Comments on “Are the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) justified?”

In “Are the Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) Justified?” the authors conclude that the benefits delivered by the GSEs (as structured prior to conservatorship) are minimal and do not exceed their costs. While many of the arguments made in the article have merit and raise serious questions about the structure of the GSEs prior to 2008, the article overlooks several important benefits and costs. More significantly, no one is arguing for a return of the GSEs as they were structured prior to conservatorship. Rather than debate the merits of a model that has already been rejected by policymakers, we argue that the far more important question is what the housing finance market should look like in the future.     

Der Transfer zwischen den Studentenbewegungen von 1968 und die Entstehung einer transnationalen Gegen?ffentlichkeit

Analysiert werden die Ver?nderungen des Kommunikationsraumes, der Diskursformen und Partizipationschancen, welche die Studentenbewegungen von 1968 herbeigeführt haben. Ausgehend vom Internationalen Vietnam-Kongress, der in Berlin am 17. und 18. Februar 1968 stattgefunden hat, wird der Transfer von Ideen und Aktionsformen zwischen den Bewegungen vor und nach dem Kongress skizziert und die Handlungsdynamik „kollektiver Sinnstrukturen“ akzentuiert, die nicht an die „direct relational“ oder „non-relational channels“ der Kommunikation zwischen Bewegungen geknüpft sind. Geprüft wird, ob und wie eine transnationale „Gegen?ffentlichkeit“ unter den Bedingungen der „Medien?ffentlichkeit“ entstehen und wirksam werden konnte.     

Methadone-related deaths in Norway

IntroductionThe use of methadone in opioid maintenance treatment (OMT) is potentially associated with a number of adverse effects and the risk of fatal toxicity. Increased methadone availability may lead to an increase in methadone-related deaths. We have investigated methadone-related deaths in Norway over the period 2000–2006.Materials and methodsMethadone-positive samples over the period 2000–2006 were identified from forensic toxicological investigations, and demographic and toxicological data were retrieved. The cases were cross-linked with the Norwegian Cause of Death Registry and regional OMT registers.ResultsA total of 312 individuals had died after taking methadone over the period 2000–2006, predominantly men with a mean age of 36. In 85% of cases (n = 264), the deceased had died of a methadone-related intoxication, most often in combination with other drugs, including benzodiazepines, cannabis and other opioids. Only 22% of the deceased had been in OMT at the time of death. A larger proportion of OMT patients had died of causes other than intoxications compared to those not in OMT (30% vs. 8%, respectively), most commonly related to disease.ConclusionsOne methadone-related death occurred, on average, every week over the time period investigated. Only 22% of the deceased were registered in opioid maintenance treatment (OMT) programs. The findings underline the need to control diversion of medication from OMT programs.     

(Trans)regionalism and South–South cooperation: Afrasia instead of Eurafrique?

The paper engages critically with the increasing importance of South–South cooperation and the shift from African–European to African–Asian interaction. It argues that South–South cooperation is too often framed in a spatial logics of regional integration and transregional cooperation and thus reproduces spatial understandings that are characteristic for African–European relations but misplaced in the context of African–Asian relations. Moreover, it analyses perceptions about the difference of European and Asian cooperation partners amongst political and societal elites in Kenya and Tanzania, arguing that instead of a shift from African–European to Afrasian spaces of interaction, the two mutually coexist and fulfil complementary functions.     

Gentrification and Fair Housing: Does Gentrification Further Integration?

ABSTRACT

On the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act, long-time residents of cities across the country feel increasingly anxious that they will be priced out of their homes and communities, as growing numbers of higher-income, college-educated households opt for downtown neighborhoods. These fears are particularly acute among black and Latino residents. Yet when looking through the lens of fair housing, gentrification also offers a potential opportunity, as the moves that higher-income, white households make into predominantly minority, lower-income neighborhoods are moves that help to integrate those neighborhoods, at least in the near term. We explore the long-term trajectory of predominantly minority, low-income neighborhoods that gentrified over the 1980s and 1990s. On average, these neighborhoods experienced little racial change while they gentrified, but a significant minority became racially integrated during the decade of gentrification, and over the longer term, many of these neighborhoods remained racially stable. That said, some gentrifying neighborhoods that were predominantly minority in 1980 appeared to be on the path to becoming predominantly white. Policies, such as investments in place-based, subsidized housing, are needed in many gentrifying neighborhoods to ensure racial and economic diversity over the longer term.     

Was kann Literatur und wozu schreiben? Das Ende der Gruppe 47

Im Zentrum steht die Analyse der Wechselwirkungen zwischen dem literarischen und dem politischen Feld. Die Problematik wird entfaltet am Beispiel des Zerfalls der Gruppe 47 im Kontext der Formierung und Mobilisierung einer Außerparlamentarischen Opposition in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (1965–1968). Ausgehend von divergierenden Reaktionen führender Repräsentanten der Gruppe 47 auf die Protestbewegung, zeigt der Artikel den Zusammenhang zwischen den politischen Stellungnahmen der Schriftsteller und den gruppeninternen Konkurrenzkämpfen um die legitime Definition dessen, was Literatur ist und kann. Das Auftauchen eines neuen Akteurs im politischen Feld akzentuiert und dramatisiert, so die These, die latenten Spannungen und Konflikte innerhalb der literarischen Gruppe. Herausgefordert durch die Protestbewegung in ihrem Anspruch, eine außerparlamentarische, antiautoritäre Opposition zu sein, polarisiert und spaltet sich die Gruppe entlang politischer und literarischer Konfliktlinien, die zu divergierenden Bestimmungen des gesellschaftskritischen und transzendierenden Potenzials von Literatur, unterschiedlichen Bestimmungen des Verhältnisses von Autor und Leser sowie zu gegensätzlichen Ansätzen einer Restrukturierung der Beziehungen innerhalb des Literaturbetriebs führen.