crime and extortion occur in communities such as schools, business work areas, underclass ghettos, prisons and the military. The present study models apathetic behavior as a non-cooperative game and attempts to verify this theory through experiments. Furthermore, our research suggests that the apathy of bystanders generally decrease as the number of citizens in a community decrease. In our experimental cases, if the number of members in a group decreases from 40 members to 20 members, the concerned and helpful behavior of bystanders increases by 21%.
Aiko Shibataa, Toru Morib, Makoto Okamurac and Noriko Soyamad
Journal of Socio-Economics
Volume 37, Issue 1, February 2008, Pages 90-107
Abstract
The apathy of bystanders often prevails when instances of bullying, hidden crime and extortion occur in communities such as schools, business work areas, underclass ghettos, prisons and the military. The present study models apathetic behavior as a non-cooperative game and attempts to verify this theory through experiments. Furthermore, our research suggests that the apathy of bystanders generally decrease as the number of citizens in a community decrease. In our experimental cases, if the number of members in a group decreases from 40 members to 20 members, the concerned and helpful behavior of bystanders increases by 21%.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Points Race Far From Over
Michael Kelly, chairperson of the Higher Education Authority, wrote recently in the Irish Times saying that HEA projections indicate that the "points race" is far from over (see story here). "Last year, almost 40,000 students accepted places through the Central Applications Office system. That is 5,000 more than 10 years ago. Second, given our growing population (seen most vividly at primary and secondary levels), the HEA expects that Leaving Certificate numbers will start to grow again within the next decade". This comes in addition to a renewed emphasis on life-long learning.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
The Long Term Health Effects of 9/11
A new study by researchers at the University of California at Irvine says stress and fear in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon may have prolonged health effects for Americans.
More details can be found on the website of the National Science Foundation.
More details can be found on the website of the National Science Foundation.
Solastalgia
A few weeks ago I read in Wired magazine a piece on solastalgia, which is perhaps best described in the words of the term's coiner, Australian philosopher Glenn Albrecht
"Solastalgia is the pain or sickness caused by the loss or lack of solace and the sense of desolation connected to the present state of one’s home and territory. It is the 'lived experience' of negative environmental change. It is the homesickness you have when you are still at home. It is that feeling you have when your sense of place is under attack. While I claim responsibility for creating the concept of solastalgia and its meaning, I am aware that that the existential experience underlying it is not new ... only that it is newly defined in English (but possibly represented in many other languages). The experience of solastalgia might well be ancient and ubiquitous and under the impact of relentless environmental change, ecosystem distress and climate chaos, it may well become much more common. It is my sincere hope that the negative experience of solastalgia can be overcome by the restoration of ecosystem and human health via every form of creative enterprise at our disposal."
Albrecht describes solastalgia as a psychoterratic illness, proposing two new categories of illness - psychoterratic and somatoterratic that make the connection between the environment and mental and physical health.
At first, when I read the Wired article, I was a bit sceptical - professionally I'm a minimalist, preferring that psychiatric entities not be multiplied unnecessarily (a pretentious way of saying I'm wary of medicalising and psychiatricising everyday experience.) However the more I read about Albrecht's concept - especially the underlying ideas of psychoterratic and somaterratic illness - the more compelling they are.
Aside from anything else, is this concept useful for considering the overall costs not only of climate change but of other environmental (in the widest sense) interventions?
"Solastalgia is the pain or sickness caused by the loss or lack of solace and the sense of desolation connected to the present state of one’s home and territory. It is the 'lived experience' of negative environmental change. It is the homesickness you have when you are still at home. It is that feeling you have when your sense of place is under attack. While I claim responsibility for creating the concept of solastalgia and its meaning, I am aware that that the existential experience underlying it is not new ... only that it is newly defined in English (but possibly represented in many other languages). The experience of solastalgia might well be ancient and ubiquitous and under the impact of relentless environmental change, ecosystem distress and climate chaos, it may well become much more common. It is my sincere hope that the negative experience of solastalgia can be overcome by the restoration of ecosystem and human health via every form of creative enterprise at our disposal."
Albrecht describes solastalgia as a psychoterratic illness, proposing two new categories of illness - psychoterratic and somatoterratic that make the connection between the environment and mental and physical health.
At first, when I read the Wired article, I was a bit sceptical - professionally I'm a minimalist, preferring that psychiatric entities not be multiplied unnecessarily (a pretentious way of saying I'm wary of medicalising and psychiatricising everyday experience.) However the more I read about Albrecht's concept - especially the underlying ideas of psychoterratic and somaterratic illness - the more compelling they are.
Aside from anything else, is this concept useful for considering the overall costs not only of climate change but of other environmental (in the widest sense) interventions?
How Universities Can Cooperate to Ehance the Welfare of their Graduates in the Labour Market
Ostrovsky and Schwarz (NBER, 2008) demonstrate that if universities disclose the benchmark amount of information (parchment), students and employers will not find it profitable to contract early; if the universities disclose more information, unraveling will occur.
Holt and Roth (PNAS, 2004) have already suggested how to avoid prisoner’s dilemma problems of timing in labour markets - by designing a clearinghouse in which employers and job candidates can both participate.
One of the principal concerns here is that early contracting may deter students from working hard in the later stages of their courses, which could ultimately have negative consequences once they move on from their initial conditions in the graduate labour market.
Holt and Roth (PNAS, 2004) have already suggested how to avoid prisoner’s dilemma problems of timing in labour markets - by designing a clearinghouse in which employers and job candidates can both participate.
One of the principal concerns here is that early contracting may deter students from working hard in the later stages of their courses, which could ultimately have negative consequences once they move on from their initial conditions in the graduate labour market.
Altering School Leavers' Preferences for Choosing College Courses...
The School of Science at GMIT has been delivering an honours degree in Physics & Instrumentation for several years - however, of late, interest in this course amongst school leavers has decreased.
So the School of Science is encouraging students to study the course by offering an incentive of €1,000.
The scheme is currently being promoted on national radio. You can read more about it here on the GMIT website.
So the School of Science is encouraging students to study the course by offering an incentive of €1,000.
The scheme is currently being promoted on national radio. You can read more about it here on the GMIT website.
Tuesday 29th January Seminar
Ian Irvine (Concordia University) will be giving a talk “Nicotine, Toxicology and Tobacco Control Policy” in the Behavioural Seminar series as follows:
Speaker: Ian Irvine
Seminar Title: " Nicotine, Toxicology and Tobacco Control Policy "
Abstract:
Smokers not only choose the number of cigarettes to smoke in any given period on the basis of price, they also choose the intensity with which to smoke - that is, how much nicotine to inhale. The possibility that quantity-reducing tax policies may be mitigated, or even completely offset, by higher intensity has been raised recently by Adda and Cornaglia (2006). The objective of the present paper is to build a utility-maximizing model of nicotine use that incorporates both a quantity choice and an intensity choice, each influenced by price. The toxicology literature has long recognized that individuals approach these choices in the framework of nicotine inventory management throughout the day. A utility maximizing model based on these principles can be shown to have several applications to problems that, to date, have lacked an integrated theoretical framework.
Venue: Seminar Room B003/4, Geary Institute
Date: Tuesday 29th January (today)
Time: 1pm
Lunch provided
All welcome.
Speaker: Ian Irvine
Seminar Title: " Nicotine, Toxicology and Tobacco Control Policy "
Abstract:
Smokers not only choose the number of cigarettes to smoke in any given period on the basis of price, they also choose the intensity with which to smoke - that is, how much nicotine to inhale. The possibility that quantity-reducing tax policies may be mitigated, or even completely offset, by higher intensity has been raised recently by Adda and Cornaglia (2006). The objective of the present paper is to build a utility-maximizing model of nicotine use that incorporates both a quantity choice and an intensity choice, each influenced by price. The toxicology literature has long recognized that individuals approach these choices in the framework of nicotine inventory management throughout the day. A utility maximizing model based on these principles can be shown to have several applications to problems that, to date, have lacked an integrated theoretical framework.
Venue: Seminar Room B003/4, Geary Institute
Date: Tuesday 29th January (today)
Time: 1pm
Lunch provided
All welcome.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Sticking to the Default
"We find that even though choice behavior is principally driven by different reasons across different situations overall procrastination and financial illiteracy provide the mostpowerful explanations for why people stick to the default".
Choice or No Choice: What explains the Attractiveness of Default Options?
Date: 2008-01
Maarten van Rooij
Federica Teppa
Choice or No Choice: What explains the Attractiveness of Default Options?
Date: 2008-01
Maarten van Rooij
Federica Teppa
Drinking away relationship problems
"A 30-day diary study examined the relations among trait self-esteem, negative romantic relationship interactions, and alcohol consumption. Multilevel analyses revealed that people with low trait self-esteem (compared with people with high trait self-esteem) drank more on days when they experienced more negative relationship interactions with their romantic partners. In addition, daily increases in state self-esteem buffered people with low trait self-esteem from the desire to drink in response to negative romantic relationship interactions. These findings suggest that people with low trait self-esteem may drink as a way to regulate unfulfilled needs for acceptance."
DeHart et al. (2008)
DeHart et al. (2008)
Mafia killers arm themselves with degrees
Two mafia bossess recently gained first-class degrees - one in mathematics, the other in economics.
Prison authorities said that a growing number of imprisoned Mafia killers are taking degrees, and that their motives may not be entirely to do with academic achievement.
“A favourite subject is law”: Read more here
Prison authorities said that a growing number of imprisoned Mafia killers are taking degrees, and that their motives may not be entirely to do with academic achievement.
“A favourite subject is law”: Read more here
Atheism to blame for plagiarism
They say all writing comes only by the grace of God. Dijksterhuis and colleagues put this to the test through an experimental paradigm which combines personal and computer authorship (not far off undergrad essay writing really).
