Education and Social Capital

Education is usually the most important predictor of political and social engagement. Over the last half century, educational levels in the United States have risen sharply, yet levels of political and social participation have not. Norman Nie, Jane Junn, and Kenneth Stehlik-Barry (NJS-B) have offered an elegant resolution to this paradox based on a distinction between the relative education having positive effects on participation. Using a broad range of evidence, including the data used by NJS-B, this paper shows that increases in average education levels improve trust and do not reduce participation levels. The contrast with the NJS-B participation results is found to be due to the definition of the educational environment. We use a changing regional comparison group, theoretically preferable to NJS-B's static national measure. Our results point to a more optimistic conclusion about the consequences of increases in average education levels, while leaving open the puzzle of sluggish participation.

Education and Social Capital

Education is usually the most important predictor of political and social engagement. Over the last half Century, educational levels in the United States have risen sharply, yet levels of political and social participation have not. Norman Nie, Jane Junn and Kenneth Stehlik-Barry (NJS-B) have offered a resolution to this paradox based on the distinction between absolute and relative education, with only relative education having positive effects on education. Using a broad range of data, including that used by NJS-B, this paper shows that increases in average education levels increases trust and does not reduce average participation levels. These results are found when we use a dynamic regional comparison group, theoretically preferable to NJS-B’s static national measure. Our results provide an optimistic conclusion about the effects of increases in education levels, while leaving open the explanation of declining participation levels. Our results suggest that exposure to television during childhood may play an important role in that story.

When Do People Trust Their Social Groups?

Trust facilitates cooperation and supports positive outcomes in social groups, including member satisfaction, information sharing, and task performance. Extensive prior research has examined individuals' general propensity to trust, as well as the factors that contribute to their trust in specific groups. Here, we build on past work to present a comprehensive framework for predicting trust in groups. By surveying 6,383 Facebook Groups users about their trust attitudes and examining aggregated behavioral and demographic data for these individuals, we show that (1) an individual's propensity to trust is associated with how they trust their groups, (2) smaller, closed, older, more exclusive, or more homogeneous groups are trusted more, and (3) a group's overall friendship-network structure and an individual's position within that structure can also predict trust. Last, we demonstrate how group trust predicts outcomes at both individual and group level such as the formation of new friendship ties.Comment: CHI 201

Worldwide Workshop on Youth Involvement as a Strategy for Social, Economic and Democratic Development

Summarizes January 2000 discussions on building capacity in the field of youth service. Explores connections with social capital, economic productivity, adolescent development, marginalized youth, civic engagement, and policy. Includes country summaries

Dairy Farm Business Summary: Eastern Plateau Region 1985

A.E. Ext. 86-22Dairy farmers throughout the State have been participating in New York Cooperative Extension's farm business summary and analysis program since the early 1950's. Each participating farmer receives a complete summary and analysis of his or her farm business in addition to this publication. The information in this report is compiled by averaging data submitted from the region described at the bottom of this page. Program Objective The primary objective of the dairy farm business summary, DFBS, is to provide farm managers information concerning profitability, financial condition, productivity, and efficiency to be used to assist them in delineating the strengths/weaknesses of the farm business and to improve decision-making. In short, DFBS identifies the records farmers need and provides information to be used in making business and financial management decisions. Program Improvements The 1985 DFBS report features improved accrual accounting procedures, a new measure of farm profitability, a more indepth balance sheet, an annual cash flow statement, and several major improvements in the business analysis format and the analysis measures used. These and other changes are identified in the body of this report. The revised format provides one full page for the analysis of the farm cropping program and another for complete analysis of the dairy program. Corn and hay crop related expenses are evaluated separately for cooperating farmers. The cost of producing milk per cow and per hundredweight of milk sold has been compiled. An annual cash flow worksheet has been added to the farmer's individual report. The popular Progress of The Farm Business report has been moved to page one of the farmer's report and added to this publication. Micro DFBS, which allows Cooperative Extension agents and specialists to calculate and print individual farm business reports in their offices, is now being used by more than 50 percent of our dairy farm management field staff. This innovative program provides faster processing of farm record data and increased use of DFBS in farm management programs

