Suchergebnisse

Previous research that considered African Americans as a homogenous group has determined that they are reluctant to invest in equities and corporate debt bonds, resulting in lost opportunities to build wealth. This study explored financial literacy, age and generational cohort identity, and socioeconomic factors as possible limitations to African Americans' engagement in financial markets to build wealth. Financial risk tolerance is usually measured using three basic approaches: (a) assessing investment portfolio assets; (b) assessing responses to subjective questions; and (c) assessing responses to hypothetical questions with specific scenarios. The third approach was utilized in this study by conducting a multidimensional risk analysis with a 13-item assessment that addressed the constructs of investment risk, risk comfort and experience, and speculative risk. African Americans appear to be no different from any other group of Americans when provided with education to improve their financial literacy and financial risk tolerance levels, which are critical for reaching long-term wealth goals.

African American community banks appear to be losing ground in their communities. The number of African American community banks continued to trend downward during the past two decades, suffering closure of 12 banks. As of 2017, only 23 banks remain. This trend forces the question: "Do African American community banks possess adequate financial viability to serve their communities?" The survival of African American Community Banks between 2006 and 2017 was examined using the efficiency ratio as the key measure of their financial viability. Results showed that African American banks managed to produce 1 year where they outperformed the peer banks in managing assets to produce profit. The most glaring discovery was that it cost the African American banking sector close to or more than US$1 to generate US$1 of revenue. Findings suggest that African American community banks were unable or unwilling to control the components that contribute to how successful the bank used its assets and liabilities to generate income during the study period.

The jaguarundi (Puma yagouaroundi) is a small felid with a historical range from central Argentina through southern Texas. Information on the current distribution of this reclusive species is needed to inform recovery strategies in the United States where its last record was in 1986 in Texas. From 2003 to 2021, we conducted camera‐trap surveys across southern Texas and northern Tamaulipas, México to survey for medium‐sized wild cats (i.e., ocelots [Leopardus pardalis], bobcats [Lynx rufus], and jaguarundi). After 350,366 trap nights at 685 camera sites, we did not detect jaguarundis at 16 properties or along 2 highways (1050 km(2)) in Texas. However, we recorded 126 jaguarundi photographic detections in 15,784 trap nights on 2 properties (125.3 km(2)) in the northern Sierra of Tamaulipas, Tamaulipas, México. On these properties, latency to detection was 72 trap nights, with a 0.05 probability of detection per day and 0.73 photographic event rate every 100 trap nights. Due to a lack of confirmed class I sightings (e.g., specimen, photograph) in the 18 years of this study, and no other class I observations since 1986 in the United States, we conclude that the jaguarundi is likely extirpated from the United States. Based on survey effort and results from México, we would have expected to detect jaguarundis over the course of the study if still extant in Texas. We recommend that state and federal agencies consider jaguarundis as extirpated from the United States and initiate recovery actions as mandated in the federal jaguarundi recovery plan. These recovery actions include identification of suitable habitat in Texas, identification of robust populations in México, and re‐introduction of the jaguarundi to Texas.