Application of Theil group logit methods to district-level vote shares: tests of prospective and retrospective voting in the 1991, 1993, and 1997 Polish elections

Political scientists often wish to test hypotheses in the context of district-level vote-share models of elections involving more than two parties. Although a group logit framework for estimating such models was developed many years ago by Henri Theil, the complexity of its variance–covariance structure has prevented it from being widely applied. The authors demonstrate how data can be transformed to take account of the Theil variance–covariance structure so that seemingly unrelated regression can be used to estimate vote-share equations on either an intra- or inter-election basis. This method offers a simpler and more accessible way to analyze multiparty elections than the method proposed recently by Katz and King [Am. Polit. Sci. Rev. 97 (1999) 15]. The demonstration involves testing hypotheses about incumbency (retrospective) and policy (prospective) voting in the 1991, 1993, and 1997 Polish elections. The authors find that the estimations favor the policy voting hypothesis.     

Participatory modelling and development practice: artisanal fishers in Nicaragua

Development plans with insufficient knowledge about local realities, and that do not share technical or planning details with the target communities, bedevil development practice. This study used a form of participatory modelling in three fishing communities in Nicaragua to enable fishers to explore their economy and the potential impacts of fishery-based development projects. Co-designing a model of the fishing economy in the form of a board game created a forum in which facilitators and participants could arrive at a shared understanding of local fishing practices and the costs and benefits of strategies for addressing the fishers’ priorities.     

The Functions of Class at the Present Time: Including Taste,or Sex and Class as Culture

Gagnier provides an analytic account of current uses of gender, sex and sexuality, and of class as objective condition, role, identity, subjectivity, performance, product of cultural formation, pain and pleasure. She concludes that we shall do better today to take from the history of political economy a focus on the division of labour, the kinds of work people do, including women's unpaid labour at home, and the ways that work structures identity and subjectivity, than on more abstract class identity (e.g. wage-labourers and capitalists), and to see that both local and global divisions of labour or work patterns are along race and gender lines as much as along class lines. The introduction of consumption models of taste and status draws together both class and gender, for consumption and leisure, the realm for most wage-labourers of pleasure, is as significant in the formation of identity and subjectivity as work, production or pain. We should account for people's pleasures and desires as well as their pain and place in narrowly conceived 'productive' relations. Class is no less significant than it always was, but future work should disaggregate the concept along these lines, mindful of gender salience in the division of labour and the reproduction of class. And it should include critical analysis of the realms of taste, pleasure, consumption, leisure and status.     

Analysing pig traders in Uganda: sampling issues,marketing activities,and constraint analysis

An integral part of the pig and pork value chain in Uganda is trader activity. This article reports on a study that quantifies the nature of these traders in Mukono district, a major pig and pork marketing site adjacent to Kampala, Uganda. Little guidance is available from the literature about the sampling of traders for this kind of research, and the second task addressed by this study is to test sampling mechanisms and report on their influence on the statistical results generated. Different sources of sampling frame provided different samples, with some limited overlap. The two samples exhibited distinctly different profiles of traders.     

Key challenges in Malawi’s paprika supply chain: new insights into contract farming

Contract farming is a vital tool for linking small-scale farmers with modern supply chains. This study explored challenges resulting from contracting in the paprika supply chain in Malawi. The study used focus groups, semi-structured interviews, and email correspondence with 100 supply chain participants. The identified challenges include: inadequate input provision via the contract, a lack of opportunities to bargain and participate in contract design, and side-selling. While the contract secured the outlet for paprika, it failed to provide a reliable paprika supply for the contracting company. Thus, Malawi’s case analyses the potential of contract farming to champion the development of vulnerable economies.     

