School of International Studies

Changing reservation prices during the marketing of a heterogeneous asset is a basic result of search theory and the theory of pricing under demand uncertainty. Empirical evidence is sparse though, because data regarding price changes are not usually available. Using a unique housing data set that includes the number of list price changes that occur over the listing period, we provide, in this paper, a test of the implications of these theories. Consistent with the theory of pricing behavior under demand uncertainty, we find that owners whose homes trade in thin markets, and owners who have better information about the value of their homes are less likely to change price. On the other hand, owners who have relatively high costs of continuing a search for a buyer are willing to change price more readily, a finding consistent with search theory.

During the past two decades, cities have turned increasingly to historic preservation of residential and commercial property as a method to help revive declining metropolitan areas. Sacramento, California, established historical preservation districts in an attempt to protect and maintain older structures while simultaneously increasing their value. Historic preservation, however, imposes strict rules on property owners that make property improvement more expensive than it otherwise would be. This paper uses hedonic price theory on a sample of residential properties in Sacramento to test whether positive externalities resulting from an historic preservation designation outweigh the potential negative impact of a cumbersome set of rules. The findings suggest that an historic preservation designation has a net positive impact on property values in four of the six preservation districts in the sample.

During the past two decades, cities have turned increasingly to historic preservation of residential and commercial property as a method to help revive declining metropolitan areas. Sacramento, California, established historical preservation districts in an attempt to protect and maintain older structures while simultaneously increasing their value. Historic preservation, however, imposes strict rules on property owners that make property improvement more expensive than it otherwise would be. This paper uses hedonic price theory on a sample of residential properties in Sacramento to test whether positive externalities resulting from an historic preservation designation outweigh the potential negative impact of a cumbersome set of rules. The findings suggest that an historic preservation designation has a net positive impact on property values in four of the six preservation districts in the sample.

The authors apply economic theory to an analysis of industry pricing. Data from a cross-section of San Francisco hotels is used to estimate the implicit prices of common hotel amenities, and a procedure for using these prices to estimate consumer demands for the attributes is outlined. The authors then suggest implications for hotel decision makers. While the results presented here should not be generalized to other markets, the methodology is easily adapted to other geographic areas.

Background: The United Nations' Millennium Development Goals Report, 2015, documents that, since 1990, the number of stunted children in sub-Saharan Africa has increased by 33% even though it has fallen in all other world regions. Recognizing this, in 2011 the Government of Uganda implemented a 5-year Nutrition Action Plan. One important tenet of the Plan is to lessen malnutrition in young children by discouraging over-consumption of nutritionally deficient, but plentiful, staple foods, which it defines as a type of food insecurity. Methods: We use a sample of 6101 observations on 3427 children age five or less compiled from three annual waves of the Uganda National Panel Survey to measure undernourishment. We also use the World Health Organization's Child Growth Standards to create a binary variable indicating stunting and another indicating wasting for each child in each year. We then use random effects to estimate binary logistic regressions that show that greater staple food concentrations affect the probability of stunting and wasting. Results: The estimated coefficients are used to compute adjusted odds ratios (OR) that estimate the effect of greater staple food concentration on the likelihood of stunting and the likelihood of wasting. Controlling for other relevant covariates, these odds ratios show that a greater proportion of staple foods in a child's diet increases the likelihood of stunting (OR = 1.007, p = 0.005) as well as wasting (OR = 1.011, p = 0.034). Stunting is confirmed with subsamples of males only (OR = 1.006, p = 0.05) and females only (OR = 1.008, p = 0.027), suggesting that the finding is not gender specific. Another subsample of children aged 12 months or less, most of whom do not yet consume solid food, shows no statistically significant relationship, thus supporting the validity of the other findings. Conclusion: Diets containing larger proportions of staple foods are associated with greater likelihoods of both stunting and wasting in Ugandan children. Other causes of stunting and wasting identified in past research are also confirmed with the Uganda data. Finally, the analysis provides clues to other possible causes of undernourishment in young children.

