Reparation, Restoration, Incarceration: Comparative Perspectives on the African-American Reparations Problem

The proposal of reparations to African-Americans for slavery and subsequent offenses has stimulated a great deal of academic attention but little practical action. One reason for this is the indifference of non-black Americans and the lack of historical consciousness in a pragmatic, forward-looking culture. Yet some AfricanAmericans also have mixed feelings about reparations, preferring to concentrate on current problems rather than seek repayment for past wrongs, and perhaps even considering the debate as a divergence from more pressing, immediate problems

BT COTTON REFUGE POLICY

Since cotton producers do not own legal rights to kill insect populations that are susceptible to insecticides, individual producers may have no incentive to account for future, insecticide-resistance productivity losses arising from their pest-management decisions. As a result, the collective actions of producers may increase the rate of resistance development relative to the rate that maximizes social welfare. Concerns regarding insect-pest development of resistance to Bt cotton prompted the Environmental Protection Agency to establish legal limits on the proportion of total acres individual producers may plant, representing the first attempt to regulate the development of insecticide resistance and the first instance of the use of refuge as a policy instrument. Ever since Carlson and Castle first pointed out the resource characteristics of insecticide susceptibility, pest management in the presence of increasing resistance has been viewed as an exhaustible resource allocation problem, and many studies have examined efficient insecticide use in this setting. Resistance management studies found in the economics literature, however, have examined single-insect single-insecticide problems almost exclusively. The majority of genetic and entomological studies have followed suit. Since cotton producers routinely use multiple insecticides and insecticide mixtures to manage multiple insect pests, and since simulation and empirical evidence suggests that toxin mixtures can affect the rate of resistance development to component toxins, the standard model may not be well suited for the examination of refuge policies under cotton production settings. Static refuge policies that maximize the present value of profit flows attainable by producers over five- and 10-year planning horizons are examined using a deterministic, operational model that accounts for short- and long-run features of production and resistance development. The model accounts for the development of resistance in two cotton insect pests to Bt cotton and a popular conventional insecticide, and relationships between refuge policy, insecticide resistance, producer profit and producer behavior in Louisiana. The model is used to examine relationships between resistance simulation model parameters and refuge policies and comparative advantages between treated and untreated refuge policies.Agricultural and Food Policy,

A Far Green Country : Tolkien, Paradise, and the End of All Things in Medieval Literature

Attempts to explain exactly what Frodo goes to when he sails from the Grey Havens. By looking at paradise, purgatory, and earthly Edens in medieval literature and theology, we gain a better understanding of the spiritual purpose of Tolkien’s “far green country” beyond the bent paths of the world. References “Pearl,” “Sir Orfeo,” mystery play cycles, and Sir John Mandeville’s Travels, among other sources

Conformity and State Income Taxes: Suggestions for the Crisis

To guarantee adequate revenue in the postCOVID-19 era, state governments should consider using all possible tools at their disposal. This article explains how and why state governments should evaluate their degree of conformity with federal tax changes in order to achieve this purpose