A general model of rent seeking for public goods

This paper generalizes the model of collective rent-seeking over a public good. Expanding the rent seeker's consumption bundle to include preferences over the public good and a private good, our results suggest collective rent-seeking is positively related to group size. Although free riding exists within a group, there is not a one-for-one tradeoff. In addition, rent seeking increases with wealth. Finally, total effort expended by both groups increases if either group increases in membership size, except in the case of an extremely lopsided contest. The key condition underlying these results is that the marginal utility of the public good is not inversely related to the private good.     

Fathers' rights, women's losses

Recent international moves to defend the family, protect and enhance the rights of men. For example, state proposals to redefine illegitimacy extend men's rights in marriage to unmarried men. Women are losing the choice to bring up children on our own, or together, without men.The position of men in the family is not based upon equality with women. Fatherhood is not the equivalent of motherhood, nor the support for it. The particular right of fatherhood is the right of men to take up a social position of authority over women and children. This is not an interchangeable position, for fatherhood is accrued solely to men. Social policies which encourage the presence of men in all families, and support the ‘role’ of father, perpetuate sexual inequality and discrimination against women.     

The radical personality: Social psychological correlates of new left ideology

This paper describes and tests a model of radical personality based upon social psychological correlates of New Left ideology. Following methodological criticism of studies that portrayed radicals as psychologically liberated, a model of psychopolitical rebellion is described as an inverted form of authoritarian personality. This model was tested by administering projective psychological instruments to a large sample of American college students during 1971–73. As hypothesized, radicalism was associated with measures of power motivation, narcissim, self-assertive psychosocial orientation, lack of affiliative motivation, and perceptions of protest and militancy as sources of power. The developmental sources of rebellion are also examined, and the implications for studies of personality and politics are discussed.This study was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (GS35307A1) and the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation.     

Electoral Rules,Political Competition and Fiscal Expenditures: Regression Discontinuity Evidence from Brazilian Municipalities

We exploit a discontinuity in the rules of Brazilian mayoral elections to investigate whether political competition has a causal impact on fiscal policy choices. In municipalities with fewer than 200,000 voters, mayors are elected under a plurality voting system. In all other municipalities, a runoff election takes place between the top two candidates if neither achieves the majority of votes. Our results suggest that political competition induces more investment and less current expenditures, particularly personnel expenditures. The impact is larger when incumbents can run for re-election, suggesting incentives matter insofar as incumbents can themselves remain in office.     

Is Mindful Parenting Associated with Adolescents’ Well-being in Early and Middle/Late Adolescence? The Mediating Role of Adolescents’ Attachment Representations,Self-Compassion and Mindfulness

There is some evidence that mindful parenting, a parenting approach that involves the practice of bringing mindful awareness to the parent-child relationship, is associated with several positive psychosocial outcomes in adolescents. However, only a few studies have investigated the mechanisms that may underlie that association. This study explores whether the link between mindful parenting and adolescents’ well-being is mediated by adolescents’ attachment representations, self-compassion and mindfulness skills. The sample comprised 563 parent-child dyads (95.6% mothers). Adolescents (61.5% girls) had a mean age of 14.26 years (SD?=?1.66, range?=?12–20). Parents completed a measure of mindful parenting, and adolescents completed measures of attachment representations, self-compassion, mindfulness, and well-being. Mindful parenting was indirectly associated with adolescents’ self-compassion and mindfulness through a more secure perception of the relationship with the parents, and was indirectly associated with adolescents’ well-being through perceived attachment security, self-compassion and mindfulness. The path model was invariant across stages of adolescence but some relations in the model varied across gender. Self-compassion and mindfulness seem to develop within a parent-child relationship characterized by affection, self-regulation, and mindful awareness. These two resources, along with mindful parenting and positive representations of the parent-child relationship, are associated with adolescents’ well-being.     

Nonkilling 101 — Is a nonkilling society possible?

ABSTRACT

Following the definition presented by Paige, nonkilling refers to the absence of killing, threats to kill, and conditions conducive to killing in human society. How can education contribute to bringing about such societies? As the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) called upon the global community to ‘significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere’ by 2030, a growing need exists to understand the educational measures and transformations relevant to building societies where human killing is greatly reduced and eventually absent. Just as scholars, practitioners and policy-makers in other areas have had to rethink their impact in contributing to this global goal, in 2015 the “Vasa Statement on Education for Killing-Free Societies” was adopted, proposing concrete recommendations. The articles put together in this special issue of the Journal of Peace Education provide grounds to sustain the crucial role of education in curving the global epidemic of lethal violence.     

From rhetoric to reality: an NGO’s challenge for reaching the furthest behind

The guiding principle of Agenda 2030 is the commitment to “leave no one behind”. However, as the Millennium Development Goals experience has demonstrated, there remains a “rhetoric-implementation gap” where local stakeholders struggle to realistically respond to policies formulated at the global level. This article proposes a way forward for NGOs seeking to translate the rhetoric of Agenda 2030 into reality. It presents an integrated and multi-sectoral approach to meet the challenges of an NGO working to ameliorate the basic needs of women who are affected by HIV/AIDS and limited WaSH provisions in the impoverished rural community of Lyantonde, Uganda.