John Mueller, and "The Political Effect of Nuclear Weapons: A Comment" Robert Jervis, in International Security (Fall 1988). MIT Press, 55 Hayward St., cambridge, ass. 02138.
Long after the Allies' victory over the Axis in 1945, Winston Churchill predicted that fears of nuclear holocaust would prevent another world war. Peace, he declared, was "the sturdy child of [nuclear] terror."
Was Churchill right? Mueller, a political scientist at the University of Rochester, contends...
Japan and
Germany, would resist any urge to do battle with the other.
For his part, Jervis insists that the specter of "near-absolute levels of punishment" inflicted atomic weapons has had a decisive effect on both superpowers; each has avoided both escalation of local conflicts and direct Soviet-American confrontation. As for World War II,most of the citizens of the defeated countries survived, and many later prospered; the losers- and winners-of a nuclear war might well be unable to...
Claude S. Fischer, in Technology and Culture (Jan. 19881, Univ. of
~~s
Chicago Press, PO. Ebx 37005, Chicago, Ill. 60637.
Today, chatting on the telephone is commonplace-and promoted in TV commercials. But, oddly enough, the first telephone companies frowned on the use of the device for social calls rather than business matters. For example, in 1909, a manager of Seattle's system complained that 30 per- cent of all local calls were "purely idle gossip," which should be curbed both time...
Claude S. Fischer, in Technology and Culture (Jan. 19881, Univ. of
~~s
Chicago Press, PO. Ebx 37005, Chicago, Ill. 60637.
Today, chatting on the telephone is commonplace-and promoted in TV commercials. But, oddly enough, the first telephone companies frowned on the use of the device for social calls rather than business matters. For example, in 1909, a manager of Seattle's system complained that 30 per- cent of all local calls were "purely idle gossip," which should be curbed both time...
1981, factories that changed owners between 1974 and 1976 had become more efficient; those that were merged or acquired between 1977 and 1980 had not yet done so. Surprisingly, new owners tended to continue "implicit contracts" with workers and suppliers; a change of owners tended to slow, not increase, employee layoffs.
Why does changing ownership help improve a factory? The authors suggest that corporations tend to sell one of their manufacturing divisions when it loses a "comparative...
boosting domestic manufacturers' costs. Rather, the federal government should completely decontrol domestic oil prices and abolish the "windfall profits tax," which discourages new pro- duction. Such measures, among others, should help maintain "relative price stability."
"The Costs and Benefits of British Imperialism 1846-1914" Patrick K. O'Brien, in Past and Present (Aug. 1988), 175 Banbury Rd., Oxford OX2 7AW, United Kingdom.
In 1914, Great Britain, an island kingdom...
dde-ClBS Decline? "The Declining Middle-Class Thesis: A Sensitiv-
ity Analysis" Michael W. Homgan and Ste-
ven E. Haugen, in Monthly Labor Review (May
19881, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Wash-
ington, D.C. 20212.
Is the American middle class shrinking?
Although the median U.S. family income rose from $26,276 in 1969 (in
1986 dollars) to $29,458 in 1986, most specialists think the answer is yes.
Yet both the extent of middle-class decline and the fate of those moving...
using two different measuring techniques-the "interval deflator" and the "fixed percentage" method. Both calculations reveal a shrinking middle class. The share of U.S. fam- ilies earning $20,000-$56,000 (in 1986 dollars) fell from 60.2 percent in 1969 to 53 percent in 1986 using the "fixed percentage," or from 58.8 percent to 53 percent using the "interval deflator."
Where did these disappearing middle-class families go?
Many rose into the upper class....
Tom Taylor, in Journal of Social History
(Summer 1988), Carnegie-Mellon Univ., Pitts-
burgh, Pa. 15213.
Many young Americans in college or graduate school wonder if they will ever complete their educations and find jobs. But, in the Germany of Kaiser Wilhelm n, would-be professionals faced far higher hurdles. Taylor, a histo- rian at Seattle University, notes that even lawyers did not expect to begin their careers until they were 32 or 33.
In 1900, less than two percent of all young German men...
contrast, d ~ the same era, American youths faced fewer hur-
g dles; many medical schools, for example, accepted high school graduates. Job prospects were also better. As a result, Americans of the era became independent adults much sooner than their German peers. In 1900, US. doctors began to practice at age 24, on average, and 44 percent of all US. teachers were under 25.
"What Is a Working Woman?" Horst H.
Stipp, in American Lkmographics (July 1988),
108 North Cayuga St., Ithaca,...