Official Advice Improves Mortgage-Holders’ Perceptions of Switching: Experimental Evidence

Mapping Intimacies ◽

10.31234/osf.io/mp8ra ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Shane Timmons

Keyword(s):

Interest Rate ◽

Experimental Evidence ◽

Consumer Protection ◽

Policy Development ◽

Switching Process ◽

Competitive Markets ◽

Protection Agency ◽

Change Perceptions ◽

Before And After ◽

The Individual

Encouraging consumers to switch to lower-rate mortgages is important both for the individual consumer’s finances and for functioning competitive markets, but switching rates are low. Given the complexity of mortgages, one potential regulatory intervention that may increase switching rates is to provide independent advice on how to select good mortgage products and how to navigate the switching process. Working with a government consumer protection agency, we conducted an experiment with mortgage-holders to test whether such advice alters perceptions of switching. The experiment tested how (i) the attributes of the offer, (ii) perceptions about the switching process, (iii) individual feelings of competence and (iv) comprehension of the product affect willingness to switch to better offers, both before and after reading the official advice. The advice made consumers more sensitive to interest rate decreases, especially at longer terms. It also increased consumers’ confidence in their ability to select good offers. Overall, the findings imply that advice from policymakers can change perceptions and increase switching rates. Moreover, the experiment demonstrates how lab studies can contribute to behaviourally-informed policy development.

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Official advice improves mortgage-holders’ perceptions of switching: experimental evidence

Behavioural Public Policy ◽

10.1017/bpp.2019.38 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-29

Author(s):

SHANE TIMMONS ◽

MARTINA BARJAKOVÁ ◽

TERENCE J. MCELVANEY ◽

PETER D. LUNN

Keyword(s):

Interest Rate ◽

Experimental Evidence ◽

Consumer Protection ◽

Policy Development ◽

Switching Process ◽

Protection Agency ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Change Perceptions ◽

Before And After ◽

The Individual

Abstract Encouraging consumers to switch to lower-rate mortgages is important both for the individual consumer's finances and for functioning competitive markets, but switching rates are low. Given the complexity of mortgages, one potential regulatory intervention that may increase switching rates is to provide independent advice on how to select good mortgage products and how to navigate the switching process. Working with a government consumer protection agency, we conducted an experiment with mortgage-holders to test whether such advice alters perceptions of switching. The experiment tested how the attributes of the offer, perceptions about the switching process, individual feelings of competence and comprehension of the product affect willingness to switch to better offers, both before and after reading the official advice. The advice made consumers more sensitive to interest rate decreases, especially over longer terms. It also increased consumers’ confidence in their ability to select good offers. Overall, the findings imply that advice from policy-makers can change perceptions and increase switching rates. Moreover, the experiment demonstrates how lab studies can contribute to behaviourally informed policy development.

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Executive Constraint and Sovereign Debt: Quasi-Experimental Evidence From Argentina During the Baring Crisis

Comparative Political Studies ◽

10.1177/0010414018774363 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 51 (11) ◽

pp. 1504-1525 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Gary W. Cox ◽

Sebastian M. Saiegh

Keyword(s):

Experimental Evidence ◽

Sovereign Debt ◽

Political Regime ◽

Difference In Differences ◽

Unit Of Analysis ◽

Before And After ◽

Quasi Experimental ◽

Executive Discretion ◽

Individual Bond ◽

The Individual

The literature on whether executive constraint improves the credibility of sovereign debt takes the political regime as the unit of analysis, typically computing an average yield or price for each regime, and then relating that average to regime characteristics. In this article, we take the individual bond issue as the unit of analysis, examining quasi-experimental evidence from two Argentine sovereign debts issued in the 1880s. The loans were sought by the same government and offered nearly identical terms to borrowers, except that one was funded and the other was unfunded. The loans sold at virtually the same price until the Baring crisis of November 16, 1890 erupted. Thereafter, their price histories diverged markedly. We analyze the market’s evolving valuation of the two loans before and after the Baring crisis using a difference-in-differences estimator and weekly price data. Our study shows that exposure to executive discretion strongly influences market assessments of value.

