Foreclosing on the American dream? The financial consequences of low-income homeownership

Federal programs have consistently encouraged ever-lower-income households to buy homes, despite concerns about the long-term sustainability and desirability of homeownership from the perspective of wealth-building, especially since the recent housing market collapse and the epidemic of mortgage foreclosures. We ask in this paper: can very low-income households build wealth through sustainable homeownership, with the aid of an innovative public program? We answer this question by examining 122 very low-income households who purchased their homes between 1996 and 2007 after completing an extensive asset-building and homeownership education/counseling program offered by the Housing Authority of the City and County of Denver (DHA), called HOP. We analyze our own longitudinal surveys and focus groups, as well as data compiled from administrative agency sources, real estate records, and longitudinal census data from the Neighborhood Change Database and the Piton Foundation's Neighborhood Facts Database. We find that homeownership attained through HOP typically did provide very low-income households with opportunities to build home equity (both absolutely and relative to generic homeowner cohorts in Denver) and net wealth, although this was contingent on time of purchase and ethnicity. Our multivariate analyses revealed that changes in annualized home equity appreciation were associated with the ethnic composition of the neighborhood and age of property. Annualized wealth accumulation was associated with annualized home equity appreciation, being married throughout the tenure of homeownership, and year of home purchase. HOP homebuyers received exceptionally favorable initial mortgage terms and conditions, often enhanced with down-payment assistance from their own DHA escrow account or from local housing and neighborhood development organizations, resulting in a dramatically low rate of default and foreclosure to date. Moreover, HOP homebuyers were not immune to financial stresses, and the continuing lack of wealth for many makes them vulnerable to future interruptions in primary wage earner's employment or health. We discuss the implications for low-income homeownership policy and argue that the goal of expanding homeownership opportunities should not be abandoned.     

When does inequality demobilize? New evidence from the American states

Income inequality has been rising throughout the industrialized world, particularly in the United States. This long been thought to depress turnout, but extant research has yielded mixed findings. Here, I argue that the inequality-turnout relationship is conditional, depending crucially on election salience. I test this by using three decades (1984–2014) of panel data from the U.S. states and by leveraging the fixed and exogenous occurrence of presidential (higher-salience) and midterm (lower-salience) elections. Overall, I find a negative and statistically significant relationship between income inequality and voter turnout in midterm election years, but a substantively small and non-significant relationship in presidential election years. I attribute this to the ability of presidential contests, relative to midterms, to counteract the demobilizing influence of high inequality, by piquing voters’ interest and activating citizens who would otherwise abstain. Overall, these findings help us to better understand of the politics of electoral participation in an era of high, and rising economic inequality.     

The Grecian horse: does immigration lead to the deterioration of American institutions?

Concerns about the institutional impact of immigration, particularly in the United States, are not new. We can trace them back to Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton. More recently, in response to a literature that questions the desirability of current immigration restrictions, Borjas (J Econ Lit 53:961–974, 2015) speculates that immigrants coming from countries with poor institutions could reduce substantially the institutional quality in the United States to a point where it could negate all economic gains associated with immigration in terms of GDP and income. Using the Economic Freedom of North America index since 1980, we find no evidence to corroborate Borjas’s concerns. However, we find mixed evidence that immigration increases minimum wages and union density.     

The New Neighborhood Policy of the EU: An Appropriate Response to the Arab Spring?

This article analyzes the extent, substance, and underlying objectives of the European Union's (EU) new neighborhood policy in response to the Arab Spring. It questions whether the new policy approach constitutes a major policy shift or is just “old wine in new wineskins.” The article discusses the causes for much continuity and limited change in the new policy from a neo-institutionalist perspective. It concludes that both continuity and change primarily result from constraints inherent to the EU. In particular, the interaction between the Commission and the Council shapes a policy that corresponds with the normative aspirations and realist interests of the EU but hardly with the needs and expectations of the partner states.     

