Journal Abstracts and Book Summary The following abstracts are reprinted verbatim as they appear in the cited source. Goldscheider, F. and Goldscheider, C. 1993. Whose nest? A two-generational view of leaving home during the 1980s. Journal of Marriage and the Family 55(4):851-862. This article compares the influence of the expectations of young adults and their parents on nest leaving in the 1980s. Using data from the High School and Beyond surveys, we model the odds of leaving home to establish a new home either while still unmarried or in the context of marriage. Although parents and young adults each expected earlier residential independence than actually occurred, both generations' expectations strongly influenced later residential behavior, with parental expectations having more impact than those of the young adults themselves. We also consider "who wins" when there are conflicting expectations about the path to residential independence. Ha, M., Williams, S.E., and Weber, Average Monthly Payment (AMP) plan is a utility policy designed to assist consumers in need such as low income and elderly. This study examines whether this utility policy is an advantage to these target customers. Results indicate that, with a muted price signal, the AMP plan produces an effect contrary to the objective of assisting low and fixed income consumers. Further, the study indicates consumers on the AMP plan consume more energy and the AMP plan does not appear to support energy conservation and efficiency. Jacobson, L.S., LaLonde, R.J., and Sullivan, D.G. 1993. Earnings losses of displaced workers. The American Economic Review 83(4):685-709. We exploit administrative data combining workers' earnings histories with information about their firms to estimate the magnitude and temporal pattern of displaced workers' earnings losses. We find that high-tenure workers separating from distressed firms suffer long-term losses averaging 25 percent per year. In addition, we find that displaced workers' losses: (i) begin mounting before their separations, (ii) depend only slightly on their age and sex, (iii) depend more on local labor-market conditions and their former industries, (iv) are not, however, limited to those in a few sectors, and (v) are large even for those who find new jobs in similar firms. Pirog-Good, M.A. 1993. Child support guidelines and the economic wellbeing of children in the United States. Family Relations 42(4):453-462. There is enormous variation in the magnitude of child support awards obtained by using state child support guidelines. This variation does not result from costof-living differences across states. In many states, nominal and inflationadjusted support awards declined between 1988 and 1991. Overall, noncustodial parents do not pay a fair share of the costs of raising their children. The article advocates making larger awards, expressing awards as a percentage of income, and implementing a child support assurance program. Zill, N. and Daly, M., editors. 1993. This book is a guide to major family databases. It presents descriptions of over 60 major survey and statistical databases that contain information about the characteristics, experiences, and behaviors of American families. The guide is intended to increase the familiarity of the research community with these existing databases. For each survey or statistical program described in the guide, material is presented on the purpose of the effort, the sponsoring agency, and the design, content, and limitations of the survey or other data gathering procedure. Design information includes who was covered in the survey universe, how large the sample was, how often the survey has been conducted, and what completion rate was achieved. The content of the survey instrument or data collection form is summarized by listing topics covered, especially those involving potential causes or consequences of family behavior. In the limitations section, gaps and biases in the data, particularly those that may cause difficulties or lead to erroneous conclusions for familybased studies are outlined. Information on where and how to get data files also is presented. Cost of Food at Home Cost of food at home estimated for food plans at four cost levels, February 1994, U.S. average1 1 1Assumes that food for all meals and snacks is purchased at the store and prepared at home. Estimates for the thrifty food plan were computed from quantities of foods published in Family Economics Review 1984(1). Estimates for the other plans were computed from quantities of foods published in Family Economics Review 1983(2). The costs of the food plans are estimated by updating prices paid by households surveyed in 1977-78 in USDA's Nationwide Food Consumption Survey. USDA updates these survey prices using information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI Detailed Report, table 4, to estimate the costs for the food plans. 2Ten percent added for family size adjustment. See footnote 3. 3The costs given are for individuals in 4-person families. For individuals in other size families, the following adjustments are suggested: 1-person-add 20 percent; 2-person-add 10 percent; 3-person-add 5 percent; 5- or 6-person-subtract 5 percent; 7- or more-personsubtract 10 percent. |