Some Determinants of Property Crime: Economic Factors Influence Criminal Behavior But Cannot Completely Explain the Syndrome

Abstract . An empirical analysis of the property crimes, robbery, burglary and larceny, is presented for all 120 counties in Kentucky. While this analysis is based on an economic model of crime, certain sociological and legal variables are included as well in the system of equations. Overall, the empirical results support prior studies’findings with the exception that a quadratic relationship is found to exist between urbanization and each of the property crimes. Furthermore, neither the economic nor the non economic influences measured appear more important for affecting crime rates. Specifically, results indicate that the level of poverty, the degree of tourism, the presence of police, the unemployment rate and the apprehension rate all affect property crimes. In contrast, the length of sentence, the degree of industrialization, the level of public assistance payments and the proportion of youth in the county have no affect on property crime rates in these areas.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed: Biorcio, Roberto La Padania Promessa Cartocci, Roberto Fra Lega e Chiesa Diamanti, Ilvo La Lega: Geografia, Storia e Sociologia di un nuovo Soggetto Politico Diamanti, Ilvo Il Male del Nord: Lega, Localismo, Secessione Magatti, Mauro Tra Disordine e Scisma Mannheimer, Renato, (ed.) La Lega Lombarda Hebbert, Michael London Mazzette, Antonietta and Giancarlo Rovati (eds.) La Protesta dei ’forti”: Leghe del Nord e Partito Sardo d’Azione Pajetta, Giovanna Il Grande Camaleonte: Episodi, Passioni, Avventure del Leghismo Vicercati, Daniele I Lombardi alla nuova Crociati Veltz, Pierre Mondialism Villes et Territoires: L’economie Archipel Abromeit, Heidrun Democracy in Europe. Legitimising Politics in a Non‐state Polity Dietz, Henry and Gil Shidlo, (eds.) Urban Democratic Elections in Latin America Harrison, Bennett and Marcus Weiss Workforce Development Networks: Community‐based Organizations and Regional Alliances Sugrue, Thomas J. The Origins of the Urban Crisis. Race and Inequality in Postwar Detriot Wilford, Rich and Robert L. Miller (eds.) Women, Ethnicity and Nationalism: The Politics of Transition Jones, G.V. and P. Visaria Urbanisation in Large Developing Countries. China, Indonesia, Brazil and India Buiseret, David (eds.) Envisioning the City: Six Studies in Urban Cartography Taylor, Peter J. Modernities: A Geohistorical Interpretation     

Redistributing the energy tax burden in the Philippines

This paper uses an aggregate modelling approach to assess the impacts of a redistribution of the taxes and duties that currently exist on crude oil and refined petroleum products on the Philippine economy. The approach used in the analysis consists of a general equilibrium model composed of fourteen producing sectors, fifteen consuming sectors, three household categories classified by income and a government. The effects of replacing the taxes and duties on crude oil and refined petroleum products with a more broad based tax on manufacturing and service sectors output on prices and quantities are examined. The results are revealing. For example, the consequences of redistributing the tax burden away from petroleum products to the manufacturing and service sectors of the Philippine economy will be an increase in output by all producing sectors of about 3.5 percent or about 2.4 hundred billion Philippine pesos, a rise in the consumption of goods and services by about 6.1 percent or 1.6 hundred billion Philippine pesos, a rise in total utility by 6.9 or 1.9 hundred billion Philippine pesos, and virtually no change in tax revenue for the government. When subjected to a sensitivity analysis, the results are reasonably robust with regard to the assumption of the values of the substitution elasticities. That is, while the model's equilibrium values do vary in response to different assumptions of the values of these elasticities, the fluctuations are not so enormous to suggest that the model is unrealistically sensitive to these parameters.Notation Y _j Total production in sectorj (j=1, 2, ..., 14) - CD _j Consumer demand for productj - GE _j Government endowment of productj - UM _j Imports of productj - _LRAS_jl RAS balanced input-output intermediate demands - GD _j Government demand for productj - INV _j Investment in sectorj - UX _j Exports of productj - SL _c Supply of labor by householdc (c=1, 2, 3) - SK _c Supply of capital by householdc - SD _c Supply of land by householdc - DL _j Demand for labor in the industryj - DK _j Demand for capital in the industryj - DD _j Demand for land in industryj - GDL Government demand for labor - GDD Government demand for land - TL _j Tax on labor in industryj - TK _j Tax on capital in industryj - TD _j Tax on land in industryj - GCE _i Consumer demand for consumer producti (i=1, 2, ..., 15) - Z _ji A 14×15 transformation matrix - RCS _ic RAS balanced matrix of each household's demand for each consumer good - TC _j Excise tax on consumer goodj - TRN _c Transfer payment to householdc - PIT _c Personal income tax payment for householdc - TAU _c Marginal income tax rate for householdc - SAV _c Savings in householdc - GC _c Gross consumption of householdc - ZTA Consumption plus leisure coefficient - TE Total government endowments - EM _j Demand elasticity of export demand - FE _j Endowment/demand sector of adjusted elasticity of export demand - GSK _j Government endowment of capital in industryj - GDK _j Government demand for capital in industryj - GTL Government wage taxes on its own employees - TXO _j Government output tax on industryj - TC _c Consumption taxes on householdc - CG _c Total government consumption by householdc - SAV _c Total savings by householdc - INV _j Total investment by industryj The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the policies of the organizations with which they are affiliated. They would like to thank Wildrido Cruz of the World Bank and Climenta Habido of the Philippine government for help in acquiring the requisite data to calibrate the model used in the analysis. They would also like to thank an anonymous referee for helpful suggestions.     