Uganda, a less developed but rapidly growing East African nation, continues to correct the economic mismanagement of past governments. One important legacy of this mismanagement is the Land Decree of 1975, issued by then President Idi Amin Dada. This decree nationalized all land and made illegal all private real estate market transactions. This paper uses a rich, but little known,

The Government of Uganda created in 2010 a strategic plan to invest in public health as part of its broader national development goals. The health plan recognizes housing and urbanization as a determinant of health, but has not yet formulated policy to address the relationship. This study can help guide health policy development as it relates to housing. It estimates relationships between housing quality and occupant health using "count outcome" regression models. An economic model of optimal household labor allocation in poor countries provides the foundation for the regression modeling. The data used to estimate the regressions are a stratified random sample of 7096 households surveyed in the 2005 e06 Uganda National Household Survey. They provide, among other things, detailed information on physical housing attributes as well as the health status of its occupants. Consistent with the economic model and other empirical work, the results show that exposure to burning of biomass for cooking has the largest adverse health effect. Different definitions of illness yield results consistent with expectations, and a separate specification test suggests that the findings are reasonably robust.

The quality of public schools is often cited as an important attribute which distinguishes a community. Indeed, a recent public opinion poll conducted by the California Public Education Partnership indicates that residents rank improvements in public education higher than such high profile issues as environmental quality and crime reduction. In order to explore the role of educational quality in determining residential property values, a hedonic housing price model is used on a large sample of homes which sold within Fresno County in California over the period 1990‐1994. After controlling for a wide range of housing characteristics and neighborhood features, the findings indicate that the school district does significantly influence the real sale price. Then the relative importance of inputs into the production of educational services is investigated as compared to output measures of productivity. These findings suggest that both input and output measures are important. However, ela...

In the tradition of anthropological reflexivity, this article examines how the structure of early doctoral training contributes to the construction of particular kinds of anthropologists. Based on research conducted in an anthropology department in the U.S.A. during the late 1990s, the experience of the transition from undergraduate to doctoral studies is explored as simultaneously a process of culture learning and culture making, with power relations expressed, imposed, and contested through language. The implications for questions animating current anthropological debates, including calls for 'public anthropology', are considered.

by Bernice M. Nisbett University of the Pacific 2018 Beauty defined by nonvisual means is an area of exploration long overdue. The question on what or whom is considered beautiful or attractive is often left up to each individual, and dependent on the culture in which said beauty is visually seen. This research identified the physical characteristics of Western standards of beauty among women who are visually impaired. The main objective was to explore how women who are visually impaired or blind defined both physical and non-physical beauty, in addition to how they navigated ocularcentric standards of beauty. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 women who are visually impaired or blind that live within the United States. Their interviews were transcribed and analyzed to critique the components of beauty within the cultural lens of women who are visually impaired or blind. What was taken from the data was then used to consider ways in which women can empower t...

Bernice M. Nisbett University of the Pacific 2018 Beauty defined by nonvisual means is an area of exploration long overdue. The question on what or whom is considered beautiful or attractive is often left up to each individual, and dependent on the culture in which said beauty is visually seen. This research identified the physical characteristics of Western standards of beauty among women who are visually impaired. The main objective was to explore how women who are visually impaired or blind defined both physical and non-physical beauty, in addition to how they navigated ocularcentric standards of beauty. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 women who are visually impaired or blind that live within the United States. Their interviews were transcribed and analyzed to critique the components of beauty within the cultural lens of women who are visually impaired or blind. What was taken from the data was then used to consider ways in which women can empower themselves without using visual means to define and describe who they are.

This study examined the impact of migration and the resulting intercultural interactions on the cultural identities of first-generation immigrant Trinidadians living in the Philadelphia area of the United States.  It focused on four identities: race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and nationality.  The goal of the study was to determine how Trinidadian immigrants define and reconceptualize these four dimensions of their identities as they make new lives in American society.  Another goal was to determine whether identities shift and, if so, how, for Trinidadian immigrants when they move across cultures to a society where they are no longer in the racial, ethnic, or cultural majority.  Using a mixed-methods approach, the research included an initial online survey followed by qualitative interviews with a few selected participants.  Survey results showed that for three of the identities (ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and nationality), more than half of respondents indicated no change in saliency.  Survey respondents rated their shift in racial identity as almost equally between more salient and no change in saliency upon moving to the United States.  However, qualitative findings showed that, of  the four identities, race became most salient in the United States, even for those who showed no shift in this identity after resettling here.  The racial identity of interviewees was influenced by three main factors: the racial identity they were ascribed in the United States, their experiences with racial discrimination, and being made to feel “othered” in a society that does not recognize their Trinidadian racial and ethnic categories.  Findings also showed that immigrants in this study who are ascribed a Black identity in the United States acculturate to both African American and European American cultures in multicultural Philadelphia, while maintaining a strong connection to their Trinidadian national identity.  This research has practical implications for intercultural researchers and trainers who work with Trinidadian or West Indian populations.

