Relation of Parental Caring to Conspicuous Consumption Attitudes in Adolescents

Adolescent conspicuous consumption attitudes are perversely rooted in human relationships and interfere with personal growth and engagement in adult roles. Negative associations between parental caring and conspicuous consumption could be evidence of a compensatory motive to seek for the passing admiration of others when parent–child relationships fail to fulfill basic needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Very little support, however, was found for Veblen’s original hypothesis that conspicuous consumption attitudes are driven by perceived social class distinctions. Yet, immersion in the consumer culture promoted by the media predicted higher levels of conspicuous consumption attitudes which were also more prominent among older adolescents. This small-scale study of 257, predominantly middle-class adolescents, calls attention to the need for more family socialization studies of adolescent money attitudes.     

Networks and Agricultural Development: The Case of Soybean Production and Consumption in Brazil

Diffusion theory and political economy are the two most common ways by which rural sociologists have explained the widespread use of agricultural innovations. In this paper, we argue, borrowing from science studies and using the empirical case of soybeans in Brazil, that the use of agricultural innovations is better understood as the result of the construction of networks of people and things. Thirty years ago soybean production in Brazil was insignificant. However, at that time a soybean network began to be formed. Initial actors were, among others, (1) soybean varieties produced in the United States, (2) wheat farmers located in the south of Brazil, and (3) soil in need of nitrogen, an expensive input for the new wheat varieties. State policies were no doubt important in consolidating that network. However, other persons, institutions and things were also necessary, including science and technology, the creation and/or expansion of farmers' organizations such as cooperatives, and the solution to the problem of photoperiod sensitivity in soybeans. We follow the soybean from its introduction in Brazil to its present status as an important crop. The overall context within which the soybean network began is also described. We conclude that the actor network approach is more congruent with the history of soybeans in Brazil than diffusion theory or political economy.     

The maximum likelihood estimators in the growth curve model with serial covariance structure

The maximum likelihood estimators of unknown parameters in the growth curve model with serial covariance structure under some conditions are derived in the paper.     

Transnationalism and American Exports in an English‐Speaking World1

Investigating the relationship between immigration, middleman minority status, transnationalism, and U.S. foreign trade, the authors assembled a census‐based data file that contains aggregate‐level variables for 88 foreign‐born groups by national origin between 1980 and 1990. They regressed immigrant characteristics and immigration volume upon time‐lagged import/export statistics from the same 88 nations between 1985 and 1995. Results show the independent influence on exports of immigrant entrepreneurship, transnationalism, and middleman minority status. But these variables, exhaustively derived from the existing literature, had no effect on U.S. imports; they only affected exports. The authors propose that the discrepancy between imports and exports arises because of the dominance of English as a world business language. In this situation, foreigners need no help from immigrants when they export to the United States; but native‐born, monolingual Americans need the help of bicultural immigrants when they export. The empirical results suggest that immigrant entrepreneurs enhance the United States' exports and thus reduce the United States' balance of payments deficit.     

Market‐Implied Spread for Earthquake CAT Bonds: Financial Implications of Engineering Decisions

In the event of natural and man‐made disasters, owners of large‐scale infrastructure facilities (assets) need contingency plans to effectively restore the operations within the acceptable timescales. Traditionally, the insurance sector provides the coverage against potential losses. However, there are many problems associated with this traditional approach to risk transfer including counterparty risk and litigation. Recently, a number of innovative risk mitigation methods, termed alternative risk transfer (ART) methods, have been introduced to address these problems. One of the most important ART methods is catastrophe (CAT) bonds. The objective of this article is to develop an integrative model that links engineering design parameters with financial indicators including spread and bond rating. The developed framework is based on a four‐step structural loss model and transformed survival model to determine expected excess returns. We illustrate the framework for a seismically designed bridge using two unique CAT bond contracts. The results show a nonlinear relationship between engineering design parameters and market‐implied spread.