Preferential selection and outcome justice: Effects of justification and merit discrepancy

In applying the relative deprivation theory to preferential selection research, Singer (1991) used a within-subjects design and showed that ethnicity-based selection induced feelings of injustice among the disadvantaged target group, the Europeans; and that the level of felt injustice could be predicted by the discrepancy in merits between the successful minority candidate and the rejected European candidate. This study aimed to cross-validate the findings with a between-subjects design, and to ascertain whether the provision of either an ideological or a causal justification would reduce feelings of injustice. The results replicated previous findings and further showed that either type of justification exacerbated perceptions of injustice among European respondents, but it had no effect on fairness perceptions of Asian subjects. The theoretical implications of the results were discussed.     

An empirical analysis of aftermarket transactions by hospitals

Almost all U.S. hospitals procure their equipment through group purchasing organizations ("GPOs"). Some hospitals subject the prices secured by GPOs to a second round of competition in an "aftermarket," in which vendors both on and off the GPO contract compete for the hospital's business. To measure the extent of the potential benefit to hospitals from another round of competition, we analyzed a database of approximately 8,100 aftermarket transactions for hospital capital equipment. The transactions data suggest that hospitals were able to achieve average savings of approximately 10 to 14 percent across the entire database (2001 through 2010) and a savings of 15 percent on average for 2010 data. These savings may be attributable to many factors, including the compensation structure of GPOs.     

When do voters actually think “It’s the Economy”? Evidence from the 2008 presidential campaign

Studies linking election outcomes to economics frequently assume that the economy’s salience is constant. This study shows that the economy’s salience systematically fluctuates. The number of voters focused on economic issues shifted dramatically throughout the 2008 campaign as the recession worsened and this change occurred well before the financial markets collapsed in September 2008. However, even during the recession substantial numbers of individuals said their vote was based on non-economic issues and for these individuals there was no relationship between their assessment of the economy and their electoral choice. Consistent with extant theories of issue attention, citizens who were the hardest hit by the recession and those who had the most anxiety about suffering a financial dislocation in the future were most likely to consider economic performance electorally important while secure voters were less likely to be economic voters.