Linear cost sharing in economies with non-Samuelsonian public goods: Core equivalence

 We consider an economy with non-Samuelsonian public goods and we focus on linear cost sharing. In a linear cost sharing equilibrium all agents in the economy optimize given a certain fixed cost share to be contributed towards the provision of public goods in the economy. Hence, each agent pays a certain fraction of the total establishment costs of public goods and these cost shares are common knowledge. We show that for a certain fixed contribution scheme the resulting linear cost share equilibria are equivalent to corresponding core allocations, in which the core is based on the integral of the individual cost shares. We also show that there is no equivalence of the Foley core with cost share equilibria, even in well-behaved large economies. Received: 16 August 1995/Accepted: 29 July 1996     

Mobilization Processes and the 1989 Chinese Democracy Movement

Using a multimethod strategy, we identify and analyze mobilization processes associated with the rapid emergence of the 1989 Chinese Democracy Movement. We propose that the confluence of macro-, meso-, and micromobilization processes and linkages among them provide a more robust model for understanding social movement dynamics. While the Chinese Democracy Movement was facilitated by economic reforms, regime crises, delayed repression, and the presence of foreign journalists, institutional forces were not sufficient in explaining the rapid and extensive mobilization. Students were able to overcome deficits in organizational and media resources by co-opting extant networks and by developing resonant collective action frames. Their frame alignment strategies and nonviolent direct action tactics tended to resonate with ordinary people's observations and experiences as well as with traditional Chinese narratives of Confucianism, nationalism, and communism. State reactions and counterframings, on the other hand, failed to sway the masses. Instead, participation spread from a few hundred college students to millions of citizens and ended, tragically and ironically, with the "People's Army" slaughtering its own people around Tiananmen Square.     

The feasibility of alternative IMF-type stabilization programs in Mexico, 1983–1987

In November 1982, Mexico announced an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a program to ease the country's large foreign debt. Mexico may recieve nearly $4 billion worth of credit if the government reduces the deficit, raises taxes and curbs imports. This article investigates whether an IMF program like this can work in Mexico without a serious and immediate economic contraction. A model is constructed to examine the impact of government fiscal activity under alternative stabilization programs. The analysis suggests a critical element for success is the ability and willingness to raise tax revenues.     

The Portable Community: Mobility and Modernization in Bluegrass Festival Life

Drawing from six years of ethnographic field research, I examine participants' involvement in bluegrass music and festival culture in the American West. Participants left their community‐starved home neighborhoods to cultivate what I refer to as “portable communities”: temporary forms of mobile gemeinschaft community that participants found in multiple settings. Festivalgoers articulated a consistent vocabulary of intimacy, inclusion, and simplicity when describing their continued involvement in this setting. They described their involvement as driven by a quest for intimate community, open and equal social relations, and simple living, elements they found in short supply in their daily lives. Whereas traditional community forms depend on residential stability, these participants intentionally cultivated and supported alternatives that emerged in response to participants' geographic mobility.     

More responsibility, less control: psychiatric survivors and Welfare State restructuring

This paper is concerned with the implications of recent Welfare State restructuring for psychiatric survivors' citizenship status. Using the Province of Ontario as a case study, the paper examines the extent to which recent change in mental health care and social assistance programs has worked to facilitate or constrain survivors' ability to exercise control over their lives. Despite recognition of the importance of survivors' participation in the mental health care system in the late 1980s, recent years have seen a return to a more traditional treatment paradigm characterized by professional control. Concurrently, restructuring of social assistance programs has led to a decline in the real value of income supports and growing pressure on informal support networks. As a result, psychiatric survivors are increasingly held responsible for their own material well-being and public conduct, but are less able to exercise control within everyday life.