ETHNICITY, GENERATION, AND SCHOOL ATTAINMENT OF ASIANS, HISPANICS, AND NON-HISPANIC WHITES

Research on immigration and attainment in U.S. schools typically does not separate out generation of U.S. residence, a critical factor in attainment. This article explores immigrant generation effects (native, child of immigrant, immigrant) on schooling attained for Asians, Hispanics, and non-Hispanic whites, using Current Population Survey data. Previously unpublished cross-sectional data are presented. Regressions predicting school years completed show variable generation-by-ethnicity effects. Asian attainment increases sharply between immigrant and child-of-immigrant generations, leveling off thereafter. Hispanic attainment improves with successive generations of U.S. residence. Non-Hispanic white attainment peaks in the child-of-immigrant generation and declines for later generations.     

RACE, CLASS, AND OPPORTUNITY: CHANGING REALITIES AND PERCEPTIONS

Michael Hout provided empirical validation of the part of William J. Wilson's controversial 1978 claim concerning the increased influence of class on social mobility but not of his claim that the influence of race became less important than that of class. Anomia/despair as an indication of Americans'perceptions of life chances in 1973, 1976, 1980 and 1984 is used in this article. The findings show no agreement between perception and reality (that Wilson described) on the declining influence of race and the increasing influence of class. In addition, Wilson's dominant theme of deteriorating conditions for lower-class blacks and continuing progress for upper-class blacks was contrary to the data on perception. Barriers to continued mobility faced by more successful blacks is given as a possible explanation of the discrepancy between black mobility and black perception of life chances.     

ENTRY AND EXIT,PRODUCT VARIETY,AND THE BUSINESS CYCLE

We study the stochastic behavior of a dynamic general equilibrium model with monopolistic competition. Each seller sells his product in the consumption goods as well as the investment goods market and has market power in both. Consumers derive utility from a constant elasticity of substitution (CES) aggregate of all the consumption goods and augment their capital stock by a CES aggregate of all the investment goods. We analyze the equilibrium of this economy allowing for an endogenous determination of the number of firms and therefore of products. The principal effect we wish to highlight is the endogenous propagation and magnification of technology and preference disturbances through product space variations. (JEL E32, D43, L16)     

BLACKS, WHITES, AND ANTI-SEMITISM

Major national surveys conducted in 1964 and 1981 indicated that blacks were more negatively oriented toward Jews than were whites. Drawing on a national survey conducted in 1992, this article establishes that this gap has endured. Moreover, the gap persists when statistical controls are instituted for a host of factors that are related to race and themselves influence attitudes toward Jews. The latter is a key finding in light of the paucity of statistical controls in prior studies. Finally, black negativity toward Jews extends into both economic and noneconomic domains. This finding contrasts with the argument that African American anti-Semitism is attributable to their reactions to what they deem objectionable Jewish business practices and perceive as Jewish dominance of the American economy. The age pattern of anti-Semitism suggests that in the future black and white levels of anti-Semitism might be expected to diverge even more.     

RATIONALITY, EVOLUTION, AND ACQUISITIVENESS

The first part of this paper discusses Alchian's classic 1950 article "Uncertainty, Evolution, and Economic Theory" and argues against the notion that it is easy to eliminate rationality from economic behavior by appealing to evolution as a substitute. The second section discusses rationality and develops a specc meaning for this term that distinguishes it from the axioms of choice found in economic theory. In the final section, I use this definition and link rationality to a behavioral propensity almost unique to the human species—acquisitiveness, concluding from this linkage that acquisitiveness can speed up the evolution of intelligence.     

KNOWLEDGE AND POWER, BODY AND SELF:

Symbolic interactionists have widely established the tenet that the self is formed in interaction with others. Despite this great contribution, this perspective has tended to sidestep discussions of the relationship between the body and the self and to overlook systems of power and the ways in which they impact upon the self and the body. The more recent contributions of postmodernists and critical theorists have focused on knowledge as a system of power. An examination of a sample of transgendered persons, individuals who endeavor to present alternatively gendered selves within a social system that proclaims males to be men and females to be women, provides a unique opportunity to analyze the ways in which knowledge systems affect gender identity and the embodied self. While individuals are not able to fully escape the dictates of the binary system of knowledge about sex and gender, they are capable of devising alternative ways of "doing" gender that more closely adhere to an internalized sense of self. In the end, individuals neither passively enact nor completely escape the dictates of the binary system of gender knowledge.     

YOUTH,REVOLUTION, AND REPRESSION

We develop a simple model to study the effect of age structure on the interactions between the state and dissidents. Younger populations are more prone to protest. As the population grows younger, states that can discriminately target repression to different groups, but cannot concede discriminately, decrease repression. In contrast, states that can target concession, but not repression, increase repression. We test these results in nonmilitary single‐party regimes and military regimes without political parties. Moreover, we study state response to dissent in East European communist regimes in the late 1980s, showing that state response was more repressive in countries with younger populations. (JEL D74)     

RAGS, RICHES, AND BOOTSTRAPS

Specific beliefs pertaining to wealth and poverty emanate from metatheories about socioeconomic inequalities. As cognitions, these metatheories filter social perceptions and generate beliefs about the specific causes of wealth and poverty. Four metatheories coexist in American culture and compete for public support. The four are individualism, culturalism, structuralism/situationalism, and fatalism. Using public opinion data on beliefs about 38 often-mentioned causes of wealth and poverty, the degree of support for each metatheory was determined. Individualism was the metatheory of choice in specifying the causes of poverty, whereas culturalism and individualism vied for superiority in identifying the causes of wealth.     