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Quality of Life for Children with Persistent Sinonasal Symptoms

Otolaryngology ◽

10.1067/mhn.2003.41 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 128 (1) ◽

pp. 17-26 ◽

Cited By ~ 97

Author(s):

David J. Kay ◽

Richard M. Rosenfeld

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Clinical Care ◽

Longitudinal Change ◽

Good Test ◽

Routine Clinical Care ◽

Before And After ◽

The Mean ◽

The Individual ◽

Sinonasal Symptoms

OBJECTIVE: The goal was to validate the SN-5 survey as a measure of longitudinal change in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) for children with persistent sinonasal symptoms. DESIGN AND SETTING: We conducted a before and after study of 85 children aged 2 to 12 years in a metropolitan pediatric otolaryngology practice. Caregivers completed the SN-5 survey at entry and at least 4 weeks later. The survey included 5 symptom-cluster items covering the domains of sinus infection, nasal obstruction, allergy symptoms, emotional distress, and activity limitations. RESULTS: Good test-retest reliability ( R = 0.70) was obtained for the overall SN-5 score and the individual survey items ( R ≥ 0.58). The mean baseline SN-5 score was 3.8 (SD, 1.0) of a maximum of 7.0, with higher scores indicating poorer HRQoL. All SN-5 items had adequate correlation ( R ≥ 0.36) with external constructs. The mean change in SN-5 score after routine clinical care was 0.88 (SD, 1.19) with an effect size of 0.74 indicating good responsiveness to longitudinal change. The change scores correlated appropriately with changes in related external constructs ( R ≥ 0.42). CONCLUSIONS: The SN-5 is a valid, reliable, and responsive measure of HRQoL for children with persistent sinonasal symptoms, suitable for use in outcomes studies and routine clinical care.

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General psychopathology links burden of recent life events and psychotic symptoms in a network approach

npj Schizophrenia ◽

10.1038/s41537-020-00129-w ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Linda T. Betz ◽

◽

Nora Penzel ◽

Lana Kambeitz-Ilankovic ◽

Marlene Rosen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life Events ◽

Childhood Trauma ◽

Negative Symptoms ◽

Psychotic Symptoms ◽

Network Approach ◽

General Psychopathology ◽

Recent Onset ◽

Syndrome Scale ◽

Before And After ◽

The Individual

AbstractRecent life events have been implicated in the onset and progression of psychosis. However, psychological processes that account for the association are yet to be fully understood. Using a network approach, we aimed to identify pathways linking recent life events and symptoms observed in psychosis. Based on previous literature, we hypothesized that general symptoms would mediate between recent life events and psychotic symptoms. We analyzed baseline data of patients at clinical high risk for psychosis and with recent-onset psychosis (n = 547) from the Personalised Prognostic Tools for Early Psychosis Management (PRONIA) study. In a network analysis, we modeled links between the burden of recent life events and all individual symptoms of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale before and after controlling for childhood trauma. To investigate the longitudinal associations between burden of recent life events and symptoms, we analyzed multiwave panel data from seven timepoints up to month 18. Corroborating our hypothesis, burden of recent life events was connected to positive and negative symptoms through general psychopathology, specifically depression, guilt feelings, anxiety and tension, even after controlling for childhood trauma. Longitudinal modeling indicated that on average, burden of recent life events preceded general psychopathology in the individual. In line with the theory of an affective pathway to psychosis, recent life events may lead to psychotic symptoms via heightened emotional distress. Life events may be one driving force of unspecific, general psychopathology described as characteristic of early phases of the psychosis spectrum, offering promising avenues for interventions.

