Digital Commons Network^™

Toward A Libertarian Reconstruction Of Neoclassical Welfare Theory, Jeffrey Rogers Hummel

Faculty Publications

Many libertarians, especially those inclined toward the Austrian school of economics, counter the market-failure justification for government intervention by denying any legitimacy whatsoever to the neoclassical concept of efficiency. But properly interpreted, neoclassical efficiency, rather than providing an open-ended justification for all sorts of government intervention, provides one of the most powerful and comprehensive objections to government coercion in general.

Seeing Inside The Mountains: Cynthia Rylant's Appalachian Literature And The "Hillbilly" Stereotype, Karen Roggenkamp

Faculty Publications

If Ob, as a West Virginia native, possesses the ability to see The Mysteries where others see only primitivistic whittling or, more pejoratively, tacky wooden trash cluttering the yards of mountain families, then Rylant's Appalachian works likewise depict characters who possess an ability to see beyond external markers and predictable interpretations, and who seek an emotional and spiritual interiority based on family, love, and sense of place. Rylant's words in The Relatives Came, When I Was Young in the Mountains, and Missing May work to restore the integrity of Appalachia as a place of "interior" values, a setting that symbolizes …

An Appreciation Of Marc Galanter's Scholarship, John M. Lande

Faculty Publications

This brief essay highlights three of Marc Galanter's works to illustrate qualities that seem especially worth emulating. Galanter's classic article, Why the “Haves” Come Out Ahead: Speculations on the Limits of Legal Change, focuses on how the legal system actually operates in daily life and challenges a conventional wisdom that simply providing have-nots with more lawyers would substantially reduce inequality. The article is particularly relevant to the dispute resolution field, focusing on the vast majority of legally-oriented behavior that occurs outside of court. It distinguishes truly private dispute resolution (such as self-help, withdrawal from relationships, and intra-group processes) from settlement …

Entrepreneurs On Horseback: Reflections On The Organization Of Law, Darian M. Ibrahim, D. Gordon Smith

Faculty Publications

“Law and entrepreneurship” is an emerging field of study. Skeptics might wonder whether law and entrepreneurship is a variant of that old canard, the Law of the Horse. In this Essay, we defend law and entrepreneurship against that charge and urge legal scholars to become even more engaged in the wide-ranging scholarly discourse regarding entrepreneurship. In making our case, we argue that research at the intersection of entrepreneurship and law is distinctive. In some instances, legal rules and practices are tailored to the entrepreneurial context, and in other instances, general rules of law find novel expression in the entrepreneurial context. …

Measuring The Relationship Between Organizational Transparency And Employee Trust, Brad R. Rawlins

Faculty Publications

The literature on transparency and trust suggest the two concepts are related. While this idea is logical on its face, would it hold true if measured? Using an instrument that measures both transparency and trust, analysis of employee opinion supports this notion. In particular, organizations that encourage and allow public participation, share substantial information so their publics can make informed decisions, give balanced reports that hold them accountable, and open themselves up to public scrutiny, are more likely to be trusted.

Accumulating Disadvantage Over The Life Course: Evidence From A Longitudinal Study Investigating The Relationship Between Educational Advantage In Youth And Health In Middle Age, Katrina M. Walsemann, Arline T. Geronimus, Gilbert C. Gee

Faculty Publications

Recent studies suggest the importance of examining cumulative risk or advantage as potential predictors of health over the life course. Researchers investigating the cumulative health effects of education, however, have mainly conceptualized education in years or degrees, often disregarding educational quality and access to educational opportunities that may place individuals on divergent academic trajectories. We investigate whether educational advantages in youth are associated with an individual's health trajectory. We develop a novel index of educational advantage and employ random-intercept modeling using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. We find a widening health disparity in adulthood between respondents with …