They conclude that "authorship feelings can be affected by priming subjects with a supernatural agent (i.e., God).. and feelings of authorship decrease when participants are primed with God, but only among believers."
Effects of subliminal priming of self and God on self-attribution of authorship for events
They conclude that "authorship feelings can be affected by priming subjects with a supernatural agent (i.e., God).. and feelings of authorship decrease when participants are primed with God, but only among believers."
Effects of subliminal priming of self and God on self-attribution of authorship for events
How you could be eating more and not know it
Shari Roan from the LA times reviews some of the key studies which aim to explain nonconscious influences promoting calorie intake:
"People can be influenced to eat unhealthful food, or more food than they should, without even realizing it.
* Advertising matters. One study, published last year in the Journal of Consumer Research, found that people think they are eating healthfully if it's advertised that way. Researchers had people eat Subway meals that contained the same amount of calories as a McDonald's meal, but the people estimated that the Subway meal contained 35% fewer calories.
* Eating is automatic. A 2004 study in the journal Appetite showed that people who are served bigger portions will eat more. Men given large bags of potato chips ate triple the number of chips -- an extra 311 calories -- compared with men given a small bag of chips.
* Visual cues prompt eating. A 2004 study in the Annual Review of Nutrition found that people ate 69% more jelly beans when they were offered in a mixed assortment than a group offered jelly beans sorted by color.
* The setting matters. A 2005 study in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin found that the more pleasant the environment, the more people will eat. People shown a picture of a smiling person poured more of a drink, drank more and rated the drink more favorably than people shown pictures of a frowning person.
* Portions direct eating. A 2003 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that doubling the size of an entree increased overall food intake 25%. The consumers did not compensate for the bigger entree by decreasing the intake of other food on their plates.
* Other people influence eating. A 1992 study in Physiology & Behavior found that food consumption increased 28% when one other person was present and 71% when six or more companions were present.
* Eating is contagious. A study published last year in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that obesity can spread through social networks. A person's chances of becoming obese increased 57% if he or she had a friend who became obese in the same time period. If one sibling became obese, the chance that the other would become obese increased 40%.
* Marketing matters. Several studies published in the 1970s and 1980s show that doubling the shelf space of an item in a grocery store increases sales of the item as much as 40%."
"People can be influenced to eat unhealthful food, or more food than they should, without even realizing it.
* Advertising matters. One study, published last year in the Journal of Consumer Research, found that people think they are eating healthfully if it's advertised that way. Researchers had people eat Subway meals that contained the same amount of calories as a McDonald's meal, but the people estimated that the Subway meal contained 35% fewer calories.
* Eating is automatic. A 2004 study in the journal Appetite showed that people who are served bigger portions will eat more. Men given large bags of potato chips ate triple the number of chips -- an extra 311 calories -- compared with men given a small bag of chips.
* Visual cues prompt eating. A 2004 study in the Annual Review of Nutrition found that people ate 69% more jelly beans when they were offered in a mixed assortment than a group offered jelly beans sorted by color.
* The setting matters. A 2005 study in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin found that the more pleasant the environment, the more people will eat. People shown a picture of a smiling person poured more of a drink, drank more and rated the drink more favorably than people shown pictures of a frowning person.
* Portions direct eating. A 2003 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that doubling the size of an entree increased overall food intake 25%. The consumers did not compensate for the bigger entree by decreasing the intake of other food on their plates.
* Other people influence eating. A 1992 study in Physiology & Behavior found that food consumption increased 28% when one other person was present and 71% when six or more companions were present.
* Eating is contagious. A study published last year in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that obesity can spread through social networks. A person's chances of becoming obese increased 57% if he or she had a friend who became obese in the same time period. If one sibling became obese, the chance that the other would become obese increased 40%.
* Marketing matters. Several studies published in the 1970s and 1980s show that doubling the shelf space of an item in a grocery store increases sales of the item as much as 40%."
Time Poor in Ireland
the following paper reports on the results of a time usage survey conducted by the ESRI and examines subjective time pressure. we have discussed a number of occassions the potential extensions of time use methodologies and worth keeping in mind here
http://www.esri.ie/UserFiles/publications/20071218103659/JACB000028.pdf
http://www.esri.ie/UserFiles/publications/20071218103659/JACB000028.pdf
Sunday, January 27, 2008
work, rest and play
Clive Thompson is a science journalist who writes for the New York Times and Wired, inter alia. His own blog is at http://www.collisondetection.com - well worth looking at . There's lots of fun stuff there, from his career as a Halo 3 suicide bomber to Japanese text-message based novels to US college athletics coaches desperately texting their potential charges in an attempt to forge a bond. In particular I enjoyed this piece about the sheer pleasure and sheer necessity of... wasting time. Which at 11.30 pm on a Sunday night is exactly what I should be doing....
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Pushing People Into the Wrong Careers?
The pros and cons of the CAO points system has generated some posts on this blog in the past. Recently, DCU president Professor Ferdinand von Prondzynski called for the points system to be scrapped, as he thinks we need to move from a professional to an enterprise culture. This debate is well-timed for an era where female participation in higher education is at 60% and growing.
According to the Irish Examiner: "The view that school leavers may be pushed to seek places on courses solely based on the status attached to their Leaving Certificate points’ requirements is not a new one. But Professor von Prondzynski’s remarks could spark a debate about the points system, which has been in use for college entry since the early 1970s".
Read more here.
According to the Irish Examiner: "The view that school leavers may be pushed to seek places on courses solely based on the status attached to their Leaving Certificate points’ requirements is not a new one. But Professor von Prondzynski’s remarks could spark a debate about the points system, which has been in use for college entry since the early 1970s".
Read more here.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
No Revision Policy
The status of peer review in Economics has been spoken about a lot lately. Bruno Frey, in particular, has written some blasting attacks on the tendency for the peer-review process to turn in to a form of academic prostitution with authors making amendments they dont fully agree with solely to get published. Partly as a response to this trend, Economic Inquiry have launched a "no revisions" option. The full rationale is explained below by the editor
http://www.mcafee.cc/EI/NoRevisions.html
http://www.mcafee.cc/EI/NoRevisions.html
Uk Healthy Living Strategy
The UK are spending a huge amount of money on a new healthy living strategy targeted in particular at obesity. Among the tactics include incentives for people to go to the gym. Worth keeping an eye on this
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7204257.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7204257.stm
Over 80,000 Young Men At Risk Due to Lack of Education
In an announcement on the HEA website (Read more here), the Chief Executive of the Higher Education Authority, Tom Boland, has predicted that if construction goes into serious decline, tens of thousands of men face long term unemployment because of their lack of education...
New Website to Provide User Friendly Guide to Student Grants
www.studentfinance.ie is "a comprehensive, user friendly guide to student grants and supports in further and higher education. The website is an initiative of the National Access Office of the Higher Education Authority (HEA)" - read more here on the HEA website.
A Bit of Macro for a Change
Billionaire investor George Soros today said that the position of the US dollar as the world's reserve currency is coming to an end:
Soros: end of dollar as world's currency
Soros: end of dollar as world's currency
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Psychology, Interdisciplinarity and the Major Challenges of the 21st Century
Liam Delaney
Talk to the DU Psychological Society, 24th January 2008.
Room 1.11 Aras an Phiarsiagh 6pm
All Welcome - No Admisson Fee!
Talk Outline
Some of the key challenges faced by the world in the 21st century can, at least partly, be tackled by psychology. This talk will discuss a number of ways in which psychology, through interactions with other scientific disciplines such as economics has a big impact in these key areas. The first area of discussion refers to globalisation and economics. While economics has tended to focus on the economic benefits to globalisation, it is clear that there are pressing psychological dimensions to globalisation and that understanding these is necessary for a true understanding of trade, migration and investment in a global economy. The second area I focus on is the ageing world. Ireland, like many other countries, is getting progressively older and this is the defining demographic shift of the 21st century. How Ireland and other countries adapt to this in terms of health care and pension reform will largely determine our standard of living as we grow older. I will give key examples of recent papers in economic psychology that have contributed to understanding and managing the complexities of this demographic transition. The third area I focus on is well-being, the environment and national planning. We continuously observe discussion in the media about indicators such as economic growth and inflation yet there is less real analysis about what exactly makes people better off in terms of their psychological well-being, which ultimately is what we should be trying to improve. I talk about how psychologists have been collaborating with economists and environmental scientists to derive new measures of national well-being that may eventually replace or heavily supplement the standard measures you will all be familiar with from watching the news. In this regard, I discuss key issues that have emerged over the “Celtic Tiger” period such as the unprecedented increase in the male suicide rate, the question of whether increased money provides increased happiness and the extent to which certain groups in society have benefited differently from the increased growth and the potential psychological consequences of this. In particular, I talk about the psychological impact of being isolated, disabled, unemployed, acting as a full-time carer, being “over-worked” and other potentially psychologically painful states. I also review current thinking examining the role that psychological services and treatments will have to play in improving global well-being in the 21st century. The final part of my talk summarises the area of behavioural economics which is a mixture of economics and psychology and focuses on decision making in key life domains. Under this heading, I discuss the growing area of neuroeconomics in which key life decisions are explained with reference to how people make tradeoffs with respect to risk and time and how these decisions are implemented by different brain areas. I also discuss the recent literature on the behavioural economics of student choices and briefly overview some of my own work that has examined risk behaviour among Irish students and how behavioural economics is being employed to examine areas such as financial decision and transport choice. This talk will be of interest to people who want to understand the wider role of psychology and may provide stimulation as to potential career options that had not been considered before.
Talk to the DU Psychological Society, 24th January 2008.
Room 1.11 Aras an Phiarsiagh 6pm
All Welcome - No Admisson Fee!
