U.S. CREDIT UNIONS: SURVIVAL,CONSOLIDATION, AND GROWTH

This study uses hazard function estimations and time‐series and cross‐sectional growth regressions to examine the impact of exit through merger and acquisition (M&A) or failure, and internally generated growth, on the firm‐size distribution within the U.S. credit union sector. Consolidation through M&A was the principal cause of a reduction in the number of credit unions, but impact on concentration was small. Divergence between the average internally generated growth of smaller and larger credit unions was the principal driver of the rise in concentration. (JEL G21)     

FORECASTING U.S. MORTALITY:

This article compares two methodologies for modeling and forecasting statistical time series models of demographic processes: Box-Jenkins ARIMA and structural time series analysis. The Lee-Carter method is used to construct nonlinear demographic models of U.S. mortality rates for the total population, gender, and race and gender combined. Single time varying parameters of k, the index of mortality, are derived from these model and fitted and forecasted using the two methodologies. Forecasts of life expectancy at birth, e₀, are generated from these indexes of k. Results show marginal differences in fit and forecasts between the two statistical approaches with a slight advantage to structural models. Stability across models for both methodologies offers support for the robustness of this approach to demographic forecasting.     

Set aside programmes: Using U.S. experience to evaluate U.K. proposals

The lengthy U.S. experience with cropland diversion is helpful in evaluating U.K. set aside proposals. Acreage reduction for supply control in the U.S. has never reached its promised potential. Now, a new programme is using set aside for erosion control. Despite 50 years of practice, the past and current U.S. cropland diversions suffer serious problems. Three major U.K. set aside proposals have surfaced, two aimed at supply control and one at the provision of conservation and environmental services from farmland. Each has strengths and disadvantages, but none suffer all of the problems of American programmes, at least in their proposed forms. Too much can easily be expected of set aside which in barest form is just a land use constraint. Its best role may be as an interim supply adjustment mechanism with price restraint, which also provides compensation to disadvan- taged farmers but, most importantly, secures non-market conservation and environmental services.     

High stakes: U.S. nonprofit organizations and the U.S. standing abroad

This research sought to explain the agency of U.S.-based nonprofit nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the U.S. standing abroad, and explore the NGO role in the U.S. public diplomacy. A multiple-case study method was used to look at five 501(c)(3) organizations that receive predominantly private funding and operate globally. The data gathered from in-person interviews and corporate documentation were compared between cases, and synthesized across cases using the theory-building technique. While U.S. standing affects American NGOs’ practices and discourses, American NGOs’ behavior might have a bearing on the attitudes, perceptions, and opinions of international publics about the United States. Both the NGO-owned state identities and American NGOs’ reputation for autonomy and freedom of expression enhance the U.S. public diplomacy efforts.     

Sexology in the U.S.:

No abstract available for this article.     

African Americans,U.S. Poverty,and International Law

ABSTRACT

Statistical rates of poverty among African Americans often hide the cultural and historical nature of their intended consequences. Unfavorable outcomes for social change can occur when viewing poverty among African Americans in isolation from their unique historical and cultural experiences and U.S. social, political, and capitalistic influences. While pressures to subordinate African Americans continue, African Americans also exert pressure (e.g., social movements) as human agents in their efforts toward self-determination. In order to understand and/or ameliorate poverty in the US, policy makers, researchers, and educators must first deal with the cultural hegemony undergirding it.     

BANKS,FREE BANKS,AND U.S. ECONOMIC GROWTH

The “Federalist financial revolution” may have jump‐started the U.S. economy into modern growth, but the Free Banking System (1837–1862) did not play a direct role in sustaining it. Despite lowering entry barriers and extending banking into developing regions, we find in county‐level data that free banks had little or no effect on growth. The result is not just a symptom of the era, as state‐chartered banks seem to have strong and positive effects on manufacturing and urbanization. (JEL G21, N21, O43)     

Suicide,Religion, and Latinos: A Macrolevel Study of U.S. Latino Suicide Rates

Since the publication of Durkheim's Suicide more than a century ago, researchers have been examining the relationship between religion and suicide, and race/ethnicity and suicide. However, no study has examined how religion influences U.S. Latino suicide rates. This study fills a gap in the literature by applying three competing theses to the study of Latino suicide. Results show that (1) religious contextual variables significantly affect Latino suicide rates, (2) U.S.‐born Latinos benefit from religious communities, regardless of denomination or measurement used, and (3) foreign‐born Latinos only benefit from Catholic adherents and homogeneity.     

The Changing Structure of U.S. Agriculture: Dualism Out,Industrialism In

Abstract Between 1982 and 1992, trends in farm structural change resumed patterns that had existed from the Great Depression to the 1970s. That is, farms became fewer and larger. By 1992, the number of American farms declined below two million for the first time since the Civil War. Also, the trend toward dualism noted in the 1970s is over, as the number of small farms again declined rapidly during the 1980s. The trend toward large-scale agriculture is most prominent in the most important agricultural counties.     

U.S. Immigration Policies, 1798-1992

U.S. policy towards immigrants since 1798 serves as a clear window through which to view both change and continuity in official resistance to the growth of a multicultural nation. Traditions of nativism, racism, and xenophobia are clearly documented in the history of immigration policy. So also are efforts to supplant these virulent traditions with greater receptivity to demographic diversity. Two centuries of federal policies on immigration, together with case records of social work agencies that served immigrants, constitute excellent texts from which to teach social work students about the historical ambivalence of the people of the United States and their government towards welcoming "others."     

Unemployment,immigration, and NAFTA: a panel study of ten major U.S. industries

We conduct a pooled cross-section and time-series analysis of the unemployment rates across ten major industries in the U.S. from 1983 to 1994 to assess the effect of NAFTA and immigration. Our results indicate that the output produced by the industry, unemployment benefit coverage, and interest rates are significant determinants of industry unemployment rates, but union presence does not affect industry unemployment. Both Canadian and Mexican immigrants appear to be complements to the U.S. labor force, with Canadian immigrants highly complementary to American labor. Finally, the Chow test provides no evidence that NAFTA has changed the structure of unemployment determination in these industries. We are indebted to Emily Hoffman and Matthew Higgins for their comments and suggestions. The usual disclaimer applies.