Reconstructing Colonialism: Graphic Layout and Design,and the Construction of Ideology*

Le lien entre l'image et l'idéologie est un des thèmes les plus étudiés en sociologie visuelle. Il existe néanmoins une sérieuse lacune dans notre compréhension des procédés visuels auxquels on a recours pour créer une idéologie. Cet article, au moyen d'une analyse du rôle de la juxtaposition et de l'enchaînement visuels dans la publication gouvernementale britannique The Colonies in Pictures, atteste un mécanisme jusqu'ici ignoré dans la formation de l'idéologie. Je soutiens que la publication reconstruit une idéologie coloniale britannique en faisant passer de l'ethnicitéà la culture le marqueur utilisé pour distinguer le britannique du non‐britannique. Une telle reconstruction avait été rendue nécessaire en raison du contexte historique qui a suivi la Deuxième Guerre mondiale et a permis aux Britanniques de conserver une main‐mise sur l'économie des colonies tout en leur accordant une autonomie politique. The connection between image and ideology is one of the most analysed themes in visual sociology. Despite this, there exists a serious omission in our understanding of the visual processes used to create ideology. This article, through the analysis of the role of visual juxtaposition and sequencing in the British government publication The Colonies in Pictures, documents a previously ignored mechanism for ideology formation. I argue that the publication reconstructs British colonial ideology by shifting the marker used to distinguish between British and non‐British from ethnicity to culture. Such a reconstruction was necessitated by the historical circumstances following World War II and enabled the British to retain economic control over the colonies while granting political autonomy.     

THE SHORT-TERM EFFECT OF ELECTION POLLS ON FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES: THE 1988 CANCDIAN FEDERAL ELECTION

Polls do not simply measure public opinion; they also providevital information that the public can use to form opinions andto make decisions. Using multiple regression analysis, the authorsfound that published polls had a powerful impact on the valueof the Canadian dollar during the 1988 Canadian federal election.This appears to have been due to the unprecedented importanceof economic issues in the federal campaign, the distinctivepositions taken by the major political parties with respectto the U.S.-Canadian Free Trade Agreement, and to the proliferationof "horse-race" polls in the media. These results have implicationsfor understanding the behavior of other elite groups, such asfinancial contributors and volunteer campaign workers, who mayalso use published horse-race polls to handicap election outcomes.     

2006 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS WATER MARKETS IN THE WEST: PRICES, TRADING, AND CONTRACTUAL FORMS

Rising urban and environmental demand for water has created growing pressure to reallocate water from traditional agricultural uses. The evolution of water markets has been more complicated than those for other resources. In this paper, we first explain these differences by examining water rights and regulatory issues. Second, we place our research in the context of the economics literature on water marketing. Third, we present new, comprehensive data on prices and the extent, nature, and timing of water transfers across 12 western states from 1987 to 2005. We find that prices are higher for agriculture-to-urban trades versus within-agriculture trades, in part, reflecting the differences in marginal values between the two uses. Prices for urban use are also growing relative to agricultural use. Markets are responding in that the number of agriculture-to-urban transactions is rising, whereas the number of agriculture-to-agriculture transfers is not. Further, there is a shift from using short-term leases to using multiyear leases of water and permanent sales of water rights. This pattern underscores the need to consider the amounts of water obligated over time rather than examining only annual flows in assessing the quantities of water traded as is the common practice in the literature. Considering water obligated over time, termed committed water, we find significantly more is transferred and the direction of trading is different than if the focus is on annual flows. Finally, the data reveal considerable variation in water trading across the states. ( JEL Q2, N5, L5, K3)     

LEGISLATING COMMONS: THE NAVAJO TRIBAL COUNCIL AND THE NAVAJO RANGE

The article argues that chronic overgrazing on the Navajo Reservation is the result of policies of the BIA and the Tribal Council. In support of that hypothesis the paper outlines the nature of property rights to grazing land on the Reservation. It shows that BIA and Tribal Council actions have led to the proliferation of small herds since 1933. Small herds increase the resource costs of establishing and enforcing property rights, and they increase the political costs of requiring compliance with grazing rules. Statistical tests reveal a close relationship between herd size and overstocking of the range. The paper concludes that in the absence of the constraints of a private property system, it may be necessary for an outside agency to regulate grazing to avoid the problem of the Commons.     

SULPHUR AND THE U.S. GOVERNMENT: PRICE FIGHTING IN THE 1960s*

The interaction between the domestic sulphur industry and the executive branch of the U.S. Government during the Johnson administration suggests that this important extractive industry was sensitive to governmental “moral suasion.” A narrative is provided of the relationship between the industry and the administration's economists, lawyers and departmental politicians. This narrative is followed by an appropriate least squares price model. It is shown that the administration was successful in its efforts to suppress sulphur prices during 1965-66, that is, during the early stages of the commitment of U.S. forces to combat in Southeast Asia.     

The Taking of a Position: A Reinterpretation of the Elaboration Likelihood Model

This article explains how data associated with attitude change and persuasion in mainstream psychology and social psychology can be reinterpreted as evidence of the agentive ability of taking a position. A critical review is made of the elaboration likelihood model and a position model is adapted from positioning theory. The postulates of the elaboration likelihood model are then subjected to critical scrutiny by means of comparison with our position model. In this way regularities associated with attitude change and persuasion are interpreted as evidence of a deliberative process, involving negotiation and the use of supporting and opposing arguments. We present this as evidence of the commonly held agentive ability to position oneself and anticipate the positions of others.     

Scales Measuring General Evaluation with Minimal Distortion

Recent factor-analytic studies demonstrating marked concept-rater-scaleinteraction using evaluative semantic differential scales posea problem for opinion researchers who lack the time, money,subjects, or trained personnel to perform a pretest factor analysisas the basis for selecting reliable scales. In this study, 225raters drawn from 10 sub-populations rated 9 concepts on 39evaluative scales and 2 marker scales. When these data weresubjected to 19 different principal factor analyses based onvarious concept-rater combinations, 6 scales loaded above .60on the dominant first factor of all analyses, 9 additional scalesloaded above .50 on the same factor for all analyses, and 7scales failed only once to load above .50. These scales arerecommended for use as a measure of general evaluation undercertain conditions     

On a Unified Generalized Quasi–likelihood Approach for Familial–Longitudinal Non‐Stationary Count Data

Abstract. In this paper, conditional on random family effects, we consider an auto‐regression model for repeated count data and their corresponding time‐dependent covariates, collected from the members of a large number of independent families. The count responses, in such a set up, unconditionally exhibit a non‐stationary familial–longitudinal correlation structure. We then take this two‐way correlation structure into account, and develop a generalized quasilikelihood (GQL) approach for the estimation of the regression effects and the familial correlation index parameter, whereas the longitudinal correlation parameter is estimated by using the well‐known method of moments. The performance of the proposed estimation approach is examined through a simulation study. Some model mis‐specification effects are also studied. The estimation methodology is illustrated by analysing real life healthcare utilization count data collected from 36 families of size four over a period of 4 years.