Mean Wealth Research Articles

REPRESENTAÇÕES DA RELAÇÃO HOMEM-CARRO: UMA ANÁLISE SEMIÓTICA DA PROPAGANDA BRASILEIRA DE SEGUROS DE AUTOMÓVEL

Resumo Apesar do amplo reconhecimento e da importância dos estudos dos signos e símbolos e, sobretudo, dos processos de significação, restam, ainda, muitas possibilidades a serem exploradas nas pesquisas de marketing e de consumo com base na teoria semiótica, em especial na perspectiva da Consumer Culture Theory (CCT). Nesse contexto, este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar – sob a perspectiva da semiótica discursiva de linha francesa – o discurso da publicidade de seguros de automóvel no Brasil, lançando subsídios para a compreensão da articulação do sentido nas peças publicitárias em questão. A análise de 125 anúncios veiculados entre os anos de 2000 e 2009, em jornais do Rio de Janeiro e de São Paulo e em revistas de circulação nacional, evidencia a riqueza de significados que a publicidade transfere para o automóvel, para as marcas das seguradoras e, finalmente, para a relação entre o consumidor e o objeto carro. A pesquisa corrobora, ainda, estudos que apontam para o processo de criação e desenvolvimento do self estendido, através do automóvel, por meio de práticas que revelam cuidado extremo com o objeto, indicando um processo de humanização da máquina.

Sztuka i rytuały. Koji Kamoji i jego wizje nieskończoności

Sztuka i rytuały. Koji Kamoji i jego wizje nieskończoności

论正字法规则性和熟悉性在语言认知中的作用

语言认知是我们每天都要面对的事情，当我们面对大量以知觉形式呈现的语言符号时，如何将其转化为丰富的含义，是否有一些语言特性呢？本文通过查阅大量研究资料，从正字法规则性和熟悉性两个因素入手，阐述了正字法规则性和熟悉性在以词条的形式呈现的词汇认知中的作用以及在以句子呈现的语境条件下的作用，最后得出结论：正字法规则性和熟悉性在一定程度上可以影响词汇认知，但并非是影响语言理解的决定因素，在有语境的条件下，即使是无意义的字符串也可以进入语义加工通道。 Language cognition is something that we have to face every day. When we face a large number of linguistic symbols in the form of perception, questions are raised that how to convert it into a wealth of meaning, and whether there are some language peculiarities to help us understand the meaning. Through consulting a large number of materials, this paper expounds the role of ortho-graphic regularity and familiarity in cognitive vocabulary presented in the form of word list and in literature reading presented with the sentence context. Finally, the paper draws on that ortho-graphic regularity and familiarity are not the determining factors affecting language understanding though they have an effect on word recognition. And at least in a verbal context, semantic access may be attempted for any letter string, regardless of familiarity or regularity.

Household Wealth Trends in the United States, 1962 to 2013: What Happened over the Great Recession?

I look at wealth trends from 1962 to 2013, particularly for the middle class. Asset prices plunged between 2007 and 2010 but then rebounded from 2010 to 2013. The most telling finding is that median wealth plummeted by 44 percent between 2007 and 2010, almost double the drop in housing prices. Wealth inequality, after almost two decades of little movement, was up sharply from 2007 to 2010. This sharp fall in median net worth and rise in overall wealth inequality are traceable primarily to the high leverage of middle-class families, the high share of homes in their portfolio, and the plunge in house prices. Rather remarkably, median (and mean) wealth did not essentially change from 2010 to 2013 despite the rebound in asset prices. The proximate cause was the high dissavings of the middle class. Wealth inequality also remained largely unchanged.