Henry George and the Classical Scientific Research Program: The Economics of Republican Millennialism

Abstract . Henry George's classicism was evident in his acceptance of “hard core” assumptions inherent in classical economic analysis, notably that rational self-interested behavior exercise in competitive markets maximized economic welfare. However, George's “stage theory,” the “Law of Human Progress,” led him to reject the classical nexus between social and economic welfare. The emergence of an exchange economy improved efficiency and economic welfare, but institutional changes lagged behind, particularly the redefinition of property rights. Consequently, economic growth based on land as a private rather than public good widened the gap between economic efficiency and social welfare. Hence George's paradox of poverty amidst progress. George resolved the equity efficiency conflict by treating land as a public good. Then, the sale of monopoly rights to land through the “single tax” on land rents captured the difference between the private and social costs of land use.     

On a linear stochastic differential equation

Summary Stochastic differential (s. d.) equations had been considered in [Nasr, 1960] and [Nasr]. We consider here, the s. d. equationf(D)x(t)=m(t)+v(t)z(t) wherem(t),v(t) are real functions oft,f(D) is a polynomial inD withD=d/dt, andz(t) is a random function. In particular,z(t) is assumed here, to be of the stationary type, while other types namely whenz(t) is of theGaussian or of thePoisson type, are considered in [Nasr]. A particular integral of the stated equation, and an associated covariance function of this integral are given in the form of generalized (g-)functions; [Nasr, 1965]. The equationdx/dt=v(t)z(t) wherez(t) is stationary in the wide sense is considered as a special case.     

George on Free Trade, At Home and Abroad: The American Economist and Social Philosopher Envisioned a World Unhindered in Production and Exchange

Abstract . Henry George's theories on international trade are little known though he is respected as an advocate of free trade. He went along with the free traders of his time in three-fourths of his classic, Protection or Free Trade. But he went far beyond the others in the last fourth of his book. “True” free trade, he argued, in the debate over protection that engaged some of the best minds in England and America, applied to domestic production as well as production for export. Hindrances to trade, like most tariffs, taxes, subsidies or other government policies, make products more expensive for the working people, worsen their situation by increasing economic rent to resource owners at the expense of labor and capital, and misallocate resources, maximining inefficiency and cost. The principle of free trade leads to Justice and equal rights, he held, seeking to advance his vision of a free society. Short run and long run solutions to protectionism are presented.     

Henry George and Europe: Ireland, the First Target of His Efforts to Spread His Doctrines Internationally, Disappointed Him

Abstract . Henry George made several crusading forays into the British Empire at the time of its zenith. But the first, to Ireland, proved a disappointment. George saw Ireland as an object lesson in the land question and at first It was uppermost in the minds of the 600,000 tenant farmers. But the 20,000 landlords agreed to an amelioration, and for decades, republicanism replaced land reform in Irish social history. George misread the temper of the times; he saw Ireland's political future better served by becoming a self-governing unit of a league of British nations. “Integration” was the trend of the times, the American social philosopher insisted. Ireland (with the exception of Ulster) became a dominion in 1921 but it withdrew from the British Commonwealth in 1949 to become a sovereign republic. George was not wholly wrong in emphasizing economics over politics. In 1955 Ireland, now Eire, entered the United Nations where it wielded influence all out of proportion to its resources and economic development became its over-riding issue.     