Talk Outline
Some of the key challenges faced by the world in the 21st century can, at least partly, be tackled by psychology. This talk will discuss a number of ways in which psychology, through interactions with other scientific disciplines such as economics has a big impact in these key areas. The first area of discussion refers to globalisation and economics. While economics has tended to focus on the economic benefits to globalisation, it is clear that there are pressing psychological dimensions to globalisation and that understanding these is necessary for a true understanding of trade, migration and investment in a global economy. The second area I focus on is the ageing world. Ireland, like many other countries, is getting progressively older and this is the defining demographic shift of the 21st century. How Ireland and other countries adapt to this in terms of health care and pension reform will largely determine our standard of living as we grow older. I will give key examples of recent papers in economic psychology that have contributed to understanding and managing the complexities of this demographic transition. The third area I focus on is well-being, the environment and national planning. We continuously observe discussion in the media about indicators such as economic growth and inflation yet there is less real analysis about what exactly makes people better off in terms of their psychological well-being, which ultimately is what we should be trying to improve. I talk about how psychologists have been collaborating with economists and environmental scientists to derive new measures of national well-being that may eventually replace or heavily supplement the standard measures you will all be familiar with from watching the news. In this regard, I discuss key issues that have emerged over the “Celtic Tiger” period such as the unprecedented increase in the male suicide rate, the question of whether increased money provides increased happiness and the extent to which certain groups in society have benefited differently from the increased growth and the potential psychological consequences of this. In particular, I talk about the psychological impact of being isolated, disabled, unemployed, acting as a full-time carer, being “over-worked” and other potentially psychologically painful states. I also review current thinking examining the role that psychological services and treatments will have to play in improving global well-being in the 21st century. The final part of my talk summarises the area of behavioural economics which is a mixture of economics and psychology and focuses on decision making in key life domains. Under this heading, I discuss the growing area of neuroeconomics in which key life decisions are explained with reference to how people make tradeoffs with respect to risk and time and how these decisions are implemented by different brain areas. I also discuss the recent literature on the behavioural economics of student choices and briefly overview some of my own work that has examined risk behaviour among Irish students and how behavioural economics is being employed to examine areas such as financial decision and transport choice. This talk will be of interest to people who want to understand the wider role of psychology and may provide stimulation as to potential career options that had not been considered before.
Bio Mapping
Thanks to Gerald O'Neill from Amarach for pointing out the following really great project to make emotional maps of cities
http://www.biomapping.net/
The Amarach blog is worth looking at also. Some interesting stuff there/.
http://amarachresearch.blogspot.com/
http://www.biomapping.net/
The Amarach blog is worth looking at also. Some interesting stuff there/.
http://amarachresearch.blogspot.com/
Time discounting over the lifespan and Age-Related Changes in the Episodic Simulation of Future Events
Two articles (2004 & 2008) which provide an insight into the processes which may be involved in determining discount rates over time. Their is some cross-cultural evidence to suggest that a U-shaped relationship exists between discount rates and age whereby middle-aged people discount less than either younger or older individuals. One set of contributing factors may be impulsivity/sensation seeking in younger participants and memory based problems in imagining the future in older participants (as described in the second article from Psychological Science 2008).
Time discounting over the lifespan
Several theories of intertemporal choice predict systematic age differences in the rate at which people discount the future. Different theories, however, predict different patterns: one predicts that discounting will decrease over the lifespan, so that young people will discount more than the middle aged or elderly, another suggests it will increase over the lifespan, and yet another suggests that the middle-aged will discount less than either the young or the old. We conduct a study testing these predictions. 123 respondents between the ages of 19 and 89 made a large number of time discounting decisions on both computerized and paper-and-pencil questionnaires. The results suppported the view that older people discount more than younger ones, and that middle aged people discount less than either group. This finding appears to contrast with earlier work (Green, Fry, & Myerson, 1994) but, as we show, our results are remarkably congruent with that study. We conclude by considering whether our results can be reconciled with the fact that young people commit more apparently impulsive acts than do the elderly.
link..
Age-Related Changes in the Episodic Simulation of Future Events
ABSTRACT—Episodic memory enables individuals to recollect past events as well as imagine possible future scenarios. Although the episodic specificity of past events declines as people grow older, it is unknown whether the same is true for future events. In an adapted version of the Autobiographical Interview, young and older participants generated past and future events. Transcriptions were segmented into distinct details that were classified as either internal (episodic) or external. Older adults generated fewer internal details than younger adults for past events, a result replicating previous findings; more important, we show that this deficit extends to future events. Furthermore, the number of internal details and the number of external details both showed correlations between past and future events. Finally, the number of internal details generated by older adults correlated with their relational memory abilities, a finding consistent with the constructive-episodic-simulation hypothesis, which holds that simulation of future episodes requires a system that can flexibly recombine details from past events into novel scenarios.
link..
Time discounting over the lifespan
Several theories of intertemporal choice predict systematic age differences in the rate at which people discount the future. Different theories, however, predict different patterns: one predicts that discounting will decrease over the lifespan, so that young people will discount more than the middle aged or elderly, another suggests it will increase over the lifespan, and yet another suggests that the middle-aged will discount less than either the young or the old. We conduct a study testing these predictions. 123 respondents between the ages of 19 and 89 made a large number of time discounting decisions on both computerized and paper-and-pencil questionnaires. The results suppported the view that older people discount more than younger ones, and that middle aged people discount less than either group. This finding appears to contrast with earlier work (Green, Fry, & Myerson, 1994) but, as we show, our results are remarkably congruent with that study. We conclude by considering whether our results can be reconciled with the fact that young people commit more apparently impulsive acts than do the elderly.
link..
Age-Related Changes in the Episodic Simulation of Future Events
ABSTRACT—Episodic memory enables individuals to recollect past events as well as imagine possible future scenarios. Although the episodic specificity of past events declines as people grow older, it is unknown whether the same is true for future events. In an adapted version of the Autobiographical Interview, young and older participants generated past and future events. Transcriptions were segmented into distinct details that were classified as either internal (episodic) or external. Older adults generated fewer internal details than younger adults for past events, a result replicating previous findings; more important, we show that this deficit extends to future events. Furthermore, the number of internal details and the number of external details both showed correlations between past and future events. Finally, the number of internal details generated by older adults correlated with their relational memory abilities, a finding consistent with the constructive-episodic-simulation hypothesis, which holds that simulation of future episodes requires a system that can flexibly recombine details from past events into novel scenarios.
link..
Free will in Scientific Psychology
Baumeister's new Perspectives on Psychological Science article on free will and how it relates to self-regulation and rationality:
ABSTRACT—Some actions are freer than others, and the difference is palpably important in terms of inner process, subjective perception, and social consequences. Psychology can study the difference between freer and less free actions without making dubious metaphysical commitments. Human evolution seems to have created a relatively new, more complex form of action control that corresponds to popular notions of free will. It is marked by self-control and rational choice, both of which are highly adaptive, especially for functioning within culture. The processes that create these forms of free will may be biologically costly and therefore are only used occasionally, so that people are likely to remain only incompletely self-disciplined, virtuous, and rational.
Free will is discussed within the 'limited resource' framework of willpower and decision-making, proposing that we are more or less free at different times and that clear individual differences exist.
Interestingly the belief in free will is also important, bringing a new perspective to the debate:
"Belief in free will does support socially desirable actions,
according to Vohs and Schooler (2008). They found that
participants who had been induced to disbelieve in free will
were subsequently more likely than a control group to cheat on a
test. Further studies by Baumeister, Masicampo, and DeWall
(2006) using the Vohs–Schooler methods found that inducing
participants to disbelieve in free will made them more aggressive
and less helpful toward others. If we combine the cheating,
aggression, and helping findings, it seems reasonable to suggest
that belief in free will is conducive to better, more harmonious
social behavior."
link..
ABSTRACT—Some actions are freer than others, and the difference is palpably important in terms of inner process, subjective perception, and social consequences. Psychology can study the difference between freer and less free actions without making dubious metaphysical commitments. Human evolution seems to have created a relatively new, more complex form of action control that corresponds to popular notions of free will. It is marked by self-control and rational choice, both of which are highly adaptive, especially for functioning within culture. The processes that create these forms of free will may be biologically costly and therefore are only used occasionally, so that people are likely to remain only incompletely self-disciplined, virtuous, and rational.
Free will is discussed within the 'limited resource' framework of willpower and decision-making, proposing that we are more or less free at different times and that clear individual differences exist.
Interestingly the belief in free will is also important, bringing a new perspective to the debate:
"Belief in free will does support socially desirable actions,
according to Vohs and Schooler (2008). They found that
participants who had been induced to disbelieve in free will
were subsequently more likely than a control group to cheat on a
test. Further studies by Baumeister, Masicampo, and DeWall
(2006) using the Vohs–Schooler methods found that inducing
participants to disbelieve in free will made them more aggressive
and less helpful toward others. If we combine the cheating,
aggression, and helping findings, it seems reasonable to suggest
that belief in free will is conducive to better, more harmonious
social behavior."
link..
Monday, January 21, 2008
Revealed Preferences and Welfare Judgments
Behavioural Decisions and Welfare
Date: 2008
By: Dalton, Patricio (Department of Economics, University of Warwick)
Ghosal, Sayantan (Department of Economics, University of Warwick)
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:834&r=cbe
We study decision problems where (a) preference parameters are defined to include psychological/moral considerations and (b) there is a feedback effect from chosen actions to preference parameters. In a standard decision problem the chosen action is required to be optimal when the feedback effect from actions to preference parameters is fully taken into account. In a behavioural decision problem the chosen action is optimal taking preference parameters as given although chosen actions and preference parameters are required to be mutually consistent. Our framework unifes seemingly disconnected papers in the literature. We characterize the conditions under which behavioural and standard decisions problems are indistinguishable : in smooth settings, the two decision problems are generically distinguishable. We show that in general, revealed preferences cannot be used for making welfare judgements and we characterize the conditions under which they can inform welfare analysis. We provide an existence result for the case of incomplete preferences. We suggest novel implications for policy and welfare analysis.