The Best Kept Secret: Ransom, Wealth, and Power in Völsunga saga

Northrop Frye writes that treasure means wealth, which in often means wealth in its ideal forms, power and (Frye 1957, 193). Are power and wisdom connected to treasure? This paper challenges Frye's statement by exploring the action of Volsunga saga, a thirteenth-century Icelandic mythopoeic romance (what we may consider legendary or heroic literature), to determine if the characters who come into contact with great wealth--as many in the saga do--also attain increased wisdom and power. Not all of the characters do become more wise or powerful from their acquisition of treasure, and the implications that this may have for the literary culture that composed this saga are explored below. To tackle the issue of how to understand medieval Icelandic culture and look into the past through a narrative text, whether literary or historical, it is important to recognize the worldview of the culture from which the text or document originates, even if such recognition does not lead to complete comprehension. Discussing the medieval view of wealth and labor, Aron Gurevich writes: If we are to understand the way the ancient Germans and Scandinavians treated precious metals, we cannot approach this problem from a narrowly economic standpoint; we have to see it in the wider context of the spiritual life of peoples making the transition from barbarism to civilisation (Gurevich 1985, 218). (1) In other words, when looking at a medieval text such as Volsunga saga, it is important to understand the transitory nature of the culture from which the text originated. At the time Volsunga saga is conjectured to have been composed, ca. 1270 (Finch 1965, xxxviii), (2) Icelandic society was at the tail end of its transition period to Christianity but fully in the midst of its transition from an autonomous commonwealth to a constituent part of the Norwegian monarchy. This means that during the centuries preceding the appearance of the saga in manuscript form, Icelandic society would have been adjusting its pre-Christian culture to the conventions of Christianity and at the same time becoming part of a kingdom, which, while taking away its independence, completed the transition of Iceland to Christianity by bringing it under the rule of a Christian monarch. Gurevich goes on to state that: According to concepts still current among them [medieval Scandinavians], the treasures a man owned incorporated in some way his own personal qualities and were intimately bound up with his fortune and happiness. To be deprived of them was equivalent to perishing, to losing one's most important qualities and one's prowess as a warrior. (Gurevich 1985, 218) It is no wonder, then, that the characters of Volsunga saga are willing to go to such great lengths to obtain and maintain their hold on wealth, for it was important to their sense of identity, not merely their economic status; many of them sacrifice their lives in the pursuit of wealth. The fact that at the time of composition of Volsunga saga the Norwegian kingdom was imposing control over economic and political life in Iceland can also account for why the saga represents the struggle for wealth and power in terms of legendary kings fighting one another for control of large amounts of gold. Not only were medieval Icelanders concerned with individual wealth, as will be shown below, but also with how wealth intersected with the monarchy; the interest in the struggle of legendary kings for power reflects the continual negotiations Icelanders had with the Norwegian monarchy throughout the medieval period. In medieval Icelandic literature, there are several stories of intentionally hidden hoards of treasure. Volsunga saga concludes with the permanent concealment of the Niflung a mass of wealth that travels through much of the saga and ultimately belongs to no one in the end, for all those who know of its secret location end up dead. Gurevich claims that gold, as the ancient Germans and Scandinavians saw it, was a materialisation of its owner's good fortune. …

Exploring the Racial Wealth Gap Using the Survey of Consumer Finances

This paper studies the racial wealth gap using data from the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances from 1989 to 2013. We document that the mean and median wealth (net worth) of white families has consistently been much greater than that of black and Hispanic families, and the gap between them has increased in recent years. We use reduced-form OLS regressions and non-parametric decomposition techniques to assess the contribution to the racial wealth gap of life-cycle patterns, educational attainment, inheritance, attitudes toward saving and investing, and a number of additional factors. Our analysis indicates that the wealth gap between white and Hispanic families can be almost entirely attributed to differences in observable variables. Observable factors account for most of the gap between white and black families, but a substantial unexplained portion remains. Wealth differences between black and white families are completely due to different asset holdings, while wealth differences between black and Hispanic families are mostly a result of different debt holdings. The unexplained portion of the wealth gap, for white families relative to black and Hispanic families, is greater at the top of the wealth distribution.

