Foreign Influence
Welfare and the Children of Immigrants: Transmission of Dependence or Investment in the Future?
Kelly Stamper Balistreri
Population Research and Policy Review, October 2010, Pages 715-743
Abstract:
The public concern that immigrant families might be using a disproportionate share of social benefits and transmitting some form of public dependency to their children, combined with the rising levels of immigrants entering the country, fueled the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act in 1996, which limited public assistance to many immigrant families. This paper uses the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to explore the association between exposure to welfare and young adult outcomes of high school graduation, college enrollment and labor force participation with a focus on parental nativity status as well as broad country of origin group. Results indicate a persistent negative association between welfare legacy and high school graduation; a negative association that is most pronounced for children of natives. Results also show the largest positive effect of welfare receipt among the most disadvantaged group, the young adult children of immigrants from Mexican and Central American countries. The main finding of this study suggests that the negative impacts of welfare receipt might be lessened and in some cases reversed among the young adults from immigrant families. Such findings challenge the common notion that immigrant families use welfare as a crutch across generations and raise serious concern about U.S. immigration and welfare policies.
-----------------------
Do Output Contractions Trigger Democratic Change?
Paul Burke & Andrew Leigh
American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, October 2010, Pages 124-157
Abstract:
Does faster economic growth increase pressure for democratic change, or reduce it? Using data for 154 countries for the period 1963-2007, we examine the short-run relationship between economic growth and moves toward and away from greater democracy. To address the potential endogeneity of economic growth, we use variation in precipitation, temperatures, and commodity prices as instruments for a country's rate of economic growth. Our results indicate that more rapid economic growth reduces the short-run likelihood of institutional change toward democracy. Output contractions due to adverse weather shocks appear to have a particularly important impact on the timing of democratic change.
-----------------------
Sylvia Xiaohua Chen & Michael Harris Bond
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
The issue of whether personality changes as a function of language is controversial. The present research tested the cultural accommodation hypothesis by examining the impact of language use on personality as perceived by the self and by others. In Study 1, Hong Kong Chinese-English bilinguals responded to personality inventories in Chinese or English on perceived traits for themselves, typical native speakers of Chinese, and typical native speakers of English. Study 2 adopted a repeated measures design and collected data at three time points from written measures and actual conversations to examine whether bilinguals exhibited different patterns of personality, each associated with one of their two languages and the ethnicity of their interlocutors. Self-reports and behavioral observations confirmed the effects of perceived cultural norms, language priming, and interlocutor ethnicity on various personality dimensions. It is suggested that use of a second language accesses the perceived cultural norms of the group most associated with that language, especially its prototypic trait profiles, thus activating behavioral expressions of personality that are appropriate in the corresponding linguistic-social context.
-----------------------
Jakub Samochowiec & Arnd Florack
International Journal of Intercultural Relations, September 2010, Pages 507-515
Abstract:
Based on the anxiety/uncertainty management theory (Gudykunst, 2005), the authors posit that the willingness to interact with a member of a foreign culture depends on the incidental affective state of an individual and the predictability of the potential interaction partner. It is hypothesized that individuals who experience an incidental affective state of anxiety are less willing to interact with a potential interaction partner they expect to be poorly predictable, than with a potential interaction partner they expect to be easily predictable, while the impact of predictability is reduced when individuals experience a more secure affective state. The hypotheses were tested in an experimental study (N = 80) in which the predictability of a potential interaction partner and the incidental anxiety of the participants were varied. The results support the basic assumptions of the authors.
-----------------------
Samuel Arbesman & Gregory Laughlin
PLoS ONE, October 2010, e13061
Background: The search for a habitable extrasolar planet has long interested scientists, but only recently have the tools become available to search for such planets. In the past decades, the number of known extrasolar planets has ballooned into the hundreds, and with it, the expectation that the discovery of the first Earth-like extrasolar planet is not far off.
Methodology/Principal Findings: Here, we develop a novel metric of habitability for discovered planets and use this to arrive at a prediction for when the first habitable planet will be discovered. Using a bootstrap analysis of currently discovered exoplanets, we predict the discovery of the first Earth-like planet to be announced in the first half of 2011, with the likeliest date being early May 2011.
