bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Book Review: Two Phylogenetic Specializations in the Human Brain
Authors: Allman John , Hakeem Atiya , Watson Karli
Published: April 2009

In this study, two anatomical specializations of the brain in apes and humans are considered. One of these is a whole cortical area located in the frontal polar cortex (Brodmann’s area 10), and the other is a morphologically distinctive cell type, the spindle neuron of the anterior cingulate cortex. The authors suggest that the spindle cells may relay to other parts of the brain—especially to area 10, the outcome of processing within the anterior cingulate cortex. This relay conveys the motivation to act. It particularly concerns the recognition of having committed an error that leads to the initiation of adaptive responses to these adverse events so as to reduce error commission. This capacity is related to the development of self-control as an individual matures and gains social insight. Although the anterior cingulate deals with the individual’s immediate response to changing conditions, area 10 is involved in the retrieval of memories from the individual’s past experience and the capacity to plan adaptive responses. The authors suggest that these neurobehavioral specializations are crucial aspects of intelligence as defined as the capacity to make adaptive responses to changing conditions. The authors further hypothesize that these specializations facilitated the evolution of the unique capacity for the intergenerational transfer of the food and information characteristic of human extended families.
Report: Image and Meaning Conference
Authors: Rensberger Boyce
Published: April 2009

Increasing use of visualization techniques in science offers good opportunities to use the images to communicate science more effectively both within the scientific world and to the public. But because there is insufficient collaboration among scientists, journalists, and imaging experts, including photographers and illustrators, the remarkable new images coming out of science are rarely used to best advantage. The Image and Meaning conference, held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 14-16 June 2001, was organized to encourage greater collaboration among the relevant groups with the goal of encouraging better communication.
Biotechnology and the American Media
Authors: Nisbet Matthew C. , Lewenstein Bruce V.
Published: April 2009

The authors present a quantitative content analysis of biotechnology-related coverage appearing in the New York Times and Newsweekbetween 1970 and 1999, examining patterns of media attention and evaluating the source impact of various political and social actors on the themes, frames, and tone of coverage. Although media attention to biotechnology steadily increased across the 1980s and most of the 1990s, it has been highly episodic, peaking and plummeting in response to major scientific announcements. Even in its peak years of coverage, biotechnology still rests rather modestly on the overall media agenda compared with other issues related to science, technology, or popular culture. The character of biotechnology-related coverage has been overwhelmingly positive, with heavy emphasis on the frames of scientific progress and economic prospect. A departure from this trend only occurs in correspondence to the late 1990s debate over cloning, as a greater media emphasis on ethics and controversy emerges.
An Orthodox Heresy
Authors: Reeves Carol
Published: April 2009

A significant theoretical shift in the research community examining a class of terminal, infectious neurological disorders that includes Mad Cow Disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and Kuru was assisted by rhetorical production. The local rhetoric of one laboratory, that of Professor Stanley B. Prusiner, involved first situating an heretical hypothesis within the framework of the orthodox narrative and then audaciously promoting that heresy. Another aspect of rhetorical production in this case involved situating a new language associated with the heretical hypothesis. To promote their new lexicon, the Prusiner team evoked orthodox values of consistency, efficiency, and collective ratification. Eventually, what was once heresy became dogma; what was once a lexicon employed by a minority in the field was adopted by the majority.
The Moderating Role of Sensory Overresponsivity in HPA Activity
Authors: Reynolds Stacey , Lane Shelly J. , Gennings Chris
Published: April 2009

Objective: To determine if sensory overresponsivity (SOR) is a moderating condition impacting the activity of the Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal (HPA) Axis in children with ADHD. Method: Participants were children with (n = 24) and without ADHD ( n = 24). Children in the ADHD group were divided into SOR (ADHDs) and non-SOR (ADHDt) groups using the Sensory Over-Responsivity Inventory. All children participated in the Sensory Challenge Protocol. Salivary cortisol was used as a measure of HPA activity. Two prechallenge and seven postchallenge samples of saliva were taken. Cortisol patterns between groups were examined using a mixed-effects ANOVA. Results: There was a borderline significant difference found between the ADHDt and ADHDs group ( p = .056) and a significant difference between ADHDt and the typical group ( p = .014). Conclusion: Preliminary results support the premise that SOR may be a moderating variable used to create subgroups in diagnostic populations such as ADHD. (J. of Att. Dis. 2010; 13(5) 468-478)
The Welfare State as a Fiscal Commons: Problems of Incentives Versus Problems of Cognition
Authors: Jakee Keith , Turner Stephen
Published: April 2009