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Adaptive Precision Block-Jacobi for High Performance Preconditioning in the Ginkgo Linear Algebra Software

ACM Transactions on Mathematical Software ◽

10.1145/3441850 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 47 (2) ◽

pp. 1-28

Author(s):

Goran Flegar ◽

Hartwig Anzt ◽

Terry Cojean ◽

Enrique S. Quintana-Ortí

Keyword(s):

Linear Algebra ◽

Graphics Processing Units ◽

High Performance ◽

Numerical Algorithms ◽

Mixed Precision ◽

Before And After ◽

Memory Accesses ◽

Specialized Hardware ◽

The Individual ◽

Graphics Processing

The use of mixed precision in numerical algorithms is a promising strategy for accelerating scientific applications. In particular, the adoption of specialized hardware and data formats for low-precision arithmetic in high-end GPUs (graphics processing units) has motivated numerous efforts aiming at carefully reducing the working precision in order to speed up the computations. For algorithms whose performance is bound by the memory bandwidth, the idea of compressing its data before (and after) memory accesses has received considerable attention. One idea is to store an approximate operator–like a preconditioner–in lower than working precision hopefully without impacting the algorithm output. We realize the first high-performance implementation of an adaptive precision block-Jacobi preconditioner which selects the precision format used to store the preconditioner data on-the-fly, taking into account the numerical properties of the individual preconditioner blocks. We implement the adaptive block-Jacobi preconditioner as production-ready functionality in the Ginkgo linear algebra library, considering not only the precision formats that are part of the IEEE standard, but also customized formats which optimize the length of the exponent and significand to the characteristics of the preconditioner blocks. Experiments run on a state-of-the-art GPU accelerator show that our implementation offers attractive runtime savings.

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Micromagnetic Characterization of Operation-Induced Damage in Charpy Specimens of RPV Steels

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app11072917 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (7) ◽

pp. 2917

Author(s):

Madalina Rabung ◽

Melanie Kopp ◽

Antal Gasparics ◽

Gábor Vértesy ◽

Ildikó Szenthe ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Neutron Irradiation ◽

Pressure Vessel ◽

Operating Conditions ◽

Magnetic Characteristics ◽

Pressure Vessel Steel ◽

Training Procedure ◽

Vessel Steel ◽

Before And After ◽

The Individual ◽

Magnetic Adaptive Testing

The embrittlement of two types of nuclear pressure vessel steel, 15Kh2NMFA and A508 Cl.2, was studied using two different methods of magnetic nondestructive testing: micromagnetic multiparameter microstructure and stress analysis (3MA-X8) and magnetic adaptive testing (MAT). The microstructure and mechanical properties of reactor pressure vessel (RPV) materials are modified due to neutron irradiation; this material degradation can be characterized using magnetic methods. For the first time, the progressive change in material properties due to neutron irradiation was investigated on the same specimens, before and after neutron irradiation. A correlation was found between magnetic characteristics and neutron-irradiation-induced damage, regardless of the type of material or the applied measurement technique. The results of the individual micromagnetic measurements proved their suitability for characterizing the degradation of RPV steel caused by simulated operating conditions. A calibration/training procedure was applied on the merged outcome of both testing methods, producing excellent results in predicting transition temperature, yield strength, and mechanical hardness for both materials.

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Acquiring variable commands at home and abroad: Examining optatives and imperatives in L1 and L2 Spanish

Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics ◽

10.1515/shll-2020-2025 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 79-113

Author(s):

Farrah Neumann ◽

Matthew Kanwit

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Second Language Acquisition ◽

Study Abroad ◽

Language Teaching ◽

Applied Linguistics ◽

Future Research ◽

Control Group ◽

Before And After ◽

The Individual ◽

At Home

AbstractSince many linguistic structures are variable (i. e. conveyed by multiple forms), building a second-language grammar critically involves developing sociolinguistic competence (Canale and Swain. 1980. Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics 1(1). 1–47), including knowledge of contexts in which to use one form over another (Bayley and Langman. 2004. Variation in the group and the individual: Evidence from second language acquisition. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 42(4). 303–318). Consequently, researchers interested in such competence have increasingly analyzed the study-abroad context to gauge learners’ ability to approximate local norms following a stay abroad, due to the quality and quantity of input to which learners may gain access (Lafford. 2006. The effects of study abroad vs. classroom contexts on Spanish SLA: Old assumptions, new insights and future research directions. In Carol Klee & Timothy Face (eds.), Selected proceedings of the 7th conference on the acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese as first and second languages, 1–25. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project). Nevertheless, the present study is the first to examine native or learner variation between imperative (e. g. ven ‘come’) and optative Spanish commands (e. g. que vengas ‘come’). We first performed a corpus analysis to determine the linguistic factors to manipulate in a contextualized task, which elicited commands from learners before and after four weeks abroad in Alcalá de Henares, Spain. Their overall rates of selection and predictive factors were compared to local native speakers (NSs) and a control group of at-home learners.Results revealed that the abroad learners more closely approached NS rates of selection following the stay abroad. Nonetheless, for both learner groups conditioning by independent variables only partially approximated the NS system, which was more complex than previously suggested.