by Stephanie Zukerman University of the Pacific 2018 This study examined the impact of migration and the resulting intercultural interactions on the cultural identities of first-generation immigrant Trinidadians living in the Philadelphia area of the United States. It focused on four identities: race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and nationality. The goal of the study was to determine how Trinidadian immigrants define and reconceptualize these four dimensions of their identities as they make new lives in American society. Another goal was to determine whether identities shift and, if so, how, for Trinidadian immigrants when they move across cultures to a society where they are no longer in the racial, ethnic, or cultural majority. Using a mixed-methods approach, the research included an initial online survey followed by qualitative interviews with a few selected participants. Survey results showed that for three of the identities (ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and nationality), more than half of respondents indicated no change in saliency. Survey respondents rated their shift in racial identity as almost equal between more salient and no change in saliency upon moving to the United States. However, qualitative findings showed that, of

by Stephanie Zukerman University of the Pacific 2018 This study examined the impact of migration and the resulting intercultural interactions on the cultural identities of first-generation immigrant Trinidadians living in the Philadelphia area of the United States. It focused on four identities: race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and nationality. The goal of the study was to determine how Trinidadian immigrants define and reconceptualize these four dimensions of their identities as they make new lives in American society. Another goal was to determine whether identities shift and, if so, how, for Trinidadian immigrants when they move across cultures to a society where they are no longer in the racial, ethnic, or cultural majority. Using a mixed-methods approach, the research included an initial online survey followed by qualitative interviews with a few selected participants. Survey results showed that for three of the identities (ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and nationality), more than half of respondents indicated no change in saliency. Survey respondents rated their shift in racial identity as almost equal between more salient and no change in saliency upon moving to the United States. However, qualitative findings showed that, of

When South Africa's land reform programme finally reached rural Umbumbulu, a potential for conflict over land emerged unexpectedly. Strategically located near a major urban centre, residents of this region have long relied on wages and social welfare grants. Land was valued primarily for residential security and as a symbolic representation of community membership, rather than for productive purposes. This emphasis on community membership, however, created the potential for conflict when a local chief challenged a civil society group over their authority to claim land. With the government's continued hesitancy to challenge the authority of chiefs, land reform provided an opportunity for local chiefs to reinforce their position and potentially to expand the amount of land under their jurisdiction. This agenda conflicted both with the government's interest in developing commercial agriculture and local residents’ desire for rural land as security in the context of high levels of unemployment.

Since the 1980s, intercultural dialogue has become increasingly recognized as a way to reduce prejudice, improve relationships, increase intercultural understanding, manage diversity, and contribute to democratic processes.  Similarly, civic engagement has emerged as a key priority of municipalities to effectively serve and meet the needs of a culturally diverse public.  I conducted an exploratory qualitative research study using focus groups with 13 ethnocultural community leaders in Edmonton, Alberta.  The main goals were to understand from their lived experiences and perspectives how intercultural dialogue could contribute to meaningful and culturally appropriate civic engagement for ethnocultural communities.  The findings indicated that ethnocultural community leaders are passionate about and committed to improving the lives of their communities, identify strongly with Canada and Edmonton as their home, and appreciate being meaningfully involved in civic affairs.  The findings indicated that intercultural dialogue is meaningful if it takes place in a larger framework of civic engagement practices.  This framework of meaningful practices is presented along with recommendations that can be adapted and  implemented by municipalities, institutions, and organizations that wish to engage meaningfully with and respond effectively to diverse ethnocultural communities.

Since the 1980s, intercultural dialogue has become increasingly recognized as a way to reduce prejudice, improve relationships, increase intercultural understanding, manage diversity, and contribute to democratic processes.  Similarly, civic engagement has emerged as a key priority of municipalities to effectively serve and meet the needs of a culturally diverse public.  I conducted an exploratory qualitative research study using focus groups with 13 ethnocultural community leaders in Edmonton, Alberta.  The main goals were to understand from their lived experiences and perspectives how intercultural dialogue could contribute to meaningful and culturally appropriate civic engagement for ethnocultural communities.  The findings indicated that ethnocultural community leaders are passionate about and committed to improving the lives of their communities, identify strongly with Canada and Edmonton as their home, and appreciate being meaningfully involved in civic affairs.  The findings indicated that intercultural dialogue is meaningful if it takes place in a larger framework of civic engagement practices.  This framework of meaningful practices is presented along with recommendations that can be adapted and implemented by municipalities, institutions, and organizations that wish to engage meaningfully with and respond effectively to diverse ethnocultural communities.