A mounting empirical literature clearly indicates that the core programs of the welfare state are unsustainable in their present form. The proximate cause of this growing fiscal instability is a demographic imbalance between younger contributors and older beneficiaries. The authors argue, however, that the ultimate cause is the institutional structure of the welfare state itself. Specifically, if its fiscal institutions are modeled as a common-pool resource, the tools and analysis emerging from the growing literature on common pools can be used. Such an analysis suggests that the apparent nonsustainability of current welfare state programs is rooted in the failure to resolve two distinct problems in institutional design. The first problem concerns how to limit the scope of opportunism among rational self-interested individuals. The second problem concerns how to limit the adverse effects of the knowledge problem among boundedly rational individual actors.
The Contributions of James M.Buchanan to Public Finance and Political Economy
Authors: Borcherding Thomas E.
Published: April 2009

James M. Buchanan’s contributions to public finance and political economy are surveyed in six areas: (1) debt, fiscal illusion, and Keynesian criticisms; (2) London School of Economics cost approach; (3) methodological individualism and the economics of politics; (4) welfare price theory; (5) rent seeking and polity failure; and (6) political economy and constitutions. A comprehensive bibliography through 1984 of 10 books, 4 monographs, 43 refereed articles, 30 essays in books, 10 short papers, 33 papers in collected works, and a translation is offered.
Is the Response of State and Local Highway Spending Symmetric to Increases and Decreases in Federal Highway Grants?
Authors: Gamkhar Shama
Published: April 2009

Do states and localities, when faced with cuts in federal highway grants, attempt to maintain spending on existing highway projects with own sources of funding? Current state and local government highway spending is postulated here to respond to federal highway grants of the current fiscal year and up to 2 previous fiscal years. The results of this study provide some evidence of asymmetry. When current federal highway grants are increased, their immediate effect on state and local government highway spending is negligible; their impact on spending comes in later years. In contrast, cutbacks in current federal highway grants result in a drop in current state and local government highway spending. The response of state and local government highway spending to lagged federal highway grants is statistically significant and symmetric with respect to increases and decreases in these grants.
Revenue Structures, The Perceived Price of Government Output, and Public Expenditures
Authors: Dickson Vaughan , Yu Weiqiu
Published: April 2009

This article examines how revenue structures, through fiscal illusion effects, influence government spending. It does so with a regression model in which public spending depends on the perceived price of public services and other demand variables. The authors construct a perceived price term that provides a more general framework for testing together several hypotheses of fiscal illusion. The perceived price depends on public revenues, decomposed into nine revenue sources, and is a weighted average of how fully taxpayers recognize the cost of each revenue source. For a sample of the 10 Canadian provinces from 1961 to 1992, the authors find that revenue structures influence spending, that tax revenues are perceived more acutely than other major revenue sources (borrowing, grants), and that some taxes are recognized more than others. The results can be viewed as consistent with debt illusion, flypaper, and income-elastic versions of fiscal illusion while casting doubt on using the Herfindahl index to represent fiscal illusion. The authors also find learning by taxpayers (declining fiscal illusion) during the period.
Transitional Protection During Conversion to a Personal Consumption Tax
Authors: Lewis Kenneth A. , Seidman Laurence S.
Published: April 2009

This article constructs a transitional protection rule-an “old-wealth deduction” -for conversion of the income tax to a personal consumption tax and tests it in four stylized life cycle economies (identical, pension, bequest, and spender) by performing numerical simulations. It is assumed that the compensated elasticity of saving with respect to the interest rate is zero (the uncompensated elasticity is negative). In all four economies, the protection rule substantially reduces the harm to older cohorts from tax conversion; at the same time, young and future cohorts continue to benefit (in almost all cases) from tax conversion despite this protection rule. The results may be sensitive to the particular functions used in the model: a Cobb-Douglas production function and a Leontief utility function (implying a zero compensated saving elasticity).
Price Elasticities in Consumer Sales Tax Revenue
Authors: Hawkins Richard R.
Published: April 2009

If demand follows prices, income, and household characteristics, taxable spending by consumers also follows these variables, and a unique sales tax revenue elasticity should exist for each demand determinant. In this article, the author investigates whether price elasticities exist and how exemptions affect the price responses that should appear in consumer sales tax revenue. Consistent with microeconomic theory, the estimates in this study indicate that individual prices matter only when states exempt a large share of consumer purchases. For services, food, and residential utility exemptions, consumer price responses can affect revenue cycles. Within a revenue cycle, the pro-cyclical or countercyclical effect will depend on the relative price changes and the sales tax structure.
Tax Evasion and Entrepreneurial Flexibility
Authors: Panteghini Paolo M.
Published: April 2009

