Welfare effects of fixed and percentage-expressed child support awards

Over the last decade a large number of states have significantly altered their legal statutes concerning the disposition of divorce cases involving children. In particular, many states have increasingly employed percentage-expressed orders in which child support obligations in a given period are determined as a proportion of the contemporaneous income of the noncustodial parent. In contrast to more traditional systems in which obligations were set in fixed nominal terms at the time of the divorce settlement and were infrequently (or never) updated, the dynamic system has the advantages of allowing children (and the custodial parent) an opportunity to share in the general income gains experienced by the noncustodial parent over the life cycle and of possibly alleviating some noncompliance problems. In this paper we conduct a rather extensive theory-based empirical investigation of the effects of these systems on the income process for divorced fathers and the child support transfer decision. We estimate a flexible statistical model for the income- generation process for divorced fathers which encompasses the period both before and after the divorce. We interpret the estimates from this model to indicate small behavioral effects of the type of order on postdivorce income, but nonrandom assignment (in terms of the means and variances of predivorce income) into the percentage-expressed-order state. Our analysis of the effects of the order type on child support transfers is divided into two parts. In the first, a "reduced form" analysis, we investigate whether or not the divorced father's regime defined as the order type and withholding status can be considered exogenous vis-a-vis the transfer decision, and examine the relative effects of the various regimes on the transfer rate. We further attempt to investigate order-type effects on compliance in the context of a structural model of the compliance decision. The results of the two analyses are for the most part consistent. Percentage orders are generally associated with lower compliance rates, though withholding tends to alleviate the problem. The highest compliance rates are associated with fixed orders coupled with withholding.

An Equilibrium Model of Health Insurance Provision and Wage Determination

We investigate the e_ect of employer-provided health insurance on job mobility rates and economic welfare. In particular, we develop and estimate an equilibrium model of wage and health insurance determination that yields implications that are empirically observed. Namely, not all jobs provide health insurance and jobs with insurance pay higher wages than those without insurance. Using data from the 1990 to 1993 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation, we find that jobs that do provide health insurance last almost five times longer than jobs that do not. While this implies that the mobility rate for jobs without insurance is significantly higher than the mobility rate for jobs with insurance, this di_erence is welfare enhancing since jobs with health insurance are more productive jobs. Furthermore, simulations reveal that decreasing the health insurance premium paid by employers increases the steady state health insurance coverage rate, decreases the unemployment rate, but may or may not lead to productivity gains in the economy.HEALTH INSURANCE; EQUILIBRIUM MODELS; WAGE BARGAINING; JOB MOBILITY

Interpreting Minimum Wage Effects on Wage Distributions: A Cautionary Tale

It is often tempting to attempt to infer the welfare effects of minimum wage changes from empirical observations on pre- and post-change employment and unemployment levels and wage or earnings distributions. Using a simple model of search, matching, and bargaining, we characterize the relationship between minimum wage levels, labor market outcomes, and the welfare of labor market participants. Using observations on wage distributions before and after changes in the nominal minimum wage, we determine what can and cannot be learned about welfare impacts from changes in various features of theses distributions. Our results are illustrated using simulation exercises and a small empirical example. Using U.S. data for young labor market participants in March 1997 and March 1998, we conclude that the increase in the minimum wage which occurred in September 1997 may have been welfare-enhacing, though various implications of the model are not consistent with the data. This analysis illustrates the fact that well-specified behavioral models are required to evaluate the impact of changes in institutional constraints on the walfare of labor market participants.MINIMUM WAGES; POLICY EVALUATION; BARGAINING MODELS; WAGE DISTRIBUTIONS

Interpreting Minimum Wage Effects on Wage Distributions: A Cautionary Tale

It is tempting to try to infer the welfare effects of minimum wage changes from empirical observations on pre- and post change employment and unemployment levels and wage or earnings distributions. Using a simple model of search, matching, and bargaining, I characterize the relationship between minimum wage levels, labor market outcomes, and the welfare of labor market participants. Using observations on wage distributions before and after changes in the nominal minimum wage, I determine what can and cannot be learned about welfare impacts from changes in various features of these distributions. Results are illustrated using simulation exercises and a small empirical example. Using U.S. data for young labor market participants in March 1997 and March 1998, this study concludes that the increase in the minimum wage which occurred in September 1997 may have been welfare-enhancing, though various implications of the model are not consistent with the data. This analysis illustrates the fact that well-specified behavioral models are required to evaluate the impact of changes in institutional constraints on the welfare of labor market participants.