Familial Correlates of Overt and Relational Aggression between Young Adolescent Siblings

Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis and multi-group structural equation modeling were used to test correlates of overt and relational aggression between young adolescent siblings across four groups (i.e., male/male, male/female, female/male, and female/female sibling pairs), using 433 predominately European American families. Similar patterns of associations were found across groups when distinguished by gender composition. Family environment emerged as an important factor in explaining internalizing problems as well as overt/relational aggression for both younger and older siblings. While perceived maternal psychological control was significantly positively related to overt/relational aggression and internalizing problems for younger siblings, it was significantly positively associated with only relational aggression for older siblings. Findings also provided partial support for the positive linkages between young adolescents’ aggression and their own and siblings’ internalizing problems above and beyond the aforementioned family and maternal variables. Results of the current study extend the understanding of adolescent aggression to a new relational context, or among siblings, and highlight the role of family factors in promoting or buffering the impact of aggression on internalizing behaviors.

Intergenerational Cultural Dissonance,Parent–Child Conflict and Bonding,and Youth Problem Behaviors among Vietnamese and Cambodian Immigrant Families

Intergenerational cultural dissonance (ICD)—a clash between parents and children over cultural values—is a frequent issue for Asian American youth. Using longitudinal data from the Cross Cultural Families Project, this study examines the mechanisms by which ICD contributes to problem behaviors, including whether ICD predicts parent–child conflict, whether parent–child conflict then has a direct effect on youth problem behavior, and whether positive bonding with parents mediates the effects of such conflict on youth problem behaviors among Vietnamese (n = 164) and Cambodian (n = 163) families with adolescents [average age = 15.2 years (SD = 1.05)]. The results from the path analyses show that, in both groups, ICD indirectly predicts problem behaviors by increasing parent–child conflict, which in turn weakens positive parent–child bonding. Interventions that target youths’ perception of intergenerational cultural gaps, help them manage conflict, and help strengthen bonds with parents may prevent problem behaviors among Cambodian and Vietnamese families. This study contributes to inform how to effectively prevent problems and difficulties among these families.

当代市场经济运行的信用经济本质剖析——美国"次贷"危机引发的经济学暨政策思考之一

美国"次贷"危机爆发深刻揭示了当代市场经济运行中的金融本质特征之一是高度发达的信用经济。负债运行是当代市场经济中微观主体的常态,是社会经济正常运转的必要前提与制约保障。信用经济本质上是债权债务经济,并具有正负"双重"效应。信用经济的核心功能是以时间交错、空间重组的方式极大限度地将现有的暂时闲置的社会资源动员起来,使原有的经济实体规模在本不可能的基础上得以扩张;但这种经济的运行一旦在某个环节出现断裂并引发环环相扣的整体信用关系功能性断裂时,就会引发整个社会经济的连锁反应,使其原来对社会经济的加速度推动作用反方向运行,并由此产生对社会经济的加速度的破坏张力。发挥信用经济正效应,抑制负效应,需要遵循信用经济运行的基本平衡公式,保障信用经济运行的基本约束条件,即债务人的受信在数量、质量、时间上与债权人的授信相平衡,并以此构建监管体系。     

借俄罗斯经济复苏契机振兴东北老工业基地

近年来,俄罗斯经济持续增长,呈现出明显的经济复苏的新气象,过度依赖自然资源的经济增长模式正在改变,吸引外资力度在不断增大,这一切对东北老工业基地的振兴产生巨大的影响。尤其是俄东部大开发和大型基础设施的建设,更是直接给东北振兴带来了新的机遇。东北地区应借助这一有利时机,发挥自身优势,确定“桥头堡”战略,把东北建设成为对俄产业链条的核心、贸易基地、经贸活动的咨询中介中心,推动东北老工业基地的振兴。     

经济学视角的人的全面自由发展——对马克思人的发展观的理解和思考

人的全面自由发展是马克思理想中的未来社会的基本原则,相对于资本主义社会人的发展的不全面、不自由而提出,其实现依赖于一定的经济制度、物质基础、方法手段和根本条件。在社会主义初级阶段,应从实际出发,完善基本经济制度,大力发展经济、文化和教育,改善人民物质文化生活,逐步提高人的全面自由发展的程度和水平。