Conclusions/Significance: Our predictions, using only the properties of previously discovered exoplanets, accord well with external estimates for the discovery of the first potentially habitable extrasolar planet and highlight the the usefulness of predictive scientometric techniques to understand the pace of scientific discovery in many fields.
-----------------------
Cross-Cultural Differences in Risk Perceptions of Disasters
Elaine Gierlach, Bradley Belsher & Larry Beutler
Risk Analysis, October 2010, Pages 1539-1549
Abstract:
Public risk perceptions of mass disasters carry considerable influences, both psychologically and economically, despite their oft-times imprecise nature. Prior research has identified the presence of an optimistic bias that affects risk perception, but there is a dearth of literature examining how these perceptions differ among cultures - particularly with regard to mass disasters. The present study explores differences among Japanese, Argentinean, and North American mental health workers in their rates of the optimistic bias in risk perceptions as contrasted between natural disasters and terrorist events. The results indicate a significant difference among cultures in levels of perceived risk that do not correspond to actual exposure rates. Japanese groups had the highest risk perceptions for both types of hazards and North Americans and Argentineans had the lowest risk perceptions for terrorism. Additionally, participants across all cultures rated risk to self as lower than risk to others (optimistic bias) across all disaster types. These findings suggest that cultural factors may have a greater influence on risk perception than social exposure, and that the belief that one is more immune to disasters compared to others may be a cross-cultural phenomenon.
-----------------------
Joost van Spanje
Party Politics, September 2010, Pages 563-586
Abstract:
Anti-immigration parties have experienced electoral lift-off in most Western democracies, although the consequences of their victories for real-life policy outcomes have remained largely unexplored. A key question is: do electoral pressures from anti-immigration parties have a ‘contagion' impact on other parties' immigration policy positions? In this article, I argue and empirically demonstrate that this is the case. On the basis of a comparative-empirical study of 75 parties in 11 Western European countries, I conclude that this contagion effect involves entire party systems rather than the mainstream right only. In addition, I find that opposition parties are more vulnerable to this contagion effect than parties in government. The findings of this article imply that anti-immigration parties are able to influence policy output in their political systems without entering government.
-----------------------
English language immersion and students' academic achievement in English, Chinese and mathematics
Liying Cheng, Miao Li, John Kirby, Haiyan Qiang & Lesly Wade-Woolley
Evaluation & Research in Education, September 2010, Pages 151-169
Abstract:
Research has demonstrated that second language immersion is an effective means of facilitating primary school students' second language without undermining competence in their first language. Despite the rapid growth of English immersion (EI) programmes in China, only limited empirical research has been conducted to evaluate students' academic achievement in these programmes. This study addressed three primary research questions regarding EI students' academic achievement represented by English (L2), Chinese (L1) and mathematics. This study was conducted with a group of Grade 2 (n=385), Grade 4 (n=430) and Grade 6 (n=183) students in immersion or non-immersion programmes in three schools in China. Cambridge Young Learners English Tests were employed as the L2 measure. School-issued achievement tests in L1 (Chinese) and in mathematics were also employed. The results show that immersion students, compared with non-immersion students, did better in English at all three grade levels. They also did similarly in Chinese and mathematics at Grades 2 and 4, but better at Grade 6. The findings from this evaluation study demonstrate a complex and developmental picture of students' academic achievement in English, Chinese and mathematics.
-----------------------
Ethnic Social Capital: Individual and Group Level Sources and Their Economic Consequences
Asaf Levanon
Social Science Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
Ethnic social capital shapes economic action by immigrants by providing information, training, and credit that is otherwise unavailable. However, prior research on the effects of ethnic social capital on economic attainment by salaried workers primarily relied on case studies of specific destinations or ethnic groups. Furthermore, prior research focused on group level effects of ethnic social capital while largely ignoring the effects of individual-level utilization of ethnic ties. This study addresses these limitations by combining data from the New Immigrant Survey and the 5% file of the 2000 U.S. Census. This allows controlling for group differences in actual utilization of familial ties and for differences between groups in their demographic makeup, legal status, and human capital when estimating the effect of ethnic social capital. It also allows addressing the potentially divergent implications of ethnic social capital for individual and group economic attainment. Results suggest that, on both the individual and group levels, reliance on ethnic social capital is associated with lower earnings for recent legal immigrants to the U.S.
