Stotts\u27 Denial of Hiring and Promotion Preferences for Nonvictims: Draining the Spirit from Title VII

The author questions whether the dicta in a recent Supreme Court case, Local Union No. 1784 v. Stotts, effectively narrow the scope of relief available under Title VII to non-victims. Specifically, the Court addressed affirmative action and the possible reparations under a Title VII employment race discrimination class action. The dicta in question appear to limit courts\u27 ability to grant relief to non-victims (individuals who were not named parties in an employment discrimination suit) in the form of consent decrees or post-trial injunctive relief. The author examines Supreme Court caselaw on affirmative action, the legislative history of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and Title VII before determining that race-based employment discrimination is inherently a group wrong. Therefore, limiting recovery and injunctive relief to members of the group who were not named parties in the suit betrays the spirit of Title VII and penalizes minority employees and job applicants

Teaching Integrity in the Professional Responsibility Curriculum: A Modest Proposal for Change

Aquest treball no té altre objectiu que introduir la qüestió de la recepció de l’obra de Charles Péguy (1873-1914) per Maurice Blanchot (1907-2003). Hi exposem algunes notes, donant la paraula molt sovint als propis escriptors, per tal que aquesta exposició descriptiva pugui resultar útil a desenvolupaments posteriors. Hem estructurat aquestes notes en quatre parts. En un primer moment introduirem la qüestió del lligam de Blanchot amb els entorns catòlics dels anys ’30, tot seguit, farem una lectura de l’article titulat «La solitude de Péguy», aparegut al Journal des débats el 1941 i recollit després al volum Faux pas de 1943, a continuació, parlarem de la qüestió política en relació amb la vocació de l’intel·lectual, que troba el seu origen en l’afer Dreyfus, i que Blanchot repensà a «Les intellectuels en question», i per acabar farem referència a la interpretació de la relació entre els dos autors proposada per Deleuze en dos cursos de principis dels anys ’80 i que concerneix sobretot la seva comprensió de l’esdeveniment.Ce travail n’a pour but que d’introduire la question de la réception de l’œuvre de Charles Péguy (1873-1914) par Maurice Blanchot (1907-2003). On y expose quelques notes à propos de cette question, en laissant très souvent la parole aux propres écrivains, de sorte que cette exposition descriptive puisse être utile à développements postérieurs. Nous avons structuré ces notes en quatre parties. Dans un premier moment nous allons introduire la question du rapport de Blanchot aux milieux catholiques des années ’30, ensuite, nous lirons l’article intitulé « La solitude de Péguy », paru au Journal des débats en 1941 et repris dans le volume Faux pas en 1943, à continuation, nous allons parler de la question politique concernant aux intellectuels, que trouve son origine à l’affaire Dreyfus, et que Blanchot a repris à « Les intellectuels en question », et pour finir nous ferons référence à l’interprétation du rapport entre les deux auteurs faite par Deleuze dans deux cours du début des années ’80 et qui concerne surtout sa compréhension de l’événement

Passive solar reflector satellite revisited

Passive light weight reflectors in space which direct the incident solar energy to a specified location on the Earth surface are proposed as an alternative system for the solar power satellite to overcome conversion losses and to avoid the need for photovoltaic cells. On Earth, either photovoltaic cells or a steam turbine alternator on a solar tower, or a similar conventional, relatively high efficiency cycle are used for electricity generation. The constraints which apply to the design of the optical system if a single satellite is placed in geostationary orbit are outlined. A single lens and a two lens system are discussed

Black-white wage inequality in the 1990s: a decade of progress

Using Current Population Survey data, we find that the gap between wages by black and white males declined during the 1990s at a rate of 0.59 percentage point per year. The reduction in occupational crowding appears to be most important in explaining this trend. Recent wage convergence was most rapid among younger workers with less than 10 years experience; for this group the black-white wage gap declined by 1.40 percentage points per year. Among younger workers greater occupational diversity and a reduction in unexplained or residual differences are important in explaining this trend. For both younger and older workers, general wage inequality tempered the rate of wage convergence between blacks and whites during the 1990s.Income distribution ; Wages

Cross-National Trends in Earnings Instability and Earnings Inequality

Changes in inequality of yearly earnings can arise from changes in the distribution of lifetime earnings (permanent changes) and changes in the stability of earnings (transitory changes). Past research has found increases in both components in the United States over the past several decades. We extend this literature by comparing the United States with Germany and Great Britain. We use data from the Cross-National Equivalent Files (Cornell University) to document trends in cross-sectional and long-run earnings inequality. These data enable us to examine earnings dynamics during the years 1979-1996 for the United States, 1983-1997 for Germany, and 1990-1997 for Great Britain. Despite differences in labor market structure, our descriptive models reveal similar basic patterns of earnings mobility and dynamics in these countries. We then apply a method of moments approach to estimate the parameters of a heterogeneous growth model of permanent and transitory earnings. The results indicate that although there are substantial differences in overall cross-sectional inequality across these countries, the persistent component of earnings inequality was quite similar in each in the 1990searnings mobility, inequality, comparative

