Anti-Semitic Attitudes in Europe: A Comparative Perspective

The article uses available survey data to depict the depth and spread of anti-Semitic attitudes across Europe. The main assumption is that European anti-Semitism, both currently and historically, is closely tied to issues and crises of national self-identification; for this reason, social identity theory is employed to study the varying configurations of anti-Semitic prejudice. In most European countries, Jews are a small and socially integrated minority. Attitudes toward them are determined less by concrete experiences of cultural differences, or conflicts over scarce resources, but rather by a perceived threat to the national self-image. This leads to an accentuation of the pertinent prejudices that blame Jews to be responsible for that threat. This perspective brings to light considerable differences between Eastern and Western Europe and the continuing influence of national traditions.     

Now or Later?--Endogenous Timing of Threats

Whereas early threats are chosen before bargaining, late threats are determined after bargaining ended in conflict. Instead of exogenously imposing the timing of threats, these are derived endogenously as in indirect evolution or endogenous timing. Based on a duopoly market, we first derive the equilibrium for all possible constellations regarding the timing of threats. Our analysis surprisingly justifies the early timing of threats as suggested by Nash (1953).     

Personal space claims as a function of interpersonal threat: The mediating role of need for control

Previous research suggests that the concept of control is central to understanding spatial regulation. Similarly, control motivation appears to underlie the individual difference variable of Type A behavior. Based on this commonality it was hypothesized that Type A behavior would mediate spatial claims in response to situational threat. Results confirmed this hypothesis. Type A's claimed larger spaces overall, and more space in front of the body in response to threat, than Type B's. Differential results for size and shape of personal space suggest the multidimensional nature of spatial regulation.     

Price Manipulation and Quasi‐Arbitrage

In an environment where trading volume affects security prices and where prices are uncertain when trades are submitted, quasi‐arbitrage is the availability of a series of trades that generate infinite expected profits with an infinite Sharpe ratio. We show that when the price impact of trades is permanent and time‐independent, only linear price‐impact functions rule out quasi‐arbitrage and thus support viable market prices. When trades have also a temporary price impact, only the permanent price impact must be linear while the temporary one can be of a more general form. We also extend the analysis to a time‐dependent framework.     

Entitlement and the efficiency-equality trade-off: an experimental study

When randomly assigning participants to experimental roles and the according payment prospects, participants seem to receive “manna from heaven.” In our view, this seriously questions the validity of laboratory findings. We depart from this by auctioning off player roles via the incentive compatible random price mechanism thus avoiding the selection effect of competitive second price auctions. Our experiment employs the generosity game where the proposer chooses the size of the pie, facing an exogenously given own agreement payoff, and the responder is the residual claimant. We find that entitlement crowds out equality seeking and strengthens efficiency seeking. More generally, we find that inducing entitlement for the roles in which participants find themselves makes a difference. Interpreting participants’ willingness to pay for their role as their aspiration level further allows to test satisficing and explore “mutual satisficing.” We find that responder participants apparently do not anticipate proposer generosity in aspiration formation.     

Social Workers’ and Students’ Attitudes toward Electronic Tracking of People with Alzheimer's Disease

Global Positioning Systems (GPS) have recently been employed to help monitor persons with dementia. While the advantages of such technologies are clear, making use of them raises a number of ethical dilemmas. Considering the fact that social workers may be called upon to assist families in making decisions regarding the use of GPS, their attitudes on this issue are important. Fifty-five social workers and 61 social work students completed a questionnaire including: attitudes toward tracking, knowledge of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) symptoms, familiarity with persons who have AD, and ratings of who should be involved in the decision-making process regarding GPS use. Findings showed that the highest-scored attitude factor was respecting elders’ autonomy, while the lowest-scored factor opposed GPS use. The elderly and their spouses were rated as important decision-makers regarding the use of GPS. Knowledge of AD and respecting autonomy were negatively correlated. Students gave a higher rating to respecting elders’ autonomy than the social workers. Social workers gave a higher rating to the importance of a multidisciplinary team. Implications for social work education are discussed including recommendations for person-centered AD care on the one hand, and the need to balance the interests of the individual and the family on the other.