Exploring the Racial Wealth Gap Using the Survey of Consumer Finances

This paper studies the racial wealth gap using data from the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances from 1989 to 2013. We document that the mean and median wealth (net worth) of white families has consistently been much greater than that of black and Hispanic families, and the gap between them has increased in recent years. We use reduced-form OLS regressions and non-parametric decomposition techniques to assess the contribution to the racial wealth gap of life-cycle patterns, educational attainment, inheritance, attitudes toward saving and investing, and a number of additional factors. Our analysis indicates that the wealth gap between white and Hispanic families can be almost entirely attributed to differences in observable variables. Observable factors account for most of the gap between white and black families, but a substantial unexplained portion remains. Wealth differences between black and white families are completely due to different asset holdings, while wealth differences between black and Hispanic families are mostly a result of different debt holdings. The unexplained portion of the wealth gap, for white families relative to black and Hispanic families, is greater at the top of the wealth distribution.

Why Wealthier People Think People Are Wealthier, and Why It Matters

The present studies provide evidence that social-sampling processes lead wealthier people to oppose redistribution policies. In samples of American Internet users, wealthier participants reported higher levels of wealth in their social circles (Studies 1a and 1b). This was associated, in turn, with estimates of higher mean wealth in the wider U.S. population, greater perceived fairness of the economic status quo, and opposition to redistribution policies. Furthermore, results from a large-scale, nationally representative New Zealand survey revealed that low levels of neighborhood-level socioeconomic deprivation—an objective index of wealth within participants’ social circles—mediated the relation between income and satisfaction with the economic status quo (Study 2). These findings held controlling for relevant variables, including political orientation and perceived self-interest. Social-structural inequalities appear to combine with social-sampling processes to shape the different political attitudes of wealthier and poorer people.

Independent Associations of Maternal Education and Household Wealth with Malaria Risk in Children

Despite evidence that they play similar but independent roles, maternal education and household wealth are usually conflated in studies of the effects of socioeconomic status (SES) on malaria risk. Demographic and Health Survey and Malaria Indicator Survey data from nine countries in sub-Saharan Africa were used to explore the relationship of malaria parasitemia in children with SES factors at individual and cluster scales, controlling for urban/rural residence and other important covariates. In multilevel logistic regression modeling, completion of six years of maternal schooling was associated with significantly lower odds of infection in children (OR = 0.73), as was a household wealth index at the 40th percentile compared to the lowest percentile (OR = 0.48). These relationships were nonlinear, with significant quadratic terms for both education and wealth. Cluster-level wealth index was also associated with a reduction in risk (OR = 0.984 for a one percentile increase in mean wealth index), as was urban residence (OR = 0.59). Among other covariates, increasing child’s age and household size category were positively correlated with infection, and sleeping under an insecticidetreated bednet the previous night (OR = 0.80) was associated with a moderate reduction in risk. Considerable variation in parameter estimates was observed among country-specific models. Future work should clearly distinguish between maternal education and household resources in assessing malaria risk, and malaria prevention and control efforts should be aware of the potential benefits of supporting the development of human capital.

Do Personal Consumption Expenditures Reflect Investor Stock Sentiment?

If investors choose consumption and investment jointly to maximize expected utility, then any investor sentiment about stock returns should be reflected in consumption choices. I find that non-durable consumption moves in the same direction as investor sentiment contemporaneously. But 2-4 years later, as sentiment corrects, consumption moves opposite to prior sentiment. The results are consistent with sentiment representing a false perception of a change in permanent future stock wealth, which leads to counterproductive attempts at consumption smoothing in aggregate. Sentiment-influenced consumption choices increase consumption's volatility and co-variance with the stock market, while lowering mean consumption and wealth.

Material Symbols of Traditional Bedouin Al-Sadu Weavings of Kuwait

The historical weaving heritage of the Arabian Peninsula is a vibrant and essential element of traditional material culture. Traditional al-Sadu woven textiles convey the Bedouin women weavers’ ideals of their rich heritage and instinctive awareness of natural beauty, with patterns and designs messaging the nomadic lifestyle, the desert environment, and the emphasis of aesthetic symmetry and balance due to the making process. The significance of al-Sadu weaving as a decorative craft is due not only to its importance as material culture but also because of its functionality, which served the everyday needs of the traditional Bedouin nomadic lifestyle. Al-Sadu textiles can be linked and feature in many different aspects of Bedouin community life, and are testimony to the practical achievements, manual dexterity and aesthetic values of the weavers. Like a visual language, decorative iconography and patterns create a lexicon of symbols, with messages conveying the creativity and history of desert and coastal nomadic dwelling. This article focuses on the interpretation of the traditional al-Sadu woven symbols, motifs, and patterns, establishing a wealth of meaning and communication from the codes or pictographic language by exploring the oral history and memories of a dwindling number of contemporary Bedouin women weavers in Kuwait.

