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)     

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.     

FEAR,ANGER, AND CREDIT. ON BANK ROBBERIES AND LOAN CONDITIONS

We study the impact of emotions on real-world decisions made by loan officers by analyzing the loan conditions of loans granted immediately after a bank branch robbery. We find significant differences between the conditions of loans granted after a robbery and changes in loan conditions that occur contemporaneously at unaffected branches. In general, loan officers seem to adopt so-called avoidance behavior. In accordance with the literature on posttraumatic stress, their avoidance behavior is halved within 2 weeks following the robbery and the effect further varies depending on the presence, or absence, of a firearm during the robbery. (JEL G02, G2)     

DIS-GNOSIS : DISNEY AND THE RE-TOOLING OF KNOWLEDGE,ART, CULTURE,LIFE, ETC.

This essay was written in 2000, hence before 9/11, Dot.Bomb, the stock market crash and the War on Terror, each of which may well have modified and/or intensified elements in the configuration proposed below. In an earlier draft, the essay accompanied an exhibition of Disney-influenced art entitled ’Never Never Land’, curated by Omar Lopez-Chahoud. The exhibition was installed in 2000-2001 at art museums at Florida Atlantic University, South Florida University and Rutgers. The show featured work by Jim Anderson, James Angus, Markus Baenziger, Bonnie Collura, Rico Gatson, Arturo Herrera, Colin Keefe, Tommy Kenny, Mary Magsamen, Melissa Marks, Jason Middlebrook, Michael Minelli, Daniel Mirer, Takashi Murikami, Stephen Pascher, Daniela Steinfield, Gabriele Stellbaum, Brian Tolle and Type A. Drawing alternately on the critical literature and fairy tales, the essay examines the integrated and integrative logics of, on the one hand, the Disney business plan and, on the other, the trademark Disney modes of narration. A broad range of ‘disneyfied’ effects are proposed on everything from work, retail and consumer culture to contemporary art and architecture. I argue that these effects are underpinned by a figuration and positioning of both childhood and ‘innocence’ that is consistent across the entire spectrum of Disney products/texts and which is global in its scope and implications. ‘Dis-gnosis’, a neologism coined for this essay, is related, though not reducible to sibling terms like ideology, mauvaise, foi, amnesia and false consciousness. Dis-gnosis refers to the putative ‘knowledge’ effect produced by the strategies, logics and inferred purposes that form the objects of study.     

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.     

SELF, IDENTITY, AND DIFFERENCE:

Interesting parallels exist between the thought of George Herbert Mead and some of the writings of contemporary poststructuralists. Both stress the importance of language, the dynamic character of social and cultural life, and the unstable relations of difference. However, where poststructuralists tend to reduce subjectivity and meaning to discourse, Mead sees the subject in behavioral terms and as constituted in a social self. A comparison and contrast of the two approaches reveals limitations of the poststructuralist conception while demonstrating the strengths of Meadian pragmatism and social psychology. Of special importance, Meadian theory implicitly addresses questions of identity and difference, offering a social pragmatic foundation for a discussion of these contemporary themes. The weaknesses of poststructuralism are illustrated by a Meadian critique of the work of Judith Butler, a leading poststructuralist thinker. This critique faults Butler's poststructuralism for lacking an adequate conception of social relations and a notion of self.     

LEGISLATIVE TURNOVER,FISCAL POLICY,AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: EVIDENCE FROM U.S. STATE LEGISLATURES

Increased turnover among legislators can make them short‐sighted, affecting fiscal policy and economic growth. We exploit the exogenous variation in legislative turnover induced by term limit laws and by redistricting in the 50 U.S. states, finding that increased turnover increases capital spending by state governments, which may be designed to constrain future governments. The changes may cause long‐run distortions in the economy, reducing long‐term economic growth. (JEL H72, H73, H76)     

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, 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.