Children's Divergent Thinking Improves When They Understand False Beliefs

This research utilized longitudinal and cross sectional methods to investigate the relation between the development of a representational theory of mind and children's growing ability to search their own minds for appropriate problem solutions. In the first experiment 59 pre-school children were given three false-belief tasks and a divergent thinking task. Those children who passed false-belief tasks produced significantly more items, as well as more original items, in response to divergent thinking questions than those children who failed. This significant association persisted even when chronological age, verbal and nonverbal general ability were partialed out. In a second study 20 children who failed the false-belief tasks in the first experiment were re-tested three months later. Again, those who now passed the false-belief tasks were significantly better at the divergent thinking task than those who continued to fail. The associations between measures of divergent thinking and understanding false-beliefs remained significant when controlling for the covariates. Earlier divergent thinking scores did not predict false-belief understanding three months later. Instead, children who passed false-belief tasks on the second measure improved significantly in relation to their own earlier performance and improved significantly more than children who continued to fail. False-belief task performance was significantly correlated to the amount of intra-individual improvement in divergent thinking even when age, verbal and nonverbal skills were partialed out. These findings suggest that developments in common underlying skills are responsible for the improvement in understanding other minds and searching one's own. Changes in representational and executive skills are discussed as potential causes for the improvement

A New Type of Electron Nuclear-Spin Interaction from Resistively Detected NMR in the Fractional Quantum Hall Effect Regime

Two dimensional electron gases in narrow GaAs quantum wells show huge longitudinal resistance (HLR) values at certain fractional filling factors. Applying an RF field with frequencies corresponding to the nuclear spin splittings of {69}Ga, {71}Ga and {75}As leads to a substantial decreases of the HLR establishing a novel type of resistively detected NMR. These resonances are split into four sub lines each. Neither the number of sub lines nor the size of the splitting can be explained by established interaction mechanisms.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Variable Curvature Slab Molecular Dynamics as a Method to Determine Surface Stress

A thin plate or slab, prepared so that opposite faces have different surface stresses, will bend as a result of the stress difference. We have developed a classical molecular dynamics (MD) formulation where (similar in spirit to constant-pressure MD) the curvature of the slab enters as an additional dynamical degree of freedom. The equations of motion of the atoms have been modified according to a variable metric, and an additional equation of motion for the curvature is introduced. We demonstrate the method to Au surfaces, both clean and covered with Pb adsorbates, using many-body glue potentials. Applications to stepped surfaces, deconstruction and other surface phenomena are under study.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, REVTeX, submitted to Physical Review

Measuring the impact and costs of a universal group based parenting programme : protocol and implementation of a trial

Background Sub-optimal parenting is a common risk factor for a wide range of negative health, social and educational outcomes. Most parenting programmes have been developed in the USA in the context of delinquency prevention for targeted or indicated groups and the main theoretical underpinning for these programmes is behaviour management. The Family Links Nurturing Programme (FLNP) focuses on family relationships as well as behaviour management and is offered on a universal basis. As a result it may be better placed to improve health and educational outcomes. Developed in the UK voluntary sector, FLNP is popular with practitioners, has impressed policy makers throughout the UK, has been found to be effective in before/after and qualitative studies, but lacks a randomised controlled trial (RCT) evidence base. Methods/Design A multi-centre, investigator blind, randomised controlled trial of the FLNP with a target sample of 288 south Wales families who have a child aged 2-4 yrs living in or near to Flying Start/Sure Start areas. Changes in parenting, parent child relations and parent and child wellbeing are assessed with validated measures immediately and at 6 months post intervention. Economic components include cost consequences and cost utility analyses based on parental ranking of states of quality of life. Attendance and completion rates and fidelity to the FLNP course delivery are assessed. A nested qualitative study will assess reasons for participation and non-participation and the perceived value of the programme to families. By the end of May 2010, 287 families have been recruited into the trial across four areas of south Wales. Recruitment has not met the planned timescales with barriers including professional anxiety about families entering the control arm of the trial, family concern about video and audio recording, programme facilitator concern about the recording of FLNP sessions for fidelity purposes and delays due to the new UK research governance procedures. Discussion Whilst there are strong theoretical arguments to support universal provision of parenting programmes, few universal programmes have been subjected to randomised controlled trials. In this paper we describe a RCT protocol with quantitative and qualitative outcome measures and an economic evaluation designed to provide clear evidence with regard to effectiveness and costs. We describe challenges implementing the protocol and how we are addressing these

Prospective SPECT-CT organ dosimetry-driven radiation-absorbed dose escalation using the In-111 (111In)/yttrium 90 (90Y) ibritumomab tiuxetan (Zevalin ®) theranostic pair in patients with lymphoma at myeloablative dose levels

PURPOSE: We prospectively evaluated the feasibility of SPECT-CT/planar organ dosimetry-based radiation dose escalation radioimmunotherapy in patients with recurrent non-Hodgkin\u27s lymphoma using the theranostic pair of METHODS: 24 patients with CD20-positive relapsed or refractory rituximab-sensitive, low-grade, mantle cell, or diffuse large-cell NHL, with normal organ function, platelet counts \u3e 75,000/mm RESULTS: Patient-specific hybrid SPECT/CT + planar organ dosimetry was feasible in all 18 cases and used to determine the patient-specific therapeutic dose and guide dose escalation (26.8 ± 7.3 MBq/kg (mean), 26.3 MBq/kg (median) of CONCLUSIONS: Patient-specific outpatien