Equality of Outcome or Equality of Opportunity? A Simulation of Wealth Distribution Using Agent-based Modeling

Against the backdrop of calls for a more just form of capitalism, this paper specifically focuses on the notion of equality within capitalist societies and utilizes findings from a computer simulation to explore which of one two fundamental principles, namely: (1) equality of opportunity; or (2) equality of outcome might better inform and guide reform efforts to create more uniform distribution of wealth among members of society. In this study, Agent Based Modeling (ABM), as a form of computer simulation was used to explore how the fundamental principles of equality of opportunity or equality of outcome might impact wealth distribution in a capitalist society. A total of 800 simulations were run, where 400 of them incorporated the principle of equal opportunity and 400 incorporated the principle of equal outcome. Each of the 800 simulations covered a period of 5 years. The most interesting insight gained from this study is likely the finding that wealth distribution inequality is significantly lower if the distribution of wealth is grounded in the principle of equal opportunity, instead of being grounded in the principle of equal outcome. The other interesting finding is that the mean wealth, maximum wealth, and total wealth are all significantly higher if the distribution of wealth is grounded in the principle of equal opportunity, instead of being grounded in the principle of equal outcome. Both of these insights may initially seem somewhat counterintuitive, as one might expect that wealth distribution inequality be lower if members in society all received equal share of the resources upon which they stumbled. However, the findings of this study imply that equality of opportunity in a capitalist society might create a more even distribution of wealth, as well as a greater degree of prosperity for its members.

Gender Symbolic Messages in Music and Magazines Consumed by Young Mexicans

Music and magazines are methods of symbolic communication for youth, through which they receive and send concrete messages about social constructs of gender. The aim of this paper is to report the results obtained in the analysis of visual and textual codes in music and magazines consumed by young Mexicans daily. In general terms, the results show a wealth of meanings and values about sexual identity anchored in traditional stereotypes that in some way continue promoting violence against women.

Corografía mística: Babilonia y Sión en los autos sacramentales de Calderón

This article explores the symbolic use of the description and evocation of the cities of Babylon and Jerusalem in Calderón's autos sacramentales, where they are systematically contrasted to represent allegorically the kingdom of evil and that of Paradise. The way in which the paradigm is mapped out confirms yet again the high level of structural organization in Calderón's autos sacramentales. As in the case of the schema of the four elements, the technique of etymological interpretation, or the various ways in which wit is expressed, the exploration of the antithetical symbols of Babylon and Sion, involving a wealth of complex meanings from the Bible and its commentators, show the skill of the poet in writing his dramatic works.

Plasmon-Enhanced Light Harvesting of Chlorophylls on Near-Percolating Silver Films via One-Photon Anti-Stokes Upconversion

There exists a wealth of means of efficient utilization of solar energy in nature, with photosynthesis of chlorophylls as a prime example. Separately, artificially structured plasmonic materials are versatile in light harvesting and energy conversion. Using a simple and scalable design of near-percolating silver nanostructures, we demonstrate that the light-harvesting efficiency of chlorophylls can be drastically enhanced by tuning the plasmon frequency of the constituent silver nanoparticles to coincide with the maximal photon flux of sunlight. In particular, we show that the photon upconversion efficiency can be readily enhanced by over 20 folds, with the room-temperature fluorescence quantum yield increased by a factor of 2.63. The underlying mechanism for the upconversion enhancement is attributed to a one-electron-per-photon anti-Stokes process, involving absorption of a characteristic phonon mode of the chlorophylls. These findings suggest that chlorophylls can serve as molecular building blocks for high-efficiency light harvesting and solar energy conversion.

