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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Traditionality, Modernity, And Household Composition: Parent-Child Coresidence In Contemporary Turkey, Hakan Aykan, Douglas A. Wolf Nov 1998

Traditionality, Modernity, And Household Composition: Parent-Child Coresidence In Contemporary Turkey, Hakan Aykan, Douglas A. Wolf

Center for Policy Research

We investigate the patterns and correlates of currently married adult children’s coresidence with their parents in Turkey, using data from the 1993 Turkish Demographic and Health Survey. We are particularly interested in “traditional” patterns of coresidence—that is, coresidence with one or both of the husband’s parents—and the effects of variables measuring traditionality at the individual and contextual levels on coresidence with any parent, and with the husband’s parents. The results indicate that coresidence among currently married children is not the norm. However, the odds of coresidence with the husband’s parents, given that a couple coresides with any parent, are very …


Residential Choices And Prospective Risks Of Nursing Home Entry, Kenneth A. Couch, Duke Kao Nov 1998

Residential Choices And Prospective Risks Of Nursing Home Entry, Kenneth A. Couch, Duke Kao

Center for Policy Research

Nationally representative estimates of the prospective risk of entry into a nursing home and the likelihood of residing in a nursing home are obtained using data from the Longitudinal Study of Aging: 1984-1990. The roles of demographic characteristics, kin availability, and health status in determining entry into and residence in nursing homes is examined. Caregivers facilitate community residence and reduce the risk of nursing home entry for those with functional limitations. Dementia in combination with functional limitations increases the risk of nursing home entry.


Estate Taxes, Life Insurance, And Small Business, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, John W. Phillips, Harvey S. Rosen Oct 1998

Estate Taxes, Life Insurance, And Small Business, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, John W. Phillips, Harvey S. Rosen

Center for Policy Research

One criticism of the estate tax is that it prevents the owners of family businesses from passing their enterprises onto their children. The problem is that it may be difficult to pay estate taxes without liquidating the business. A natural question is why individuals with such concerns do not purchase enough life insurance to meet their estate tax liabilities. This paper examines whether and how people use life insurance to deal with the estate tax. We find that, other things being the same, business owners purchase more life insurance than other individuals. However, on the margin, their insurance purchases are …


When Random Group Effects Are Cross-Correlated: An Application To Elderly Migration Flow Models, Karen S. Conway, Andrew J. Houtenville Oct 1998

When Random Group Effects Are Cross-Correlated: An Application To Elderly Migration Flow Models, Karen S. Conway, Andrew J. Houtenville

Center for Policy Research

Incorporating random group effects has proven important to making correct statistical inferences about factors that only vary across groups. We note that it is possible to have more than one random effect in models using cross-sectional data and that these random effects could be correlated, unlike in the typical panel data situation. Extending the standard multiple random effects model in this way is greatly simplified by using the two-step estimator we develop. Our application to an elderly migration flow model provides an intuitive example of cross-correlated random group effects and demonstrates the ease of our estimator, as well as highlighting …


Intergenerational Co-Residence And Children's Incomes, Thomas A. Dunn, John W. Phillips Oct 1998

Intergenerational Co-Residence And Children's Incomes, Thomas A. Dunn, John W. Phillips

Center for Policy Research

This paper examines co-residence arrangements between older parents and their adult children. We sketch a model of the co-residence choice that accounts for the preferences of the parent and the child and incorporates parental altruism and demands for housing, goods, and privacy. The model predicts that poorer, unmarried or childless siblings are more likely than their siblings to co-reside. The empirical analysis exploits the information provided by respondents in the Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD) survey about all of their children living in and outside their household. Indeed, we find that poorer siblings are more likely …


Benchmarking Local Government Services In Onondaga County: A Demonstration Study Of The 19 Towns And City Of Syracuse, Syracuse University. Maxwell School. Community Benchmarks Program Sep 1998

Benchmarking Local Government Services In Onondaga County: A Demonstration Study Of The 19 Towns And City Of Syracuse, Syracuse University. Maxwell School. Community Benchmarks Program

Community Benchmarks Program

This is the first in a series of reports that will provide data on several government services provided by 20 municipalities in Onondaga County: 19 towns and the city of Syracuse. This publication is part of the ongoing research activities of the Community Benchmarks Program (CBP) and is intended as a demonstration project. The purpose of this study is to illustrate the usefulness of benchmarks as a means of improving government performance. This report begins with the display of basic demographic information, and is followed by individual demonstration studies in the areas of responsiveness to CBP requests for information and …


Benchmarking Local Government Services In Onondaga County: A Demonstration Study Of The 19 Towns And City Of Syracuse. Executive Summary, Syracuse University. Maxwell School. Community Benchmarks Program Sep 1998