SCHOOLS,SKILLS, AND SYNAPSES

This paper discusses (a) the role of cognitive and noncognitive ability in shaping adult outcomes, (b) the early emergence of differentials in abilities between children of advantaged families and children of disadvantaged families, (c) the role of families in creating these abilities, (d) adverse trends in American families, and (e) the effectiveness of early interventions in offsetting these trends. Practical issues in the design and implementation of early childhood programs are discussed. (JEL A12)     

WAGES, RENTS, AND AMENITIES: DIFFERENCES AMONG WORKERS AND REGIONS

What explains persistent regional earnings differences? This paper argues that regional differences in amenities can account for the wage differences; in contrast, cost of living variations do not account for wage differences, but actually exacerbate them. This conclusion results from a model in which variations in rents and wages are equalizing differences for amenity differences. Empirical results are consistent with the model.     

MENTAL ILLNESS AND THE DEMAND FOR ALCOHOL, COCAINE, AND CIGARETTES

This article estimates the effect of mental illness on demand for addictive substances, allowing for structural endogeneity and simultaneity between mental illness and addictive consumption. Results show that individuals with a history of mental illness are 26% more likely to consume alcohol, 66% more likely to consume cocaine, and 89% more likely to consume cigarettes. This high-participation group is also price-responsive, although their price elasticities differ somewhat from those without mental illness. The results provide added justification for higher taxes and supply reduction activities. Furthermore, subsidizing the treatment of mental illness can reduce addictive consumption.(JEL I1 )     

GENDER, CLASS, AND THE ART AND CRAFT OF SOCIAL CAPITAL

Social capital is generally recognized as the positive outcome of sociability and social connection and, more specifically, as the capacity to realize economic benefits through social connections. Limited attention has been paid to understanding the potential of social capital at the intersection of socioeconomic disadvantage. The first part of the article examines assumptions of class and gender in the theoretical literature on social capital. The second part explores the influence of class and gender contexts on social networks among women living in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods in Victoria, Australia. The analysis reveals the ways in which social network assets are conditional on socioeconomic and gender circumstances.     

COMMUNITY,COMMUNICATION, AND MEANING: THEORIES OF BUCHLER AND HABERMAS

The scope of Jürgen Habermas's “universal pragmatics” and communicative interaction theory are critically assessed in this article. Habermas's pragmatics are seen to reveal different assumptions than those of Peirce or Mead. This difference yields different assumptions about the research program embodied in Habermas's work. The ideas of Justis Buchler are presented in order to develop a comprehensive theory of meaning and community. This article provides the basis for an assessment of linguistic rationality, meaning, and human interests in daily life.     

WAGES, EARNINGS AND HOURS OF FIRST, SECOND, AND THIRD GENERATION AMERICAN MALES

Analysis of 1970 census data for eight ethnic groups indicates that, other things equal, recent immigrants generally receive lower wages and earnings than second generation workers, but second generation workers receive higher wages and earnings than do third. Recent immigrants and third generation men work significantly fewer hours per year than do earlier immigrants and second generation men. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that increases in U. S. specific human capital over generations are offset by decreases in motivation. The higher motivation of immigrants appears to reflect greater preference for money over family ties, leisure, and easy work as compared with non-immigrants. immigrants.     

TRUST,RECIPROCITY, AND RULES

Many economic interactions rely on trust and trust violations can have serious economic consequences. Simple minimum standard rules are attractive because they prevent egregious trust violations. However, they may undermine more trusting and reciprocal (trustworthy) behavior that otherwise would have occurred, leading to worse outcomes. In an experimental trust game, we test the efficacy of exogenously imposed minimum standard rules. Rules damage trust and reciprocity, reducing economic welfare. While sufficiently restrictive rules restore welfare, trust and reciprocity never return. Results indicate that participants are concerned about payoffs while also using the game to learn about trust and trustworthiness of others. (JEL C72, C90, D63, D64, L51)     

PROFIT-SHARES, BARGAINING, AND UNEMPLOYMENT

This paper considers the effect of profit sharing on unemployment in a simple model with an employment externality, overhead costs, and free entry. When wages are determined by Nash bargains and employment is set by firms, equilibrium unemployment is unambiguously reduced by mandated profit sharing. However, a bargained profit share may have the perverse effect of lowering both employment and compensation in general equilibrium. If overhead costs relevant to firms' entry decisions are excluded from the profit share accounting, then a mandated profit share may also have such a perverse effect. (JEL E24)