American Journal of Economics and Sociology最新文献

Historic districts play an essential role in preserving cultural heritage and tend to improve property values. However, the complexity of the designation process can contribute to collective action problems among stakeholders. Analyzing the text data from the top 100 populated U.S. cities' municipal codes, we develop a measure of the complexity of designation processes and further uncover the possible driving factors behind the collective action problems. OLS analysis finds that the racial composition, percentage of senior citizens, owner-occupied housing unit rate, non-government advocacy organization, and the age of municipal government can all play a significant role in one or more steps.

Dating back to at least 1975, several academic studies have produced a ranking of economics departments (faculties) in the U.S. South. In revisiting this genre of the literature, this study builds upon prior work by (1) including all of the U.S. News & World Report-classified national universities and colleges located in the U.S. South, which is a list that has grown considerably in recent years, and (2) examining citations to economists' prior work rather than publications and page counts, which have been used by most prior studies. Following rational choice research on reputation and group identity, this study employs a quality metric that accounts for the efforts of all a department's faculty. Based on research from organizational behavior emphasizing the importance of top performers in an organization, this study also employs a separate quality metric that accounts for the efforts of an elite core of a department's faculty. Using the former metric, the University of Maryland prevails. When relying on the latter metric, Duke University earns the top-ranked position.

The fundamental question underlying this paper is: should we treat animals as commodities? This inquiry challenges the assumption that animals should be downgraded to lifeless objects or goods to be valued solely for human benefit. At the heart of this issue lies a profound contradiction: animals are living beings capable of experiencing pain, pleasure, and, in many cases, complex social and emotional experiences. Yet, within systems of commodification, they are reduced to economic units, valued for their capacity to produce profit—whether as food or emotional companionship. This dysfunctional attitude obscures their intrinsic worth and the ethical responsibilities humans have toward sentient beings. This article provides arguments against animal exploitation and commodification, drawing on concepts belonging to Marxist theory such as metabolic rift and robbery of nature. In addition to Marx, I will mainly refer to Nancy Fraser, Kohei Saito, and John Bellamy Foster. Although these theorists refer more to the natural environment in general than specifically to animals, by connecting these reflections to traditional theories of animal ethics, we can observe more clearly the impact that capitalism and commodification have on animal welfare, as those systems deprive animals of their autonomy and reduce their lives to cycles of exploitation and death.

This article explores how managerial delegation affects pass-through and tax incidence in a mixed Cournot duopoly. It finds that the delegation coefficient of the private firm's manager is positive, while the coefficient of public firm's manager is negative. Sales delegation tends to increase pass-through rates and amplifies tax incidence. Comparing with the scenarios where a single firm hires a manager, both public and private firms hiring managers will generate the highest pass-through rates and the incidence of ad valorem tax, while the incidence of specific tax is the lowest.

This exploratory empirical study seeks to identify factors that influence interstate differentials in the percentage of families that provide a home for one or more dogs. Using PLS estimation for the contiguous 48 states over the period 2008–2016, several conclusions are obtained. These include the following: the percentage of family units with one or more dogs is found to be an increasing function of the percentage of the population that owns its own home, warmer climate, and the percent of the population without a high school diploma. In addition, there are three other findings. Namely, the percentage of family units consisting of one or more dogs is a decreasing function of the overall cost of living, the unemployment rate, and population density.

This article uses the cross-quantilogram approach to investigate the asymmetric relationship between Reverse Mortgages (RM) and housing prices (HP) from January 2007 to December 2023 in the U.S. It found a strong negative correlation between the HP and RM for the short term. However, in the longer term, there is a significant increase in positive correlation, especially in higher HP quantiles (0.8–0.95). This indicates an asymmetric relationship between RM and HP. Additionally, fluctuations in consumer prices, interest rates, and economic growth also significantly impact this relationship. These findings offer valuable insights for seniors and policymakers to understand the complex dynamics between Reverse Mortgages (RM) and housing prices (HP), highlighting the importance of real estate management in boosting RM demand and enhancing seniors' economic security.

This essay focuses on the contributions of Dr. Bernard Rollin to the ethical treatment of animals. Rollin was a visionary who questioned systemic societal treatment of animals and promoted a new social ethic for animals. This new ethic centered on ensuring that animals have a “life worth living”. Rollin taught the first class on veterinary ethics in the United States and considered the need to recognize and address animal pain as a moral imperative at a time when the subjective experience of animals was largely dismissed. Rollin did not believe that humans were inherently morally superior to non-human animals. Rollin proposed that all sentient animals should have rights that protect them from oppression of fundamental aspects of their nature for the good of society. Rollin fought for improved treatment of animals in laboratories and on farms, via both the court of public opinion as well as legislation. Rollin understood that animal welfare is an increasing concern for society and that society looks to veterinary medicine for answers. He urged the veterinary profession to lead on ethical and animal welfare issues. Rollin recognized that what many referred to as “animal problems” were often problems created by, and solved by, humans and that humans were often secondary victims of moral stress when work-related expectations or requirements discourage behaviors that could prevent animal suffering. Perhaps most importantly in our polarized socio-political environment, Rollin strongly believed that achieving ethical change occurs when we can find common ground with those we disagree with.

This paper utilizes geographic and nighttime light data to identify the levels of haze pollution and the extent of urban spatial expansion across Chinese provinces, thus partially addressing measurement errors in the variables. Building upon this, the paper incorporates local government tax competition, urban expansion, and regional haze pollution into a unified research framework. Using dynamic spatial panel data from 30 provinces in mainland China for the period 2007–2020, the paper systematically and comprehensively investigates the interrelationships among these factors and delves into their underlying causes and mechanisms. The main findings are as follows: The intergovernmental competition driven by economic growth demands and fiscal incentives has given rise to tax competition and urban expansion among local governments, both of which are key contributors to haze pollution within their jurisdictions. In this process, tax competition further amplifies the adverse impact of urban expansion on environmental quality. Specifically, tax competition leads to a decline in the efficiency of environmental regulations and an increase in industrial pollution, while urban expansion exacerbates pollution emissions from urbanization, transportation, and the construction sector, ultimately resulting in a deterioration of regional air quality.