The separation between a firm’s decision to evade taxes and its other choices fails to hold if an irreversible investment is introduced. This model applies the well-known Bernanke’s bad news principle, in which auditing is bad news for tax-evading firms. This article thus shows that evasion affects investment, which in turn determines production.
Hmos and Health Externalities: A Local Public Good Perspective
Authors: Goodman Allen C. , Stano Miron
Published: April 2009

This article introduces a health maintenance organization (HMO) model that characterizes HMO decisions on enrollment, utilization levels, and quality. Facing global budgets dependent on revenue raising capacity, HMOs must determine standards of care and the corresponding premiums to cover costs. Revenues are allocated among HMO providers by gatekeepers who are often subject to strict utilization controls. The authors' model identifies various uncompensated health and pecuniary externalities that may result from patient disenrollments, thereby affecting treatment costs. As a result of these externalities, HMOs may provide less than socially efficient levels of care, and they may also enroll less than socially efficient numbers of members. The model also predicts that HMOs may promote socially cost-inefficient treatment options for conditions in which multiple options are available.
The Roles of Government and Nonprofit Suppliers in Mixed Industries
Authors: Kapur Kanika , Weisbrod Burton A.
Published: April 2009

In what ways, if any, does the behavior of government and nonprofit organizations differ? This article examines evidence from two industries-nursing homes and mentally handicapped facilities-to determine whether government and nonprofit organization behavior differs in identifiable dimensions and, if it does, why the differences occur. Behavior is studied in terms of consumer access, as measured by the use of waiting lists, and output quality, as measured by consumer satisfaction. Considerable differential behavior is found across the two institutional forms, even though both governmental and nonprofit organizations are subject to the nondistribution constraint. By contrast with private firms, both types of organizations may not lawfully distribute profit or surplus to owners, managers, or trustees. The behavioral differences found are consistent with varied models, one of which is that government and nonprofit providers have different objective functions, trading off quality and consumer access differently as government pursues a supplier-of-last-resort objective function.
Tax Complexity: Problem or Opportunity?
Authors: Krause Kate
Published: April 2009

When laws are complex or ambiguous, compliance and enforcement suffer. In the United States, the federal income tax is a familiar example of this. Often, neither the taxpayer nor the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) can perfectly determine a taxpayer's true tax liability. Uncertainty, ignorance, and burdensome documentation requirements deter some taxpayers from taking advantage of legitimate deductions and credits, whereas others find opportunities for creative tax avoidance in ambiguous provisions. Complexity undermines the IRS's ability to distinguish among intentional evasion, honest misinterpretation of the tax code, and legitimate tax avoidance. This model shows that the IRS cannot always profitably exploit complexity.
Electoral Cycles and the Politics of State Tax Policy
Authors: Nelson Michael A.
Published: April 2009

This article contributes to the empirical literature on the political economy of tax policy through the use of a panel data set on statutory rate changes and new tax adoptions by state governments during the postwar period. A principal finding is that there is little evidence in support of recent models of political policy cycles that emphasize the use of short-run fiscal policy instruments (such as a tax cut) as an election draws near to enhance reelection prospects. The timing of tax increases is clearly linked with election cycles, however, with the largest share of rate increases and new adoptions occurring during the first year of a governor's term in office. Also examined is the political consequence of state tax policy actions. Evidence is presented showing that voters tend to blame governors more than the legislature for rate increases on broad-based taxes, especially for increases enacted in an election year.
On the Effects of Public Investment on Private Investment: What Crowds in What?
Authors: Pereira Alfredo M.
Published: April 2009

This article provides an empirical investigation of the effects of public investment on the evolution of private investment in the United States. It is based on the impulse response analysis associated with vector auto-regressive (VAR) estimates. The empirical results suggest that at the aggregate level, public investment crowds in private investment. Disaggregating private investment shows that the crowding-in effect of public investment is strong for equipment and only marginal for structures. This crowding-in effect on private equipment is particularly strong in the cases of industrial equipment and transportation equipment. In fact, public investment marginally crowds out private investment in information equipment. A final look at the effects of different types of public investment on the different types of private investment suggests that in about one third of the cases, public investment variables crowd out private sector variables. More important, the aggregate results often hide a wide diversity of effects.
Precautionary Saving and Mortality-Contingent Social Insurance Programs
Authors: Hau Arthur
Published: April 2009

This article compares the effects of Social Security and other mortality-contingent social insurance programs (particularly Medicare) on the personal saving, consumption, national saving, and welfare of the current generation. The two-period Fisherian model under lifetime uncertainty shows that the effects of Social Security and Medicare on personal saving differ substantially. In addition, the qualitative effects of Medicare on personal saving and national saving are found to be different. More important, precautionary saving motives in the strict sense of Leland may or may not be required for various social insurance policies to reduce personal or national saving. Therefore, a direct relationship between precautionary saving motives and the qualitative effects of various social insurance programs on savings may be overemphasized in the literature. Finally, it is found that other factors such as actuarial unfairness and percentage of funding may or may not affect the results.
Tipping and the Mcquatters Formula
Authors: Macnaughton Alan , Veall Michael R.
Published: April 2009

