Marriage: Cause or mere indicator of future earnings growth?

The hypothesis that marriage increases men's earnings has contributed to legislative support for the Healthy Marriage Initiative (HMI). However, previous studies of this phenomenon have not controlled for many relevant characteristics that select men into marriage, nor have they focused on low‐income, unmarried fathers—the population targeted by HMI. We use the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, which measures many previously unobserved confounders, to test for a relationship between marriage and earnings. We use a variety of analytic strategies to control for selection (including differencing and propensity scores) and find no evidence of an effect of transitions to marriage on the earnings of unmarried fathers that differs from zero, either for the full sample or subsamples defined by race‐ethnic category and baseline cohabitation status. © 2009 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

The Two Republicae of the Roman Stoics: Can a Cosmopolite be a Patriot?

This paper is a response to recent attempts by liberal theorists to reconcile universalist sentiments with forms of particularism. It seeks to explore a number of ethical issues related to nationalism, patriotism and loyalty. As the first systematic expositors of cosmopolitanism, the Stoics are called on to address the question: can patriotism be defended ethically by moral universalists? The Roman Stoic attitude to war and imperial conquest is examined because war and its attendant conflicts of interest expose the tension between particular and universal loyalties and pose the greatest challenge to cosmopolitan principles. It is concluded that the task which 'liberal nationalists' have set themselves is a daunting one because, unlike the Stoics, they cannot rely legitimately upon imperialism and the belief in a universal God in order to smooth over differences and conflicting loyalties. In effect, then, this illumination of the origins of Enlightenment universalism problematises further, rather than resolves, issues of conflicting loyalties.     

Negotiating with terrorists: A comparative analysis of three cases

This article examines three hostage taking incidents which marked the beginning of an era in the war against international terrorism. These cases are unique because all three were carried out by the same group, the Black September Organization (BSO), occurred within a nine month period, and were of the Barricade/Siege type. This study attempts to explain, by focusing on the Bargaining and Negotiations stages, the processes and outcomes of these events. The comparative analysis yields three findings: (a) There is an evolutionary process in these related cases, and all actors learn from their own and others’ mistakes; (b) Information is important but it is not always available, and it does not dictate the outcome; and (c) All cases involved pre‐determined operating guidelines for the perpetrators, permitting very little space for the actors to maneuver.