Political Unionism and the Collective Objective in Economies of British Colonial Origin: The Cases of Jamaica and Trinidad

Abstract . Developing countries face an inconsistency between the need for more equitable distribution of income and wealth between classes and groups and the goals of an industrial relations system in which the trade unions have a systematic commitment to allied political parties to support them in exchange for some control over economic and social policy, or where unions compete with parties for popular support of certain social and political goals. This is designated as 'political unionism' in contradistinction to 'business unionism' where unions support any party whose overall strategy and objectives are most compatible. The analysis shows that ‘political unionism’ led, in Jamaica and in Trinidad and Tabago, to lags in growth which make industrial relations reform a necessity of an effective program of social change.     

Peddling in the Antebellum Economy: Precursor of Mass-Marketing or a Start in Life?

Abstract . This article examines the effect of peddling upon industrialization and economic development and the evolution of institutional arrangements in marketing in the Antebellum period. After 1840 peddling in America was undertaken, to an increasing extent, by newly arrived immigrants from Germany who displaced the traditional “Yankees” from the trade. The relationship between peddling and the development of entrepreneurship is explored, along with the special opportunities that peddling provided for economic and occupational mobility in the American milieu. The frequency with which individuals who started careers as peddlers rose to prominence in the fields of merchandising and finance points to the importance of the “schooling” function of this institution for newly arrived immigrants in American folkways, business practices, and commercial possibilities.     

Export Agriculture and the Expansion of Urban Slum Areas

Abstract . Many of the richest people have all or a large part of their accumulated wealth in land, yet the men and women who work the land are usually their country's most poverty-stricken. The landowning elite is very powerful because land has been concentrated in few hands. In the Third World' of less developed countries (LDCs) and in the United States this situation in the last four decades has led to an emphasis on export crops and a restructuring of agriculture to produce them. Brazilis an example of this change, which has led to deforestation and multiplication of the hungry, homeless and alienated, the new “barbarians within the gates.” Comparable developments are seen in the U.S., threatening fiscal and political stability in many countries.     

Games of chance with multiple objectives

We consider games of chance between two players: Player M can win only by amassing point totals in several categories before player N scores a prescribed total number n of points. Let M have k objectives, with m _i points required in category i and probability q _i of scoring a point in that category. We resolve certain special cases: (a) For all m _i equal, the probabilities of M winning are ordered by majorization of the vectors (q ₁,...,q _k ). (b) For all q _i equal, the probabilities of M winning are ordered by majorization of the vectors (m ₁,...,m _k ). (c) For all m _i equal and all q _i equal, the probability of M winning approaches 0 as n → ∞ or as k → ∞. The results, which follow from inequalities of majorization and Schur convexity, are in accord with intuition.      

Explaining the American Dream: Telling Chinese Academics What'Liberty and Justice For All'Means Taxes Even an Eager Audience

Abstract . For more than a generation, contemporary mainland Chinese have lived under first a military dictatorship and now a political party dictatorship. How to explain to an eager Chinese academic audience what the American dream of ‘liberty and justice for all’—realized only in part in some areas but approached progressively nearer in others—really means? The U.S. has predominantly a capitalist system but its people are committed to equality of opportunity. It tempers ‘rugged individualism’ by concern for the poor, the handicapped and the unfortunate. It has many serious economic, social and cultural problems but its citizens, drawn from most of the peoples of the world—not the special interest groups trying to benefit at the expense of others—are determined to solve them equitably and rationally. The trade and budget deficits are related to government instrumentalities.     

Max Weber's Authority Models and the Theory of X-Inefficiency: The Economic Sociologist's Analysis Adds More Structure to Leibenstein's Critique of Rationality

Abstract . Harvey leibenstein's theory of X-efficiency holds that behavioral considerations, such as motivation of workers or the quality of managerial decisions, are the major restraints on the productivity of modern organizations. It envisions economic behaviors which are not fully rational; that is, behaviors which fall far short of the maximization postulate so central to neo-classical microeconomics. The theory is significant for it, contrary to the prevailing view, seeks to explain suboptimality primarily as a function of factors internal to the Jirm rather than those that are objectively external, such as the market structure in which the firm finds itself. The X-efficiency framework is enhanced by the application of several salient concepts in the economic thought of Max Weber. He, in contrast to most of his contemporaries, engaged in economic analysis, but he never accepted the maximization postulate. He considered such formal economic rationality to be a very rare, almost an exceptional case of economic behavior the norm was something substantially less rational. Weber therefore categorized economic activity by its degree of rationality and linked such activity to types of authority exercised in its pursuit.     

