Alienation,indifference and the choice of ideological position

In this paper we describe a simple model of individual voting behavior and present its implications for the candidate positioning problem under both vote and plurality maximization. Under our assumptions, some voters at the extremes of the ideological spectrum typically will not vote because they are alienated by the equilibrium location of candidates. There will also be some voters in the middle of the ideological spectrum who will not vote because they are indifferent between the equilibrium locations of the candidates. Both the abstention from alienation and from indifference arise explicitly from utility maximization. Once we allow for alienation and indifference, the two alternative candidate objective functions (vote maximization and plurality maximization) yield different outcomes. In particular, we show that under vote maximization the Median Voter (or Minimum Differentiation) outcome will not arise. On the other hand, under plurality maximization, the Median Voter outcome may or may not hold, depending on the distribution of voter preferences.We should like to thank Jerry Fusselman, Jon Hamilton, Mel Hinich, Charlie Holt and participants at seminars at the University of Virginia, Northwestern University and the 1989 Meetings of the Public Choice Society and the Economic Science Association for their helpful comments.     

Progrès économiques et avancées sociales au sein des chaînes d'approvisionnement mondiales: plusieurs exemples dans les pays du cône Sud

Les auteurs s'interrogent sur la nature et la diffusion des progrès induits par les chaînes d'approvisionnement mondiales (CAM), en s'appuyant sur les conclusions de neuf études de cas portant sur des filières implantées dans des pays du sud de l'Amérique latine. Des progrès économiques, associés à certaines avancées en matière sociale, sont observés parmi les entreprises têtes de file, mais les fournisseurs en amont n'en tirent pas toujours profit. Après avoir isolé trois types d'évolutions possibles au sein des CAM (développements «antagoniste», «tronqué» et «intégré»), les auteurs formulent des recommandations en ce qui concerne l'action des pouvoirs publics, des entreprises et des acteurs sociaux.     

An adolescent services plan to incorporate status offenders into the child welfare system

A model plan is presented for adolescent services that would facilitate the current trend to shift troubled but nondelinquent youngsters from the juvenile justice system into the child welfare system.     

A MACROECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF ENERGY SUBSIDIES IN A SMALL OPEN ECONOMY

We construct a dynamic model of a small open economy to analyze the effects of large energy subsidies. The model includes domestic energy production and consumption, trade in energy at world market prices, as well as private and public sector production. The model is calibrated to Egypt and used to study reforms such as reductions in energy subsidies with corresponding reductions in various tax instruments or increases in infrastructure investment. We calculate the new steady states, transition paths to the new steady state, and the size of the associated welfare losses or gains. Our main results for a 15% cut in energy subsidies are: (1) Steady state gross domestic product drops in most of our experiments as less energy is used in production. (2) Steady state consumption rises in most of our experiments. (3) Welfare can rise by as much as 0.6% in consumption equivalent terms. (4) The largest gains in terms of output and of welfare can be obtained when savings from energy subsidy cuts are used to fund additional infrastructure investment. (JEL E21, E63, H55, J26, J45)     

Similarity in friendship networks: Selection or influence? The effect of constraining contexts and non-visible individual attributes

Most research on similarity in friendship networks focuses on clearly visible individual attributes (i.e. attitudes and behaviors) in contexts where choices whom to befriend are relatively unconstrained. These studies often reveal that social selection rather than social influence is the dominant cause of similarity among friends. We argue that in a setting where social collaboration is crucial and friendship choices are more constrained, influence might be the main reason for similarity found among friends. In addition, we examined whether social categorization and peer control amplifies the social influence process among friends. Using a stochastic actor-based model for network dynamics, we analyzed a three-wave dataset of first year Royal Netherlands Naval College officer students on friendship formation and military discipline. The data supports our first hypothesis that students adjust their own military discipline to that of their friends. Contrary to our expectations, we did not find support for the idea that individuals adjust their discipline more to friends who are of the same military specialty, and neither more to friends who exert peer control. We elaborate on these findings in the discussion.     

Many Chinas? The Economic Diversity of China's Provinces

This note analyzes China's provincial diversity from two perspectives. First, the regional gross domestic products of China's 31 mainland provinces are compared with the national GDP of other countries. This demonstrates that China's most advanced provinces and urban areas have per capita GDP levels comparable to those of Sweden and Singapore. On the other hand, China's least developed provinces have a standard of living similar to those of Sudan and Honduras. The second part of the analysis demonstrates that China's economic diversity is not unique. In fact, European countries exhibit almost the same degree of income diversity as do Chinese provinces.     

Emigration,Dauerreflexion und Identität

Zusammenfassung Albert Salomon, ein 1891 in Berlin geborener deutsch-jüdischer Soziologe, der 1935 in die USA emigrieren musste, wo er bis zu seinem Tode 1966 in New York an der New School for Social Research forschte und lehrte, hat ein Werk hinterlassen, das heute nahezu vergessen ist und dessen Einheit selbst die Wenigen, die sich mit ihm befassten, nicht erkannt haben. Dieses Werk stellt einen systematischen, an ideengeschichtlicher Komplexit?t kaum wieder erreichten Beitrag zur Geschichte der Soziologie dar, der von gro?er Bedeutung für die aktuelle Identit?tsbildung des Faches im Rahmen der sich etablierenden Kulturwissenschaften ist. Für Anregungen und Kritik sei Peter L. Berger, M. Rainer Lepsius, Thomas Luckmann, Peter-Ulrich Merz-Benz, Guy Oakes, Hannah Salomon-Janovsky, Ilja Srubar, Dirk T?nzler, Arthur J. Vidich und Gilbert Weiss gedankt.     

The survival of newly founded firms: a case-study into varying-coefficient models

Summary.  The success of a newly founded firm depends on various initial risk factors or start-up conditions such as the market that the business is aiming for, the experience and the age of the founder, the preparation before the launch, the financial frame and the legal form of the firm. These risk factors determine the chance of survival for the venture. However, the effects of these risk factors may change with time. Some effects may vanish whereas others remain constant. We analyse the survival of 1123 newly founded firms in the state of Bavaria, Germany. Our focus is on the investigation of time variation in the effects of risk factors. Time variation is tackled within the framework of varying-coefficient models, where time smoothly modifies the effects of risk factors. An important issue in our analysis is the separation of risk factors which have time-varying effects from those which have time constant effects. We make use of the Akaike criterion to separate these two types of risk factor.