“Does Restricting the Entry of Formula Businesses Help Mom-and-Pop Stores? The Case of Small American Towns With Unique Community Character” by Dr. Minjee Kim

In her recent article, Dr. Kim examines the effects regulatory measures that protect independent businesses from chain stores. Using a sample of U.S. cities with unique community characteristics, she examines Formula Business Restrictions (FBR), a type of an American land use regulation that restricts the entry of “formula businesses.” She finds that the passage of FBR led to a higher number and percentage of employees working in mom-and-pop businesses, which was primarily achieved by protecting existing ones from downsizing. Findings suggest that chain store entry barriers can be beneficial for mom-and-pop businesses when designed carefully.

“LGBQ college students’ divergent narratives of peer harassment in the southeastern U.S.” by Dr. Koji Ueno

In his recent article, Dr. Ueno examines the variation in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) college students’ reports of peer harassment experiences. This result is often interpreted as an indication that LGBQ students differ in their chance of experiencing peer harassment, but it may also reflect students’ varying interpretations of peer behaviors. Using 45 interviews with LGBQ students, he detects two types of narratives regarding heterosexual peers’ behaviors: stigma narratives and post-closet narratives. Those who told stigma narratives described heterosexual peers’ behaviors critically, and as reflective of the institutional oppression of LGBQ students. Those who told post-closet narratives did not see these types of peer behaviors as problematic and sometimes interpreted them as heterosexual peers’ friendliness.

“Local racial context, campaign messaging, and public political behavior: A congressional campaign field experiment” by Dr. Hans Hassell

In his recent article, Dr. Hassell argues that differences in community racial demographics also change public political behavior and influence the effectiveness of different campaign appeals to change public political behaviors of white Americans. Using data from an experiment run by a congressional primary campaign, he examines the responses of white Republicans to display a yard sign of a white Republican running against a Latino Republican. Consistent with theories of racial threat, whites in Latino neighborhoods were more likely to be willing to post yard signs. Moreover, the results also show that the effectiveness of different campaign appeals varies by neighborhood racial context.