Is Urban Sprawl Good for Minorities?

This article investigates the effect of urban sprawl, as measured by employment decentralization, on minority housing consumption gaps since the housing bust. Previous research contends that sprawl contributes to reducing the Black–White housing consumption gap by increasing the supply of land in housing markets and thereby increasing affordability. Antisprawl policies may therefore exacerbate the Black–White housing disparity. This research makes two contributions to the literature. First, the article examines how changes in sprawl may have varying influences on the Black–White housing gap, a previously unexamined facet of this relationship. In the vast majority of metropolitan areas in this sample, sprawl is predicted to exacerbate the Black–White housing gap until sprawl reaches a threshold. Only in a limited number of high-sprawl metropolitan areas does sprawl contribute to reducing the Black–White housing gap. Second, the article examines differences in housing gaps for three distinct minority groups—Blacks, Asians, and Hispanics—using recent data from the 2009 American Housing Survey. For Blacks, sprawl continues to have varying effects on housing consumption. For Asians, urban sprawl yields significant gains in housing consumption relative to Whites. However, no significant results occur for Hispanics. This article demonstrates that the independent effect of urban sprawl on U.S. minority housing consumption is a highly uneven process in the post–Great Recession economy. As such, arguments that antisprawl policies reduce minority gains in housing should be treated with considerable skepticism.     

Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985

This article briefly describes the legislative history of the old-age, survivors, and disability insurance (OASDI) and supplemental security income (SSI) provisions, as well as related Medicare and Medicaid provisions, of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (Public Law 99-272). It includes a chronology outlining the interaction of the budget reconciliation process with the development of the OASDI minor and technical changes bill (H.R. 2005) and the development of other social security related legislation resulting in proposals that ultimately combined in the overall Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985. The article also provides a detailed summary of the provisions of the legislation.     

Gender Differences in Worry About a Terrorist Attack: A Cross-National Examination of Individual- and National-Level Factors

Prior research has found gender to be associated with worry about crime and terrorism. We used World Values Survey data to assess gender differences in worry about terrorism across 54 nations. Analyses also examined the influence of individual- and national-level factors. Women were significantly more worried about terrorism in 22 of the 54 nations. Men in Iraq, Libya, Yemen, and New Zealand were significantly more worried about terrorism than women. Individuals were more likely to worry about terrorism as the nation’s average mortality count in terrorist incidents increased. Policy implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Sowing Dragon's Teeth: Public Support for Political Violence and Paramilitarism in Northern Ireland

While much attention has been devoted to political efforts to solve the Northern Ireland problem, less attention has been given to the role of political violence in sustaining the conflict. We argue that one of the reasons for the intractability of the conflict is widespread exposure to political violence among the civil population. By 1998, thirty years after the conflict started, one in seven of the population reported being a victim of violence; one in five had a family member killed or injured; and one in four had been caught up in an explosion. Such widespread exposure to violence exists alongside latent support for paramilitarism among a significant minority of both communities. Using 1998 survey data, we show that exposure to violence serves to enhance public support for paramilitary groups, as well as to reduce support for the decommissioning of para-military weapons. Overall, the results suggest that only a lengthy period without political violence will undermine support for paramilitarism and result in the decommissioning of weapons.     

Durable Democracy? Economic Inequality and Democratic Accountability in the New Gilded Age

Political Behavior - Scholarship in the U.S. provides mounting evidence of a linkage between economic inequality and inequality in representation and policymaking. In response, this article...     

The Influence of Foreign Voices on U.S. Public Opinion

Public opinion in the lead‐up to the 2003 Iraq War presents a puzzle. Despite the fact that domestic political elites publicly voiced little opposition to the invasion, large numbers of Americans remained opposed to military action throughout the pre‐war period, in contrast to the predictions of existing theory. We argue that some rank‐and‐file Democrats and independents expressed opposition because of the widely reported antiwar positions staked out by foreign, not domestic, elites. Merging a large‐scale content analysis of news coverage with public opinion surveys from August 2002 through March 2003, we show that Democrats and independents—especially those with high levels of political awareness—responded to dissenting arguments articulated in the mass media by foreign officials. Our results, which constitute the first empirical demonstration of foreign elite communication effects on U.S. public opinion, show that scholars must account for the role played by non‐U.S. officials in prominent foreign policy debates.     

Anti-theft procedures and fixtures: a randomized controlled trial of two situational crime prevention measures

Objectives  

This study was designed to test two problem-focused situational crime prevention treatments (protective display fixtures and special high-loss product handling procedures) on loss and sales levels of a perennial ‘hot product’ (premium shaving blade replacement packs).