Introducing the Elephant in the Room: Power

“The ideal of fully absent power is not only impossible to achieve; it is even hard to envision. We are all the products of power relations and exercise power by our very presence in the world.” — Jane Mansbridge, 2009     

The impact of real Estate Market knowledge on tenure choice: A comparison of black and white households

Abstract

Homeownership is an important social and financial achievement for most U.S. households. Various explanations have been offered for the large and persistent gap in the ownership rates of black and white households, but studies have consistently fallen short of identifying all of the causes.

The data we used were derived from a survey of the residents of the Columbus, OH, area. We argue that differences in real estate market knowledge and information affect the tenure choice decisions of black and white households. We estimate a model that is augmented to include a measure of real estate knowledge and find that additional knowledge increases the likelihood of homeownership. This holds even when we account for the endogeneity of such knowledge. We conclude that differences in real estate knowledge contribute to explaining the racial gap in homeownership rates, a finding that can be addressed through public policy interventions such as counseling programs.     

Peace,retrenchment and reform: The British radicals before 1914

Jennifer Loach: Parliament under the Tudors (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1991; pp. viii, 172; ISBN 0–19–873091–8; £8.95 pbk)

T.E. Hartley: Elizabeth's Parliaments: Queen, Lords and Commons, 1559–1601 (Manchester University Press, 1992; pp. ii, 184; ISBN 0–7190–3216–4; £35.00)

Parliament and Liberty from the reign of Elizabeth to the English civil war. edited by J.H. Hexter (Stanford University Press, 1992; pp. xi, 333; ISBN 0–8047–1949–7; $39.50)     

Investigating the influence of social costs and benefits of environmental policies through social capital theory

The level of effectiveness of an environmental policy depends to a significant degree on the level of acceptance and cooperation of citizens. The relevant literature indicates that social capital may significantly influence environmentally responsible behaviour connected with the implementation of an environmental policy. In this context, the present article aims to further explore this field by introducing the issue of non-economic social costs and benefits imposed from environmental policies. In particular, it is supported, both theoretically and empirically, that social costs and benefits may influence the decision of individuals to cooperate and comply with an environmental policy and thus may be a significant indicator for environmental behaviour. Furthermore, these social costs and benefits may differ among individuals and are influenced by social capital elements. Consequently, through the article the need of exploring social capital prior to environmental policy implementation is underlined along with the need of creating social capital assessment techniques.