Benchmarking Local Government Services In Onondaga County: A Demonstration Study Of The 19 Towns And City Of Syracuse. Executive Summary, Syracuse University. Maxwell School. Community Benchmarks Program

Community Benchmarks Program

This is the first in a series of reports that will provide data on several government services provided by 20 municipalities in Onondaga County: 19 towns and the city of Syracuse. This publication is part of the ongoing research activities of the Community Benchmarks Program (CBP) and is intended as a demonstration project. The purpose of this study is to illustrate the usefulness of benchmarks as a means of improving government performance. This report begins with the display of basic demographic information, and is followed by individual demonstration studies in the areas of responsiveness to CBP requests for information and …


Elderly Migration And State Fiscal Policy: Evidence From The 1990 Census Migration Flows+, Karen S. Conway, Andrew J. Houtenville Aug 1998

Elderly Migration And State Fiscal Policy: Evidence From The 1990 Census Migration Flows+, Karen S. Conway, Andrew J. Houtenville

Center for Policy Research

The elderly’s unique economic situation makes some government expenditures more attractive and some forms of taxation less burdensome than others. This research investigates whether elderly migration is affected by state fiscal policies and discusses the possible consequences, both of which likely differ between younger and older elderly. Using state-to-state migration flows, we identify which states are gaining and losing younger versus older elderly people. We then estimate the migration flows as a function of the states’ amenities, cost of living, composition of government spending and alternative specifications of the tax system. We find that elderly migration is influenced by state …


Horatio Alger Meets The Mobility Tables, Douglas Holt-Eakin, Harvey S. Rosen, Robert Weathers Jul 1998

Horatio Alger Meets The Mobility Tables, Douglas Holt-Eakin, Harvey S. Rosen, Robert Weathers

Center for Policy Research

The question of how entrepreneurship relates to income mobility is cogent given the current public debate about the sources of income inequality and mobility in United States society. We examine how experience with entrepreneurship has affected an individual’s place in the earnings distribution. Our basic tack is to follow individuals’ positions in the income distribution over time, and to see how their mobility (or lack thereof) was affected by involvement with entrepreneurship. Our main finding is that for low-income individuals there is some merit to the notion that the self-employed moved ahead in the earnings distribution relative to those who …


Where Does The Money Come From? The Financing Of Small Entrepreneurial Enterprises, Zsuzsanna Fluck, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Harvey Rosen Jul 1998

Where Does The Money Come From? The Financing Of Small Entrepreneurial Enterprises, Zsuzsanna Fluck, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Harvey Rosen

Center for Policy Research

Using data from the Wisconsin Entrepreneurial Climate Study, we study the sources of firms’ finance during the very early stages of their lives. Our focus is the evolution of the mix of financial capital from “insiders” and “outsiders” as firms age. We find that at the beginning of firms’ life cycles, the proportion of funds from internal sources increases with age, while the proportion from banks, venture capitalists, and private investors declines. There is also evidence that these patterns eventually reverse themselves, with the proportion of insider finance ultimately declining and the proportion of outsider finance increasing with age. We …


Apocalypse Now? Fundamental Tax Reform And Residential Housing Values, Donald Bruce, Douglas Holtz-Eakin Jul 1998

Apocalypse Now? Fundamental Tax Reform And Residential Housing Values, Donald Bruce, Douglas Holtz-Eakin

Center for Policy Research

Using a simulation model crafted to integrate the short-run and long-term impacts of tax reform on the housing market, we find modest impacts from fundamental reform of the Federal income tax. These results suggest that concerns over the impact of tax reform on housing values and household net worth are overstated. To the extent that reform is otherwise desirable, fears of drastic effects on the housing market should not stand as an impediment to reform. Donald


Entrepreneurs, Income Taxes, And Investment, Robert Carroll, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Mark Rider, Harvey Rosen Jul 1998

Entrepreneurs, Income Taxes, And Investment, Robert Carroll, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Mark Rider, Harvey Rosen

Center for Policy Research

This paper investigates the effect of entrepreneurs’ personal income tax situations on their capital investment decisions. We examine the income tax returns of a sample of sole proprietors before and after the Tax Reform Act of 1986 and determine how the substantial reductions in marginal tax rates for the relatively affluent associated with that law affected their decisions to invest in physical capital. We find that individual income taxes exert a statistically and quantitatively significant influence on investment decisions. In our sample, a 5 percentage point increase in marginal tax rates would reduce the proportion of entrepreneurs who make new …


Financial Capital, Human Capital, And The Transition To Self-Employment: Evidence From Intergenerational Links, Thomas Dunn, Douglas Holtz-Eakin Jul 1998

Financial Capital, Human Capital, And The Transition To Self-Employment: Evidence From Intergenerational Links, Thomas Dunn, Douglas Holtz-Eakin

