THE GUNS OF AUTUMN?: AGE DIFFERENCES IN SUPPORT FOR INCOME TRANSFERS TO THE YOUNG AND OLD

Data from the 1973 and 1986 General Social Surveys are usedto test the hypothesis that elderly individuals favor publicspending patterns that support their own interests and not thoseof children. Support for educational spending and welfare bythe elderly is found to be less than within other age groups.Age patterns of support for Social Security spending are mixed.Responses to a series of "vignettes" depicting low-income familieswith young children and elderly women living alone showed thatelderly respondents are slightly more supportive than averageof transfers to low-income families with children and less supportivethan average of transfers to low-income members of their owncohort. Elderly respondents appear more generous once theirmore frugal notions of what it takes to "get along" are takeninto account. Support for transfers to young families is moreclosely related to income than age and is not consistent withthe hypothesis that the elderly support programs that benefitthemselves at the expense of programs that benefit the young.     

ASSERTION VERSUS INTERROGATION FORMAT IN OPINION SURVEYS QUESTIONS ENHANCE THOUGHTFUL RESPONDING

Two surveys on ostensibly new consumer products were administeredin order to assess the impact of presenting opinion items inan interrogation versus an assertion format. In addition tomanipulating the format of the opinion item, the back groundinformation about the product was varied so that it presentedeither a strong or a weak product attribute. In both surveys,opinions in response to the interrogation items were more polarizedthan those in response to the assertion items. These resultssuggest that the interrogation opinion format elicits more thoughtfulresponses than the assertion format.     

Storm over San Isidro: “Civic Community” and Disaster Risk Reduction in the Nineteenth Century Philippines

Using a detailed archival account of a typhoon‐induced flood, this paper examines Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) as practised in a late nineteenth century provincial town in the Philippines. Culture is an important determinant when considering DRR for any community as the roots of its present‐day resilience as well as the causes of its vulnerabilities may lie in its history. The flood of 1887 and the account of the actions taken by the community in San Isidro challenge any assumptions about DRR in the past and hint at the origins of the vibrant civil society that is such a characteristic of Filipino society today.