Self-imposed Rules Research Articles

Ethical Codes and the Advocacy Advertisements of World War II

In March 1942, the Advertising Federation of America drew up an ethical code for advertisers to follow during World War II. Included among the code's thirty-nine rules were (1) to promote ‘intelligent patriotism’ (2) to ‘glorify [the] service [of workers] with our fighting forces’ and (3) to ‘arouse enthusiasm of workers for productive achievement’. Yet, despite their membership in the Advertising Federation of America and their praiseworthy goals, two major World War II advertisers unknowingly violated all three of these self-imposed rules in their advocacy advertisements about absenteeism and carelessness. Their ethical faux pas serve as an important lesson for today's advocacy advertisers.

Sensitivity to Market Incentives: The Case of Policy Loans

The standard neoclassical theory is rejected as an explanation for the observed reluctance of most holders of whole life insurance to borrow against the cash value of their policies at favorable rates of interest. Even when the neoclassical theory is augmented with transactions costs and short awareness lags, several empirical tests using survey and time-series data reject the standard theory in favor of an explanation invoking self-imposed rules against borrowing or the debt ethic. This evidence lends support to the psychology-based theories of Thaler and Shefrin (1981). Copyright 1987 by MIT Press.

The Institutionalization of Ethics in the U.S. Senate

A European students of political culture in the United States, beginning with Tocqueville, have often pointed out, Americans are an exceptionally idealistic, even moralistic, people. Our founding political faith was Enlightenment rationalism and the doctrine of natural right; and the legacy of this faith has been that we do not consider political life an end in itself but rather a means to an overriding ethical ideal: the happiness and well-being of autonomous, selfgoverning individuals. Neither a Machiavellian conception of a politics divorced from morality, nor a public philosophy of unalloyed power for its own sake-the old world conceptions of raison d'etat and realpolitik-has ever really taken root in America. With a certain measure of selfdeception and parochialism, to be sure, we continue to think of our nation as the City on the Hill-a notion that helped carry Ronald Reagan into the White House. Ethical discourse, the language of justice, liberty, and rights, is our most characteristic political idiom. But along with this idealistic conception of politics, and perhaps because of it, there is another side to American political thinking, one that displays a strikingly negative attitude toward the men and women who have chosen politics as their vocation. Among Americans the word politician can scarcely be uttered without a wink or a sneer. We seem curiously unable to moderate our image of political figures; we either elevate them to heroic stature or vilify them. Because we justify our political system to ourselves and to the world by asserting the primacy of principle over power, we are suspicious of those who seek and use power, who devote their lives to the compromises, deals, and machinations that power politics entails. Such a politics, we know, requires dirty hands and we need those who are adept at it; still, we wonder, can someone who is willing, even eager, to engage in this nasty business really be trusted? Given the ambivalence of these attitudes, it is not surprising that public officials have found it so difficult-not just practically but conceptually-to formulate a coherent and systematic set of self-imposed rules to govern their own conduct in office.

The Statistical Mechanics of Chemical Processes

There has been no general article on statistical mechanics in these Re­ views since 1958. Nevertheless, this article makes no attempt to cover the complete literature on statistical mechanics in the ensuing years. Rather I have picked selected topics that I consider important , or that interest me particularly, and have tried to cover these topics in some detail. The amount of space allotted to a given topic reflects to a large extent my own interests, with two noteworthy exceptions. First, the article of Rice & Frisch ( 1) in Volume 1 1 of these Reviews was devoted completely to the statistical me­ chanics of irreversible processes; it was decided to omit discussion of the many interesting papers on irreversible that have appeared in the last year in order to restore some sort of balance. Secondly, in my opinion some of the most important recent advances in statistical mechanics have arisen in connection with the application of mathematical techniques origi­ nating in the study of the quantum theory of fields to the many body prob­ lem. These techniques are most useful for the study of systems in or near their ground state and have been applied mainly to the study of super­ fluidity and superconductivity. Such applications are not particularly chemical, and so it was decided to interpret the title of this article to mean that they should be omitted. However, both of these self-imposed rules have been violated in the section of this review dealing with hard sphere systems in order to make the coverage of this topic more complete. Otherwise, the words chemical processes have been interpreted quite elastically. The reader will note the paucity of references to the Russian literature. This lack has arisen because the translated journals available to me were of very limited variety and contained very few articles on the subjects chosen for discussion here. Books.-Quite a number of books on statistical mechanics have appeared since 1958. Among these are texts by Chisholm & de Borde (2), Aston & Fritz (3), and HilI (4). A much revised second edition of the well-known book by Landau & Lifshitz has been translated into English (5). The famous critical article by Ehrenfest & Ehrenfest has also been translated (6) and is just as worthwhile reading today as it was in 19 12, when it was originally published. On the more mathematical side, a translation of Khinchin's book on quantum statistics (7) has been published. This i s a companion to his well-

Method for Determining Minimum Waiting-on-cement Time

Abstract A method is presented for determining minimum waiting-on-cement time, whichtakes into account the differences that exist between types and brands ofcements and such individual well conditions as depth, temperature, andpressure. The basis for the method was determined by laboratory tests. Being a laboratorydevelopment, several steps were required to prove its merit. The first stepconsisted of laboratory tests designed to determine the minimum cement strengthrequired in wells. Basis was found for setting a minimum value of 8 lb. per sq.in. tensile strength. Next, it was shown by laboratory tests that the time to 8lb. per sq. in. tensile strength may be expressed as a function ofconsistometer stirring time to 100 "poises," the approximate relationbeing "the time to 8 lb. per sq. in. tensile strength equals the time to100 ‘poises’ times three." Next, it was shown that the time of maximumtemperature development in cement slurries, due to heat of hydration, is alsorelated to consistometer stirring time to 100 poises, but only by a factor ofapproximately two. It was shown also that the shut-in casing pressure willbuild up after cement is placed and register a maximum pressure atapproximately the same time the slurry down the hole attains maximumtemperature. From this and the relationships listed above, the general rule wasestablished that minimum waiting-on-cement time (time to 8 lb. per sq. in.)after casing cement jobs in any well is equal to the time when the shut-incasing pressure reaches a maximum, as measured from the initial mixing ofcement, times a factor of 1.5. Cement plugs drilled in the field at the time prescribed by this formula werefound to drill "firm to hard," thus confirming the laboratorytests. These tests prove that many of the present regulations for waiting on cementrequire a longer time than is absolutely necessary. Use of the method hereinproposed offers the possibili ty of a saving of $ 1200 per well. Intoroduction The length of time allowed for cement to set after casing is determined eitherby state-wide rules, field rules, or self-imposed rules written into drillingcontracts. In general, the time is dictated by experience and common practice.However, owing to differences in opinion and in experience of the variousgroups involved, waiting-on-cement time often varies from one area to the next.For example, an operator in an area where no rules exist may drill out ofsurface pipe at 24 to 36 hr., while another operator in another area may wait48 hr. or more to comply with state or field rules, although the depth of thewell, hole size, type of cement, and other data are identical. An even greaterdifference in practices will be found by making similar comparisons withrespect to oilstring cement jobs. Differences in waiting-on-cement times of 36to 48 hr. are common. Further complicating the picture is the rather common practice of allowing morewaiting time for cement to set at the greater depths than is allowed at theshallow depths. T.P. 1968