The aim of this dissertation was to provide insight in interethnic prejudice of children in the Netherlands and attitudes and ideologies that they are exposed to through two socialization agents:... Show moreThe aim of this dissertation was to provide insight in interethnic prejudice of children in the Netherlands and attitudes and ideologies that they are exposed to through two socialization agents: parents and children’s books. Specifically attitudes and ideologies based on intergroup contact theories and diversity ideologies were of interest. This dissertation is a first step in examining the basis for applying prejudice-reducing theories based on social learning theory to the specific multi-ethnic Dutch context. Overall, results show that interethnic prejudice is found in various forms among young children in the Netherlands. Furthermore, intergroup contact approaches to improve children’s interethnic attitudes may face some obstacles, as results show that parents might be more or less willing to facilitate interethnic contact with different ethnic groups, intergroup contact effects are not always found, and ethnic diversity and thus indirect contact opportunities in popular books for children are somewhat limited. Furthermore, results show that multiculturalist rather than colorblind diversity approaches can benefit interethnic attitudes of children in dominant ethnic groups, but that the latter are prevailing in popular children’s books. This dissertation can help move both research and the development of practical programs on improving interethnic attitudes among children in the Netherlands forward. Show less
The Zimbabwean issue has often divided opinion. President Robert Mugabe's domination of the country__s political and media landscapes has attracted scrutiny and criticism from the West. The ... Show moreThe Zimbabwean issue has often divided opinion. President Robert Mugabe's domination of the country__s political and media landscapes has attracted scrutiny and criticism from the West. The "oppressed" people of Zimbabwe are said to have not had an alternative to state-sponsored TV or daily media outlets. The availability of new media vices including the Internet is being seen as offering a new platform to fight these perceived forms of dictatorships. This PhD employed qualitative methods to probe the potential of new media in sustaining democracy in Zimbabwe. Show less
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MET), a cooperative of retail and wholesale water utilities, serves 18 million people. This case study explains how MET -- as a cooperative -... Show moreThe Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MET), a cooperative of retail and wholesale water utilities, serves 18 million people. This case study explains how MET -- as a cooperative -- is inefficient and how its member agencies suffer from this inefficiency. I show that MET is inefficient by demonstrating that its members have heterogeneous preferences over outcomes: Members that are more dependent on MET prefer policies that increase water supply; others prefer lower rates. Although heterogeneity had existed since at least the 1940s, MET avoided conflict well into the 1970s. I explore two possibilities for efficiency despite heterogeneity. First, MET had so much water that it could treat it as a club good, i.e., members did not need to agree on policies over non-rival water. Second, member agencies may have had social preferences (one for all and all for one). Shrinking subsidies and supplies in the 1960s changed water from a club to private good. The end of social preferences is not so obvious, so I asked MET's member agency managers to participate in public goods experiments. They do not appear to have social preferences. If MET is inefficient as a cooperative, we should see evidence of this inefficiency, and MET's pricing policies (setting annual prices in the prior year and selling water for the same price to all locations) provide this evidence. With increasing water scarcity, the damage from these policies is growing. I use 60 years of panel data to show that water increases land value, dependency lowers it, and water may have been misallocated during the 1987-1991 drought. I describe how marginal water can be auctioned after inframarginal, lifeline water is allocated and present experimental results for water auctions in which water managers suffer endowment effects but compete more (relative to students). In addition to the analysis of MET, other contributions are a quantification of bargaining power within an organization (dependency), measurement of water manager cooperation, estimation of the value of water on urban land, and design of auctions for equity and efficiency. Show less