-----------------------
Forms of written arguments: A comparison between Japan and the United States
Shinobu Suzuki
International Journal of Intercultural Relations, November 2010, Pages 651-660
Abstract:
Studying cultural differences in argument forms helps us understand the nature of communicative problems that inevitably arise in intercultural conflict and negotiation. Although a number of studies have been conducted in the past to examine cultural differences in arguments, we still do not have sufficient evidence to support that cultural groups actually differ in the manners in which they construct arguments. Given the situation, this study empirically examines whether and how cultural groups differ in forms of written arguments. Based on the theoretical framework of verbal communication styles proposed by Gudykunst and Ting-Toomey, this study employs two dimensions along which two cultural groups, Japan and the United States, are likely to differ: direct-indirect and elaborate-succinct. Five indicators of argument forms that represent values on either of the two dimensions are used to analyze differences in argument forms between the two cultural groups. A survey was conducted in Japan and the United States. A total of 329 responses from college students, including 239 from Japan and 90 from the United States, were analyzed to test the hypotheses offered in this study. Consistent with the hypotheses, results indicate that the arguments written by the Japanese respondents are significantly more indirect and succinct than those written by the U.S. counterparts. The implications of these findings for future research are discussed.
-----------------------
Economic Migration and Happiness: Comparing Immigrants' and Natives' Happiness Gains From Income
David Bartram
Social Indicators Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
Research on happiness casts doubt on the notion that increases in income generally bring greater happiness. This finding can be taken to imply that economic migration might fail to result in increased happiness for the migrants: migration as a means of increasing one's income might be no more effective in raising happiness than other means of increasing one's income. This implication is counterintuitive: it suggests that migrants are mistaken in believing that economic migration is a path to improving one's well-being, at least to the extent that well-being means (or includes) happiness. This paper considers a scenario in which it is less likely that migrants are simply mistaken in this regard. The finding that increased incomes do not lead to greater happiness is an average (non)effect - and migrants might be exceptional in this regard, gaining happiness from increased incomes to a greater extent than most people. The analysis here, using data from the World Values Survey, finds that the association between income and happiness is indeed stronger for immigrants in the USA than for natives - but even for immigrants that association is still relatively weak. The discussion then considers this finding in light of the fact that immigrants also report lower levels of happiness than natives after controlling for other variables.
-----------------------
Immigration policy with partisan parties
Humberto Llavador & Angel Solano-García
Journal of Public Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
This paper analyzes the political economy of immigration when the salient electoral issue is the level of immigrants and the relevant immigration policy is the expenditure in immigration control. We consider that immigration affects voters' welfare through economic and non economic factors. We model political competition ά la Wittman with the ideology of parties endogenously determined at equilibrium. At equilibrium, parties propose different levels of immigration, located to the left and to the right of the median voter's ideal point, and combine skilled and unskilled workers among their constituencies. Numerical simulations provide the levels of immigration proposed by the two parties and the composition of parties' constituencies as we vary the efficacy of immigration control and the intensity of immigration aversion.
-----------------------
Framing international conflicts: Media coverage of fighting in the Middle East
Matt Evans
International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics, September 2010, Pages 209-233
Abstract:
Media framing of foreign conflicts determines the way in which the public and policy-makers perceive the causes, consequences and importance of those conflicts and where diplomatic and material resources are committed. Framing is manifested in, among other things, the amount of media coverage of a particular conflict and the language used to describe the actors and events in that conflict. The type of framing employed determines whether the public will empathize with one of the sides involved or feel detached from events taking place far from them. This article builds on earlier research on media framing through a study of two foreign conflicts that had a number of key similarities but were framed very differently. Framing is analysed through a comparison of New York Times coverage of army sieges of two Palestinian refugee camps: the first in the town of Jenin in the West Bank in 2002 and the second in Nahr al-Bared in Lebanon in 2007. The research examines the depth of coverage and the language used to portray the context of events, the two armies, combatants within the camps, civilian casualties, damage to property and the effectiveness of the military operations. Analysis of differences in the reporting of these two conflicts expands on existing literature on media framing, discusses causes of inconsistent framing and elucidates the effect of framing on perceptions of reality in foreign conflict and the subsequent effect on policy-making.