Center for Policy Research

The environment for business creation is central to economic policy, as entrepreneurs are believed to be forces of innovation, employment and economic dynamism. We use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys (NLS) to investigate the relative importance of family financial and human capital in the transition into self-employment. Specifically, we estimate the impacts of own wealth and human capital and parental wealth and self-employment experience on the probability that an individual makes the transition from a wage and salary job to self-employment. We find that young men’s own financial assets exert a statistically significant, but quantitatively modest effect on the …


Income Taxes And Entrepreneurs' Use Of Labor, Robert Carroll, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Mark Rider, Harvey Rosen Jul 1998

Income Taxes And Entrepreneurs' Use Of Labor, Robert Carroll, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Mark Rider, Harvey Rosen

Center for Policy Research

This paper investigates the effect of entrepreneurs’ personal income tax situations on their use of labor. We analyze the income tax returns of a large number of sole proprietors before and after the Tax Reform Act of 1986 and determine how the substantial reductions in marginal tax rates associated with that law affected their decisions to hire labor and the size of their wage bills. We find that individual income taxes exert a statistically and quantitatively significant influence on the probability that an entrepreneur hires workers. Raising the entrepreneur’s “tax price” (one minus the marginal tax rate) by 10 percent …


Selected Government Performance Outcomes For The City Of Syracuse: Comparisons Of The Six Residential Tnt Sectors In The Areas Of Crime, Fire, Streets, Trash, And Parks, Syracuse University. Maxwell School. Community Benchmarks Program Jun 1998

Selected Government Performance Outcomes For The City Of Syracuse: Comparisons Of The Six Residential Tnt Sectors In The Areas Of Crime, Fire, Streets, Trash, And Parks, Syracuse University. Maxwell School. Community Benchmarks Program

Community Benchmarks Program

The report describes data compiled between January 1997 and March 1998 and suggests follow-up studies and actions. It also explains how benchmarks can be used to both improve government services as well as to provide a framework for community problem-solving in the areas of: 1) crime control, 2) fire protection, 3) park safety and maintenance, 4) street maintenance and snow removal, and 5) waste collection.


Discrimination In Qualitative Actions By Real Estate Brokers, Jan Ondrich, Alex Stricker May 1998

Discrimination In Qualitative Actions By Real Estate Brokers, Jan Ondrich, Alex Stricker

Center for Policy Research

Discrimination occurs when people in a particular class are systematically treated less favorably than other equally qualified people. This study focuses on racial and ethnic discrimination in qualitative actions by real estate brokers, such as showing a customer a housing unit that was advertised in the newspaper. The data come from the Housing Discrimination Study, which conducted over 2,000 fair housing audits of real estate brokers in 25 metropolitan areas in 1989. Each audit consists of a visit to a real estate agency by a white person and either a black or Hispanic person with similar socio-economic characteristics. Using Chamberlain’s …


Financing Higher Standards In Public Education: The Importance Of Accounting For Educational Costs, William Duncombe, John Yinger Jan 1998

Financing Higher Standards In Public Education: The Importance Of Accounting For Educational Costs, William Duncombe, John Yinger

Center for Policy Research

Performance standards have been at the center of recent debates on educational reform. Many states have implemented new performance standards, often based on student test scores, and a district's state aid is sometimes linked to its success in meeting the standards. This focus on performance is designed primarily to promote better student achievement by holding schools accountable. However, a school's performance is influence not only by the actions of its administrators and teachers but also by factors outside its control, such as the nature of its student body. Thus, a focus on performance is inevitably unfair, especially to cities, unless …


Patients As Consumers: Making The Health Care System Our Own., David J. Lansky Jan 1998

Patients As Consumers: Making The Health Care System Our Own., David J. Lansky

Center for Policy Research

I ask you to think about our health care system. Think beyond the issues that are in front of us today: the anxiety we have about managed care, obtaining our own health care and paying for it, the survival of Medicare, and the unpredictable impact of government regulations. Think about our *health*, what we want from our health care system, what we're spending all this money for, and what we care about for ourselves and for our families. The challenge we face in the next five, ten, or fifteen years is to place the American health care system under the …


New Conundrums: Public Policy And The Emerging Health Care Marketplace, James R. Tallon Jan 1998

New Conundrums: Public Policy And The Emerging Health Care Marketplace, James R. Tallon

Center for Policy Research

There is a fundamentally new dynamic in American health care, one that has yet to be fully experienced but that threatens to leave a large portion of the American population without access to the quality health care they have received in the past. While the federal government has not completely abandoned the goal of assuring universal health care, a goal that dates back to the creation of Medicare and Medicaid in the 1960s and even earlier, the mechanisms to pursue that goal have changed. The implicit contract between government and health care providers--mostly doctors and not-for-profit hospitals--under which subsidized care …