Suchergebnisse

ObjectiveThe recent surge in hate group activity is a concern to many citizens and policymakers. We examine the roles of socioeconomic factors measured at the county level that are hypothesized to account for the presence of such groups, including social capital and religious affiliations.MethodsWe estimate aPoisson regression model using counts of hate groups provided by theSouthernPovertyLawCenter for each of the over 3,000 U.S. counties. Our regressors include a wider set of variables than has been considered in previous studies, such asJefferson andPryor (1999).ResultsOur approach produces a better statistical fit than that inJefferson andPryor's paper, and the additional regressors contribute significantly to our understanding of hate groups.ConclusionBoth social capital stocks and religious affiliation exert an independent and statistically significant influence on the number of hate groups, as does the presence ofWal‐Mart stores, holding other factors constant.

AbstractIndividual savings are critical for retirement as government and employer‐based provisions fade or become less secure. Rural communities are vulnerable given their higher proportion of elderly and more who rely on Social Security. Using a telephone survey of working‐age residents in Michigan's rural Upper Peninsula, this research investigates factors associated with participation in tax‐advantaged retirement plans that have largely replaced defined‐benefit pension plans for earmarked retirement savings. The project also identifies factors predictive of making maximum contributions to those retirement plans. We consider several distinct categories of variables to reflect the social embeddedness of economic action. In addition, the research included community variables describing aspects of respondents' social context, a new component of the savings discourse, which we show to be significantly related to saving outside a tax‐advantaged retirement plan and making maximum contributions to a tax‐advantaged retirement plan.

A research paper on findings from Rwanda that could assist policy makers in Southern Africa with food security policies and strategies. ; Section I of this paper reviews recent events in Rwanda. In section II we identify principal research findings from Rwanda with the objective of helping inform five important food security themes in Southern Africa. Food and agricultural policy foci in Rwanda Rwanda faces tremendous challenges in its food and agricultural sectors. The landlocked country is struggling against high population density (the country is 90% rural) and poor links with seaports to improve the performance of its economy. The Government of Rwanda's (GOR) main objectives in the agricultural sector have been to increase food self-sufficiency and rural incomes. In the past, the GOR's means of achieving these goals have been relatively successful. The country has focused on cropping previously unused land, maintaining soil fertility, improving some crop varieties, and trying to stabilize bean and sorghum prices. They also have tried to modestly increase prices paid to farmers for selected food crops while maintaining a buffer stock to attenuate consumer price increases when food supplies contract. ; United States Agency for International Development (US- AID)