The Internal Revenue Service has been attempting to reduce tax evasion on tips paid in cash by imputing this income on the basis of credit card tip income. This note points out that the effective marginal tax rate on a credit card tip can as a result be very high, possibly in excess of 100%. This rate may affect behavior and could detract from the social acceptability of the imputation formula.
The Impact of Indian Casinos on State Lotteries: A Case Study of Arizona
Authors: Siegel Donald , Anders Gary
Published: April 2009

Gambling is a rapidly growing industry with competing private, public, and Native American tribal interests. To examine the effects of this competition, the authors outline a simple econometric model for assessing substitution between lottery games and other forms of gambling. They estimate the model to examine whether an expansion in Indian casino gaming in Arizona is associated with a decline in lottery revenues. The findings imply that there is indeed a substitution effect.
Do Crime-Related Expenditures Crowd out Higher Education Expenditures?
Authors: Marlow Michael L. , Shiers Alden F.
Published: April 2009

Fears about insufficient public education spending are often expressed in the area of higher education, whereby it is often argued that increases in expenditures on crime-related programs crowd out expenditures on higher education. This view suggests that higher education and crime-related programs directly compete for government expenditures so that what one program gains the other must lose as in a zero-sum game. A competing hypothesis is that higher crime-related spending leads to higher taxes or public debt issuance or to lower spending on programs other than higher education. We estimate a three-equation model of spending on crime-related programs, spending on higher education, and the crime rate from which we directly test whether spending on crime-related programs and higher education influence each other. Our empirical analysis provides weak evidence that crime-related programs have crowded out spending on higher education.
Bond Insurance Utilization and Yield Spreads in the Municipal Bond Market
Authors: Denison Dwight V.
Published: April 2009

In recent years, commercial insurance companies insured nearly half of the annual issue of government bonds against bond default. This article illustrates that one impetus for the increasing popularity of municipal bond insurance is the segmentation of the municipal bond market into two markets: one characterized by an excess demand for low-risk credits and the other characterized by an excess supply of higher risk credits. The empirical findings indicate that the volume of insured bonds issued each quarter is influenced by the average yield spread between high- and low-risk municipal bonds and by the holdings of municipal bonds at financial institutions. On the other hand, the volume of insured municipal bonds issued in a quarter influences the average spread among high- and low-risk bonds. These findings underscore market segmentation and investors’ risk aversion as forces motivating the utilization of municipal bond insurance.
The Effects of Monitoring and Competition on Public Education Outputs: A Stochastic Frontier Approach
Authors: Kang Byung-Goo , Greene Kenneth V.
Published: April 2009

An extensive data set on upstate New York school district inputs and outputs is used to measure the technical efficiency of public school districts and to test whether certain institutional arrangements, including more public and private competition, can enhance various measures of high school outputs. The technique used involves stochastic frontier production functions. Whereas increased public school competition enhances output, the effect of private schools is sensitive to the output measure.
A Simple Method for Converting a Cost-Effectiveness Analysis into a Cost-Benefit Analysis with an Application to State Mental Health Expenditures
Authors: Brent Robert J.
Published: April 2009

If cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analyses are to produce identical rankings of programs, there is a simple equivalence between the criteria that enables one to derive a value for the effect that is being maximized. The value depends on knowing two magnitudes: (1) the cutoff cost-effectiveness ratio and (2) the marginal cost of public funds. The method is illustrated by trying to value state psychiatric hospital episodes using the revealed preference approach. Values varied by the state undertaking the expenditure (from a high of $52,526 in Pennsylvania to a low of $2,177 in Wisconsin) and the size of the predetermined federal budget assumed (a $1 billion budget produces a $10,418 value, and the actual budget of $7 billion produces a $54,540 value).
Actuarial Nonequivalence in Early and Delayed Social Security Benefit Claims
Authors: Duggan James E. , Soares Christopher J.
Published: April 2009

Age-related adjustments to Social Security benefits are intended to be actuarially equivalent, on average, rendering lifetime benefits invariant to the timing of first receipt. This article analyzes actuarial equivalence with respect to early and delayed Social Security benefit claims using a large sample of current and former retired-worker beneficiaries. We find substantial deviations from actuarial equivalence that have resulted in “actuarial premiums” for males, particularly low-income males, and “actuarial losses” for females who accept benefits early. Gender-neutral actuarial adjustments partially offset the female life expectancy advantage in Social Security. For delayed claims, the 8% credit scheduled in current law is too low for actuarial equivalence. The patterns of actuarial nonequivalence should be considered in analyses of claiming behavior or in simulations of Social Security reform proposals that may affect claiming behavior.
Fiscal Discipline and Asymmetric Adjustment of Revenues and Expenditures: Local Government Responses to Shocks in Denmark
Authors: Rattsø Jørn , Tovmo Per
Published: April 2009

