Household Finance in Contemporary Capitalism: Facts in Search of Theory

Both International and Comparative Political Economy have a blind spot where households – and particularly households' finances – are concerned. This is a problem. Household financial activities have a large and growing impact on economic outcomes; however, our understanding of the underlying causal mechanisms remains weak. This weakness stems from the fact that discussions of household finance are limited – and what discussions are taking place are spread across scholarly communities that don’t always communicate well with one another. This paper attempts to rectify that problem. It surveys the existing theoretical treatments of household financial activities, provides data showing that those activities are important, and lays out both a framework and a research agenda for examining the role of household finance in contemporary capitalism. In doing so, it reveals opportunities for cross-pollination between IPE, CPE, and scholarship concerning "financialization.

Borgs in the Org? Organizational Decision Making and Technology

Data warehousing and the development of the World Wide Web both augment information gathering (search) processes in individual decision making by increasing the availability of required information. Imagine, for example, that one wanted to buy new golf clubs. Thirty years ago, the cost of information gathering would likely have limited an individual\u27s search process to geographically proximal vendors and the golf clubs they stocked. Today, a prospective purchaser can log onto the World Wide Web to find out what types of golf clubs are available anywhere; consult databases, chat rooms, and bulletin boards (e.g., epinions.com) to gather product information and user opinions; and compare prices across vendors around the world

The financialization of rented homes:continuity and change in housing financialization

This paper has two purposes: the first is to offer an empirical account of how rented homes have become more entangled in financial markets over the past two decades, particularly through the advent of real estate investment trusts (REITs) and listed real estate operating companies (REOCs). The second is to assess whether conceptualizing this as a process of “rental housing financialization” — distinct from but connected to the broader concepts of “housing financialization” and “financialization” — offers value to the scholarly community

Leaving Nothing to Chance: Modeling the Proactive Structuration of a New Technology

Adaptive structuration theory (AST, DeSanctis and Poole 1994) describes how people come to understand and use a technology. In this paper we develop the idea of proactive structuration--how social networking can be proactively managed in order to speed the comprehensive adaptation of a technology within a community of users. We examine two facets of proactive structuration--formal institutionalization of a community of practice and socialization of users--and stochastically model the impact of proactive structuration on comprehensive adaptation latency. Implications for the effective management of new technology adoption are discussed.

Virtual study groups: A challenging centerpiece for working adult management education

Groups and teams are critical to modern organizations, and consequently management education has incorporated groups as a centerpiece of both content (the study of group process) and process (the use of study groups and group projects). Unfortunately, working-adult educational programs appear to have yet to take an important final step - acknowledging that study groups often interact virtually and then providing support for virtual study group interaction. We provide both theory and data concerning the use of study groups as virtual teams. We believe that there are important benefits to be gained when study groups make educated decisions about the design and process of their virtual interaction

Elite science and the BBC: a 1950s contest of ownership

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the elite world of institutional British science attempted to take control of the BBC’s management of science broadcasting. Delegations of scientists met BBC managers to propose an increased role for scientists in planning science broadcasts to a degree that threatened to compromise the BBC’s authority and autonomy. The culmination was a set of proposals to the Pilkington Committee in 1960, principally from the Royal Society and the British Association for the Advancement of Science, under which a scientist-manager was to be appointed head of a unified science division in the BBC. BBC managers resisted these proposals. The outcome, in 1964, was a compromise giving the scientists little of what they wanted, and proving practically and strategically useful for the BBC. The article frames the story as a contest of jurisdiction between elite science and the BBC, and draws on scholarship relating to the social nature of authority and professions, and to the popularization of science. It shows the fundamentally different beliefs held by the scientists and the BBC about the purpose of science broadcasts and about the nature of the audience. The historical narrative is based on unpublished archive documents, and it contributes to the small but growing body of work on the historical background to the presentation of science in the broadcast media

Hydrology of the Ferron Sandstone Aquifer and Effects of Proposed Surface-Coal Mining in Castle Valley, Utah

Coal in the Ferron Sandstone Member of the Mancos Shale of Cretaceous age has traditionally been mined by underground techniques in the Emery Coal Field in the southern end of Castle Valley in east-central Utah. However, approximately 99 million tons are recoverable by surface mining. Ground water in the Ferron is the sole source of supply for the town of Emery, but the aquifer is essentially untapped outside the Emery area. The Ferron Sandstone Member crops out along the eastern edge of Castle Valley and generally dips 2 to 10 to the northwest beneath the surface. Sandstones in the Ferron are enclosed between relatively impermeable shale in the Tununk and Blue Gate Members of the Mancos Shale. Along the outcrop, the Ferron ranges in thickness from about 80 feet in the northern part of Castle Valley to 850 feet in the southern part. The Ferron also generally thickens in the subsurface downdip from the outcrop. Records from wells and test holes indicate that the full thickness of the Ferron is saturated with water in most areas downdip from the outcrop area. Tests in the Emery area indicate that transmissivity of the Ferron sandstone aquifer ranges from about 200 to 700 feet squared per day where the Ferron is fully saturated. Aquifer transmissivity is greatest near the Paradise Valley-- Joes Valley fault system where permeability has been increased by fracturing. Storage coefficient ranges from about 10^-6 to 10^-3 where the Ferron sandstone aquifer is confined and probably averages 5 x 10^-2 where in is unconfined