The General Public and the Art Museum: Case Studies of Visitors to Several Institutions Identify Characteristics of Weir Publics

Abstract . From case studies at several art museums, characteristics of several types of museum goers have been identified. Typically museum visitors are in the upper educational, occupational and income groups, younger than the population in general (average age is 34) and active in community and leisure-time organizations. Frequent visitors do so to be with people, to do something they consider worthwhile, to use surroundings in which they feel comfortable and at ease, to be challenged by new experiences, to use an opportunity to learn and to participate actively in an experience they value. Replication in the U.S. of a classic study in England corroborates its findings.     

Measuring Socioeconomic Effects When Using Income as Quality of Life Indicator

Abstract . By generalizing Stigler and Becker's idea of maintaining the “capital stock intact,” and incorporating it with other contributions to welfare economic analysis, this paper presents a modified conceptual framework for measuring and adjusting impacts of socioeconomic and environmental factors when income or consumption expenditure is used solely as a quality of life indicator. Such measurements and adjustments are made for differences in public needs and in the process of satisfying these needs. Application of this conceptual framework is illustrated, using statistics on police protection and crime rates.     

The Nature of the Agrarian Land Question in the Republic of South Africa

Abstract . Most of the land in South Africa is dommnated by 4.5 million Whites. A tiny fraction of this key resource is designated for Black occupation in Black townships in White South Africa and for Black ownership in the ten “homelands.” Several interrelated factors account for the lop sided land distribution that exists in South Africa. The two most important factors are the removal of native occupants from the majority of the land, accomplished by early Dutch settlers, and legislative measures that were designed to guarantee a White controlled economy and foster economic development by assuring an abundant supply of disenfranchised and cheap black labor The extent of the inequality in the land distribution suggests that, from the viewpoint of ownership and control, Blacks were better off prior to 1652 when the first Dutch settlers arrived at the Cape.     

Alvin Harvey Hansen: Economic Growth and a More Perfect Society: The Economist's Role in Defining the Stagnation Thesis and in Popularizing Keynesianism

Abstract . Alvin H. Hansen was one of the leading American economists from the 1930s to the 1960s. He was largely responsible for the popularization of Keynesian economics in the United States and Canada. He was responsible for the development of the secular stagnation thesis which explained 19th century American economic growth in terms of population growth, the frontier, and technology. The diminishing of these factors explained the decrease in the American economic growth rate in the 20th Century. Hansen's policy conclusions to prevent stagnation were Keynesian in nature and, as a result, Hansen was an early advocate of active fiscal policy in the United States. He differed with Terborgh.     

Economic Development and Crime: The Two May Be Associated as an Adaptation to Industrialism in Social Revolution

Crime and economic development are discussed as part of a third major human adaptation to a new form of civilized life called industrialism. Most humans have lived the lives of hunters and gatherers while a much smaller minority has lived as members of societies based on agriculture and animal domestication. A much smaller group is now embarked on an adaptation to urbanization, technology and industrialization. Within this paradigm the process of economic development is viewed in stages, as suggested by W. W. Rostow. This allows a more extensive consideration of the social, cultural, and historicalcontexts of crime. Clusters of circumstances distinctive of specific developmental stages, or criminogenic contexts, are suggested as means of characterizing such variables. Two such contexts are briefly described. The first is a product of the unplanned drift of rural populations to urban areas in search of a better life. The second is a product of the changeover of elite groups in societies seeking to make the transition to modernization and sustained economic growth. Policy options in the interest of minimizing crime in the developmental process are briefly considered.     

Work and Welfare in Economics:

Abstract . Today's conventional economics typically ignores the impact of alternative forms of work organization upon the welfare of the worker. In effect, its methodology is concerned with the welfare of the individual as a consumer, but not with the welfare of the individual as a worker. Hence, welfare conclusions of economics are subject to challenge on grounds of being incomplete. Whether the worker is alienated or achieves self-fulfillment, etc., stands in no necessary relationship to either the formal lines of enterprise ownership, political ideology or form of economic system. Questions of authority and power in work organizations and the workplace conditions affecting the worker on the job transcend them.     

On Schumpeter, Services and Economic Change

Abstract . Joseph A. Schumpeter, the Austrian-American economist, worried about “Can capitalism survive” a generation ago, and so far it has. But his work poses these questions: How do growth and change take place in a free enterprise economy? Can his model for expansion through innovation and creative destruction through the competitive process be a basis for understanding present day industrial economies? He emphasized that capitalism was an evolutionary system and that the very need for newness or rejuventation should insure continual change in it. With respect to declining industries and firms the task of economics was to turn what might have been a rout into orderly retreat. And so he gave a limited blessing to certain monopoly practices deriving from a broader strategy, risk avoidance. Schumpeter's entrepreneurs have disappeared but innovative ability still is exercised, largely through issue-specific consulting services in the burgeoning service sector, services that foster stability as well as change