Fiscal discipline is a concern because of possible spending and deficit bias in fiscal and political institutions. This study investigates adjustments under fiscal federalism, concentrating on decentralized government in Denmark and allowing for a comparison with neighbors Norway and Sweden and with similar analyses of U.S. states. Fiscal adjustments are investigated as responses to shocks measured as deviations from budgeted current surplus. The econometric results show that local governments respond by compensating adjustment of tax rates and expenditures. The shock responses tend to be asymmetric. Positive shocks hardly affect the income tax rate, whereas negative shocks induce higher tax rates. The authors interpret the asymmetry as the result of spending pressure due to redistributive politics and show that political characteristics are important for tax determination. They conclude that the Danish design of controlling the local public sector avoids fiscal imbalances but allows a bias toward expansion.
A Public Choice View of Tax Competition
Authors: Blankart Charles B.
Published: April 2009

The author analyzes the role of competition among governments. Although traditional public finance economists fear that competition among governments may be too strong, endangering revenue generation or leading to destructive outcomes in the Tiebout model, this article argues that competition among governments, properly understood, may promote efficiency, but natural barriers to competition require regulation by democracy.
Producers Lose: The Relative Percentage Reductions in Surplus Due to an AD Valorem Commodity Tax
Authors: Trandel Gregory A.
Published: April 2009

In traditional studies, focusing on price effects, changes in demand and cost parameters cause a tax's incidence to shift between producers and consumers. Recent incidence results focus on changes in producer and consumer surpluses; they show that with linear demand and marginal cost, a specific commodity tax causes each surplus to fall by the same percentage. This note shows that imposing an ad valorem tax on a noncompetitive market (again assuming linearity) always causes producer surplus to fall by a larger percentage than does consumer surplus. As the tax rate rises, the percentage reductions in surplus move toward equality.
An Inquiry into the Sustainability of German Fiscal Policy: Some Time-Series Tests
Authors: Greiner Alfred , Semmler Willi
Published: April 2009

Sustainability of public debt has become a major issue in the debate over the success of the European Monetary Union. The authors pursue the question of whether Germany’s fiscal policy is sustainable. With sustainability of a given fiscal policy, the authors refer to a policy that satisfies the intertemporal budget constaint of the government, known as the no-Ponzi game condition. Although this question has been econometrically studied for the United States in many studies, it has not yet been pursued with German time-series data. Using annual data from 1955 to 1994, the results seem to indicate that the intertemporal budget constraint for Germany is not met. In particular, the deficits in the period after 1989 appear to have contributed to that trend. Although the question of whether the latter increase in debt will have a lasting effect is still an important issue, the methodology proposed here may be useful for studying other countries. The authors also briefly discuss the macroeconomic effects of adjustment policies.
A Differential Incidence Analysis of a Tax Reform From an Income Tax to a Consumption Tax in the Presence of Bequests
Authors: Batina Raymond G.
Published: April 2009

This article studies the properties of a switch from an income tax to a consumption tax in the presence of bequests. The author shows that the consumption tax will distort the bequest decision if bequests are taxed at the consumption tax rate but not when bequests are exempt. It is possible that including bequests in the tax base under the consumption tax may reduce the incentive to save. The main benefit from reforming the tax system may arise from the switch away from the income tax and not in the move toward the consumption tax if bequests are taxed.
Interrelationships among Public Assistance Expenditures: An Empirical Analysis of the Welfare System
Authors: Connolly Laura S.
Published: April 2009

This article uses vector autoregression techniques with a panel data set to test for interdependencies between spending on the Aid to Families With Dependent Children AFDC) program and expenditures on three other major public assistance programs: Medicaid, food stamps, and Supplemental Security Income. Tests of Granger causality reveal that there are spillover effects in both directions among these programs, suggesting that substantial feedback effects are likely. The author uses the estimated model to simulate the effects of one-time spending decreases on either side. The simulation, which includes both direct and indirect effects, shows that these spending cuts result in long-term decreases in expenditures on the affected program. However, changes in AFDC spending are likely to be at least partially offset by changes in one or more of the other programs. Similarly, budget cuts in the other programs can result in increased AFDC spending. This suggests that the new welfare law may not produce the budgetary savings expected by its sponsors.
Risky Assets and the Choice of Tax Base
Authors: Horowitz Ira , Horowitz R.
Published: April 2009

