Are encalves amenities? An empricial investigation in the Southwest United States.

The role of linguistic enclaves in wage determination is investigated for immigrants and non-immigrants. It is hypothesized that enclaves could affect wages positively as an aid to immigrant adjustment, or negatively as an amenity that minority language speakers are willing to pay for, or both. The results suggest that enclaves in the Southwest U.S. primarily operate as an aid to immigrant adjustment.

Discussing controversial issues in the classroom

Discussion is widely held to be the pedagogical approach most appropriate to the exploration of controversial issues in the classroom, but surprisingly little attention has been given to the questions of why it is the preferred approach and how best to facilitate it. Here we address ourselves to both questions.We begin by clarifying the concept of discussion and justifying it as an approach to the teaching of controversial issues.We then report on a recent empirical study of the Perspectives on Science AS-level course, focusing on what it revealed about aids and impediments to discussion of controversial ethical issues

Measuring the Impact of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) on Irrigation Efficiency and Water Conservation

Since the passage of the 1996 Farm Act, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) has provided over $10 billion in technology adoption subsidies. One of the national conservation priorities in EQIP is water conservation, but it is not known how participation in EQIP by irrigators affects water application rates and decisions to expand or reduce a farm’s irrigated acreage. Using a farm-level panel data set drawn from three national samples of irrigators taken in 1998, 2003, and 2008, this study provides the first national scale econometric estimates of the changes in water application rates and irrigated acreage that result when a farm receives EQIP payments. Due to a five-fold increase in EQIP funding following the 2002 farm bill, the change in EQIP participation between 2008 and earlier years is largely the result of an exogenous policy shock. A difference-in-differences estimator that exploits this change in EQIP funding and also controls for unobserved farm-specific variables, suggests that for the average farm participating in EQIP between 2004 and 2008, the EQIP payments may have reduced water application rates but also may have increased total water use and led to an expansion in irrigated acreage. However, since EQIP participation is voluntary, there may still be a need to correct for bias due to sample selection. A nearest neighbor matching estimator finds no evidence of any statistically significant effect of EQIP participation on technology adoption rates, water use, water application rates or acreages, which suggests that there is a high degree of self-selection into the program.EQIP, irrigation efficiency, water conservation, difference-in-differences, matching estimator, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Participation in Conservation Programs by Targeted Farmers: Beginning, Limited-Resource, and Socially Disadvantaged Operators' Enrollment Trends

Beginning, limited-resource, and socially disadvantaged farmers make up as much as 40 percent of all U.S. farms. Some Federal conservation programs contain provisions that encourage participation by such “targeted” farmers and the 2008 Farm Act furthered these efforts. This report compares the natural resource characteristics, resource issues, and conservation treatment costs on farms operated by targeted farmers with those of other participants in the largest U.S. working-lands and land retirement conservation programs. Some evidence shows that targeted farmers tend to operate more environmentally sensitive land than other farmers, have different conservation priorities, and receive different levels of payments. Data limitations preclude a definitive analysis of whether efforts to improve participation by targeted farmers hinders or enhances the conservation programs’ ability to deliver environmental benefits cost effectively. But the different conservation priorities among types of farmers suggest that if a significantly larger proportion of targeted farmers participates in these programs, the programs’ economic and environmental outcomes could change.Conservation programs, Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP), beginning farmers, limited-resource producers, socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Financial Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Land Economics/Use, Production Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

We should not be conflating liberal democratic values with British national identity

Michael Gove recently proposed that the Independent School Standards require schools to ‘actively promote’ British values. But in what sense are democracy, liberty, respect, tolerance and the rule of law supposed to be British? The answer is a hope on the government’s part that schools might be able to strengthen allegiance to liberal democratic values by tying it up with national identity. Michael Hand argues that this strategy risks putting these values on a precarious footing, given the vicissitudes of national sentiment. Moreover, since many children may not think of themselves as British, they may well draw the inference that these values are not for them

On the distinctive educational value of philosophy

Should philosophy be a compulsory subject in schools? I take it as read that philosophy has general educational value: like other academic disciplines, it cultivates a range of intellectual virtues in those who study it. But that may not be a good enough reason to add it to the roster of established school subjects. The claim I defend in this article is that philosophy also has distinctive educational value: there are philosophical problems that feature prominently and pressingly in ordinary human lives and that all children should be equipped by their education to tackle. Among these are the problems of justifying subscription to moral, political and religious standards. The significance of these problems for everyone is sufficient to warrant the inclusion of philosophy in the school curriculum

