The US Decentred: From Black Social Death to Cultural Transformation

A review of Frank B. Wilderson III, Red, Black and White: Cinema and the Structure of US Antagonisms (Duke, 2010) and Patricia de Santan Pinho, Mama Africa: Reinventing Blackness in Bahia (Duke, 2010)

Why Are Women Less Democratic Than Men? Evidence from Sub-Saharan African Countries

A substantial literature has examined the determinants of support for democracy and although existing work has found a gender gap in democratic attitudes, there have been no attempts to explain it. In this paper we try to understand why females are less supportive of democracy than males in a number of countries. Using data for 20 Sub-Saharan African countries, we test whether the gap is due to individual differences in policy priorities or to country-wide characteristics. We find that controlling for individual policy priorities does not offset the gender gap, but those women who are interested in politics are more democratic than men. Furthermore, our results indicate that the gap disappears in countries with high levels of human development and political rights

Political versus Economic Institutions in the Growth Process

After a decade of research on the relationship between institutions and growth, scholars in this field seem to be divided. Economic institutions perform well in growth regressions and a body of literature argues that this supports the key importance of institutions for development. Other authors maintain that the type of constraints that the recent theoretical literature describes are the more stable political institutions, and these have been found to play no role in empirical growth analyses. In this paper we re-examine the role that institutions play in the growth process using cross-section and panel data for both developed and developing economies over the period 1970-2000. Our results indicate that the data is best described by an econometric model with two growth regimes. Political institutions are the key determinant of which growth regime an economy belongs to, while economic institutions have a direct impact on growth rates within each regime. These findings support the hierarchy of institutions hypothesis, whereby political institutions set the stage in which economic institutions and policies operate

Political versus Economic Institutions in the Growth Process

After a decade of research on the relationship between institutions and growth, scholars in this field seem to be divided. Economic institutions perform well in growth regressions and a body of literature argues that this supports the key importance of institutions for development. Other authors maintain that the type of constraints that the recent theoretical literature describes are the more stable political institutions, and these have been found to play no role in empirical growth analyses. In this paper we re-examine the role that institutions play in the growth process using cross-section and panel data for both developed and developing economies over the period 1970-2000. Our results indicate that the data is best described by an econometric model with two growth regimes. Political institutions are the key determinant of which growth regime an economy belongs to, while economic institutions have a direct impact on growth rates within each regime. These findings support the hierarchy of institutions hypothesis, whereby political institutions set the stage in which economic institutions and policies operate.growth, institutions, cross-country regressions, mixture regressions

Pauvreté et vulnérabilité au Burkina Faso: Indicateur composite de Noyau dur de la pauvreté

Les programmes de réduction des inégalités entre les pays et entre individus ont suscité le réveil des consciences sur la problématique de la pauvreté et favorisé la mise en œuvre de techniques de mesure et d’analyse. Au Burkina Faso, les stratégies de réduction de la pauvreté restent essentiellement déterminées par des études sur son aspect monétaire. L’analyse empirique basée sur une approche factorielle indique que les incidences de pauvreté sont élevées, notamment pour la pauvreté multidimensionnelle de besoins de base et la pauvreté subjective. Une approche cumulative sur l’ensemble des noyaux de pauvreté montre aussi que 37,7% des ménages manifestent les trois formes de pauvreté selon la méthode simpliste d’intersection et seulement 12,3% selon l’approche factorielle, identifiant ainsi le noyau dur de la pauvreté. Le gouvernement devrait promouvoir une politique ciblée sur chaque dimension de pauvreté en mettant l’accent sur le développement rural par l’accès aux services sociaux de base.Pauvreté, vulnérabilité, politiques économiques et sociales, analyse multidimensionnelle, noyau dur, seuil, modèle logistique, Burkina Faso

Model School Wellness Policies: Opportunities for Improvement

Schools that participate in the US Child Nutrition program are required to have a wellness policy. Many state agencies provide model wellness policies to aid schools in writing wellness policies. However, use of model wellness policies has not been associated with higher quality policies. PURPOSE: Assess the strength and comprehensiveness of model wellness policies and to determine if federal regulations are more likely to be included in model wellness policies than evidence-based, best-practices that are not required per federal regulation. METHODS: Model wellness policies available online through state agency websites in January 2019 were analyzed for comprehensiveness and strength using the Wellness School Assessment Tool 3.0 (WellSAT 3.0). The percentage of model policies that included each WellSAT 3.0 item was calculated and item status as a federal regulation or best-practice was assigned. Linear regression was used to determine if federal regulation status was associated with inclusion in model wellness policies. RESULTS: Thirty-four states had model wellness polices available online. The total comprehensiveness and strength of model wellness policies was 59.3 ± 17.5 and 21.4 ± 17.6, respectively, out of 100 possible points. Among policy sections, comprehensiveness was highest within Nutrition Education (NE) (73.2 ± 31.6) and lowest in Wellness Promotion and Marketing (49.8 ± 27.2). The NE section had the highest strength (30.9 ± 31.4) and the Physical Education and Physical Activity section had the lowest strength (14.7 ± 13.8). Of the 67 WellSAT 3.0 items, 20 were included in ≥75% of model policies. Ten items were included in ≤25% of model policies. On average, WellSAT 3.0 items that were federal regulations (n=18) were covered in 71% of model policies, while best-practices (n=49) were only covered in 54% of model policies (p=.008). CONCLUSION: There is a need to improve the comprehensiveness and strength of model wellness policies provided to schools by state agencies. The development of a uniform model policy may be warranted to provide schools with a comprehensive list of federal regulations and best-practices, written with strong language, for inclusion within their school wellness policy

A Comparison Between First-Year Alternative Certified Teachers and First-Year Traditional Certified Teachers Based on Students\u27 Academic achievement: The Case of a High-Need Urban Southeast District in Virginia

Debate about teacher supply and demand has been renewed in recent years by an increased concern about the reduced numbers of students entering teacher education programs and the resulting teacher shortages. Thus, American schools are experiencing teacher shortages, especially in low-income urban areas, because of increased school enrollment, teacher retirement, reduction of class size, teacher attrition, and turnover related to low salaries, job dissatisfaction, lack of administrative support and influence over decision-making. Recently, the increased interest in teacher quality has been the topic of debate for educational policy makers, and many researchers have focused on teacher certification. The purpose of this study is to determine if the Transition to Teaching (T2T) program in Virginia is a viable way to ease the teacher shortages in a midsize high-need urban school system, and at the same time, to evaluate its impact on students\u27 academic achievement. The results of this study provide evidence that the students taught by first year T2T teachers achieve as well as or better than their peers taught by traditionally licensed first year teachers according to the mathematics Algebra I test scores