Using a two-period model in which income is earned in the first period and saving can be invested in a risky asset, the authors explore the implications of the wealth tax and the consumption tax approaches for both the government and the wage earner. Settings under which decisions are made through Marshallian utility functions and settings under which decisions are made through von Neumann-Morgenstern risk preference functions are clarified. This is an issue that has suffered from benign neglect in this literature. It is shown that the implications of uncertainty for tax policy are much greater than has hitherto been implied.
Arbitrage, Speculation, and Public Policy Toward Ticket Scalping
Authors: Swofford James L.
Published: April 2009

Ticket scalping is typically analyzed from the point of view of the demanders of the product. The question of why a profit-maximizing producer would let someone purchase its product for speculation or arbitrage has typically been ignored in the literature. There are at least three reasons why a profit-maximizing firm might permit purchase of its product for resale. One reason is that uncertainty and risk aversion on the part of the firm provides an opportunity for speculation in the product by a less risk averse firm. A second reason is that the producing firm may face different cost functions than the ticket scalper, permitting arbitrage or a middleman to exist and make a profit. The third reason is that the dynamic revenue function of the firm may differ from the ticket scalper's revenue function, creating an arbitrage opportunity. Finally, a public choice perspective suggests that producers are the likely source of inspiration for laws against ticket scalping.
A Demand-Theoretic Analysis of Public Consumption Priorities in the United Kingdom
Authors: Tridimas George
Published: April 2009

In the tradition of empirical studies of demand for public expenditure, this article examines the allocation of public consumption expenditures in the United Kingdom from 1963 to 1996. In addition to obtaining estimates of the effects of relative prices, total expenditure, and demographic variables, the results reveal that the constraints of homogeneity and symmetry cannot be rejected. However, the results reject the assumption of exogeneity of total expenditure employed by previous authors, so that it is important to augment the standard empirical specification by an auxiliary equation describing the evolution of the total expenditure conditioning variable. Finally, there is also evidence that some of the relationships studied have not been stable during the sample period.
The Steady-State Effects of Income Taxation with Endogenous Time Preference
Authors: Chang Wen-Ya , Tsai Hsueh-Fang , Lai Ching-Chong
Published: April 2009

This article studies the steady-state effects of income taxation on output by incorporating endogenous time preference into the neoclassical growth framework. It is found that a rise in the income tax may lead to a boom in economic activities in the long run. This result contrasts with a general conclusion of neoclassical growth models that a surcharge in the income tax will depress output. Furthermore, the scenario that the government transforms the tax revenues into the productive government expenditure is discussed. The authors find that the effect of public infrastructure expenditure on the marginal productivity of private capital may reinforce or diminish the results in the endogenous time preference case.
What do General Practitioners Discuss with their Patients?
Authors: Caccavo Antonietta Di , Ley Ann , Reid Fraser
Published: April 2009

Thirty audiotaped and transcribed general practice consultations were used to develop a classification scheme to code the content of doctor–patient communication in primary care. Open coding was used to identify subject matter discussed by general practitioners in consultations featuring commonly presented problems such as respiratory, psychological and musculoskeletal complaints. The classification scheme was found to have an adequate inter-rater reliability (0.72) and was used in a pilot study to code a further 75 consultations featuring psychological problems as the main presenting complaints. Multivariate analysis of variance showed significant relationships between what was discussed by general practitioners and the type of treatment decisions made ( F(16, 51) 2.12, p .01). Consultations in which general practitioners talked to their patients about mental coping strategies, social support and treatment options were less likely to end with decisions to prescribe drugs than consultations in which general practitioners did not discuss these subjects.
Relation of Dieting in College and High School Students to Symptoms Associated with Semi-starvation
Authors: Hagan Mary M. , Tomaka Joseph , Moss Donald E.
Published: April 2009

Dieting and concern with weight were found to be associated with psychological and neurological symptoms observed in cases of severe semi-starvation. College students of both sexes ( n 292) and high school females ( n121) rated themselves on dietary restraint and psychological and physical symptoms that were prevalent in men after 24 weeks in the Minnesota semi-starvation experiment of 1944–5. Apprehension, irritability, and moodiness were associated with a high concern with restraint. Blank spells, hunger pain, concern for health, and social withdrawal were associated with a history of restraint. Depression, lower self-esteem, eating behavior patterns, apathy, and decreased motivation were associated with both restraint parameters. Our results suggest that normal dieting may be more closely related to psychological and health risks associated with chronic semi-starvation than is commonly believed.
Transdisciplinary Work with Psychology from a Population Health Perspective: An Illustration
Authors: Maclean Lynne M. , Plotnikoff Ronald C. , Moyer Alwyn
Published: April 2009