A Wealth of Meaning

A Wealth of Meaning

Rzeczpospolita – pojęcie i idea w dyskursie politycznym Rzeczypospolitej Obojga Narodów. Rekonesans

Rzeczpospolita – The Terms and the Concept in the Political Discourse of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. ReconnaissanceThis article is an attempt to analyze the significance and function of the concept Rzeczpospolita (“Republic” or “Commonwealth”), the most popular word in Old–Polish political discourse from the end of the 16th century to the 18th century. It illustrates the wealth of meanings of the term, which was used to describe the state, the society, and the political system. The author tries to present the distinctive Polish phenomenon that involved transferring the classical idea of a res–publica, as a civil community, to the realities of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth – a transfer so faithful that one may even call it a kind of usurpation. This had an impact on the understanding of the concept, which at a certain point (the 17th century) became narrowed down to just the community of the nobility. It was also crucial for the concept’s persistence – despite the changes that occurred over two centuries, despite the modernization of political discourse in the 18th century, the state understood qua Rzeczpospolita never became something external to the citizen, it was always perceived as a civil community, more the Roman cititas than the French l’etat.

FROM MOUNTAIN TO ICON: Mount Gerizim on Roman Provincial Coins from Neapolis, Samaria

Coins from the mint of Neapolis, Samaria, first show the sanctuary of Zeus on Mount Gerizim in the second century, rendering the landscape in great detail. While such sacred landscapes are not unknown on coins, they remain a rarity—especially in ancient Palestine. However, by the third century, die engravers are no longer interested in portraying the sacred landscape but in using the landscape as a sacred baetyl, modeled on the sacred baetyl of El-Gabal depicted on coins of Emesa. The coins of Neapolis are unique in extending the symbolism of the “sacred baetyl of Gerizim” to mean “the city of Neapolis.” In doing so, the coins model the transition happening in the late antique world from naturalistic object to abstracted symbol encompassing a wealth of meanings. Such transitions are commonly understood to have happened in sculpture and painting, but they have not yet been noted to occur on coins, a medium with a potentially larger audience.

Niegodziwa mamona – postawa wobec bogactwa według Nowego Testamentu

The „mammon” means wealth, money, all the material riches and is always defined by Jesus negatively as „unrighteous”. So the expression „unrighteous mammon” seems to condemn and reject the wealth as totally contrary to God and to His kingdom. In reality this expression, as well as all the hyperbolical statements and sharp antitheses of the New Testament in this matter pay only attention to the danger of wealth, which can easily subdue the man, make him a slave, so that he isn’t able to use it wisely for his true good, to share it with the others and to set final hopes in God. For the material riches are gift of God, which one doesn’t need to fear, but should accept with gratitude, wisely increase, use for a worthy life in relation with the people and in unity with God, that is a supreme good of man and his ultimate fulfillment.The right attitude towards the wealth is called poverty, the example of which we have in the life of Jesus and His disciples. Their radical renouncement of riches was dictated by the wandering way of apostolate and the imminent eschatological perspective, but it didn’t hinder them from using the material riches provided by the others. Paul himself lived in a great measure by the work of his own hands. Yet the material values weren’t a goal for them, but a mean in the life lived for God and proclaiming His supreme value. Today both the manner of evangelization and the remote eschatological perspective require a solid material base also for these which devote themselves to the kingdom of God. In the daily life they can’t run much away from the environment where they make apostolate, but with their way of life they have always to bear witness to the absolute priority of God and to the destination of man and world to His glory.

“I Did Not Wash My Feet with that Woman”: Using Dramatic Performance to Teach Biblical Studies

AbstractThe student dramatic performance is an effective way for undergraduates to learn biblical studies. In this article I will give an example of a dramatic performance assignment that I developed over a number of courses and used most recently and most successfully in an undergraduate course in the Hebrew Bible at a small liberal arts college in the Midwest/Appalachian region in 2008. Drawing on my own experience as a teacher, as well as on the ideas of philosophers, educators, playwrights, and biblical scholars, I will explain why such performances are effective teaching tools. I will also give guidance on how to use dramatic performances effectively. I intend to show that the success of this assignment depends on, and ultimately validates, two basic trusts: trust in the intellectual and creative capacity of students, as well as trust in the wealth of meaning in the biblical text.