Quantitative cross-national studies of economic development: A comparison of the economics and sociology literatures

For more than two decades, economists and sociologists have pursued parallel cross-national quantitative investigations of the determinants of economic development. These investigations have proceeded in mutual ignorance despite the often large overlap in statistical methods and data employed. Apparently contradictory findings have resulted, especially regarding the impacts of international trade and foreign direct investment. We find that there are two factors that account for these inconsistent results. One key factor is the use of different variables to measure international trade and investment, the choice of which is in turn driven by underlying differences in theoretical motivations. A second important difference involves sociologists’ greater preoccupation with more complex multivariate models versus economists’ greater willingness to focus on individual variables in multivariate regressions while viewing others as “controls.” A major finding of our survey is that when thesame variables are used, the results of economists and sociologists tend to be consistent, rather than contradictory (as might have occurred, for example, because of the use of different samples of countries or time periods, or the use of other variables included in the regression equations). We also consider some studies whose purviews go beyond economic growth to consider factors such as income inequality, physical quality of life, demographic change, and basic needs provisioning. Angela Martin Crowly is at the Department of Sociology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California 92717. James Rauch is at the department of Economics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093. Susanna Seagrave is at the U.S. General Accounting Office, Washington, D.C. 20548. David A. Smith is at the Department of Sociology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California 92717.     

Detection of cocaine metabolite in perspiration stain, menstrual bloodstain, and hair

Low nanogram and picogram quantities of cocaine metabolite equivalents were detected in extracts from perspiration stains, menstrual bloodstains, and hair using radioimmunoassay. The theory of drug inclusion in hair and its significance are discussed.     

Choice of Law in Tort—Blending in with the Landscape of the Conflict of Laws?

The reformed choice of law in tort rules contained in the Private International Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1995 have proved a source of great controversy. This piece attempts to show that there are wider concerns fuelled by the Act. It seeks to demonstrate that one can not reform one area of the Conflict of Laws (such as choice of law in tort) in isolation from other areas (such as jurisdiction in tortious matters and choice of law in contract) and to illustrate the unsatisfactory state that the statutory reforms have had on these other areas. The analysis of the problems generated by the Act may be used as a model for a far more fundamental proposition: namely that the tendency to regard choice of law and jurisdiction as separate areas throughout the Conflict of Laws, rather than as combining to form a coherent law of international litigation, is a critical shortcoming of the study of the subject.     

Chloroquine distribution in postmortem cases

Chloroquine concentrations in blood and tissues were examined in overdose and non-overdose cases to determine appropriate ranges for interpretation. Twenty-nine literature overdose cases and 8 non-overdose literature cases were compared with this laboratory's findings. The results indicate significant postmortem redistribution of chloroquine. Combining this laboratory's results and the literature results indicates that using a liver concentration of 150 mg/kg as a cutoff between overdose and non-overdose concentrations properly identified 30 of the 34 published cases containing liver chloroquine and 19 of the 20 presented cases.