Borders and Boundaries of State and Self at the End of Empire

Abstract Peoples that span national borders are ambiguous in that they in some ways partake of both nations and in other ways partake of neither. This paper analyzes how the boundary - the power to impose difference - of the United States and Mexico is being eroded by transnational developments causing the structure of the nation-states to become problematic. To the degree that anthropology is an official discipline predicated on the distinction between Self and the alien Other which it presumes to represent, the deterioration of the borders and boundaries of the nation-state have serious implications for its epistemology and legitimacy and its power of representation of transnational communities and of difference in general. Furthermore, as national distinctions decline ethnicity emerges as a consciousness of difference.     

ESTIMATING THE FISHER EFFECT AND THE STOCHASTIC MONEY GROWTH PROCESS

This paper demonstrates that a change in the stochastic process generating money can alter the relationships between money and inflation and between inflation and interest rates. The extent to which inflation is forecastable is shown to depend significantly on the extent to which money is forecastable. Thus, the greater the persistence and forecastability of money, the greater the likelihood of observing a statistically significant Fisher effect.
US. data over the 1953–86 period are used to demonstrate that instability in the Fisher effect coincides with changes in the stochastic process generating money. There is a significantly stronger Fisher effect during a subsample in which money—and hence inflation—are more predictable.     

RETURNS TO SKILLS AND PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS

Personnel records are used to examine compensation, recruitment, and retention of a group of highly skilled workers: civilian scientists and engineers in U.S. Department of Defense laboratories. In contrast to those of the private sector, returns to skills were largely flat for this group from 1982 to 1996. Despite this, quality and performance of recruits relative to earlier cohorts, and of those retained relative to those who left, remained stable. One explanation is the importance of defense industry–specific human capital. These results hold for three different pay plans, including the federal government's primary plan and two intended to introduce greater flexibility in personnel management. (JEL J31 , J44 , J45 , M52 )     

Blau's Dialectical Sociology

The focus of Blau's dialectical sociology is the notion that human organization is characterized by dilemmas, such as the freedom-order problem. Dilemmas are inherent in social existence and underlie conflict and change. Blau's dialectic of conflict can be supplemented by dialectics of cooperation to make a more comprehensive theory.     

SELECTING A SELLING INSTITUTION: AUCTIONS VERSUS SEQUENTIAL SEARCH

We consider the seller's choice between sequential search and an auction when selling n homogeneous units of a good in the presence of informational asymmetries, discounting, and transaction costs. Our analysis shows that the expected return per unit from sequential selling decreases in n, the number of units being sold. For the auction with suitable restrictions, the expected return per unit increases in n. Thus, sequential search is the preferred institution if n is small, whereas the auction is preferred if n is large. Historical details of the evolution of livestock markets closely fit our theoretical results.     

The Failure of Liberal/Conservative Ideology as a Cognitive Structure

While the American electorate has been found less than fullycapable of choosing among presidential candidates on the basisof their positions on the issues, there has been optimism thatwere that electorate encouraged to conceptualize politics onthe basis of liberal and conservative ideological positions,the quality of vote choice would improve. Using ANES 1980'squestions to assess the electorate's ability to lend correctdefinitions to the terms liberal and conservative, we find littlebasis for optimism that an ideologically sophisticated electoratewould better select candidates reflecting the electorate's positionson the issues.     

GEOGRAPHICALLY LOCALIZED KNOWLEDGE: SPILLOVERS OR MARKETS?

Using detailed data on California biotechnology, we find that the positive impact of research universities on nearby firms relates to identifiable market exchange between particular university star scientists and firms and not to generalized knowledge spillovers. Poisson and two-stage Heckman regressions indicate the number of star-firm collaborations powerfully predicts success: for an average firm, five articles coauthored by academic stars and the firm's scientists imply about five more products in development, 3.5 more products on the market, and 860 more employees. Stars collaborating with or employed by firms, or who patent, have significantly higher citation rates than pure academic stars. (JEL O31, D62, L65, L66)     

AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF ALCOHOL ADDICTION: RESULTS FROM THE MONITORING THE FUTURE PANELS

In a panel of young adults, we find that alcohol consumption is addictive in the sense that increases in past or future consumption cause current consumption to rise. The positive and significant future consumption effect is consistent with the hypothesis of rational addiction. The long-run price elasticity is approximately 60% larger than the short-run price elasticity and twice as large as the elasticity that ignores addiction. Thus, a tax hike policy to curtail consumption or abuse may not have a favorable cost-benefit ratio unless it is based on the long-run price elasticity. (JEL 110)