Based on the rational choice assumption that politicians seek to enhance their reelection chances, the authors posit and test several hypotheses about how the use of franked mail varies across members of the House of Representatives. This study improves upon the existing literature by using a sample of all full-term representatives and by using multiple regression analysis that allows for estimation of the marginal effect of each explanatory variable after controlling for other factors that might affect franking behavior. The results of this study indicate that (1) politicians seeking higher office tend to make greater use of franked mail while those who are retiring engage in less franking, (2) narrower electoral margins, especially for first termers, are associated with more franking, (3) representatives who have larger campaign expenditures also have higher levels of franked mail, and (4) franked mail increases with a congressional district’s distance from Washington, D.C.
BackgroundHealth professionals in Australia and New Zealand have used various intrapartum fetal surveillance (IFS) guidelines, with clear differences in how these guidelines present information. Based on clinician feedback, the 2015 Queensland Clinical Guideline on IFS structured the prose‐based Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) IFS Guidelines as a traffic‐light matrix and represented the categorical terms of unlikely, maybe, possible and likely fetal compromise, as the colours GREEN, BLUE, AMBER, and RED, respectively.AimsTo determine whether the interpretation of the RANZCOG IFS Guidelines in Table Format is more accurate and quicker compared to the current presentation of the RANZCOG Guideline in prose format.Materials and MethodTwenty‐nine clinicians, naïve to the use of the RANZCOG IFS Guidelines, interpreted ten cardiotocographs (CTGs) using one format and then the alternative format (totalling 580 CTG interpretations). Accuracy and time to decision were recorded as well as a participant questionnaire. A repeated measures analysis of variance was used to compare differences.ResultsCompared to prose format, clinicians interpreted CTGs quicker using the table format (P < 0.01), especially CTGs representative of unlikely and maybe fetal compromise. There was a trend toward more accurate interpretation for table format for all clinicians, with significance among medical officers (P = 0.02). Participants responded more favourably to the table format regarding questions about ease of use, determining actions required, and desire to use the system in the future (P < 0.01).ConclusionsPresenting the RANZCOG IFS Guideline in table format as opposed to prose format improved the speed and accuracy of CTG interpretation and is preferred by clinicians.
This paper provides a theoretical economic framework to study the effects of changes in the sex ratio on the out-of-wedlock birth rate in the United States. We model the demanders and suppliers of sexual relations as potential mates and the relative -price‖ of human sexual relations as the promises implicit within a traditional marriage (marriage, fidelity, wealth transfers, child support, etc.). We examine an instrument for the implicit -price‖ of sexual relations, namely the out-of-wedlock birth rate. We show that the reduction in the number of available sex partners for women during World War II decreased the -price‖-in terms of marriage-that remaining men had to pay for sex. One result of this lower -price‖ is an increase in the number of children born out-of-wedlock during the war. According to our regression results, a reduction in the sex ratio of 10 males per 100 females in the U.S. population during World War II increased the out-of wedlock birth rate by six to ten percent.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.