Psychological resilience: The influence of positive and negative life events upon optimism, hope, and perceived locus of control

The purpose of this study was to clarify the optimal levels of optimism, perceived locus of control, hope, and degree of adversity experienced in life, in the development and maintenance of psychological resilience. A sample of 328 male and female students from Walden University and Washington State University completed either online or paper versions of a questionnaire consisting of the Life Orientation Test-Revised, Internal-External Locus of Control Scale, HOPE Scale , and the Life Experiences Scale . A series of bivariate correlation and multiple regression analyses tested the relationships between and among the five variables. As predicted, the bivariate analyses produced significant correlations between each of the variables. Contrary to predictions, negative life experience, rather than positive life experience, was predictive of stronger correlations between optimism and hope, optimism and control, and hope and control. The correlation between hope and control varied under differing levels of positive and negative life experience such that both high negative and high positive life experience resulted in the lowest correlation, and intermediate levels (low negative and low positive) resulted in the highest correlation. Hope itself was found not to be significantly correlated with either positive or negative life experience. Stepwise multiple regression analyses explored the relative influence of positive and negative life experience, age, gender and number of life experiences on optimism, hope and perceived locus of control. The analyses revealed unexpectedly strong loadings of age and gender in the predictions of both control and optimism. Suggested implications of the research included clinical approaches to trauma recovery, educational and parental methods to foster development of resilience in children, and military training to proactively prepare for the rigors of combat

Energy Attitudes, Beliefs and Behavior: A Specification of Situational and Personal Determinants of Residential Conservation Behavior

This dissertation examines the nature and extent of residential energy conservation behavior as well as consumers\u27 view of the energy problem. The primary policy question raised by this research has been to clarify the link between energy attitudes, beliefs and conservation actions performed in the home context as a basis for furthering energy policies directed at encouraging residential energy conservation. Despite a plethora of such studies, research findings have failed to provide an unequivocal understanding of the role of consumer energy attitudes and beliefs in guiding behavior. Theoretical basis for this research is drawn from attitude theory, particularly recent discussions of the attitude-behavior problem in social psychology. Two recent attitude-behavior models are examined in detail: (1) Fishbein and Ajzen\u27s theory of reasoned action based upon an informational processing model of behavior, and (2) Triandis\u27s multicomponent model which assumes the latter perspectives well as elements of both symbolic interactionist and behaviorist traditions. Although the models are similar in how they conceptualize social behavior, they differ considerably with respect to the actor\u27s degree of volitional control over behavior they assume. Predicting conservation behaviors, which manifest marked differences in term of such control, time and resources required of the individual, provided an appropriate test case to examine the validity of either model\u27s approach. To clarify the analysis, three general classes of conservation behavior were constructed: (1) curtailment activities--which involve a limitation of energy services, (2) efficiency behaviors--which make better use of energy services, and (3) efficiency improvements--which involve home retrofit and appliance change. Utilizing data from a mail survey of Knoxville area residents (N=286), the results indicate that the majority of individuals have made at least moderate efforts to conserve energy. Such efforts usually entailed some curtailment of energy use (primarily turning the thermostat down), more efficient use of appliances and additional insulation and weatherstripping. Overall the relationship to consumer energy attitudes and beliefs is moderate although consistent. The best cognitive predictors of behavior tend to be attitudes toward specific actions as well as beliefs about the outcomes of those behaviors; i.e., their expected utility. While this finding suggests that definitions of the energy problem are not strongly linked to behavior, such general beliefs are instrumental in shaping more proximate attitudinal and belief determinants. A comparison of the two models suggests that their predictive power is equivalent when the behavior requires only consumer motivation to perform (e.g., turning down the thermostat). As the behavior becomes more constrained by resource and opportunity factors, the utility of either model diminishes. The Triandis model is clearly superior under such circumstances as it includes measures of facilitation factors--such as perceived difficulty of the behavior and behavior relevant knowledge, constraining behavioral choices. By incorporating resource and opportunity factors affecting behavior, the Triandis model provides a broader based theoretical model for understanding behaviors of sociological interest. Several policy implications are discussed. Programs endeavoring to promote conservation should first encourage a broader based view of the energy problem. A more integrated view of energy issues could be instrumental in providing a receptivity to specific appeals to conserve. Second, programs should target specific behaviors for change as well as normative beliefs and attitudes toward those behaviors. Third, providing practical knowledge for saving energy in the individual\u27s residential context could encourage behavior, at least for some types of conservation activity