Consumption Patterns Over Pay Periods

This paper establishes a theoretical framework to characterise the optimal behaviour of individuals who receive income periodically but make consumption decisions on a more frequent basis. The model incorporates price uncertainty and imperfect credit markets. The simulated numerical solution to this model shows that weekly consumption functions are ordered such that the functions within the payment period are highest in the first and the last week of the payment cycle for all wealth levels. Using weekly expenditure data from the FES, we estimate the coefficient of relative risk aversion (point estimates are between 1.2 and 7) and the extent of measurement error in the data (which accounts for approximately 60% of the variance in the data).Consumption ; liquidity constraints ; uncertainty ; credit cards

Consumption Patterns over Pay Periods

This paper establishes a theoretical framework to characterise the optimal behaviour of individuals who receive income periodically but make consumption decisions at frequent points during that period, when there is uncertainty with respect to prices and imperfect credit markets. We simulate the numerical solution to this model and find that optimal consumption is u-shaped over the pay period. We apply the model to weekly expenditure data from the FES to estimate the coefficient of relative risk aversion (preliminary point estimates are around 6) and the extent of measurement error in the data (which accounts for approximately 50% of the variance in the data).

The Vanishing Acheron House of Refuge. A Case of "Frontier Chaos"?

The Acheron House of Refuge built between 1863 and 1864 near the junction of the Guide River with the Acheron River in the South Island high country was one of a chain of accommodation houses on the Inland Stock Route between Nelson and Canterbury. In 1865 the Nelson Provincial Engineer John Blackett wrote to the Nelson Provincial Government that he feared "the entire destruction of the house without the possibility of it being prevented" and blamed "the character of some of the travellers who pass this road." By the end of 1865, it was destroyed without trace. This paper considers incidents of lawlessness at the accommodation houses in the mid 1860s and the brief existence of the Acheron House of Refuge. It questions whether its demise was the result of "frontier chaos," a term which was first used by historian Miles Fairburn in 1989 to describe how rapid frontier expansion in New Zealand had scattered settlers and engendered transience, loneliness and lawlessness. Using settler diaries, letters and manuscripts this paper considers Fairburn's "frontier chaos" theory. It examines his assertions that in the New Zealand settler world prior to 1890 "seldom ... were goods and services exchanged," and that an atomised New Zealand settler society had "no institutions ... to facilitate mixing and meeting" (Fairburn "Local Community or Atomised Society?" pp 169-170,192,195,206,217). This paper concludes that incidents of lawlessness at the accommodation houses were linked to the South Island gold rushes, were short term and often the result of ill-prepared men desperate to survive in an unforgiving climate. At the accommodation houses on the Nelson to Canterbury Inland Stock Route travellers, keepers and neighbours shared an unwritten code of reciprocity. These accommodation houses formed the unofficial nuclei of small, loose-knit high country communities

A psycholinguistic exploration of focus of attention in second language learning based on recent research findings from the field of motor skill learning

Significant findings from motor skill learning research provide evidence that focus of attention (FOA), induced through instruction, impacts on performance and learning (Wulf, 2007). External FOA instructions, which direct focus to the effect of actions, enhance performance compared with internal focus instructions which direct focus towards the body. The objective of this explorative study is to investigate whether FOA as operationalised in the Wulf model can be transferred and replicated in the context of second language learning (SLL). Two cross-linguistic studies were conducted to investigate the effects of focus instructions on two sample populations comprising a total of 140 adult L2 learners of English. The experiments, run on E-Prime, involved grammaticality judgements and vocabulary learning conducted under practice and test conditions. Subjects were assigned to one of three instructional groups: baseline, internal or external-focus and accuracy and response times were analysed. The findings indicate that attentional focus impacts on SLL learning differentially with regard to practice and test conditions, task complexity, number of language trials and learner proficiency. Other results reveal no significant differences between the groups but a significant statistical difference as a function of type of task. This research raises important questions which merit further investigation regarding the possibilities and limitations of transferring empirical research models

Consumption patterns over pay periods

This paper establishes a theoretical framework to characterise the optimal behaviour of individuals who receive income periodically but make consumption decisions on a more frequent basis. The model incorporates price uncertainty and imperfect credit markets. The simulated numerical solution to this model shows that weekly consumption functions are ordered such that the functions within the payment period are highest in the first and the last week of the payment cycle for all wealth levels. Using weekly expenditure data from the FES, we estimate the coefficient of relative risk aversion (point estimates are between 1.2 and 7) and the extent of measurement error in the data (which accounts for approximately 60% of the variance in the data)

Provision of modern foreign languages for lower achievers and pupils with special educational needs in secondary schools in England, Scotland and the Czech Republic

This study investigated the inclusion of all pupils in Modern Foreign Language (MFL) learning in secondary schools until 2004 in three countries: namely England, Scotland and the Czech Republic. The study aimed to explore how the educational systems in these three countries catered for lower achievers, including pupils with special educational needs (SEN) in the MFL learning environment in secondary schools. It was of particular interest to seek evidence from educational practitioners that showed which models of good practice and barriers to the integration of lower achieving pupils including those with SEN, could be found in the different educational systems in England, Scotland and the Czech Republic and then to discover what could be learned from the different systems. The study considered the influences that led to all pupils having the opportunity to learn a MFL in secondary schools up the end of compulsory education in each country involved in the study. The three chosen countries in this study had all experienced a great deal of change in terms of MFL teaching and learning and also in the field of SEN. Through an analysis of literature, the study outlined the developments that had taken place in recent years in MFL teaching and learning and in the field of special educational needs in the three countries. In order to understand the day-to-day practice in MFL classrooms, the study drew on evidence collected in sixty-four standardised open-ended interviews. Participants included Educational Advisers, Headteachers, Heads of MFL Departments, Principal Teachers and classroom teachers. Through the analysis of the data collected, the study attempted to make sense of the different points of view that were expressed during the fieldwork interviews. The data collected illustrated that there was a variety of provision for lower achievers, including pupils with SEN not only across each country but also within these countries and indeed across educational Authorities in certain countries. There was inequality of provision. Contradictory comments regarding the purpose and usefulness of MFL learning for all pupils up to the age of sixteen years, in secondary schools, highlighted the complexity of educational innovations. While there was evidence to suggest that the inclusion of all pupils in MFL learning up to the age of sixteen years old had been successful, it was clear that different influences had led to contrary suggestions that this success had been elusive. Despite the expression of extreme views for and against the situation, there was remarkable similarity in the general content of the teachers’ comments, indicating some convergence in thinking. Key factors and themes that influenced the process of the successful implementation of including all pupils up to the age of sixteen years in the MFL classroom were identified. Factors that hindered the process were also revealed

Criminalising cyberflashing: options for law reform

In this article, we examine the phenomenon of cyberflashing, outlining its prevalence, harms, and victim-survivors’ experiences. We then consider the extent to which English criminal law currently applies to this form of sexual abuse. We argue that although cyberflashing can be prosecuted in England and Wales, this is only in very limited circumstances; the existing law is confusing, piecemeal, has significant omissions, and consequently prosecutions are extremely unlikely. As such, the current criminal law in England and Wales is failing victim-survivors of cyberflashing. Due to its prevalence, its harmful impacts and similarities with other criminalised forms of sexual violence, comprehensive law reform, which appropriately addresses cyberflashing as a sexual offence, is now critical. Accordingly, we examine legislation in other jurisdictions where criminal laws targeting cyberflashing have been adopted, and provide recommendations for law reform: specifically, we recommend the development of a new criminal offence that purposely targets cyberflashing in all its forms