Democracy, Capitalism, and Income Inequality: Seeking Causal Directions

Recent research shows that lower levels of income inequality cause higher levels of democracy, and vice versa in a simultaneous relationship. A critical factor missing from these studies is a direct exogenous measure of capitalism in models explaining variation in income inequality and democracy. This study examines 50 countries over the years 1978-1993 and finds in a pooled two stage least squares modeling exercise that the Fraser Institute measure of capitalism appears to have a positive linear impact on POLITYIV measures of democracy and a negative linear impact on income inequality (more capitalism, more inequality). There appears to be no higher-order relationship between capitalism and democracy or income inequality, though there is a parabolic relationship between democracy and income inequality

Democracy and Income Inequality: Measurement and Modeling of the Western Hemispheric Experience

What is our understanding of the relationship between democracy and income inequality in the Western Hemisphere? This paper specifies a nonlinear relationship between democracy and income inequality in multivariate non-linear models across different regions and time points of the Western Hemisphere as well as the hemisphere based on a common literature (Acemoglu and Robinson 2006, Barro 1999, Boix 2003, Burkhart 1997, Houle 2009). While the literature has rigorously tested these relationships within Latin America (Huber et al. 2006), there has not been a similar test of all of the Western Hemispheric countries, including the industrialized economies of Canada and the United States. This paper will utilize the best extant income inequality measure, the Solt (2009) corrections to the UNU-WIDER project. This comparative exercise should be instructive in both a modeling sense and a better understanding of consequences of using income inequality measures across hemispheric subregions

Auditing Income Inequality Data in Models of Capitalism, Development and Democracy

It is appropriate to take stock of extant measures of income inequality as they pertain to their utility in cross-national models of political and economic performance. Are some measures more reliable and valid than others? What about data coverage, conceptual mapping of similar indicators, functional form specification matters? This paper specifies models of cross-national democratic and economic performance, with common, industry-standard variables such as economic growth and development level, globalization, political culture (colonialism, ethnicity, religion), and economic type (world-system), and insert various measures of income inequality (Hoover, Deininger and Squire, Galbraith, and UNU-WIDER). The intent is to compare and contrast model robustness under conditions of variable country coverage, inequality definitions, and measurement strategies. With both practical and conceptual matters in mind, the hope is to become better acquainted with the consequences of variable choice in income inequality data usage and modeling techniques

A Fractured Electorate?: French Presidental Election Forecasting for 2022

This paper forecasts the first round of the French presidential election five months in advance. It uses a key industry-standard structural variable in its forecasting model, approval of the French president. Its parsimony allows for an early forecast, but its potential for error is higher. In the end, the forecast was somewhat off the mark, though it accurately showed the strength of a somewhat attenuated left. However, the structure of French political parties has changed dramatically over the past several years, leaving some doubt as to the reliability of this forecasting technique

Canada–US Border Communities: What the People Have to Say

This paper investigates the Canada-U.S. borderlands relationship along the two geographic corridors as bounded by Lake Superior: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario–Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and Thunder Bay, Ontario–Duluth, Minnesota. Borderland communities—driven by their shared cultural characteristics (ethnicity, language, religion)—are said to challenge the border as a dividing device and undermine the very essence of international borders. Moreover, borderlands regions are dynamic and overlapping, providing the first point of contact and interaction between nations. We use interviews of over 200 people living in these borderlands regions to investigate the cross-border relationships of Canada-U.S. border communities. We find that despite the challenges of crossing the border, these communities retain a strong sense of shared values

Differences That Matter: Canada, the United States and Environmental Policymaking

Does the way Canada, as a nation state, approach international environmental policymaking make a difference with respect to solving environmental problems in the Americas? We argue that it does, and it is a difference that matters. Canadian efforts toward multilateralism and toward inclusiveness (e.g., willingness to work with weaker nations) serve as a counter balance to the growing unilateralism and ever present exceptionalism of the United States, currently the most powerful country in the world, and Canada’s southern neighbor and regional partner in developing environmental policy that affects the northern Americas directly and all of the Americas indirectly. Our argument is made first generally, and then specifically using involvement and reaction to the goals set out by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), where, along with Mexico, Canada and the United States play leading roles. The basic contention of this paper is that the vision for and goals of the CEC are much more aligned with the way Canada perceives the way international environmental policymaking should be implemented, and that by fostering that vision, Canada tries to counter the tendency of the present-day United States administration to go at it alone, and thereby provides a linkage to other countries in the Americas to position themselves for participation in regional environmental policymaking

Bridges and Barriers: The Lake Superior Borderlands

This paper investigates the Canada–US borderlands relationship along the two geographic corridors as bounded by Lake Superior: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario–Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and Thunder Bay, Ontario–Duluth, Minnesota. Borderland communities—driven by their shared cultural characteristics (ethnicity, language,religion)—are said to challenge the border as a dividing device and undermine the very essence of international borders. Moreover, borderlands regions are dynamic and overlapping, providing the first point of contact and interaction between nations. Our results depict inherent differences between these particular border regions, with each illustrating characteristics that both connect and divide. Despite the passage of time and both countries’ determined efforts to make the passage safe and less demanding, the peoples in these border regions perceive a continuing frustration with crossing the border and connecting to the people on the other side of the border

Phosphoprotein Associated with Glycosphingolipid-Enriched Microdomains Differentially Modulates Src Kinase Activity in Brain Maturation

Src family kinases (SFK) control multiple processes during brain development and function. We show here that the phosphoprotein associated with glycosphigolipid-enriched microdomains (PAG)/Csk binding protein (Cbp) modulates SFK activity in the brain. The timing and localization of PAG expression overlap with Fyn and Src, both of which we find associated to PAG. We demonstrate in newborn (P1) mice that PAG negatively regulates Src family kinases (SFK). P1 Pag1-/- mouse brains show decreased recruitment of Csk into lipid rafts, reduced phosphorylation of the inhibitory tyrosines within SFKs, and an increase in SFK activity of >/ = 50%. While in brain of P1 mice, PAG and Csk are highly and ubiquitously expressed, little Csk is found in adult brain suggesting altered modes of SFK regulation. In adult brain Pag1-deficiency has no effect upon Csk-distribution or inhibitory tyrosine phosphorylation, but kinase activity is now reduced (−20–30%), pointing to the development of a compensatory mechanism that may involve PSD93. The distribution of the Csk-homologous kinase CHK is not altered. Importantly, since the activities of Fyn and Src are decreased in adult Pag1-/- mice, thus presenting the reversed phenotype of P1, this provides the first in vivo evidence for a Csk-independent positive regulatory function for PAG in the brain