Plausibility Pleading, A. Benjamin Spencer

Faculty Publications

Last Term, in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, the U.S. Supreme Court dramatically reinterpreted Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a) (2), which requires a "short and plain" statement of a plaintiffs claim. The Court was unabashed about this change of course: it explicitly abrogated a core element of its 1957 decision in Conley v. Gibson, which until recently was the bedrock case undergirding the idea that ours is a system of notice pleading in which detailed facts need not be pleaded. Departing from this principle, the Court in Twombly required the pleading of facts that demonstrate the plausibility of the …

Blessing, Well-Being, And Salvation: Should Lutherans Learn To Dance To Another Tune?, Guillermo C. Hansen

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

American Politics Supremacist Style Tracking The Presidential Election On Stormfront [Abstract], Dianne Dentice, James L. Williams

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Klan And Medieval/Renaissance Reenactors Religion And Ritual In Two Alternate Cultures [Abstract], Karol Chandler-Ezell, Dianne Dentice

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Attitude And Divergence In Business Students: An Examination Of Personality Differences In, Todd A. Brown

Faculty Publications

Many studies have reported that economics and business students have been more apt to act in self-interested ways when compared to their counterparts in other academic fields. It is our contention that past studies have not shed light on the underlying psychological differences which might be leading to this difference in behavior. We put forth evidence that certain business majors are correlated with a marked increase in levels of narcissism and decreased levels of empathy, as measured by psychological personality tests.

Envious Enemies Of The Cross Of Christ (Philippians 3:18), David E. Fredrickson

Faculty Publications

Contrary to the common understanding, the “enemies of the cross of Christ” in Phil 3:18 are the same people who “proclaim Christ from envy and rivalry” in 1:15. These “enemies” want Paul’s fame, but not the suffering that is built into loving.

The Alien Invasion, Ediberto Román

Faculty Publications

Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, repeatedly complains about strict immigration policies' impact on the ability for businesses to hire skilled workers. In terms of other sectors of the economy, an American Farm Bureau Federation study notes that "if agriculture's access to migrant labor were cut off, as much as $5- 9 billion in annual production of... commodities.., would be lost in the short term. Over the longer term, this annual loss would increase to $6.5-12 billion as the shock worked its way through the sector." Preeminent economist John Kenneth Galbraith effectively responded to those who have advocated for closed borders …

A Question Of Progress And Welfare: The Jitney Bus Phenomenon In Atlanta, 1915-1925, Julian C. Chambliss

Faculty Publications

The article focuses on the popularity of private buses modified for passenger service known as jitneys in Atlanta, Georgia as alternatives to streetcars from 1915 to 1925. Jitneys were originated from Los Angeles, California in 1914 and became a success in Atlanta because of their low fares and convenience. Complaints are also listed in response to the venture, citing streetcar companies and city officials urging regulation of jitneys due to their competitive pressure. Commentary is also given noting the social class conflict which was manifested in the transportation policy debate.

Preservice Literacy Teachers In Transition: Identity As Subjectivity, Mindy Legard Larson

Faculty Publications

This research addresses the complexities of identity development of elementary and middle school preservice literacy teachers during their teacher education program using a poststructural feminist theoretical lens. This research investigated two questions: 1) How do preservice teachers develop their identity as teachers of literacy in the midst of authoritative discourses? 2) What kinds of strategies and discourses do preservice literacy teachers use to negotiate the competing discourses of literacy during student teaching? The results indicated that the identities of the preservice literacy teachers were in transition during their teacher education program and authoritative discourses were at work constituting their subjectivities …

Entrepreneur As Change Agent: Antecedents And Moderators Of Individual-Level Philanthropic Behavior, Joseph E. Coombs, Abbie J. Shipp, Lisa Jones Christensen

Faculty Publications

What motivates entrepreneurs’ philanthropic acts? Philanthropy has been key to American social and cultural development, and it is also a major driver, along with entrepreneurship, of the American economy. To help researchers better understand the antecedents of entrepreneurs’ philanthropic giving, we develop a theoretical model of individual-level philanthropic actions. As antecedents of philanthropic actions in our model, we include three theoretical constructs (immortality striving, legacy creation, and generativity) from the psychology and social psychology literatures. We also propose several variables that we expect to moderate these relationships including entrepreneur age, gender, religious orientation, and wealth. Lastly, we offer directions for …

