Modern American Populism: Analyzing the Economics Behind the “Silent Majority,” the Tea Party,and Trumpism

Modern American populism (MAP) was born out of the political upheaval of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The article examines the causes of populism. Economic anxiety is found to be the main cause, but there is also evidence supporting an alternative theory that racial resentment is an important driving force behind populism. The article analyzes the role of populism in the 1972 election of Richard Nixon, the Tea Party election of 2010, and the 2016 election of Donald Trump using data provided by the American National Election Studies (ANES). There is ample qualitative evidence that economic anxiety caused the populist voting patterns that elected Nixon, Tea Party candidates, and Trump. Statistical data supported the same conclusion in the 2010 and 2016 elections, but the 1972 data were inconclusive. The data show that both economic anxiety and racial resentment played a role in the 2010 and 2016 elections, but the findings suggest that economic anxiety is the underlying factor that generates both racial resentment and support for populism.     

The multiple effects of carbon values on optimal rotation

Non-consumptive benefits which increase with crop age, like keeping carbon sequestered, lengthen optimal rotation compared with rotation for timber alone. High proposed carbon prices may extend rotation indefinitely. Carbon storage in wood products reduces this tendency. Biomass as an energy source displacing fossil fuels favours rotations near those of maximum biomass productivity. Use of sawn timber to displace structural materials with high embodied carbon favours somewhat longer rotations. Effects of rotation on soil carbon, and fossil carbon volatilised in harvesting operations, are further complications. Including all carbon effects results in optimal rotations somewhat longer than those based only on timber value, but shorter than those based on timber plus forest carbon. To include all factors intuitively is not possible: balanced appraisal needs economic calculations.     

Motives for a secular pilgrimage to the Gallipoli battlefields

Pilgrimage is a journey to a non-substitutable site embodying the highly valued, the deeply meaningful, or a source of core identity for the traveller. Secular pilgrimage is an important yet under-researched sector of the tourism industry. Where the motives for religious pilgrimage are well documented, little is known of the motives for secular pilgrimages. This paper presents the results of an empirical investigation of one case of secular pilgrimage, the journey of Australians and New Zealanders to the Gallipoli battlefields in Turkey. Five distinct motives for visits to the pilgrimage site are identified – spiritual, nationalistic, family pilgrimage, friendship and travel motives – and differences in their importance noted across seven visitor groups. These motives share some commonality with the motives for religious pilgrimage, and conversely, with the motives for leisure tourism; yet, other motives are unique to the secular pilgrimage. Suggestions for future research on secular pilgrimage are provided.     

The amenity value of woodland in Great Britain: A comparison of economic estimates

Forests produce benefits over and above the revenue yielded from timber and other wood based products. Most important among these may be the recreational benefits for visitors, which have been examined in several studies. Total benefits for residents are perhaps more accurately captured in property values since, ceteris paribus, the price of a house reflects willingness to pay to live near an environmental amenity such as a forest to gain access to it, and also the amenity (non-use) value of the forest in so far as it creates a pleasant landscape. However, the total non-priced value of forestry is not the sum of HPM and ITCM benefit estimates. Recreational benefits will typically be less, and will be subsumed in the HPM estimates, since the hedonic price is partly induced by the value of recreational access.     

STOCK MARKET CRASH AND EXPECTATIONS OF AMERICAN HOUSEHOLDS

This paper utilizes data on subjective probabilities to study the impact of the stock market crash of 2008 on households' expectations about the returns on the stock market index. We use data from the Health and Retirement Study that was fielded in February 2008 through February 2009. The effect of the crash is identified from the date of the interview, which is shown to be exogenous to previous stock market expectations. We estimate the effect of the crash on the population average of expected returns, the population average of the uncertainty about returns (subjective standard deviation), and the cross-sectional heterogeneity in expected returns (disagreement). We show estimates from simple reduced-form regressions on probability answers as well as from a more structural model that focuses on the parameters of interest and separates survey noise from relevant heterogeneity. We find a temporary increase in the population average of expectations and uncertainty right after the crash. The effect on cross-sectional heterogeneity is more significant and longer lasting, which implies substantial long-term increase in disagreement. The increase in disagreement is larger among the stockholders, the more informed, and those with higher cognitive capacity, and disagreement co-moves with trading volume and volatility in the market.     

Status of public sector accounting education

Public Sector Accounting Education has been receiving increased attention both from academic circles and from the profession. This study describes previous research efforts and expands the research populations to include Non-AACSB accredited schools in an effort to determine the current status of course offerings in public sector accounting. One surprising result indicated that while public sector course offerings have increased, student interest has waned. The implication — Has Public Sector Accounting reached its peak?     

The Role of the Global Reporting Initiative's Sustainability Reporting Guidelines in the Social Screening of Investments

Social screening of investments calls not only for investment policy and criteria, but also for information about companies, their policies, practices and performance. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and its June 2000 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines have the potential to significantly improve the usefulness and quality of information reported by companies about their environmental, social and economic impacts and performance. The GRI aims to develop a voluntary reporting framework that will elevate sustainability reporting practices to a level equivalent to that of financial reporting in rigour, comparability, auditability and general acceptance. This will be a welcome and efficient supplement to the questionnaires, interviews, press releases, media reports and other sources of information traditionally used for screening in investment decision making – social/ethical and mainstream. The Dow Jones Sustainability Group Index, the Jantzi Social Index and the Innovest EcoValue'21 analytical platform, together with the SRI community, are all likely to benefit from GRI-style sustainability reports. One of the GRI's key challenges is to accommodate the broad variety of disclosure needs and expectations of a wide range of report users and company stakeholders. To maximize the usefulness of the GRI Guidelines, report users, including the SRI community, need to be engaged in the process of developing and refining the Guidelines over time. The GRI Guidelines are emerging as an important instrument in enabling companies to communicate with their stakeholders about performance and accountability beyond just the financial bottom line.     

Statistical Analysis of Choice Experiments and Surveys

Measures of households' past behavior, their expectations with respect to future events and contingencies, and their intentions with respect to future behavior are frequently collected using household surveys. These questions are conceptually difficult. Answering them requires elaborate cognitive and social processes, and often respondents report only their “best” guesses and/or estimates, using more or less sophisticated heuristics. A large body of literature in psychology and survey research shows that as a result, responses to such questions may be severely biased. In this paper, (1) we describe some of the problems that are typically encountered, (2) provide some empirical illustrations of these biases, and (3) develop a framework for conceptualizing survey response behavior and for integrating structural models of response behavior into the statistical analysis of the underlying economic behavior.     

Reviews

Retirement Communities: An American Original, by Michael E. Hunt, Allan G. Feldt, Robert W. Morans, Leon A. Pastalan, and Kathleen L. Vakalo. New York: Haworth Press. 1984. ISBN 0–86656–267–2. 278 pp. $29.95.

Senior Settlers: Social Integration in Retirement Communities, by Nancy J. Osgood. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1982. ISBN 0–03–059792–7. 296 pp. $29.95.

Life After Work: Retirement, Leisure, Recreation, and the Elderly, ed. Nancy J. Osgood. New York: Praeger Publishers. 1982. ISBN 0–03–060437–0. 372 pp. $32.95.

Work and Retirement, by Stanley Parker. London: George Allen & Unwin. 1982. ISBN 0–04–658238‐X. 203 pp. $9.95 paper, $28.50, cloth.

Adults and Their Leisure: The Need for Lifelong Learning, by John R. Verduin, Jr., and Douglas N. McEwen. Springfield, Ill: Charles C. Thomas. 1984. ISBN 0–398–04985–8. 170 pp. $17.50.