For whom the bell tolls: The institutionalization of homeless families in america

A peek through the doors of New York City's Emergency Assistance Unit (EAU), the entryway into the City's family shelter system, presents a shocking snapshot of life for the poorest of America's welfare families: the homeless. Burgeoning with young single mothers and children sitting on floors and sleeping in chairs as they wait for someone to send them on to temporary shelter, the EAU offers a vivid example of the overburdened institutions of support on which poor families depend daily.     

Fundamentals and asset price dynamics

The relation between fundamentals and asset returns is analyzed by means of Markov-switching regression models with time-varying transition probabilities. By referring to the Italian Stock Exchange over the 1973-2002 period, we find that (i) returns switch between a zero-expected return/low volatility state and a high expected return/high volatility state; (ii) states are persistent and hence state changes can be forecast to some extent; (iii) the probability of state changes can be explained in terms of changes in the fundamentals; (iv) fundamentals do not have a direct impact on the expected returns but they only affect the transition probability matrix. Overall, our results show that a non-linear relation between market price changes and market fundamentals can be caught within the framework of (Markov) switching regession models.A previous draft of the paper was presented at the XL Scientific Meeting of The Italian Statistical Society, Firenze, April 2000. We would like to thank Maurizio Vichi (the editor) and several anonymous referees for important suggestions. A special thank to Lorenzo Sevini for valuable research assistance. Partial financial support by Italian M.I.U.R. grants is gratefully acknowledged.     

WORKER POWER, FIRM POWER, AND THE STRUCTURE OF LABOR MARKETS

The purpose of this article is to advance the conceptual development of structurally-oriented approaches to stratification by elaborating a behavioral model of the structure of labor markets that is based on power relations among both individual and collective actors. After reviewing the various approaches to the study of stratification and enumerating some of its shortcomings, a theory of the operation of labor markets that synthesizes a number of the elements in extant theories is presented. A labor market typology is developed based on the relative power of firms and workers and four distinct types of markets are delineated, i.e., worker-controlled, firm-internal, worker-firm negotiated, and competitive. In addition, the dynamics by which these labor markets are transformed is discussed. It is argued that this conceptual framework solves a number of problems inherent in extant theories of the operation of labor markets and the article concludes by suggesting areas for future research based on the theory.     

Evolution and Dimensions of a Women's Clinic in a University Setting

Abstract

As theologian Henri Nouwen has pointed out, the opposite of love is not hate; it is fear. Nowhere is the fear which strips us of our capacity to behave rationally better evidenced than in relation to AIDS. Only as we allow ourselves to be moved from what Nouwen calls the house of fear into the house of love will responsible answers begin to be formulated to the emerging moral questions presented by AIDS. The questions are threefold. To those potentially at risk for AIDS or actually infected with it, it raises questions about honesty and love in sexual relations. For caregivers, it raises questions about the nature of our professional obligations. And for society at large, it raises questions about confidentiality and scapegoating. It is the author's contention that an experience of the divine love—unconditional, unmerited, unbounded—is alone sufficient to move us from fear, and its responses to AIDS, to a more loving (and courageous) stance. Only thus will we begin—whether as victims of AIDS, as caregivers, or as members of society at large—to exercise moral responsibility with respect to this dread disease.     

MALDITOS: STREET GANG SUBVERSIONS OF NATIONAL BODY POLITICS IN CENTRAL AMERICA

Since the mid-1980s, street gangs known as maras have emerged as a new social entity in Central America. In Honduras, these informal organizations are repeatedly represented in various forms of media as an aberration that is clearly separate from populace and state. Such representations render mareros as entities that possess a radically alien ontology, which is the sole locality of intervention of anti-mara programs. This article analyzes popular media and ethnographic observations to demonstrate that a) rather than being an alien ontology, marero subjectivities are co-constituted through nation and class-forming practices and b) despite such representations, Hondurans of various walks of life routinely subvert attempts to create a tripartite body politic of state-populace-marero. Continued emphasis on the marero as the sole site of intervention and rehabilitation deals with the mara issue at a symptomatic level and fails to address the quotidian processes that give form to this phenomenon.     

All Puerto Rico with Vieques: Mobilizing Support Through Social Skills and Field Dynamics

This article explains the success of All Puerto Rico with Vieques (TPRCV) in coordinating a broad-based coalition in support of the movement to remove the US Navy from Vieques. Considering the literatures on organizations, strategic fields and social movements, the analysis looks at how environmental conditions and the attributes of the leadership become relevant in the formation and sustainability of coalition work. The article argues that under the conditions of a vibrant political activist sector and a dynamic political field, TPRCV used accumulated social skills to take advantage of network intersection and frame adaptation. Though environmental dynamics may produce favorable conditions for coalition building, these will be limited to the capacity of the social actors to identify them, assimilate their potential and translate them into opportunities.     

The Atlantic Slave Trade to Maranhão, 1680–1846: Volume,Routes and Organisation

Maranhão has the best documented slave trade in all Portuguese America. However, it is one of the least studied branches of the Atlantic slave trade. This article provides an assessment of the volume, routes and organisation of the slave trade to Maranhão, in northern Brazil. It shows that, although small in scale, the slave trade to Maranhão displayed important features concerning the routes and organisation of the Atlantic slave trade. Finally, because of the late European occupation and relative isolation, the slave trade to Maranhão offers ideal conditions for observing the rise and fall of African slavery in the New World.     

Building political competencies for the transformation of racism in Aotearoa

Abstract

In the face of enduring systemic racial disparities between Māori and non-Māori, we invite Pākehā health, education and social service professionals to review their ethical conduct and to enhance their political competencies to help transform racism. This paper examines how Pākehā became beneficiaries of racism and how libertarian discourses are used to distract attention away from the associated privileges. Based on experience in the anti-racism movement, we (the Pākehā authors) advocate for the grounding of Pākehā practitioners in a deeper understanding of colonial history. We invite closer attention to structural analysis as a means of gaining the understanding needed to strengthen political competence in order to avoid collusion with institutional racism. We make a case to develop co-intentional relationships with Māori through active whanaungatanga and the applications of the teachings of Freire as pathways for strengthened practice.     

Board compensation and ownership structure: empirical evidence for Italian listed companies

This paper investigates the relationships among corporate ownership, the level of board compensation, and firms’ future performance within Italian listed companies. Board compensation could be related to corporate ownership characteristics, like the type of controlling shareholder, ownership concentration, the separation between cash flow and voting rights, and the presence of shareholders’ agreements. The evidence of high levels of board compensation associated with certain governance characteristics could signal, in a principal-agent framework, rent extraction by entrenched managers or by controlling shareholders versus minority shareholders; high board compensation, however, could be related to the need to hire directors with higher professional standing and also to the desire to create a network with other companies through the enlargement of the board, according to a social network view. In this paper we disentangle this issue showing the relationship between excess board compensation and future performance: examining firms listed on the Milan Stock Exchange over the period 1995–2002, we show that board compensation is linked to many governance characteristics, but excess compensation is never positively related to future performance. For founder family firms, in particular, high board compensation is associated with (a) smaller board size; (b) higher proportion of family members on the board; (c) lower future performance. The whole evidence therefore doesn’t support the hypothesis suggested by the social network view, but is consistent with a rent extraction hypothesis. These results could add new empirical evidence to the recent debate on the need for global remuneration reform. According to our results, some control mechanism and an increase in transparency of executive compensation schemes could be appropriate.