Statistical Analysis of Choice Experiments and Surveys

Measures of households' past behavior, their expectations with respect to future events and contingencies, and their intentions with respect to future behavior are frequently collected using household surveys. These questions are conceptually difficult. Answering them requires elaborate cognitive and social processes, and often respondents report only their “best” guesses and/or estimates, using more or less sophisticated heuristics. A large body of literature in psychology and survey research shows that as a result, responses to such questions may be severely biased. In this paper, (1) we describe some of the problems that are typically encountered, (2) provide some empirical illustrations of these biases, and (3) develop a framework for conceptualizing survey response behavior and for integrating structural models of response behavior into the statistical analysis of the underlying economic behavior.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47001/1/11002_2005_Article_5884.pd

Discutindo a educação ambiental no cotidiano escolar: desenvolvimento de projetos na escola formação inicial e continuada de professores

A presente pesquisa buscou discutir como a Educação Ambiental (EA) vem sendo trabalhada, no Ensino Fundamental e como os docentes desta escola compreendem e vem inserindo a EA no cotidiano escolar., em uma escola estadual do município de Tangará da Serra/MT, Brasil. Para tanto, realizou-se entrevistas com os professores que fazem parte de um projeto interdisciplinar de EA na escola pesquisada. Verificou-se que o projeto da escola não vem conseguindo alcançar os objetivos propostos por: desconhecimento do mesmo, pelos professores; formação deficiente dos professores, não entendimento da EA como processo de ensino-aprendizagem, falta de recursos didáticos, planejamento inadequado das atividades. A partir dessa constatação, procurou-se debater a impossibilidade de tratar do tema fora do trabalho interdisciplinar, bem como, e principalmente, a importância de um estudo mais aprofundado de EA, vinculando teoria e prática, tanto na formação docente, como em projetos escolares, a fim de fugir do tradicional vínculo “EA e ecologia, lixo e horta”.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Distributional effect of taxes and benefits in Korea

A Simulation model has been developed in Korea, named Korea Institute of Public Finance Simulation Model (KIPFSIM), which aims to estimate the effects of taxes and transfers in Korea. The current version of KIPFSIM adopts a statice approach combined with a zero-elasticity assumption that there will be no change in labor supply and consumption decisions even after changes in taxes and transfers. KIPFSIM uses a representative sample from the House-hold Income and Expenditure Survey, compiled and released by the Statistical Office of Korea. Using KIPFSIM, we hypothetical changes in taxes and transfers, which is set to be enacted in 2009 and 2010. We found that the benefit of the income tax cut is concentrated mostly on high-income taxpayers in terms of absolute value, but more on middle-income taxpayers in terms of percentage of the tax burden. Therefore, the new income tax law is considered to strengthen the progressive nature of the tax code and to lower tax burdens and tax revenue. We also found that after-income-tax income inequality, as measured by Gini coefficeint, was slightly worsened, primarily due to the decrease in income tax revenue, whice helps equalize income distribution

On testing for independence in weighted contingency tables

This paper shows that when testing for independence in contingency tables compiled from a weighted sample, it is usually appropriate to conduct the test on the unweighted table