Income tax policy and charitable giving

Many studies over the past 20 years have looked at the response of charitable donations to tax incentives—the tax price elasticity of giving. Generally, authors have assumed this elasticity is constant across all types of giving. Using the 2001 Panel Study of Income Dynamics data on charitable giving, this paper estimates the tax price elasticity across six nonprofit subsectors, finding substantial variation. These results suggest that the fiscal effectiveness of tax deductibility depends on the type of donation involved. This has implications for both public policy and nonprofit management. © 2007 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management     

Assessing facial approximation accuracy: how do resemblance ratings of disparate faces compare to recognition tests?

In the past, the accuracy of facial approximations has been assessed by resemblance ratings (i.e., the comparison of a facial approximation directly to a target individual) and recognition tests (e.g., the comparison of a facial approximation to a photo array of faces including foils and a target individual). Recently, several research studies have indicated that recognition tests hold major strengths in contrast to resemblance ratings. However, resemblance ratings remain popularly employed and/or are given weighting when judging facial approximations, thus indicating that no consensus has been reached. This study aims to further investigate the matter by comparing the results of resemblance ratings and recognition tests for two facial approximations which clearly differed in their morphological appearance. One facial approximation was constructed by an experienced practitioner privy to the appearance of the target individual (practitioner had direct access to an antemortem frontal photograph during face construction), while the other facial approximation was constructed by a novice under blind conditions. Both facial approximations, whilst clearly morphologically different, were given similar resemblance scores even though recognition test results produced vastly different results. One facial approximation was correctly recognized almost without exception while the other was not correctly recognized above chance rates. These results suggest that resemblance ratings are insensitive measures of the accuracy of facial approximations and lend further weight to the use of recognition tests in facial approximation assessment.     

Hypnotic interrogation,pretrial preparation,and witness testimony during direct and cross-examination

Subjects who witnessed a videotaped shooting were interrogated immediately after viewing the film and again several days later. Before their second interrogation half of the subjects received hypnotic suggestions for enhanced recognition. Hypnotic and nonhypnotic subjects failed to differ in the accuracy with which they identified a mugshot of the offender, but hypnotic subjects placed more confidence in their misidentifications than did nonhypnotic subjects. In a third session, subjects who had identified a mugshot returned to be examined and cross-examined in a mock courtroom setting. Before direct examination, half the subjects underwent pretrial preparation aimed at building confidence. When coupled with pretrial preparation, hypnotic interrogation led subjects to express relatively high certainty in their mugshot identification while testifying. Nevertheless, hypnotic interrogation did not deter witnesses from disavowing their testimony (i.e., breaking down) during cross-examination. In contrast, pretrial preparation induced substantial resistance to breakdown during cross-examination. Implications are discussed.This research was supported by a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to the first author.     

Can Nonprofit Management Help Answer Public Management’s “Big Questions”?

Are the fields of nonprofit management and public management naturally complementary, or are they substitutes? Briefly surveying the nonprofit literature on board governance, volunteer management, and performance measurement, the author shows that study of the third sector can help inform public management’s “big questions”. As such, nonprofit studies and scholarship should represent an improvement to public administration curricula and a fertile source of ideas for public managers.     

Standardized assessment of substance-related, other psychiatric, and comorbid disorders among probationers

This study examined the prevalence of alcohol- and substance-related disorders in a random sample of 627 adult probationers in Illinois. The investigation also explored the prevalence of major psychiatric disorders and their co-occurrences with alcohol and substance use disorders. To detect the presence of psychiatric disorders, researchers employed standardized assessment tools based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders criteria. Overall, results showed that probationers had significantly higher rates of psychiatric disorders, substance use disorders, and co-occurring disorders compared with persons in the general population. In light of these findings, probation administrators are urged to invest more resources in treating drug use, mental illness, and codisorders, the latter of which is associated with a higher risk of violent behaviors.     

The Bishops' letter revisited

Eclipse of Justice: Ethics, Economics, and the Lost Traditions of American Catholicism, by George E. McCarthy and Royal W. Rhodes. (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1992.)