Publication Type: Paper/Poster Proposal
Abstract: The Ohio Family Health Survey (FHS) is a telephone survey of the health and health insurance status of adults and children in Ohio. The FHS prescribed confidence intervals for estimates of insurance status for several population subgroups: rural regions, ethnic minorities, families in poverty, families with children, etc. These constraints required a complex sample design that over-sampled on many levels. To obtain reliable estimates of the health insurance status of African Americans, especially those with lower incomes, an optimal allocation design was employed. This allocation involved stratifying Ohio’s largest metropolitan counties into High, Medium, and Low density strata based on Census estimates of the proportion of households with at least one African American adult. Preliminary estimates of the costs of screening households, and the costs of completing interviews, were entered into the allocation model. The resulting disproportionately-stratified design attempted to optimally allocate interviews across strata with minimal impact on the variance of survey estimates. This paper will review the optimal allocation design, compare preliminary estimates of demographics to what was obtained during fielding, and examine the efficiency of the design with respect to the precision of key survey estimates as well as the costs of screening households.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Political parties in Northern Ireland recently used a divisor method of apportionment to choose, in sequence, ten cabinet ministries. If the parties have complete information about each others' preferences, we show that it may not be rational for them to act sincerely by choosing their most-preferred ministry that is available.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Does the distribution of foreign development assistance depend on the organizational capacity of the recipient organization? I argue that employees at donor agencies seek signals of which recipients will implement aid most effectively, and use these signals to determine the destination of foreign aid on the micro level. Qualitative evidence gathered in the US and Brazil indicates the types of signals donors seek and recipients strive to transmit: signals of a recipient’s professionalism, reputation, and sustainability. After developing a signaling game to derive the conditions under which these signals might be credible indicators of implementation effectiveness, I present quantitative evidence of aid recipient organizations in Brazil and score them on the three signals. Statistical tests confirm that organizations with higher levels of these signals are more likely to receive funding, suggesting that donors use these signals to determine the destination of development assistance.