Date: 2008
By: Dalton, Patricio (Department of Economics, University of Warwick)
Ghosal, Sayantan (Department of Economics, University of Warwick)
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:834&r=cbe
We study decision problems where (a) preference parameters are defined to include psychological/moral considerations and (b) there is a feedback effect from chosen actions to preference parameters. In a standard decision problem the chosen action is required to be optimal when the feedback effect from actions to preference parameters is fully taken into account. In a behavioural decision problem the chosen action is optimal taking preference parameters as given although chosen actions and preference parameters are required to be mutually consistent. Our framework unifes seemingly disconnected papers in the literature. We characterize the conditions under which behavioural and standard decisions problems are indistinguishable : in smooth settings, the two decision problems are generically distinguishable. We show that in general, revealed preferences cannot be used for making welfare judgements and we characterize the conditions under which they can inform welfare analysis. We provide an existence result for the case of incomplete preferences. We suggest novel implications for policy and welfare analysis.
Residential Peer Effects in Higher Education: Does the Field of Study Matter?
IZA DP No. 3277
Giorgio Brunello, Maria De Paola, Vincenzo Scoppa:
Abstract:
http://ftp.iza.org/dp3277.pdf
Giorgio Brunello, Maria De Paola, Vincenzo Scoppa:
Abstract:
Economists have a poor understanding of the mechanisms underlying reduced-form college peer effects. In this paper we explore a candidate mechanism, the provision of school effort. We show that, when earnings reflect individual educational performance as well as the field of study selected at college, and individual effort is a function of expected earnings, the size of the peer effect varies by field. Using data from a middle-sized public university located in Southern Italy and exploiting the random assignment of first year students to college accommodation, we find evidence that peer effects are positive and statistically significant for students enrolled in the fields of Engineering, Maths and Natural Sciences – which are expected to generate higher earnings after college – and not different from zero for students enrolled in the Humanities, Social and Life Sciences, which give access to lower payoffs. An implication of our model is that shocks affecting college wage premia may alter the size of peer effects.
http://ftp.iza.org/dp3277.pdf
The Big One
In search of the Big One
----------------------------------------
Nice, nasty, charming, chatty, vulpine, vulgar...when we get down to it, just how many personality traits are there? It's a question psychologists and philosophers have been wrestling with for centuries.
In recent years, researchers have tended to agree that personality is pretty much summed up by the Big Five factors of Extraversion, Neuroticism, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, and Openness. Now Janek Musek at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia has waded into the debate with the suggestion that there exists an overriding personality characteristic - he calls it the 'Big One' - with which all other personality traits are correlated.
Musek tested hundreds of participants using numerous personality measures, including the Big Five Inventory, the Big Five Observer and the Positive Affect and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS).
Using a statistical technique called factor analysis, Musek found that a single factor explained much of the variance in people's scores on the Big Five Dimensions of personality. This means that someone who scores highly on one of the five factors (in the case of neuroticism, scores are reversed so that a 'high score' reflects emotional stability) is also more likely to score high on the others. In other words, there seems to be some key trait that captures the essence of all these dimensions.
What does this mean in psychological terms? The Big One seems to reflect a contrast between the socially desirable and undesirable components of the Big Five. "The Big One unifies positive aspects of conformity (stability) and non-conformity (plasticity) within a single superordinated dimension,"
Musek wrote.
And according to Musek there could even been a physiological basis for the person who scores high on the Big One - "combining low levels of the functioning of the central serotonergic system and higher levels of the functioning of the ascending rostral dopaminergic system."
_________________________________
Musek Janek (2007). A general factor of personality: Evidence for the Big One in the five-factor model. Journal of Research in Personality, 41, 1213-1233.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2007.02.003
----------------------------------------
Nice, nasty, charming, chatty, vulpine, vulgar...when we get down to it, just how many personality traits are there? It's a question psychologists and philosophers have been wrestling with for centuries.
In recent years, researchers have tended to agree that personality is pretty much summed up by the Big Five factors of Extraversion, Neuroticism, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, and Openness. Now Janek Musek at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia has waded into the debate with the suggestion that there exists an overriding personality characteristic - he calls it the 'Big One' - with which all other personality traits are correlated.
Musek tested hundreds of participants using numerous personality measures, including the Big Five Inventory, the Big Five Observer and the Positive Affect and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS).
Using a statistical technique called factor analysis, Musek found that a single factor explained much of the variance in people's scores on the Big Five Dimensions of personality. This means that someone who scores highly on one of the five factors (in the case of neuroticism, scores are reversed so that a 'high score' reflects emotional stability) is also more likely to score high on the others. In other words, there seems to be some key trait that captures the essence of all these dimensions.
What does this mean in psychological terms? The Big One seems to reflect a contrast between the socially desirable and undesirable components of the Big Five. "The Big One unifies positive aspects of conformity (stability) and non-conformity (plasticity) within a single superordinated dimension,"
Musek wrote.
And according to Musek there could even been a physiological basis for the person who scores high on the Big One - "combining low levels of the functioning of the central serotonergic system and higher levels of the functioning of the ascending rostral dopaminergic system."
_________________________________
Musek Janek (2007). A general factor of personality: Evidence for the Big One in the five-factor model. Journal of Research in Personality, 41, 1213-1233.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2007.02.003
An empirical analysis of the factors impacting discount rates: Evidence from the U.S. Marine Corps
Abstract
This analysis examines the impact of age, race, marital status, number of dependents, education, rank, years of service, and occupational code on personal discount rates. The study focuses on 3241 Marine Corps officers/enlisted personnel between 1992 and 1997 who separated from the Marine Corps through the VSI program (an annuity payment) or the SSB program (lump-sum payment). The analysis finds that, although the degree of statistical significance varied between the officer model and the enlisted model, holding other factors constant, females and individuals with more years of service or education were less likely to take the lump-sum payment, and that blacks and individuals with more dependents were more likely to take the lump-sum payment. Across all demographic factors, enlisted personnel had statistically significantly higher average discount rates than officers, as is consistent with prior studies. The estimated personal discount rates averaged 14.9% for officers and 24% for enlisted Marines
Review of Financial Economics
Volume 17, Issue 1, 2008, Pages 62-78
This analysis examines the impact of age, race, marital status, number of dependents, education, rank, years of service, and occupational code on personal discount rates. The study focuses on 3241 Marine Corps officers/enlisted personnel between 1992 and 1997 who separated from the Marine Corps through the VSI program (an annuity payment) or the SSB program (lump-sum payment). The analysis finds that, although the degree of statistical significance varied between the officer model and the enlisted model, holding other factors constant, females and individuals with more years of service or education were less likely to take the lump-sum payment, and that blacks and individuals with more dependents were more likely to take the lump-sum payment. Across all demographic factors, enlisted personnel had statistically significantly higher average discount rates than officers, as is consistent with prior studies. The estimated personal discount rates averaged 14.9% for officers and 24% for enlisted Marines
Review of Financial Economics
Volume 17, Issue 1, 2008, Pages 62-78
new working paper on google prediction markets
http://bocowgill.com/GooglePredictionMarketPaper.pdf
how about an internal Centre for Behaviour and Health prediction market? ill email something around.
how about an internal Centre for Behaviour and Health prediction market? ill email something around.
Research Methods Knowledge Base
The Research Methods Knowledge Base is a comprehensive web-based textbook that addresses all of the topics in a typical introductory undergraduate or graduate course in social research methods.
http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/
http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/
Thursday, January 17, 2008
"Is Time An Illuson?" (Or Just an Abstract Concept?)
A current article in New Scientist (see excerpt below) suggests that our concept to time may be pure social construction, well what they essentially say is that there is no such thing as time in a meta-physical sense - this idea is expressed quite well in Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time", which I highly recommend.
However, this perspective does not spell doom for research on protensity, consideration of future consequences or intertemporal choice. We know that the "tick tock" is socially constructed from human imagination and a common need to order our society for mutual benefit. Time may be labelled as an illusion - but I think its more accurately described as an abstract concept.
However, this perspective does not spell doom for research on protensity, consideration of future consequences or intertemporal choice. We know that the "tick tock" is socially constructed from human imagination and a common need to order our society for mutual benefit. Time may be labelled as an illusion - but I think its more accurately described as an abstract concept.
"It is the invisible presence that governs your world. Trailing you like an unshakeable shadow, it ticks and tocks incessantly - you can sense it in your heartbeat, in the rising and setting of the sun, and in your daily rush to make meetings, trains and deadlines. It brings order to our lives through the categories of past, present and future.
Time. There is nothing with which we are so familiar, and yet when you try to pin it down you find only a relentless torrent of questions. Why does time appear to flow? What makes it different from space? What exactly is it? It's enough to make your neurons misfire, then sizzle and smoke.
You are not alone. Physicists have long struggled to understand what time really is. In fact, they are not even sure it exists at all..."
article on gambling
Patrick Wall is quoted a lot in this article on gambling in Wednesday's examiner
its a pity for lots of reasons that we really no very little about the extent of gambling in Ireland.
http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/2008/01/16/story52652.asp
its a pity for lots of reasons that we really no very little about the extent of gambling in Ireland.
http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/2008/01/16/story52652.asp
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
New Economics Paper on the Qualitative Context of a "Bad Death"
Are Some Deaths Worse Than Others? The Effect of ‘Labelling’ on People’s Perceptions
Anne Spencer (Queen Mary, University of London)
Judith Covey (University of Durham)
Angela Robinson (University of East Anglia)
Graham Loomes (University of East Anglia)
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qmw:qmwecw:wp620&r=cbe
This paper sets out to explore the extent to which perceptions regarding the ‘badness’ of different types of deaths differ according to how those deaths are ‘labelled’ in the elicitation procedure. In particular, we are interested in whether responses to ‘contextual’ questions – where the specific context in which the deaths occur is known – differ from ‘generic’ questions – where the context is unknown. Further, we set out to test whether sensitivity to the numbers of deaths differs across the ‘generic’ and ‘contextual’ versions of the questions. We uncover evidence to suggest that both the perceived ‘badness’ of different types of deaths and sensitivity to the numbers of deaths may differ according to whether ‘generic’ or ‘contextual’ descriptions are used.