One of the important implications of a population health perspective in public health is an increase in the need for transdisciplinary ways of working. The Community Health Research Unit (CHRU) is presented as an example of an environment where psychology and psychologists work with other disciplines to conduct applied research in population health. Research activities were examined to identify how the disciplines collaborate and to provide evidence of successful interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches which incorporate health psychology. The strengths and challenges of multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary approaches were examined through a poll of CHRU members. Further, members' views about the contributions of psychology to their work were gathered. Issues of working with different disciplines in a transdisciplinary approach are highlighted and future directions are suggested.
Assessment of Magical Beliefs about Food and Health
Authors: Lindeman Marjaana , Keskivaara Pertti , Roschier Maarit
Published: April 2009

The Magical Beliefs About Food and Health scale (MFH) was developed to assess individual differences in the tendency to adopt eating and health instructions that many magazines, health care books and food ideologies regard as valid but which obey universal laws of similarity and contagion. In a study of 216 individuals, the total MFH score showed good internal consistency and it was associated with various validity criteria as hypothesized (e.g. vegetarianism and other ideological commitments to food choice, female gender, increased neuroticism, experiential thinking, positive attitudes towards alternative medicine, low sensation seeking and endorsement of universalism values). Factor analysis yielded two factors: General Magical Beliefs and Animal Products as Food Contaminants. In addition, three other items (the Animal Products as Personality Contaminants scale) cross-loaded on the two factors. The factor structure and test–retest reliability were confirmed with separate samples. The results showed that the total MFH score is a reliable and valid measure of magical food and health beliefs, and that the subscales may prove useful when a multidimensional assessment of magical beliefs is needed.
Levels of Narrative Analysis in Health Psychology
Authors: Murray Michael
Published: April 2009

The past 10–15 years have seen a rapid increase in the study of narrative across all the social sciences. It is sometimes assumed that narrative has the same meaning irrespective of the context in which it is expressed. This article considers different levels of narrative analysis within health psychology. Specifically, it considers the character of health and illness narratives as a function of the personal, interpersonal, positional and societal levels of analysis. At the personal level of analysis narratives are portrayed as expressions of the lived experience of the narrator. At the interpersonal level of analysis the narrative is one that is co-created in dialogue. At the positional level of analysis the analysis considers the differences in social position between the narrator and the listener. The societal level of analysis is concerned with the socially shared stories that are characteristic of certain communities or societies. The challenge is to articulate the connections between these different levels of narrative analysis and to develop strategies to promote emancipatory narratives.
Feminist Research Traditions in Health Psychology: Breast Cancer Research
Authors: Wilkinson Sue
Published: April 2009

This article discusses three key traditions of feminist research: positivist empiricist, experiential and discursive. It explores the ways in which each is used in developing understandings of women’s health and improving health care services, focusing in particular on breast cancer research and activism, including my own work in this area. It is argued that all three research traditions are important for advancing feminist political goals: positivist empiricism enables us to expose the biases of mainstream health research and to develop better (i.e. more objective) research; experiential approaches enable us to engage with the diversity of women’s subjective experiences of health and health care; and discursive research enables us to explore issues related to identity management, accountability of conduct and the moral order of social life surrounding health and illness.
Cultivating Pluralism in Health Psychology
Authors: Maclachlan Malcolm
Published: April 2009

Historically health, illness and healing operated through a single medium, or idiom, within relatively culturally encapsulated societies. Our increasingly porous societies now present us with a plethora of cultural explanations for our states of ‘being’. Health ‘seekers’ can now turn to a variety of health ‘providers’. The complexities of this situation are illustrated by reviewing research from Africa on cognitive tolerance. In many western societies the clinician is also faced with the challenge of having to work with a plurality of complex ideas about health and illness, which he or she may be unfamiliar with. The Problem Portrait Technique (PPT) is presented as a means of assisting practitioners (and researchers) to assess the interplay of culture and health. It is argued that health psychology should cultivate pluralism both by acknowledging the influence of culture on health and by embracing the diversity of methodological and conceptual perspectives within itself.
Possible Contributions of a Psychology of Liberation: Whither Health and Human Rights?
Authors: Lykes M. Brinton
Published: April 2009