'Attitudinally Feminist'? The New Labour Women MPs and the Substantive Representation of Women

In the period since the election of 120 women MPs to the House of Commons, discussion concerning their behaviour has been much in evidence. This article seeks to contribute to the analysis of whether women MPs seek to substantively represent women. It draws on qualitative interviews with more than half of the newly elected Labour women MPs. The paper demonstrates that more than two-thirds of the newly elected Labour women MPs are 'attitudinally feminist', one measure of whether women representatives will seek to 'act for' women. The article challenges, therefore, claims that women representatives have not sought feminised change in British politics.     

The roles of foreign aid and education in the war on terror

This paper presents a theoretical framework and some empirical results showing that the level of foreign aid received reduces the supply of terrorist attacks by recipient countries, as does the recipient country’s level of education. Due account is taken of endogeneity problems in producing these results. They suggest that Western democracies, which are the main targets of terrorist attacks, should invest more funds in foreign aid with a special emphasis on supporting education.     

The demise of the last westminster system? Comments on the report of New Zealand's Royal Commission on the Electoral System

The New Zealand government set up a Royal Commission to consider the country's electoral system. It produced an unexpectedly radical Report, challenging some of the basic assumptions of the Westminster system under which New Zealand has been governed for 100 years. This article considers the wider implications of the Report, criticizing some of its assumptions, but accepting its basic analysis—a general philosophical dislike of the principle of concentrating power in the hands of the majority. It also explores the Report's treatment of alternative forms of proportional representation.     

The end of the Whitehall model?

One of the most influential and apparently enduring models of the political‐bureaucratic relations has been the ‘Whitehall model’ derived from British practices. Yet the relationship between bureaucrats and politicians in Britain, often poorly understood in the past, has changed in recent years to such an extent that the continued existence of the ‘Whitehall model’ can be doubted. This article draws on published sources and, for background, interviews conducted since 1989 with higher (Grade III and above) civil servants and current or former ministers to explore how and why the Whitehall model is threatened with extinction. The wider implications of this development for British policy making and for the study of the relations between bureaucrats and politicians are explored.     

European defence and the new détente: The collapse of the cold war system

France in World Politics. Edited by Robert Aldrich and John Connell. London: Routledge, 1989. Pp. 229. £30.00.

Franco‐British Defence Cooperation: A New Entente Cordiale? Edited by Yves Boyer, Pierre Lellouche and John Roper. London: Routledge for the Royal Institute of International Affairs and l'Institut Français des Relations Internationales, 1989. Pp. xii + 194. £30.00.

The New Détente: Rethinking East‐West Relations. Edited by Mary Kaldor, Gerard Holden and Richard Falk. London and Tokyo: Verso and the United Nations University, 1989. Pp. 420. £34.95 (hardback) and £11.95 (paperback).

Strangers and Friends: The Franco‐German Security Relationship. Edited by Robbin Laird. London: Pinter Publishers in association with John Spiers for the Central Research Program of the Institute for Defense Analyses. Pp. 150. £29.95.     

The Unmasking of the Metaphysicians or the Deconstructing of Metaphysics?

Abstract

This essay argues that Popper's work, seen from the vantage point of increasing historical distance, can be viewed as the first attempt to understand the grand narrative as the adjustment of metaphysics to the modern world. When viewed from such a distance enduring questions regarding holism, identity, essentialism, and truth can once again be thrown into relief, together with the pressing issues of the paradox of freedom and sovereignty.     

Old Dogs,New Tricks? The Role of Regional Organizations in the Mediterranean after the Arab Revolts

Taking its point of departure in how specific regional organizations function and interact in the Mediterranean, this article attempts to show to what degree this institutional setup has influenced the developments in the Arab Mediterranean states after the Arab revolts. The analysis of the organizational and institutional setup in the Mediterranean is theoretically founded in the new institutionalism tradition. Furthermore, a regionalism perspective is applied, touching on discussions related to European normative ambitions. It is demonstrated that the regional organizations only to a limited degree have contributed to democratization processes or to democratic consolidation in a post–Arab Spring context, and it is argued that it seems unlikely that these organizations in the future will develop into tools for democratization in the Mediterranean region.