Keeping up with the Joneses and staying ahead of the Smiths: evidence from suicide data

This paper empirically assesses the theory of interpersonal income comparison using a unique data set on suicide deaths in the United States. We treat suicide as a choice variable, conditional on exogenous risk factors, reflecting one's assessment of current and expected future utility. Using this framework we examine whether differences in group-specific suicide rates are systematically related to income dispersion, controlling for socio-demographic characteristics and income level. The results strongly support the notion that individuals consider relative income in addition to absolute income when evaluating their own utility. Importantly, the findings suggest that relative income affects utility in a two-sided manner, meaning that individuals care about the incomes of those above them (the Joneses) and those below them (the Smiths). Our results complement and extend those from studies using subjective survey data or data from controlled experiments.Income distribution

Changing Family Behavior and the U.S. Income Distribution

The trend toward increasing family income inequality in the U.S. over the past several decades is well documented. Among possible explanations for this increase are rising inequality in individual earnings, changes in family labor supply decisions, and changes in family structure and living arrangements. We analyze the contribution of the latter two factors to rising family income inequality during the 1980s using conditionally weighted density estimation, a semiparametric decomposition technique recently pioneered and applied to assess the causes of rising earnings inequality (DiNardo, Fortin, and Lemieux 1996). This technique enables estimation of the impact of the modeled factors on the complete distribution of income. We use data from the March Current Population Surveys for the years 1980 and 1990, which yield family income information for the years 1979 and 1989. The primary effect of both changing family structure and changes in wives' labor force participation was on the midpoint of the family income distribution. The effect of changing family structure on rising inequality was small over this period, primarily because the net change in family structure was small. However, the increase in wives' labor force participation explains about 10 to 25 percent of the increase in family income inequality.

Happiness, unhappiness, and suicide: an empirical assessment

The use of subjective well-being (SWB) data for investigating the nature of individual preferences has increased tremendously in recent years. There has been much debate about the cross-sectional and time series patterns found in these data, particularly with respect to the relationship between SWB and relative status. Part of this debate concerns how well SWB data measures true utility or preferences. In a recent paper, Daly, Wilson, and Johnson (2007) propose using data on suicide as a revealed preference (outcome-based) measure of well-being and find strong evidence that reference-group income negatively affects suicide risk. In this paper, we compare and contrast the empirical patterns of SWB and suicide data. We find that the two have very little in common in aggregate data (time series and cross-sectional), but have a strikingly strong relationship in terms of their determinants in individual-level, multivariate regressions. ; This latter result cross-validates suicide and SWB micro data as useful and complementary indicators of latent utility.Happiness ; Suicide

Inequality and poverty in the United States: the effects of changing family behavior and rising wage dispersion

The trend toward increasing inequality in family income in the United States since the late 1960s is well documented. Among key possible explanations for this increase are rising dispersion in individual earnings, changes in female labor supply decisions, and changes in family composition and living arrangements. We analyze the contribution of these factors to changes in family income inequality and poverty during the years 1969-1998, focusing on labor supply and family structure as behavioral changes but accounting also for changes in the distribution of male earnings. Our analyses rely on conditionally weighted density estimation, a semiparametric decomposition technique recently developed by DiNardo, Fortin, and Lemieux (1996). We also use a relatively novel rank-based distributional exchange to assess the effects of changes in the distribution of male earnings. ; In our empirical work, we first analyze changes between 1969 and 1989, which corresponds roughly to the period of rising inequality that has been the focus of previous work. Our results indicate that rising dispersion of male earnings and the decline of traditional forms of family structure respectively explain up to about three-fourths and about one-half of rising inequality in family income during this period. The impact of changing family structure was most pronounced in the lower half of the distribution. In contrast, the increase in female labor force participation offset rising inequality to some degree, mainly in the upper half of the distribution, although its impact has moved down the distribution over time. In extending the analyses to the 1990s, we find that the rate at which inequality grew slowed after 1989, but the explanatory factors continued to have substantial effects. In each decade, the effects of the explanatory factors on poverty were especially large and followed a pattern similar to that for inequality.Poverty ; Income distribution ; Income