Spirituality And Organizational Culture: Cultivating The Abcs Of An Inspiring Workplace, Stanley E. Fawcett, James C. Brau, Gary K. Rhoads, David Whitlark, Amydee M. Fawcett

Faculty Publications

Perhaps the greatest source of unique advantage is an organization’s workforce. Unfortunately, while many managers talk about the importance or their people, they often fail to cultivate a organizational spirit that leverages their people’s creativity, insight and passion. A senior executive at a Fortune 500 company commented on this reality, saying, “People are either the bridge or the barrier.” One of today’s primary leadership challenges is to overcome practices that limit workers’ involvement. The goal is to create a workplace that inspires creativity and contribution. The question becomes, “What practices cultivate a culture that can transform an organization’s workforce into …

Socially Rational Models For Autonomous Agents, Wynn C. Stirling, James K. Archibald, Matthew S. Nokleby

Faculty Publications

Autonomous multi-agent systems that are to coordinate must be designed according to models that accommodate such complex social behavior as compromise, negotiation, and altruism. In contrast to individually rational models, where each agent seeks to maximize its own welfare without regard for others, socially rational agents have interests beyond themselves. Such models require a new type of utility function a social utility to ensure three desirable properties: (a) conditional preferences agents may adjust their preferences to account for the preferences of others; (b) endogeny group preferences are determined internally by interactions between individual agents; (c) framing invariance reformulations of the …

The Legal Architecture Of Nation-Building: An Introduction, Charles H. Norchi

Faculty Publications

The fundamental question here is how to bring a population from a condition of hopelessness to one of self-governance, sustainable growth, and viable participation in the world community. The aim of this Symposium is to stimulate thinking about those questions by exploring whether there is a discernible legal architecture of nation-building.

A Problem With The Clustering Of Recent Measures Of The Distance To The Large Magellanic Cloud, Bradley E. Schaefer

Faculty Publications

The distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) has long been of key importance for the distance ladder and the distances to all galaxies, and as such many groups have provided measurements of its distance modulus (μ) with many methods and various means of calibrating each method. Before the year 2001, the many measures spanned a wide range (roughly 18.1 < μ < 18.8) with the quoted error bars being substantially smaller than the spread, and hence the consensus conclusion being that many of the measures had their uncertainties being dominated by unrecognized systematic problems. In 2001, the Hubble Space Telescope Key Project (HSTKP) on the distance scale made an extensive analysis of earlier results and adopted the reasonable conclusion that the distance modulus is 18.50 ± 0.10 mag, and the community has generally accepted this widely popularized value. After 2002, 31 independent papers reported new distance measures to the LMC, and these cluster tightly around μ = 18.50 mag. Indeed, these measures cluster too tightly around the HSTKP value, with 68% of the measures being within 0.5-sigma of 18.50 mag. A Kolmogorov-Smirnov test proves that this concentration deviates from the expected Gaussian distribution at a >3-sigma probability level. This concentration is a symptom of a worrisome problem. Interpretations considered include correlations between papers, widespread over-estimation of error bars, and band-wagon effects. The purpose of this paper is to alert workers in the field that this …

Employment Hardship Among Older Workers: Does Residential And Gender Inequality Extend Into Older Age?, Tim Slack, Leif Jensen

Faculty Publications

Objectives. The realities of a rapidly aging society make the employment circumstances of older workers an increasingly important social issue. We examine the prevalence and correlates of underemployment among older Americans, with a special focus on residence and gender, to provide an assessment of the labor market challenges facing older workers. Methods. We analyzed data from the March Current Population Surveys for the years 2003, 2004, and 2005. We used descriptive statistics to explore the prevalence of underemployment among older workers and developed multivariate models to assess the impact of age, residence, and gender on the likelihood of underemployment, net …

Responding To The Time-Based Failures Of The Criminal Law Through A Criminal Sunset Amendment, Richard E. Myers Ii

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Individual Differences In The Conceptualization Of Food Across Eating Contexts, Christine E. Blake

