THE EFFECTS OF ASSET PURCHASES AND NORMALIZATION OF U.S. MONETARY POLICY

This paper examines changes in the effects of unconventional monetary policies in the United States. To this end, we estimate a Markov-switching VAR model with absorbing regimes to capture possible structural changes. Our results detect regime changes around the beginning of 2011 and the middle of 2013. Before 2011, the U.S. large-scale asset purchases (LSAPs) had relatively large impacts on the real economy and prices, but after the middle of 2013, their effects were weaker and less-persistent. In addition, after the middle of 2013, which includes the monetary policy normalization period, the asset purchase (or balance sheet) shocks had slightly weaker effects than during the early stage of the LSAPs but stronger effects than during the late stage of the LSAPs, while interest rate shocks had insignificant effects on the real economy and prices. Finally, our results suggest that the positive responses of durables and capital goods expenditures to interest rate shocks weakened the negative impacts of interest rate hikes after the middle of 2013 including the period of monetary policy normalization. (JEL C32, E21, E52)     

Continuity and egalitarianism in the evaluation of infinite utility streams

There exists a utilitarian tradition à la Sidgwick of treating equal generations equally. Diamond showed that there exists no social evaluation ordering over infinite utility streams in the presence of the Pareto principle, the Sidgwick principle, and continuity. Instead of requiring the Sidgwick principle of procedural fairness, we focus on two principles of distributional egalitarianism along the line of the Pigou–Dalton transfer principle and the Lorenz domination principle, and show that there exists no social evaluation relation satisfying one of these egalitarian principles and the weakened continuity and rationality axioms even in the absence of the Pareto principle. This paper is a substantially revised version of our foregoing paper, “On the Possibility of Continuous, Paretian and Egalitarian Evaluation of Infinite Utility Streams,” which was based on our joint research conducted as a part of the Project on Intergenerational Equity under the auspices of the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan. Thanks are due to Geir Asheim, Kaushik Basu, Walter Bossert, Hajime Hori, Tomoki Inoue, Mitsunori Noguchi and Koichi Tadenuma with whom we had several discussions on this and related issues. We are also grateful to the anonymous referees and the Associate Editor in charge of our earlier paper for their helpful comments and suggestions. Needless to say, no one other than ourselves should be held responsible for any remaining defect of this paper.     

Neutralized Hegemonic Banter: The Persistence of Sexist and Racist Joking Among Undergraduate Students

Using a mixed methods approach, this article explores factors that contribute to undergraduate students' beliefs about the harm caused by racist and sexist jokes. Quantitative results indicate that, net of other demographic control variables, college men are less likely to agree that sexist and racist jokes are harmful. Qualitative findings shed light on this pattern via a process we call neutralized hegemonic banter. By connecting students' perspectives about the perceived harm caused by racist and sexist jokes with their larger campus experiences, we extend the literature and demonstrate the role that hegemonic masculinity plays in normalizing racist and sexist joking.     

STUDENT DISTRESS IN A WEB-BASED DISTANCE EDUCATION COURSE

Many advocates of computer-mediated distance education emphasize its positive aspects and understate the kinds of communicative and technical capabilities and work required by students and faculty. There are few systematic analytical studies of students who have experienced new technologies in higher education. This article presents a qualitative case study of a small graduate-level web-based distance education course at a major US university.This paper examines students' distressing experiences due to communication breakdowns and technical difficulties. This topic is glossed over in much of the distance education literature written for administrators, instructors and prospective students. The intent is that this study will enhance understanding of the instructional design issues, instructor and student preparation, and communication practices that are needed to improve web-based distance education courses.     

Facilitating Pro-environmental Behavior: The Role of Pessimism and Anthropocentric Environmental Values

The two primary aims of the present study were: (1) to test the constructive pessimism hypothesis in relation to pro-environmental behavior, and (2) to clarify the relationship between pro-environmental behavior and anthropocentric values. Specifically, we focused on the idea that pessimistic anticipation of the future might facilitate actions aimed at avoiding an undesirable future, and that it may also be effective for reducing the pessimistic outlook about the future (i.e., ‘constructive pessimism’). Results of structural equation modeling using questionnaire survey data obtained in Tsukuba City, Japan (n = 300) confirmed that pessimistic anticipation of future subjective well-being facilitated pro-environmental behavior in the present. We also confirmed that both ecocentric and anthropocentric values facilitated pro-environmental behavior. Results suggest that psychological factors surrounding pro-environmental behavior, including constructive pessimism, should be taken into consideration in developing better policy interventions to facilitate such behavior.     

Park pruning prompts a competitive reversal of an exotic tree, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ligustrum lucidum</Emphasis>, in urban forests of Japan

Ligustrum lucidum, a tree native to China has naturalized in Japan where it is often planted in parks and along roads. Naturalized individuals in urban woodlands have uncertain competitiveness against native species, particular in light of the frequent pruning undertaken in these woodlands. We compared fitness-related traits of Ligustrum against two co-occurring native species: a pioneer tree (Mallotus japonicus) and an understory tree (Eurya japonica) under pruned and un-pruned settings. A growth experiments where we assessed the leaf and whole plant characteristics of the 3 species under two environments simulating forest edge and forest interior, and two pruning treatments (with or without) was conducted. Under simulated forest edge without pruning, Ligustrum had lower stem growth and A_max (maximum photosynthetic rate) than Mallotus, suggesting that native species can competitively suppress invasive expansion. With pruning, however, Ligustrum resprouted vigorously in both spring and summer with significantly higher apical growth and total shoots than Mallotus and Eurya in forest edge and interior, respectively. Also, with similar A_max between resprouts of Ligustrum and Mallotus, we see a reversal of competitive advantage in favor of Ligustrum in forest edge. In the forest interior, Ligustrum exhibited shade tolerant properties (i.e., A_max, chlorophyll a/b, and leaf density) similar to Eurya but had more resprout shoots, suggesting that the invader also maintains an advantage under low light. The competitiveness of Ligustrum clearly increased with human disturbance in the form of park pruning. Such management practice can inadvertently enhance the invasiveness of exotic species in urban settings.     

Co-constructing controversy: content analysis of collaborative knowledge negotiation in online communities

Knowledge sharing online has flourished within organizations as well as open online communities due to the pervasiveness of Web 2.0 platforms. This paper builds on previous studies of social construction of knowledge online and investigates how contributors in online communities collaboratively share and construct controversial scientific knowledge. As the general public participates in such knowledge collaboration, understanding the processes through which they contribute content and roles that they play is imperative. The authors conducted the content analysis of three online communities that engage in knowledge collaboration on the subject of Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccination, which is perceived as contentious knowledge by the public due to the widespread myth among parents that the MMR vaccine is associated with autism. The study's findings include that the content discussed is influenced by the purposes of the communities, nature of the tasks, and demographics of participants, although they discussed the same topic. The authors also found that the framework of knowledge reuse and knowledge co-construction sites is useful for investigating the content and roles that appeared in the three communities. The contribution of the paper includes the analytical framework of knowledge reuse and knowledge co-construction, articulation of the content and roles that appeared in online communities, and unboxing of discourses in three different online communities. Future research directions are also discussed.     

Dynamic wetland mosaic environments and Asian openbill habitat creation in peri-urban Bangkok

Urban Ecosystems - This study examined the spatial relationships between various types of wetland and the distribution of Asian openbills (Anastomus oscitans) as an indicator species in a...