Qualitative data suggested two reasons why responses to ‘generic’ and ‘contextual’ questions differed: firstly, some influential variables were omitted from the ‘generic’ descriptions and secondly, certain variables were interpreted somewhat differently once the context had been identified. The implications of our findings for ‘generic’ questions, such as those commonly used in health economics (for example, the EQ 5D), are discussed.
Keywords: Preferences, Context effects, Affect heuristic
Anne Spencer (Queen Mary, University of London)
Judith Covey (University of Durham)
Angela Robinson (University of East Anglia)
Graham Loomes (University of East Anglia)
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qmw:qmwecw:wp620&r=cbe
This paper sets out to explore the extent to which perceptions regarding the ‘badness’ of different types of deaths differ according to how those deaths are ‘labelled’ in the elicitation procedure. In particular, we are interested in whether responses to ‘contextual’ questions – where the specific context in which the deaths occur is known – differ from ‘generic’ questions – where the context is unknown. Further, we set out to test whether sensitivity to the numbers of deaths differs across the ‘generic’ and ‘contextual’ versions of the questions. We uncover evidence to suggest that both the perceived ‘badness’ of different types of deaths and sensitivity to the numbers of deaths may differ according to whether ‘generic’ or ‘contextual’ descriptions are used.
Qualitative data suggested two reasons why responses to ‘generic’ and ‘contextual’ questions differed: firstly, some influential variables were omitted from the ‘generic’ descriptions and secondly, certain variables were interpreted somewhat differently once the context had been identified. The implications of our findings for ‘generic’ questions, such as those commonly used in health economics (for example, the EQ 5D), are discussed.
Keywords: Preferences, Context effects, Affect heuristic
Do we need time series econometrics?
An interesting and short paper on time use methodology:
http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/6627/1/MPRA_paper_6627.pdf
Date: 2008
Rao, B. Bhaskara
Singh, Rup
Kumar, Saten
It is argued that whether or not there is a need for unit roots and cointegration based econometric methods is a methodological issue. An alternative is the econometrics of the London School of Economics (LSE) and Hendry approach based on the simpler classical methods of estimation. This is known as the general to specific method (GETS). Like all other methodological issues this is also difficult to resolve but we think that GETS is very useful.
Keywords: GETS; Cointegration; Box-Jenkin’s Equations; Hendry; Granger
http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/6627/1/MPRA_paper_6627.pdf
Date: 2008
Rao, B. Bhaskara
Singh, Rup
Kumar, Saten
It is argued that whether or not there is a need for unit roots and cointegration based econometric methods is a methodological issue. An alternative is the econometrics of the London School of Economics (LSE) and Hendry approach based on the simpler classical methods of estimation. This is known as the general to specific method (GETS). Like all other methodological issues this is also difficult to resolve but we think that GETS is very useful.
Keywords: GETS; Cointegration; Box-Jenkin’s Equations; Hendry; Granger
The Neural Basis for Cognitive Dissonance (Ex-Ante and Ex-Post)
Scientists discover the price of fine-tasting wines
15/01/2008 - More here: ireland.com
The more wine costs, the more people enjoy it, regardless of how it tastes, a study by California researchers has found.
Researchers at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the California Institute of Technology found that because people expect wines that cost more to be of higher quality, they trick themselves into believing the wines provide a more pleasurable experience than less expensive ones.
Their study, published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , says that expectations of quality trigger activity in the medial orbitofrontal cortex, the part of the brain that registers pleasure.
This happens even though the part of the brain that interprets taste is not affected. Although many studies have looked at how marketing affects behaviour, this is the first to show that it has a direct effect on the brain.
15/01/2008 - More here: ireland.com
The more wine costs, the more people enjoy it, regardless of how it tastes, a study by California researchers has found.
Researchers at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the California Institute of Technology found that because people expect wines that cost more to be of higher quality, they trick themselves into believing the wines provide a more pleasurable experience than less expensive ones.
Their study, published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , says that expectations of quality trigger activity in the medial orbitofrontal cortex, the part of the brain that registers pleasure.
This happens even though the part of the brain that interprets taste is not affected. Although many studies have looked at how marketing affects behaviour, this is the first to show that it has a direct effect on the brain.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
A modest proposal
We need more authors like this. Theres not enough hubris in the business.
A Business-Relevant View of Human Nature by: Mitreanu, Cristian
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:6560&r=cbe
The article, "A Business-Relevant View of Human Nature," provides a new theory of human nature, and aims to bring it to the center of our understanding of business, or commerce, creating a strong foundation for new business and economic principles and practices. The article has three parts. In the first section, the author identifies and discusses the fundamental drives that characterize all forms of life. Building upon these findings, he then develops the unique view of human nature in the second section. Finally, in the last section, he highlights the new perspectives on business that can be generated with the help of the new theory of human nature.
A Business-Relevant View of Human Nature by: Mitreanu, Cristian
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:6560&r=cbe
The article, "A Business-Relevant View of Human Nature," provides a new theory of human nature, and aims to bring it to the center of our understanding of business, or commerce, creating a strong foundation for new business and economic principles and practices. The article has three parts. In the first section, the author identifies and discusses the fundamental drives that characterize all forms of life. Building upon these findings, he then develops the unique view of human nature in the second section. Finally, in the last section, he highlights the new perspectives on business that can be generated with the help of the new theory of human nature.
Monday, January 14, 2008
School Leavers' College-Course Matching in Germany
IZA DP No. 3261
Sebastian Braun, Nadja Dwenger, Dorothea Kübler:
Telling the Truth May Not Pay Off: An Empirical Study of Centralised University Admissions in Germany
Abstract:
We investigate the matching algorithm used by the German central clearinghouse for university admissions (ZVS) in medicine and related subjects. This mechanism consists of three procedures based on final grades from school (“Abiturbestenverfahren”, “Auswahlverfahren der Hochschulen”) and on waiting time (“Wartezeitverfahren”). While these procedures differ in the criteria applied for admission they all make use of priority matching. In priority matching schemes, it is not a dominant strategy for students to submit their true preferences. Thus, strategic behaviour is expected. Using the full data set of applicants, we are able to detect some amount of strategic behaviour which can lead to inefficient matching. Alternative ways to organize the market are briefly discussed.
http://ftp.iza.org/dp3261.pdf
Sebastian Braun, Nadja Dwenger, Dorothea Kübler:
Telling the Truth May Not Pay Off: An Empirical Study of Centralised University Admissions in Germany
Abstract:
We investigate the matching algorithm used by the German central clearinghouse for university admissions (ZVS) in medicine and related subjects. This mechanism consists of three procedures based on final grades from school (“Abiturbestenverfahren”, “Auswahlverfahren der Hochschulen”) and on waiting time (“Wartezeitverfahren”). While these procedures differ in the criteria applied for admission they all make use of priority matching. In priority matching schemes, it is not a dominant strategy for students to submit their true preferences. Thus, strategic behaviour is expected. Using the full data set of applicants, we are able to detect some amount of strategic behaviour which can lead to inefficient matching. Alternative ways to organize the market are briefly discussed.
http://ftp.iza.org/dp3261.pdf
Routine
DANIEL S. HAMERMESH
University of Texas at Austin - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
January 2003
NBER Working Paper No. W9440
Abstract:
Routine - maintaining the same schedule from day to day - saves time. It is also boring and inherently undesirable. As such, the amount of routine a person engages in is partly an economic outcome, with variations in routine generated by variations in the price of time, household income and the ability to generate variety. Using time-budget data from Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and the United States, I show that men engage in more routine behavior than women, but only because they spend more time in (routine) market work. Other things equal, more educated people engage in less routine behavior, while higher household incomes enable people to purchase more temporal variety. Spouses` temporal routines are highly complementary. The positive income effects and impacts of schooling indicate yet another avenue by which standard measures of inequality understate total economic inequality.
University of Texas at Austin - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
January 2003
NBER Working Paper No. W9440
Abstract:
Routine - maintaining the same schedule from day to day - saves time. It is also boring and inherently undesirable. As such, the amount of routine a person engages in is partly an economic outcome, with variations in routine generated by variations in the price of time, household income and the ability to generate variety. Using time-budget data from Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and the United States, I show that men engage in more routine behavior than women, but only because they spend more time in (routine) market work. Other things equal, more educated people engage in less routine behavior, while higher household incomes enable people to purchase more temporal variety. Spouses` temporal routines are highly complementary. The positive income effects and impacts of schooling indicate yet another avenue by which standard measures of inequality understate total economic inequality.
The American High School Graduation Rate: Trends and Levels
The American High School Graduation Rate: Trends and Levels
Date: 2007-12
James J. Heckman
Paul A. LaFontaine
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3216&r=hrm
This paper uses multiple data sources and a unified methodology to estimate the trends and levels of the U.S. high school graduation rate. Correcting for important biases that plague previous calculations, we establish that (a) the true high school graduation rate is substantially lower than the official rate issued by the National Center for Educational Statistics; (b) it has been declining over the past 40 years; (c) majority/minority graduation rate differentials are substantial and have not converged over the past 35 years; (d) the decline in high school graduation rates occurs among native populations and is not solely a consequence of increasing proportions of immigrants and minorities in American society; (e) the decline in high school graduation explains part of the recent slowdown in college attendance; and (f) the pattern of the decline of high school graduation rates by gender helps to explain the recent increase in male-female college attendance gaps.
