A Tale of Two Border Cities: Community Context,Ethnicity, and Homicide*

Objective. Using Poisson‐based negative binomial regression, we estimate the effect of neighborhood factors on homicides in two cities (San Antonio, Texas and San Diego, California) that have large Mexican‐origin populations. Methods. Three independent data sources (official homicide police reports, medical examiner records, and the U.S. Census) are used to construct the dependent homicide, and independent neighborhood, variables. Census tracts represent the unit of analysis, which serve as a proxy for neighborhoods. Given the spatial nature of the data, spatial estimation procedures were also modeled. Results. Spatial proximity to violence, neighborhood disadvantage, and affluence (in San Antonio) consistently buffered homicide across neighborhoods, even in heavily populated Latino neighborhoods. Conclusions. Spatial embeddedness and neighborhood characteristics are important for improving our understanding about ethnic neighborhood variations in levels of violence. Comparative approaches across places, namely, Latino‐dominated cities, can yield considerable insight into how the local context intersects race/ethnicity and violent crime.     

Acyclic social choice from finite sets

This paper characterizes acyclic preference aggregation rules under various combinations of monotonicity, neutrality, decisiveness, and anonymity, in the spirit of Nakamura's (1979) Theorem on the core of simple games. Each of these characterizations can be seen to follow from Ferejohn and Fishburn's (1979) result on acyclic aggregation rules assuming only independence of irrelevant alternatives. We then state as corollaries to these characterizations extant results such as Sen's (1970) liberal paradox, Blau and Deb's (1977) theorem on the existence of vetoers, and Brown's (1975) theorem on the non-emptiness of the collegium.I thank David Austen-Smith, Michel Le Breton, Maurice Salles, and two anonymous referees for numerous enlightening conversations and comments. I also thank the National Science Foundation and Sloan Foundation for generous financial assistance.     

Self-Esteem and Low Status Groups: a Changing Scene?*

To insure the widest possible test of the hypothesis that individuals with lower ascribed or achieved status will demonstrate lower levels of self-esteem than higher status individuals, 972 subjects completed questionnaires which included the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. North Florida residents were sampled using a disproportionate stratified random sampling technique. Seven groups were identified: psychiatric patients, prisoners, black or white college students, city residents, married black residents, and service-oriented professionals. When analyzing data for each group, the results indicated that persons with lower ascribed status (blacks, females, and older Americans) did not, as a group, have lower self-esteem scores than persons with higher ascribed status (Whites, males, and younger Americans). However, persons with lower achieved status in the areas of educational attainment and occupational prestige did have lower self-esteem scores than did persons of higher status. Further, having an institutionalized status—confinement at a state psychiatric hospital or a maximum security prison—is correlated with low self-esteem scores. Some possible explanations of these findings are explored.     

Labor market adjustments in the unionized contract construction industry

The unionized construction labor market reaches equilibrium by means of three adjustment mechanisms: wage changes, changes in the quality of workers hired, and the migration of workers in and out of the market. The relative importance of the three mechanisms in local labor markets depends on laws and institutional rules. This paper examines some of the important institutional rules and presents a model of market clearning where wage adjustments are infrequent.     

Perceived Teacher Autonomy and the Meaning of Organizational Control*

This paper compares field data from three schools to generate explanations for teacher perceptions of their autonomy. These perceptions do not vary with control imposed on teachers in any regular way. Consideration of environmental pressure on the schools, however, reveals a pattern to the findings. Minimal environmental pressure allows the emergence of an all-pervading consensus that leads teachers to construe control as supportive of personal goals. Moderate pressure engenders teacher dependence on the principal to buffer them from uncertainty. The principal translates the dependence into control activities teachers perceive as constraints. High levels of pressure preoccupy the principal who, therefore, cannot coordinate the school effectively. This causes teachers, themselves, to feel ineffective and constrained.     

Dioxin in the Agricultural Food Chain

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin's (PCDD) behavior in the agricultural food chain was modeled in this study. The source of PCDD was a municipal solid waste (MSW) incinerator. Of the farm livestock investigated only the beef cow and the milk cow were shown to contribute significant amounts of PCDD to humans. Milk was the single highest dietary source of PCDD. Comparison of the calculated human dose of PCDD from the agricultural food chain with an estimate human PCDD dose from inhalation of contaminated air revealed that the agricultural food chain could be responsible for a vast majority of the dose to an individual impacted by these facilities. Thus, these data suggest that operating MSW facilities in agricultural areas may result in enhanced PCDD exposure to individuals via the agricultural food chain. The data also suggest that milk and beef may be good sentinels to evaluate environmental impacts of these facilities.