Eduard J. Bomhoff

East Asia Remains Different: A Comment on the Index of “Self-Expression Values,” by Inglehart and Welzel

Ronald Inglehart and Christian Welzel have made two strong claims for the index of “self-expression values” introduced in 1997 by Inglehart using responses from the World Values Survey (WVS): first that these values are getting stronger worldwide and second that this is a necessary condition for a flourishing democracy. In this research note, we document that the shift to more emphasis on tolerance, trust, and post-materialism—principal components of the self-expression index—is indeed visible in many countries, but not in East Asia. Also, the combination of these components into one index is fine on average, but makes little sense for the East Asian region. Many East Asians maintain some different attitudes toward work, family, and social issues that would appear traditional and conservative by today’s Western standard where such conservative values today are held typically by people who are less trusting and more suspicious of democracy. By contrast, trust, measured in six different ways, as well as post-materialism, appears compatible with these conservative work and family values in East Asia. The claim that self-expression values as defined by Inglehart are a necessary condition for a healthy democracy makes sense in many parts of the world, but not in East Asia.

Stability of Velocity in the Group of Seven Countries: A Kalman Filter Approach

This paper estimates forecasting models using annual data for the income velocity of money in the G-7 countries. The predictions are conditional upon the realized value of the long-term domestic government bond rate. Such conditional forecasts did not deteriorate over the period 1980-1988 as compared with the earlier postwar period. Velocity of M1 is found to be very interest-elastic in almost all countries; velocity of M2 less so. The specifications (based on Kalman filters and smoothers) point to a non-constant (stochastic) trend in velocity, hence questioning the assumptions required for the cointegration techniques used in other research on the demand for money.

Tolerance and Economic Growth Revisited: A Note

Berggren and Elinder (BE) in this journal write on the relationship between the degree of tolerance in a nation and its rate of economic growth. They are disturbed to find in their cross sections that higher economic growth statistically goes together with low tolerance of homosexuals. In this comment, we revisit the issue and demonstrate that the concern expressed by BE is unwarranted if we properly account for “conditional convergence�? in the regressions for economic growth. Other things being equal, a country grows faster if it starts from a poorer initial position. In the BE dataset, China since the Deng reforms is a prime example. At about the same time, another group of countries managed to accelerate their economic growth after a long period of stagnation: the ex-communist countries in central and Eastern Europe. Many of these nations also grew exceptionally fast for a number of years, once freedom had been regained and the initial chaos overcome. With simple modeling of these historical initial conditions, we find no statistical pattern that associates low tolerance for homosexuals with weaker economic growth. Our results are robust under alternative specifications.

Female Age at First Marriage and Fertility Levels: A Comparison of Developed and Developing Countries

Family is an important institution to a society for its effective functioning; hence factors affecting family formation decisions are important within the context of the Second Demographic Transition (SDT). This research focuses on two main changes which have occurred over the past decades; delayed entry into marriage and decline in fertility levels across both developed and developing countries. A cross-sectional study is undertaken for 32 developed and 34 developing countries to explain marriage timing and fertility level differences using both economic and cultural factors. The results indicate that economic development and females’ attitudes towards marriage are important determinants of marriage timing differences across developed nations. In developing countries, however, marriage timing is explained by the level of female education and religious denomination of countries. Religious denomination is also an important indicator of fertility level differences among both developed and developing nations. While fertility levels in developed nations are affected by female labour force participation, the extent of religiosity is important in explaining fertility levels in developing countries. Overall, the findings suggest that both economic and cultural factors are important in explaining differences in marriage timing and fertility levels albeit to different degrees.

Family Ties and Civic Virtues: A Comparison between the East and the West

Civic virtue consists of a set of moral values which can be cultivated through personal living habits to promote successful community. With greater moral sense, people are less likely to be selfish and more social trust can be created which lead to higher level of social capital. Strong family ties are sometimes seen as a menace to the society as it could result in selfish behavior and lack of trust outside the family, impeding economic development. An alternative view is that strong family ties and kinship networks drive successful economies. These values vary across different countries and cultures. Since past researchers have mainly focused on the West, this study provides insightful information on the strength of family ties and civic virtues from the Eastern perspective. Given the vast differences in economic conditions and life chances according to social class and education and income group, it is not controversial to argue that individuals with different level of social class and education exhibit different level of civicness. Using a Hierarchical Linear Model approach, this research examines the: effect of the strength of family ties on civic virtues in East Asia and the West; relationship between the education level and civic virtues; and the prevailing impact of class based system on individual level of civicness. Findings reveal that stronger family ties promote civic virtues and upper class individuals from the East and the West are less civic. While education level is important in fostering civicness in the West, it is not a significant indicator in the East.

East Asian Exceptionalism - A Rejoinder

This short note calls for a more careful examination of value patterns in East Asia, focusing on the applicability for that region of the Self-expression Index constructed by Welzel (2005). We show that in East Asia, acceptance of homosexuality, a core component of the index, has a correlation with the other components that is opposite to what we observe in the rest of the world. Further analysis indicates that conservative attitudes toward homosexuality in East Asia have no negative influence on undermining people’s aspirations for democracy. Such an anomaly provides strong empirical evidence that the Self-Expression Index has limited cross-cultural validity.

Funk the erotic: transaesthetics and black sexual cultures

This book’s peculiar strategy reminded me of a weekend trip to Paris with my then-girlfriend. She wanted to free-flow and sit under the bridges talking to the homeless clochards. To me that made a lot of sense only if her interest was in French dialects, but she told me she was hoping for life lessons. I thought that the Comédie Francaise, the Paris Opera and the Louvre museum were more likely venues to find beauty and wisdom. In Funk the Erotic: Transaesthetics and Black Sexual Cultures, L.H. Stallings relies largely on novels about sex workers, especially in BDSM, lesbian pornography, or – more directly – on written autobiography and other writings by transgender prostitutes and strippers. Stallings defends her approach by claiming that