Keywords: high school dropout rate, high school graduation rates, educational attainment
JEL: I21
Date: 2007-12
James J. Heckman
Paul A. LaFontaine
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3216&r=hrm
This paper uses multiple data sources and a unified methodology to estimate the trends and levels of the U.S. high school graduation rate. Correcting for important biases that plague previous calculations, we establish that (a) the true high school graduation rate is substantially lower than the official rate issued by the National Center for Educational Statistics; (b) it has been declining over the past 40 years; (c) majority/minority graduation rate differentials are substantial and have not converged over the past 35 years; (d) the decline in high school graduation rates occurs among native populations and is not solely a consequence of increasing proportions of immigrants and minorities in American society; (e) the decline in high school graduation explains part of the recent slowdown in college attendance; and (f) the pattern of the decline of high school graduation rates by gender helps to explain the recent increase in male-female college attendance gaps.
Keywords: high school dropout rate, high school graduation rates, educational attainment
JEL: I21
On the (Theory of the) Game
"Researchers have concluded in a yet-to-be published study of the economics of prostitution in Chicago that the women were forced to service police officers, worked more on holidays and varied pricing based on race.
University of Chicago professor and ''Freakonomics'' author Steven D. Levitt and sociology professor Sudhir Venkatesh of Columbia University are the authors of the two-year study of street-level prostitution in Chicago's Roseland, Washington Park and Pullman neighborhoods".
You can read more here.
N.B Levitt and Venkatesh are refusing to comment on the study until it is completely finished.
University of Chicago professor and ''Freakonomics'' author Steven D. Levitt and sociology professor Sudhir Venkatesh of Columbia University are the authors of the two-year study of street-level prostitution in Chicago's Roseland, Washington Park and Pullman neighborhoods".
You can read more here.
N.B Levitt and Venkatesh are refusing to comment on the study until it is completely finished.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Behavioural economics resources
I was reading a few of the MIT Behavioural Economics powerpoint lectures and found Colin Camerer's Behavioural Economics course website which includes nunerous articles and presentations useful also..
Friday, January 11, 2008
Using Genetic Markers as Instruments for ADHD, Depression and Obesity
The Impact of Poor Health on Education: New Evidence Using Genetic Markers
Date:2006-01
Weili Ding (Queen's University)
Steven Lehrer (Queen's University)
J. Niles Rosenquist (University of Pennsylvania)
Janet Audrain-McGovern (University of Pennsylvania)
URL:http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qed:wpaper:1045&r=hrm
This paper examines the influence of health conditions on academic performance during adolescence. To account for the endogeneity of health outcomes and their interactions with risky behaviors we exploit natural variation within a set of genetic markers across individuals. We present strong evidence that these genetic markers serve as valid instruments with good statistical properties for ADHD, depression and obesity. They help to reveal a new dynamism from poor health to lower academic achievement with substantial heterogeneity in their impacts across genders. Our investigation further exposes the considerable challenges in identifying health impacts due to the prevalence of comorbid health conditions and endogenous health behaviors.
Keywords: health, education, genetic predisposition, obesity, ADHD, depression, instrumental variables, risky health behaviors
Date:2006-01
Weili Ding (Queen's University)
Steven Lehrer (Queen's University)
J. Niles Rosenquist (University of Pennsylvania)
Janet Audrain-McGovern (University of Pennsylvania)
URL:http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qed:wpaper:1045&r=hrm
This paper examines the influence of health conditions on academic performance during adolescence. To account for the endogeneity of health outcomes and their interactions with risky behaviors we exploit natural variation within a set of genetic markers across individuals. We present strong evidence that these genetic markers serve as valid instruments with good statistical properties for ADHD, depression and obesity. They help to reveal a new dynamism from poor health to lower academic achievement with substantial heterogeneity in their impacts across genders. Our investigation further exposes the considerable challenges in identifying health impacts due to the prevalence of comorbid health conditions and endogenous health behaviors.
Keywords: health, education, genetic predisposition, obesity, ADHD, depression, instrumental variables, risky health behaviors
Thursday, January 10, 2008
DILEMMAS OF AN ECONOMIC THEORIST
Rubinstein, A.
Econometrica, Vol. 74, No. 4 (July, 2006), 865–883
HERE
Econometrica, Vol. 74, No. 4 (July, 2006), 865–883
HERE
ABSTRACT-What on earth are economic theorists like me trying to accomplish? This paper discusses four dilemmas encountered by an economic theorist:
The dilemma of absurd conclusions: Should we abandon a model if it produces absurd
conclusions or should we regard a model as a very limited set of assumptions that will inevitably fail in some contexts?
The dilemma of responding to evidence: Should our models be judged according to
experimental results?
The dilemma of modelless regularities: Should models provide the hypothesis for testing or are they simply exercises in logic that have no use in identifying regularities?
The dilemma of relevance: Do we have the right to offer advice or tomake statements
that are intended to influence the real world?
Have You Tasted The MIT Brew?
Try It, You’ll Like It
The Influence of Expectation, Consumption, and Revelation
on Preferences for Beer
Leonard Lee, Shane Frederick, and Dan Ariely
Psychological Science, 2006
The Influence of Expectation, Consumption, and Revelation
on Preferences for Beer
Leonard Lee, Shane Frederick, and Dan Ariely
Psychological Science, 2006
ABSTRACT—Patrons of a pub evaluated regular beer and ‘‘MIT brew’’ (regular beer plus a few drops of balsamic vinegar) in one of three conditions. One group tasted the samples blind (the secret ingredient was never disclosed). A second group was informed of the contents before tasting. A third group learned of the secret ingredient immediately after tasting, but prior to indicating their preference.
Not surprisingly, preference for the MIT brew was higher in the blind condition than in either of the two disclosure conditions. However, the timing of the information
mattered substantially. Disclosure of the secret ingredient significantly reduced preference only when the disclosure preceded tasting, suggesting that disclosure affected preferences by influencing the experience itself, rather than by acting as an independent negative input or by modifying retrospective interpretation of the experience.
Is Peer Review in Decline?
Ellison, G.
NBER Working Paper No. 13272
Issued in July 2007
"Over the past decade there has been a decline in the fraction of papers in top economics journals written by economists from the highest-ranked economics departments. This paper documents this fact and uses additional data on publications and citations to assess various potential explanations. Several observations are consistent with the hypothesis that the Internet improves the ability of high-profile authors to disseminate their research without going through the traditional peer-review process".
An interesting point about signalling (and reverse multiplier effects) is made in the conclusion:
"More top economists may realize that the publication hassles they have been enduring are not necessary. The peer-review process may also be subject to unravelling: as more top economists withdraw from the process, the signal that publication in a given journal provides is devalued, and this may lead to further withdrawals".
NBER Working Paper No. 13272
Issued in July 2007
"Over the past decade there has been a decline in the fraction of papers in top economics journals written by economists from the highest-ranked economics departments. This paper documents this fact and uses additional data on publications and citations to assess various potential explanations. Several observations are consistent with the hypothesis that the Internet improves the ability of high-profile authors to disseminate their research without going through the traditional peer-review process".
An interesting point about signalling (and reverse multiplier effects) is made in the conclusion:
"More top economists may realize that the publication hassles they have been enduring are not necessary. The peer-review process may also be subject to unravelling: as more top economists withdraw from the process, the signal that publication in a given journal provides is devalued, and this may lead to further withdrawals".
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Does Anyone Know if There is a Tax on Billboards in Ireland?
The "Crooked Timber" blog proposes the idea here:
"Billboards, though, are an unmitigated bad. If we wanted to look at them, we would pay to go and see them as with movies and concerts. And given that we are selling our attention to advertisers on TV and radio, those who force billboards into our field of view are taking that attention without payment, just like telemarketers making collect calls.
An immediate policy conclusion, the exact obverse of the one about TV viewers watching ads, is that users of billboard advertising should be required to pay everyone who goes past. Given the transactions costs of implementing this, they should be taxed at rates comparable to the advertising charges of TV stations".
"Billboards, though, are an unmitigated bad. If we wanted to look at them, we would pay to go and see them as with movies and concerts. And given that we are selling our attention to advertisers on TV and radio, those who force billboards into our field of view are taking that attention without payment, just like telemarketers making collect calls.
An immediate policy conclusion, the exact obverse of the one about TV viewers watching ads, is that users of billboard advertising should be required to pay everyone who goes past. Given the transactions costs of implementing this, they should be taxed at rates comparable to the advertising charges of TV stations".
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Heuristics and Biases in Retirement Savings
Thaler and Benartzi's Save More Tomorrow paper is rapidly becoming one of the most well-known papers in behavioural economics. in the article, below the authors talk in further depth about the types of biases involved in making pension decisions and how they can be overcome by different types of mechanism design grounded in behavioural economics.
http://www.reish.com/publications/pdf/heuristics.pdf
http://www.reish.com/publications/pdf/heuristics.pdf
Matching Undergraduate Students to Their Interests
How closely are first year undergraduates matched to the course that they wanted to do when they filled out their CAO form? This year, CAO students could sign up for such career-focused and narrowly-defined programmes as early childhood studies, genetics and cell biology, theoretical physics, forestry, business information systems, finance and venture management, and computer aided engineering and design.
This is all very good if the student knows exactly what they want. But the chances of this are limited given that there is only partial information available until the student enters the college course of their choice. Another problem is that students may choose “high points” courses simply because they are “high points” courses (and not true preferences). So what can be done about all of this?
Well, in the Irish higher education system it is possible to drop out of your course before Christmas, and apply through the CAO system again without losing a free year of education. However, in doing this, one does lose a year. A recent article in Science describes how some American universities have been trying to match students to their interests in the realm of science: "Linking Student Interests to
Science Curricula".
A course called “The Chemistry and Biology of Everyday Life” (CBEL) was developed using students’interests in everyday life as the starting point for instruction.
"The course content and activities were designed to match each student’s background and interests with other courses and research group activities. The course mimics a scientific research group. Students develop skills through literature review (journal club), special topic discussions, and research assignments. Peer mentoring engages students from freshmen to seniors. Visits to laboratories and attendance at scientific meetings broaden students’ horizons".