Faculty Publications

Individual differences in food-related knowledge structures were explored by applying schema theory to examine the categories 42 adults used to classify foods across four eating contexts. Food card-sort labels were organized in 12 categories, category salience for each person was evaluated, and cluster analysis was used to identify clusters of participants according to the salience of their categories. Clusters were further evaluated for complexity and consistency of category use across contexts. Seven food schema clusters were identified. Meal/time and Routine categories were the most salient overall and were used by most clusters. Well-being, Person, Source, Convenience, Meal component, and Food …

How Strictly Scrutinized?: Examining The Educational Benefits The Court Relied Upon In Grutter, Patrick Garry

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Science And Constitutional Fact Finding In Equal Protection Analysis, Angelo N. Ancheta

Faculty Publications

This Article examines theories of fact finding and rules of evidence, as well as critiques of scientific citations in equal protection litigation, drawing on opinions starting with Brown v. Board of Education and its well-known citation of psychological and sociological studies documenting the harms of segregation-what the Brown Court labeled "modem authority." Second, this Article examines a range of equal protection cases and discusses how constitutional frameworks have shaped both core constitutional values and the gathering of relevant constitutional facts. Third, this Article examines in more detail the Parents Involved cases, as well as the underlying science and the citation …

Finding The Tort Of Terrorism In International Law, Beth Van Schaack

Faculty Publications

This Article - part of a symposium on civil litigation and terrorism - focuses on the potential of the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) to serve as a vehicle for asserting civil claims in U.S. courts for acts of terrorism. Although this paper primarily considers terrorism torts under the "law of nations" prong of the ATS (which requires a showing that the relevant prohibition is part of customary international law), terrorism torts may provide a vehicle for activating the ATS's dormant treaty prong as well, given the strong support for the terrorism treaties exhibited by the United States and the high …

Choosing A Career In Athletic Training: Exploring The Perceptions Of Potential Recruits, James M. Mensch, Murrary F. Mitchell

Faculty Publications

The success of any academic program, including athletic training, depends upon attracting and keeping quality students. Therefore, understanding potential recruits' perceptions of athletic training is important.

Objective: To (1) gain insight regarding undergraduate students' decisions to enter or not enter an athletic training education program (ATEP), and (2) examine potential athletic training recruits' perceptions of the roles and responsibilities of certified athletic trainers.

When Do Facts Persuade? Some Thoughts On The Market For “Empirical Legal Studies”, Elizabeth Chambliss

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Significance Of Altitude And Posting Density On Lidar-Derived Elevation Accuracy On Hazardous Waste Sites, María J. García-Quijano, John R. Jensen, Michael E. Hodgson, Brian C. Hadley, John B. Gladden, Lewis A. Lapine

Faculty Publications

This research evaluated the vertical accuracy of two lidar-derived elevation datasets acquired from two different altitudes over a clay-capped hazardous waste site located on the Savannah River Site (SRS), South Carolina, using the same Optech ALTM 2050 lidar sensor and Cessna 337 platform. Both missions provided adequate elevation estimates (low-altitude RMSEz ≈ 6 cm; high-altitude RMSEz ≈ 14 cm.) A quantitative comparison was performed to determine how decreasing platform altitude and increasing lidar posting density affected the vertical elevation accuracy. Higher posting densities did not significantly improve the vertical accuracy of lidar-derived elevation data. Conversely, acquiring the lidar-derived elevation data …

Exploring (Social) Class In The Classroom: The Case Of Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon, Miriam A. Cherry

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

Wood v. Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon (the "Lucy Case") presents a rich teaching vehicle for the first year of contracts for multiple reasons. Another participant in this symposium has discussed the Lucy Case to laud its value in teaching fact analysis or issue spotting. Others have commented upon the case for its doctrinal utility in explaining the concepts of illusory contracts, exclusive dealing and best efforts. The historical background, the opinions of Benjamin Cardozo and the opportunity to introduce feminist jurisprudence and law and economics concepts into the first year course are also fertile ground for discussion. Knowing …