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Missing Data in Research on Youth and Family Programs

Psychological Reports ◽

10.1177/00332941211026851 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 003329412110268

Author(s):

Jaime Ballard ◽

Adeya Richmond ◽

Suzanne van den Hoogenhof ◽

Lynne Borden ◽

Daniel Francis Perkins

Keyword(s):

Missing Data ◽

Statistical Methods ◽

Self Report ◽

Program Participation ◽

Multilevel Data ◽

Individual Level ◽

Level Data ◽

Before And After ◽

Post Test ◽

The Individual

Background Multilevel data can be missing at the individual level or at a nested level, such as family, classroom, or program site. Increased knowledge of higher-level missing data is necessary to develop evaluation design and statistical methods to address it. Methods Participants included 9,514 individuals participating in 47 youth and family programs nationwide who completed multiple self-report measures before and after program participation. Data were marked as missing or not missing at the item, scale, and wave levels for both individuals and program sites. Results Site-level missing data represented a substantial portion of missing data, ranging from 0–46% of missing data at pre-test and 35–71% of missing data at post-test. Youth were the most likely to be missing data, although site-level data did not differ by the age of participants served. In this dataset youth had the most surveys to complete, so their missing data could be due to survey fatigue. Conclusions Much of the missing data for individuals can be explained by the site not administering those questions or scales. These results suggest a need for statistical methods that account for site-level missing data, and for research design methods to reduce the prevalence of site-level missing data or reduce its impact. Researchers can generate buy-in with sites during the community collaboration stage, assessing problematic items for revision or removal and need for ongoing site support, particularly at post-test. We recommend that researchers conducting multilevel data report the amount and mechanism of missing data at each level.

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Discoloration of Historical Plastic Objects: New Insight into the Degradation of β-Naphthol Pigment Lakes

Polymers ◽

10.3390/polym13142278 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (14) ◽

pp. 2278

Author(s):

Anna Micheluz ◽

Eva Mariasole Angelin ◽

João Almeida Lopes ◽

Maria João Melo ◽

Marisa Pamplona

Keyword(s):

Light Exposure ◽

Molecular Structures ◽

Conservation Science ◽

Organic Pigment ◽

Organic Pigments ◽

Before And After ◽

The Individual ◽

Determining Factor ◽

Insight Into ◽

Historical Samples

Light is a determining factor in the discoloration of plastics, and photodegradation processes can affect the molecular structures of both the polymer and colorants. Limited studies focused on the discoloration of heritage plastics in conservation science. This work investigated the discoloration of red historical polyethylene (PE) objects colored with PR 48:2 and PR 53:1. High-density and low-density PE reference polymers, neat pigment powders, and historical samples were assessed before and after accelerated photoaging. The applied methodology provided insight into the individual light-susceptibility of polyethylenes, organic pigment lakes, and their combined effect in the photoaging of historical plastic formulations. After light exposure, both PE references and historical samples yellowed, PR53:1 faded, and PR 48:2 darkened; however, both organic pigments faded severely in the historical samples. This highlights the role played by the plastic binder likely facilitating the pigment photofading. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and mass spectrometry techniques—EGA-MS, PY-GC/MS, and TD-GC/MS—were successfully employed for characterizing the plastic formulations and degradation. The identification of phthalic compounds in both aged β-naphthol powders opens new venues for studies on their degradation. This work’s approach and analytical methods in studying the discoloration of historical plastics are novel, proving their efficacy, reliability, and potentiality.

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