This is all very good if the student knows exactly what they want. But the chances of this are limited given that there is only partial information available until the student enters the college course of their choice. Another problem is that students may choose “high points” courses simply because they are “high points” courses (and not true preferences). So what can be done about all of this?
Well, in the Irish higher education system it is possible to drop out of your course before Christmas, and apply through the CAO system again without losing a free year of education. However, in doing this, one does lose a year. A recent article in Science describes how some American universities have been trying to match students to their interests in the realm of science: "Linking Student Interests to
Science Curricula".
A course called “The Chemistry and Biology of Everyday Life” (CBEL) was developed using students’interests in everyday life as the starting point for instruction.
"The course content and activities were designed to match each student’s background and interests with other courses and research group activities. The course mimics a scientific research group. Students develop skills through literature review (journal club), special topic discussions, and research assignments. Peer mentoring engages students from freshmen to seniors. Visits to laboratories and attendance at scientific meetings broaden students’ horizons".
A Bayesian Truth Serum for Subjective Data
The possibility of eliciting the wisdom of crowds has been discussed before on the blog. Prelec described how this might be done in Science in 2004 and produced some results in 2006.
Science 15 October 2004:
Vol. 306. no. 5695, pp. 462 - 466
A Bayesian Truth Serum for Subjective Data
Draen Prelec
Subjective judgments, an essential information source for science and policy, are problematic because there are no public criteria for assessing judgmental truthfulness. I present a scoring method for eliciting truthful subjective data in situations where objective truth is unknowable. The method assigns high scores not to the most common answers but to the answers that are more common than collectively predicted, with predictions drawn from the same population. This simple adjustment in the scoring criterion removes all bias in favor of consensus: Truthful answers maximize expected score even for respondents who believe that their answer represents a minority view.
Science 15 October 2004:
Vol. 306. no. 5695, pp. 462 - 466
A Bayesian Truth Serum for Subjective Data
Draen Prelec
Subjective judgments, an essential information source for science and policy, are problematic because there are no public criteria for assessing judgmental truthfulness. I present a scoring method for eliciting truthful subjective data in situations where objective truth is unknowable. The method assigns high scores not to the most common answers but to the answers that are more common than collectively predicted, with predictions drawn from the same population. This simple adjustment in the scoring criterion removes all bias in favor of consensus: Truthful answers maximize expected score even for respondents who believe that their answer represents a minority view.
Happy Birthday Blog
The Geary Behaviour Blog is one year old today.
Suggestions for ramping it up welcome!
Suggestions for ramping it up welcome!
Monday, January 07, 2008
Classic Works Colloquium
For years, Michael Collins and then later myself organised a "classic works colloquium" in Trinity, essentially a journal club for classic books. the first one was Wealth of Nations, followed by Ricardo's Principles, then General Theory and then finally History of Economic Analysis by Schumpter. They were generally done forthnightly, firstly in a cafe and then (when i took over!) held in a bar near Trinity.
I am reviving this again but because most of the participants are too busy now to commit to once a fornight my suggestion is to do them on an ad hoc basis as follows:
(i) Someone nominates a book and arranges for physical or online copies to be distributed to the group in advance. (If payment involved then of course individuals cough up for their own – Amazon should be able to ship any classic book in days).
(ii) The nominator reads the book and provides a brief discussion over the course of one evening and then the discussion is thrown to the floor.
(iii) Two people can share the process and in fact the more the better.
If anyone has any suggestions or wants to take part let me know. We will do one in early March to get it going and then maybe every couple of months depending on interest and whether someone's willing to discuss a book.
it was also suggested that we do a "classic article" series to further lighten the load on the time poor
I am reviving this again but because most of the participants are too busy now to commit to once a fornight my suggestion is to do them on an ad hoc basis as follows:
(i) Someone nominates a book and arranges for physical or online copies to be distributed to the group in advance. (If payment involved then of course individuals cough up for their own – Amazon should be able to ship any classic book in days).
(ii) The nominator reads the book and provides a brief discussion over the course of one evening and then the discussion is thrown to the floor.
(iii) Two people can share the process and in fact the more the better.
If anyone has any suggestions or wants to take part let me know. We will do one in early March to get it going and then maybe every couple of months depending on interest and whether someone's willing to discuss a book.
it was also suggested that we do a "classic article" series to further lighten the load on the time poor
Bikinis Instigate Generalized Impatience in Intertemporal Choice
Solving delay discounting in men by a ban on Bikinis... ??
Abstract:
Neuroscientific studies demonstrate that erotic stimuli activate the reward circuitry processing
monetary and drug rewards. Theoretically, a general reward system may give rise to non specific effects: Exposure to ‘hot stimuli’ from one domain may thus affect decisions in a different domain. We show that exposure to sexy cues leads to more impatience in intertemporal choice between monetary rewards. Highlighting the role of a general reward circuitry, we demonstrate that individuals with a sensitive reward system are more susceptible to the effect of sex cues, that the effect generalizes to non-monetary rewards, and that satiation attenuates the effect.
monetary and drug rewards. Theoretically, a general reward system may give rise to non specific effects: Exposure to ‘hot stimuli’ from one domain may thus affect decisions in a different domain. We show that exposure to sexy cues leads to more impatience in intertemporal choice between monetary rewards. Highlighting the role of a general reward circuitry, we demonstrate that individuals with a sensitive reward system are more susceptible to the effect of sex cues, that the effect generalizes to non-monetary rewards, and that satiation attenuates the effect.
They use the behavioural activation system (BAS) sensitivity to reward scale to differentiate between the effect of bikinis on delay discounting... This result links in well with the previous post describing the effect of appetative stimuli and how this relates to the BAS. Other BAS scales or the BIS scale did not relate to the experimental manipulation.
Joining up trait measures and brain activation to predict response to cake
Two new studies in 'Psychophysiology' have pointed to greater left frontal than right frontal brain activation for approach and 'emotive' response tendencies. Together these studies show that the appetative response depends largely on left frontal activation relative to right and that this can be assessed by a trait measure of behavioural approach system (BAS) (r=.36). On the other hand there is a behavioural inhibition system (BIS) trait measure which does not correlate with behavioural approach (r=-.03) and is predictive of brain activation related to conflict monitoring (r=-.41).
"These findings extend previous models of BIS and BAS to suggest that BIS corresponds to an attentional system for monitoring response conflicts, whereas BAS corresponds to a motivational system for coordinating approach/avoidance responses."
for more:
(1) Neurocognitive components of the behavioral inhibition and activation systems: Implications for theories of self-regulation
(2) Relative left frontal activation to appetitive stimuli
"These findings extend previous models of BIS and BAS to suggest that BIS corresponds to an attentional system for monitoring response conflicts, whereas BAS corresponds to a motivational system for coordinating approach/avoidance responses."
for more:
(1) Neurocognitive components of the behavioral inhibition and activation systems: Implications for theories of self-regulation
(2) Relative left frontal activation to appetitive stimuli
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Irish Economics Association
The deadline for submission of papers to the Irish Economics Association Annual Conference is January 18th
Details below
http://www.iea.ie/conferences/
Details below
http://www.iea.ie/conferences/
Family Ties and the Weather - Is There a Link?
I thought this would be interesting in relation to some of the (as yet unconnected)ideas about family relationships and weather patterns in the paper about irish drinking behaviour...
The Fetters of the Sib: Weber Meets Darwin
Date:2007-11-13
By: Ingela Alger (Department of Economics, Carleton University)
Jörgen W. Weibul
URL:http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:car:carecp:07-13&r=cbe
We analyze the effects of family ties - "the fetters of the sib" - on the incentives for productive effort. A family is here modelled as a pair of mutually altruistic siblings. Each sibling exerts effort, or makes an investment, to produce output under uncertainty, and siblings may transfer output to each other. We show that altruism has a non-monotonic effect on effort. Equilibrium effort decreases (increases) with altruism at low (high) levels of altruism. We study how this effect depends on climate,the magnitude and volatility of returns to effort. We also analyze the evolutionary robustness of family ties and how this robustness depends on climate. We find that family ties will be stronger in milder climates than in harsher climates, and that the evolutionarily robust degree of altruism is positive but less than one half. Decreased protection of property rights increases the evolutionarily robust degree of altruism.
The Fetters of the Sib: Weber Meets Darwin
Date:2007-11-13
By: Ingela Alger (Department of Economics, Carleton University)
Jörgen W. Weibul
URL:http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:car:carecp:07-13&r=cbe
We analyze the effects of family ties - "the fetters of the sib" - on the incentives for productive effort. A family is here modelled as a pair of mutually altruistic siblings. Each sibling exerts effort, or makes an investment, to produce output under uncertainty, and siblings may transfer output to each other. We show that altruism has a non-monotonic effect on effort. Equilibrium effort decreases (increases) with altruism at low (high) levels of altruism. We study how this effect depends on climate,the magnitude and volatility of returns to effort. We also analyze the evolutionary robustness of family ties and how this robustness depends on climate. We find that family ties will be stronger in milder climates than in harsher climates, and that the evolutionarily robust degree of altruism is positive but less than one half. Decreased protection of property rights increases the evolutionarily robust degree of altruism.
Saturday, January 05, 2008
TED talk by Nick Bostrom
This TED talk by Nick Bostrom argues that death itself and human extinction are two BIG problems of our time. The third one he suggests is the inability of humans to fully enjoy life due to human limitations such as finite cognitive capacity, limited affective self-control, limited health span and limited bodily functionality. part of his talk discusses the issues around developing technologies to overcome some of these human limitations.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/44
incidentally, he also directs the Oxford Future of Humanity Institute, which is another rousing Centre name
http://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/44
incidentally, he also directs the Oxford Future of Humanity Institute, which is another rousing Centre name
http://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/
great good science center
"The Greater Good Science Center is an interdisciplinary research center devoted to the scientific understanding of happy and compassionate individuals, strong social bonds, and altruistic behavior. While serving the traditional tasks of a UC Berkeley research center—fostering groundbreaking scientific discoveries—the GGSC is unique in its commitment to helping people apply scientific research to their lives. "
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/sci-about_landing.html
i couldnt find a research centre devoted to making people unhappy.