This article explores the possible contributions of a psychology of liberation for the practice of health psychology. It explores alternative psychological ‘practices’, for example participatory action research, with groups historically marginalized from access to power and resources. Selected lenses for crafting a liberatory psychology include: discourse of human rights and mental health; cultural and constructivist psychological theory; and reflexivity. Specific examples from the author’s work with Mayan women in rural Guatemala in the context of ongoing war and subsequent efforts at peace building are discussed to clarify possible contributions of psychologists committed to accompanying local communities in creating more just futures. Selected challenges and contradictions encountered in this work are discussed.
Managing the Impact of Illness: The Experiences of Men with Prostate Cancer and their Spouses
Authors: Gray Ross E. , Fitch Margaret , Phillips Catherine , Labrecque Manon , Fergus Karen
Published: April 2009

This qualitative study explored issues of support and coping for couples where the man had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Thirty-four men with prostate cancer and their spouses were interviewed separately at three points in time: prior to surgery; 8 to 10 weeks post-surgery; and 11 to 13 months post-surgery. The core category for the couples’ experience with diagnosis and treatment for prostate cancer was Managing the Impact of Illness. Five major domains emerged, including: dealing with the practicalities; stopping illness from interfering with everyday life; keeping relationships working; managing feelings; and making sense of it all. While it was clearly important for couples to manage illness and to reduce its potential intrusion into everyday life, this strategy had psychological costs as well as benefits. Men struggled to stay in control of their emotions and their lives, typically vacillating between the pulls of fierce self-reliance and fearful neediness. Women were constrained from employing their usual strategies of coping and were distressed by the complicated requirements of being supportive while also honoring their partners’ need for self-reliance.
Handedness and Age of Death: New Evidence on a Puzzling Relationship
Authors: Ellis Lee , Engh Tim
Published: April 2009

Based on 5743 deaths in the United States and Canada, the present study was undertaken to verify and extend results suggesting that left handers have a shorter life expectancy than right handers. Unlike previous studies, which have merely dichotomized handedness, this study used a 5-point scale to measure handedness (extremely right handed, generally right handed, ambidextrous, generally left handed and extremely left handed). We found a significant tendency for one of the five handedness categories—those classified as generally left handers—to die at a significantly younger age than was true for the other four handedness groups. Our findings add to the controversy over links between handedness and age of death by suggesting that only a portion of left handers are at risk of premature death.
Responses to Information about Psychosocial Consequences of Genetic Testing for Breast Cancer Susceptibility: Influences of Cancer Worry and Risk Perceptions
Authors: Cameron Linda D. , Diefenbach Michael A.
Published: April 2009

We assessed the impact of information about psychosocial consequences of genetic testing for breast cancer susceptibility on interest in and beliefs about genetic testing, and whether these effects vary by levels of either cancer worry or perceived cancer risk. Women ( N = 180) in an experimental study were randomly assigned to read one of four messages consisting of standard information along with information about either psychosocial advantages, potential disadvantages, both advantages and disadvantages, or no additional information. Women receiving only standard information reported higher interest in obtaining genetic testing than did women who received additional information about advantages, disadvantages, or both advantages and disadvantages. Cancer worry (but not perceived risk) predicted greater interest and more favorable beliefs about the benefits of testing. Beliefs that testing causes emotional distress were positively associated with worry and negatively associated with risk perceptions.
Attitudes Regarding Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: The Importance of a Name
Authors: Jason Leonard A. , Taylor Renee R. , Stepanek Zuzana , Plioplys Sigita
Published: April 2009

Undergraduates from diverse academic backgrounds and medical trainees were assessed regarding their attitudes about and familiarity with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). We explored whether different names given to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS, myalgic encephalopathy, or Florence Nightingale disease) were associated with differences in attributions regarding its cause, nature, severity, contagion, prognosis, and treatment. Participants' attributions toward the illness varied with the names used to characterize it. Participants prompted with the myalgic encephalopathy name were more likely to attribute a biomedical cause to the illness, and less likely to consider patients as candidates for organ donation than those prompted with the CFS name. Although the medical trainees were less likely to consider the patient as malingering, and more likely to view the illness as leading to poorer quality of life and a poorer prognosis, they were also more likely to consider the illness a form of primary depression, more likely to think the patient would attempt suicide, and less likely to consider associated cognitive symptoms as severe. The implications are discussed.
Workplace Bullying in Nurses
Authors: Quine Lyn
Published: April 2009

The article reports a study of workplace bullying in community nurses in an NHS trust. The aims were to determine the prevalence of bullying, to examine the association between bullying and occupational health outcomes, and to investigate whether support at work could moderate the effects of bullying. Forty-four percent of nurses reported experiencing one or more types of bullying in the previous 12 months, compared to 35 percent of other staff. Fifty percent of nurses had witnessed the bullying of others. Nurses who had been bullied reported significantly lower levels of job satisfaction and significantly higher levels of anxiety, depression and propensity to leave. They were also more critical of aspects of the organizational climate of the trust. Support at work was able to protect nurses from some of the damaging effects of bullying.