Economic Growth and Social Capital in Italy

We find strong convergence of per capita incomes among the Italian regions during the 1960s and 1970s. Convergence is faster, and equilibrium income levels higher, in regions with more social capital, using any of three measures: an index of civic community, the effectiveness of regional government, and citizen satisfaction with regional government. Our evidence also supports the idea that the post-1983 increases in regional dispersion of per capita GDP are due to the increased autonomy of regional governments being used more effectively in regions with higher levels of social capital. Both results confirm Putnam's view that social institutions matter, while also supporting a version of conditional convergence that makes catching-up a function of the size of the productivity gap between the richer and poorer regions.Regional

Subsidizing Religious Participation through Groups: A Model of the “Megachurch” Strategy for Growth

Either despite or because of their non-traditional approach, megachurches have grown significantly in the United States since 1980. This paper models religious participation as an imperfect public good which, absent intervention, yields suboptimal participation by members from the church’s perspective. Megachurches address this problem in part by employing secular-based group activities to subsidize religious participation that then translates into an increase in the attendees’ religious investment. This strategy not only allows megachurches to attract and retain new members when many traditional churches are losing members but also results in higher levels of an individual’s religious capital. As a result, the megachurch may raise expectations of members’ levels of commitment and faith practices. Data from the FACT2000 survey provide evidence that megachurches employ groups more extensively than other churches, and this approach is consistent with a strategy to use groups to help subsidize individuals’ religious investment. Religious capital rises among members of megachurches relative to members of non-megachurches as a result of this strategy

Self Reported Incidence and Morbidity of Acute Respiratory Illness among Deployed U.S. Military in Iraq and Afghanistan

BACKGROUND: Historically, respiratory infections have had a significant impact on U.S. military missions. Deployed troops are particularly at high risk due to close living conditions, stressful work environments and increased exposure to pathogens. To date, there are limited data available on acute respiratory illness (ARI) among troops deployed in support of ongoing military operations, specifically Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). METHODS: Using self-report data from two sources collected from troops deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and the surrounding region, we analyzed incidence and risk factors for ARI. Military personnel on mid-deployment Rest & Recuperation (R&R) or during redeployment were eligible to participate in the voluntary self-report survey. RESULTS: Overall, 39.5% reported having at least one ARI. Of these, 18.5% sought medical care and 33.8% reported having decreased job performance. The rate of self-reported ARI was 15 episodes per 100 person-months among those taking the voluntary survey, and 24.7 episodes per 100 person-months among those taking the clinic health questionnaire. Negative binomial regression analysis found female sex, Navy branch of service and lack of flush toilets to be independently associated with increased rates of ARI. Deployment to OIF, increasing age and higher rank were also positively associated with ARI risk. CONCLUSIONS: The overall percentage of deployed military personnel reporting at least one acute respiratory illness decreased since earlier parts of OIF/OEF. However, the reported effect on job performance increased tremendously. The most important factors associated with increased respiratory infection are female sex, Navy branch of service, lack of improved latrine facilities, deployment to OIF, increasing age and higher rank

‘Dominant ethnicity’ and the ‘ethnic-civic’ dichotomy in the work of A. D. Smith

This article considers the way in which the work of Anthony Smith has helped to structure debates surrounding the role of ethnicity in present-day nations. Two major lines of enquiry are evident here. First, the contemporary role of dominant ethnic groups within 'their' nations and second, the interplay between ethnic and civic elements in nationalist argument. The two processes are related, but maintain elements of distinctiveness. Smith's major contribution to the dominant ethnicity debate has been to disembed ethnicity from the ideologically-charged and/or anglo-centric discourse of ethnic relations and to place it in historical context, thereby opening up space for dominant group ethnicity to be considered as a distinct phenomenon. This said, Smith's work does not adequately account for the vicissitudes of dominant ethnicity in the contemporary West. Building on the classical works of Hans Kohn and Friedrich Meinecke, Anthony Smith has also made a seminal contribution to the debate on civic and ethnic forms of national identity and nationalist ideology. As well as freeing this debate from the strong normative overtones which it has often carried, he has continued to insist that the terms civic and ethnic should be treated as an ideal-typical distinction rather than a scheme of classification