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/sci-about_landing.html
i couldnt find a research centre devoted to making people unhappy.
An alternative to interviews for personnel selection?
Techniques such as the OSCE (objective structured clinical examination) based Multiple Mini Interview hold a good deal of promise in forming a reliable and ecologically valid way of predicting future performance based substantially on non-cognitive abilities which could potentially be adapted into a number of subject areas and the workplace...
Abstract
Contemporary studies have shown that traditional medical school admissions interviews have strong face validity but provide evidence for only low reliability and validity. As a result, they do not provide a standardised, defensible and fair process for all applicants. Methods
In 2006, applicants to the University of Calgary Medical School were interviewed using the multiple mini-interview (MMI). This interview process consisted of 9, 8-minute stations where applicants were presented with scenarios they were then asked to discuss. This was followed by a single 8-minute station that allowed the applicant to discuss why he or she should be admitted to our medical school. Sociodemographic and station assessment data provided for each applicant were analysed to determine whether the MMI was a valid and reliable assessment of the non-cognitive attributes, distinguished between the non-cognitive attributes, and discriminated between those accepted and those placed on the waitlist (waiting list). We also assessed whether applicant sociodemographic characteristics were associated with acceptance or waitlist status. Results
Cronbach's alpha for each station ranged from 0.97-0.98. Low correlations between stations and the factor analysis suggest each station assessed different attributes. There were significant differences in scores between those accepted and those on the waitlist. Sociodemographic differences were not associated with status on acceptance or waiting lists. Discussion
The MMI is able to assess different non-cognitive attributes and our study provides additional evidence for its reliability and validity. The MMI offers a fairer and more defensible assessment of applicants to medical school than the traditional interview.
Lemay et al., 2007
Abstract
Contemporary studies have shown that traditional medical school admissions interviews have strong face validity but provide evidence for only low reliability and validity. As a result, they do not provide a standardised, defensible and fair process for all applicants. Methods
In 2006, applicants to the University of Calgary Medical School were interviewed using the multiple mini-interview (MMI). This interview process consisted of 9, 8-minute stations where applicants were presented with scenarios they were then asked to discuss. This was followed by a single 8-minute station that allowed the applicant to discuss why he or she should be admitted to our medical school. Sociodemographic and station assessment data provided for each applicant were analysed to determine whether the MMI was a valid and reliable assessment of the non-cognitive attributes, distinguished between the non-cognitive attributes, and discriminated between those accepted and those placed on the waitlist (waiting list). We also assessed whether applicant sociodemographic characteristics were associated with acceptance or waitlist status. Results
Cronbach's alpha for each station ranged from 0.97-0.98. Low correlations between stations and the factor analysis suggest each station assessed different attributes. There were significant differences in scores between those accepted and those on the waitlist. Sociodemographic differences were not associated with status on acceptance or waiting lists. Discussion
The MMI is able to assess different non-cognitive attributes and our study provides additional evidence for its reliability and validity. The MMI offers a fairer and more defensible assessment of applicants to medical school than the traditional interview.
Lemay et al., 2007
Friday, January 04, 2008
The Top Thirty Hits
This list of the Top 30 Economics Journals does not give references for its rank order system, but its a good link to a list of what are very recognisable journals. Handy for browsing. The list is compliled by William C. Horrace from Syracuse University.
A Nobel Prize Channel has been launched on You Tube
Details here.
"Nobelprize.org will upload content from their vast collections that have been gathered since the first Nobel Prize was awarded in 1901".
The YouTube link is:
http://www.youtube.com/thenobelprize
"Nobelprize.org will upload content from their vast collections that have been gathered since the first Nobel Prize was awarded in 1901".
The YouTube link is:
http://www.youtube.com/thenobelprize
Thursday, January 03, 2008
The Impact of Health Insurance Status on Treatment Intensity and Health Outcomes
the RAND working paper by Card, Dobkin and Maestas linked below examines again the extent to which medical insurance cover affects treatment intensity and health outcomes. the authors make use of the fact that cover increases sharply at age 65 as people enter a threshold for Medicare cover and find that people just above the 65 threshold receive substantially higher intensity treatment for a given illness than people just below for a given level of illness. they show some evidence that those without cover are sent out of hospital too early and are more likely to be readmitted because of this. the data doesnt seem to allow much more than examining differential readmission probabilities but these, in themselves, are useful indicators.
http://www.rand.org/pubs/working_papers/WR505/
http://www.rand.org/pubs/working_papers/WR505/
Deaths rise as labour market improves
the paper linked below by Ulf Gerdtham and Christopher Ruhm gives further evidence that economic downturns may have some degree of protective effect on mortality.
this is interesting to keep in mind as the clouds began to gather on the Irish Economic Boom. while few would actively welcome a downturn in the economy, the evidence from this paper and others by Ruhm is that the extra time available to spend on looking after our health that will result from less frantic economic activity may help improve mortality outcomes in key areas; less car accidents, less flu deaths; less liver cirhossis; etc.,
The authors also conclude that the results lend some support to the idea that calming measures might be employed during economic booms such as greater taxation on air pollutants, greater spend on traffic enforcement proportionate to increases in traffic activity etc., It should also be borne in mind that the authors do not endorse trying to create recessions to improve physical health and they acknowledge that their paper does not try to give a full account of welfare losses and gains across the business cycle.
http://www.uncg.edu/eco/cjruhm/papers/oecd.pdf
this is interesting to keep in mind as the clouds began to gather on the Irish Economic Boom. while few would actively welcome a downturn in the economy, the evidence from this paper and others by Ruhm is that the extra time available to spend on looking after our health that will result from less frantic economic activity may help improve mortality outcomes in key areas; less car accidents, less flu deaths; less liver cirhossis; etc.,
The authors also conclude that the results lend some support to the idea that calming measures might be employed during economic booms such as greater taxation on air pollutants, greater spend on traffic enforcement proportionate to increases in traffic activity etc., It should also be borne in mind that the authors do not endorse trying to create recessions to improve physical health and they acknowledge that their paper does not try to give a full account of welfare losses and gains across the business cycle.
http://www.uncg.edu/eco/cjruhm/papers/oecd.pdf
glaeser paper on cities
Edward L. Glaeser
NBER Working Paper No. 13696Issued in December 2007NBER Program(s):
EFG
---- Abstract -----
The economic approach to cities relies on a spatial equilibrium for workers, employers and builders. The worker's equilibrium implies that positive attributes in one location, like access to downtown or high wages, are offset by negative attributes, like high housing prices. The employer's equilibrium requires that high wages be offset by a high level of productivity, perhaps due to easy access to customers or suppliers. The search for the sources of productivity differences that can justify high wages is the basis for the study of agglomeration economies which has been a significant branch of urban economics in the past 20 years. The builder's equilibrium condition pushes us to understand the causes of supply differences across space that can explain why some places have abundant construction and low prices while others have little construction and high prices. Since the economic theory of cities emphasizes a search for exogenous causes of endogenous outcomes like local wages, housing prices and city growth, it is unsurprising that the economic empirics on cities have increasingly focused on the quest for exogenous sources of variation. The economic approach to urban policy emphasizes the need to focus on people, rather than places, as the ultimate objects of policy concern and the need for policy to anticipate the mobility of people and firms.
This paper is available as PDF 4.0+ (369 K) or via email.
Subscription expiring in 28 days, please renew.
NBER Working Paper No. 13696Issued in December 2007NBER Program(s):
EFG
---- Abstract -----
The economic approach to cities relies on a spatial equilibrium for workers, employers and builders. The worker's equilibrium implies that positive attributes in one location, like access to downtown or high wages, are offset by negative attributes, like high housing prices. The employer's equilibrium requires that high wages be offset by a high level of productivity, perhaps due to easy access to customers or suppliers. The search for the sources of productivity differences that can justify high wages is the basis for the study of agglomeration economies which has been a significant branch of urban economics in the past 20 years. The builder's equilibrium condition pushes us to understand the causes of supply differences across space that can explain why some places have abundant construction and low prices while others have little construction and high prices. Since the economic theory of cities emphasizes a search for exogenous causes of endogenous outcomes like local wages, housing prices and city growth, it is unsurprising that the economic empirics on cities have increasingly focused on the quest for exogenous sources of variation. The economic approach to urban policy emphasizes the need to focus on people, rather than places, as the ultimate objects of policy concern and the need for policy to anticipate the mobility of people and firms.
This paper is available as PDF 4.0+ (369 K) or via email.
Subscription expiring in 28 days, please renew.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
THE ECONOMICS, TECHNOLOGY AND NEUROSCIENCE OF HUMAN CAPABILITY FORMATION
This paper begins the synthesis of two currently unrelated literatures: the human capital approach to health economics and the economics of cognitive and noncognitive skill formation. A lifecycle investment framework is the foundation for understanding the origins of human inequality and for devising policies to reduce it.
Lots of interesting discussion in this article, including reference to the gene-environment debate "Genes and environment cannot be meaningfully parsed by traditional linear models that assign unique variances to each component."
This book also seems worth a look: Rutter, M. (2006). Genes and Behavior: Nature-Nurture Interplay Explained. Oxford, UK:vBlackwell Publishers.
Heckman Working Paper
Lots of interesting discussion in this article, including reference to the gene-environment debate "Genes and environment cannot be meaningfully parsed by traditional linear models that assign unique variances to each component."
This book also seems worth a look: Rutter, M. (2006). Genes and Behavior: Nature-Nurture Interplay Explained. Oxford, UK:vBlackwell Publishers.
Heckman Working Paper
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