Risk-taking, delay discounting, and time perspective in adolescent gamblers: an experimental study

Previous research has demonstrated that adult pathological gamblers (compared to controls) show risk-proneness, foreshortened time horizon, and preference for immediate rewards. No study has ever examined the interplay of these factors in adolescent gambling. A total of 104 adolescents took part in the research. Two equal-number groups of adolescent non-problem and problem gamblers, defined using the South Oaks Gambling Screen-Revised for Adolescents (SOGS-RA), were administered the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), the Consideration of Future Consequences (CFC-14) Scale, and the Monetary Choice Questionnaire (MCQ). Adolescent problem gamblers were found to be more risk-prone, more oriented to the present, and to discount delay rewards more steeply than adolescent non-problem gamblers. Results of logistic regression analysis revealed that BART, MCQ, and CFC scores predicted gambling severity. These novel finding provides the first evidence of an association among problematic gambling, high risk-taking proneness, steep delay discounting, and foreshortened time horizon among adolescents. It may be that excessive gambling induces shortsighted behaviors that, in turn, facilitate gambling involvement

Size and Liquidity Effects in African Frontier Equity Markets

This study contrasts the effectiveness of the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) against more recent augmented variants including size and book-to-market factors (Fama and French, 1993), liquidity (Liu, 2006) as well as both size and liquidity factors of Martinez et al (2005) in explaining average returns in industry portfolios across Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) excluding South Africa. This draws on a unique sample set of stocks from main board of Mauritius, local Namibian market, Botswana, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire’s BRVM. The evidence suggests that both size and liquidity factors are important in explaining average returns which is supported by extending the analysis using time varying coefficient Kalman filter techniques that reveal liquidity effects in all SSA markets while substantial size effects are present in Namibia and Zambia

College students and credit card companies: Implications of attitudes

More knowledge and understanding is needed regarding the mechanisms influencing college student attitudes toward credit card companies and the behavior that students exhibit using credit cards. Prior literature in the area has been sparse. The current article is an attempt to fill the gap in existing literature. Using survey data, we try to find the determinants of college student attitude toward credit card companies and the responsible use of credit cards. Our findings indicate that a strong positive link exists between student attitude toward credit card companies and responsible credit behavior. Two distinct groups of students are identified - one with a positive attitude toward credit card companies and positive credit use behaviors; the other with the opposing attitude and behavior. Reward cards, payment behavior, number of credit cards, modes of acquisition, awareness about credit card policies, purpose for using credit cards, impulsiveness and certain student characteristics are all indicated as variables that help discriminate between the two different student groups. Our findings have implications for both higher education institutions and credit card firms

Contesting Postwar Mitrovica

This chapter employs governmentality on postwar Mitrovica (Kosovo) to understand how different governing attempts structure the field of possible acts for collectives in its urban conflicts over peace(s). The first line of analysis explores how Belgrade uses its parallel institutions—which encompass everything from healthcare and education to undercover police and criminal networks—to enable, encourage, and pressure Serbs to resist integration into Kosovo in line with the Serb ethnonational peace. The second line of analyses explores how fear governs people on both sides of Mitrovica’s Ibar river into ethnonational division—according to both the Albanian and Serb ethnonational peace(s)—where “the other” is avoided and “our side” (of the city) is protected. The third line of analyses lastly explores the inability of external governing attempts to govern Albanians and Serbs towards coexistence, showing how it is either inefficient or even counterproductive