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This dissertation comprises three essays that explore determinants of inequality and social cohesion. The first essay explores the role of inheritance customs in spurring social equality. Using historical data on inheritance customs in Germany, I document that municipalities that historically fairly shared wealth among siblings see higher levels of social equality today. I point to two mechanisms that help explain the correlation: increased wealth equality and stronger pro-egalitarian preferences. Interestingly, I also find that equitably inheriting communities are associated with higher incomes and greater income inequality. I interpret this finding to mean that equitable inheritance levels the playing field by rewarding talent not hereditary status. The second essay analyzes how Protestant missions affect community cohesion. Exploiting variation in missionary activity in southeastern Peru, I document that villages exposed to missions have lower levels of community cohesion compared to non-exposed villages. I adjudicate between two mechanisms that may explain this finding - social networks and pro-social preferences - and find the latter to be more plausible. The third essay expands on this finding by implementing a field experiment with a missionary group in South Sudan in order to parse out the causal effect of Protestant evangelism on social capital. Using attitudinal and behavioral measures, I document that missionaries lower group-level social capital while increasing individual-level pro-social behavior. Taken together, my dissertation adds theoretical considerations and empirical evidence to a broad debate in the social sciences that tries to make sense of variation in social equality and cohesion.

In the United Staes, until recently, the inheritance tax has been employed principally as a war measure. The first one imposed was the stamp act of July 6, 1797, which was repealed five years later. The war revenue act of July 1, 1862, was repealed July 14 1870. The revenue act of August 27, 1894 was declared unconstitutional because of its income tax feature. The war revenue act of June 13, 1989 was repealed April 13, 1902. The present federal estate tax was formed September 8, 1916. It was later amended March 3, 1917, and was altered appreciably in the revenue act of October 3, 1917. The amendment increased the rates of the tax. The revenue acts of 1918, 1921, and 1924 changed the rates in varying ways and also changed many of the fundamental provisions. The revenue act of 1926, however, contains a retroactive provision which has the effect of nullifying the rates of the 1924 act and makes the rates of the 1921 act applicable until the effective date of the act of 1926 after which lower rates apply.

Since the rediscovery of Mendel's law in 1900, there have been many studies of inheritance in wheat. Of these rather numerous investigations, however, only a few have consisted of correlated studies of various characters on the same plant. Inheritance of awns and of spike density have received some attention but the studies have hardly more than indicated the problem. Both have been thought by some to be rather simple in their inheritance, and in some crosses without doubt such is the case, but lately there has come a recognition of considerable complexity. Density. As here used, "density" refers to compactness of the spike. Compact spikes have short rachis internodes and the spikelets are close together. Such

The results presented in this paper are from data accumulated by a study of the F3 generation of a cross between the two varieties, Sevier and New Zealand wheat. This cross was made during the summer of 1920 by Professor George Stewart with the object of combining the high-yielding power of Sevier with the strong straw of New Zealand. In the fall of 1922 the problem was assigned to me, at which time I selected about 150 superior plants, possessing the desired characteristics, at least so far as appearance was concerned. Since then these plants and the F3 generation have been studied mainly with the object of finding out whether size characters behave in Mendelian fashion or not. Other characters received attention incidentally, and will also be reported briefly. To study a variable problem with any degree of accuracy there must of necessity be a definite means by which variations may be measured. Size differences in straw are extremely difficult of measurement, and measurements at best can only be approximations. It was decided, therefore, to make a careful study of size variations in wheat heads, and only estimate straw strength. The study of this problem is valuable for two main reasons: 1. If high-yielding power and straw strength can be combined from two different varieties it is worth knowing because of the economic value of such a combination. From this point of view the original object of the cross under discussion itself justifies the investigation. 2. Since it is not a definitely settled question as to whether heritable size fluctuations behave according to the principles of Mendelism the problem has both interest and value from the point of view of genetics.

In sexually reproducing individuals, intraorganismal genetic heterogeneity (IGH) or mosaicism is thought to occur infrequently while genetic homogeneity is presumed the norm. In organisms that undergo modular development, such as long-lived plants, IGH has been substantially documented. In Arabidopsis thaliana we have shown that non-parental DNA that is inherited at low but detectable rates can also manifest on single plants as genotypically distinct somatic sectors suggesting that even short-lived annual plants show IGH. The underlying mechanism responsible for generating this type of IGH remains unknown. In order to better understand this phenomenon I have tested the hypothesis that among genome changes that occur in response to stress, these putative triggers also up-regulate IGH. Metabolic stress, cold stress, mechanical damage and ROS exposure were examined. To test for IGH, transgene markers and polymorphic molecular markers were used. Also, presented in this thesis is work investigating the effect of in vitro propagation through tissue culture on IGH frequencies. Regenerated plants as well as undifferentiated callus tissue were genotyped and assayed for sequence reversions. Molecular genotyping revealed an outcome contrary to that predicted by the initial hypothesis showing instead that a high frequency of restoration occurred in the progeny of un-treated control plants. With the exception of samples passed through tissue culture, molecular marker changes, including single and double reversions of alleles, were detected in every line at some low level Furthermore, many of the revertants were found to be genetic mosaics. DNA sequence analyses revealed that sequences flanking three molecular markers that had undergone reversion were near identical to the great-grandparent of the sequenced individual. These results suggest that stress is perhaps an inhibitor of restoration. Although there may be other explanations for the results described in this thesis, the evidence implicates genome restoration as a mechanism for generating IGH.

Univ., Diss.--Paris, 2004.

The newly independent states of Africa came into being at a time when the ideology of nationalism was universally dominant. The ruling elites, presiding over long-term economic and political decay and searching for legitimacy to preserve their power, set about nation-building through the development of various discourses, the indoctrination of schoolchildren, anthems and flag waving. The focus of this thesis is on a number of these discourses particular to Equatorial Guinea, the only Spanish-speaking state in sub-Saharan Africa. Four main themes are identified: firstly, the Hispanic inheritance has been important in the building of a national cultural identity; secondly, the likelihood of the various ethnic groups 'bonding in adversity', as a result of living through the tyranny of Macias Nguema, is explored as are the more recent commemorations of his overthrow; thirdly, those 'on the move' such as the large Equatoguinean diaspora and other travelling groups in the colony and independent state are shown to assist the national project and fourthly, a 'myth' of Bantu unity has been proposed which claims that all the ethnic groups of the state have a common origin. A national identity is being assembled, like a collage or assemblage, out of diverse materials. Finally, it is argued that the appearance of banal, everyday nationalism in written texts in Equatorial Guinea indicates that a sense of national identity may have emerged. Although the small size of the country may have assisted here this does indicate that it is possible for the state in Africa to construct a nation starting from a multi-ethnic base. There are considerable disintegrative forces working on the sub-Saharan states but the evidence presented here suggests a more optimistic outlook for the survival of these states in the next century.

Dry beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) contain high levels of folates. These compounds are essential vitamins and folate deficiencies may lead to a number of health problems. The objectives of this study were to examine the mode of inheritance of folate content and identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with folate content in dry beans. Inheritance of folate content was studied in the F1 hybrids of one-way diallel crosses among Othello, AC Elk, Redhawk and Taylor, and an F2 population of the cross between Redhawk and Othello. Total folate content and 5 methyltetrahydrofolate (5MTHF) were measured twice within a one hour interval. Significant variation in folate content was observed among the parental genotypes, their F1 hybrids, and the F2 individuals of a cross between Redhawk and Othello, ranging from 147 to 345 µg/100g. Reductions in the 5MTHF content and total folate content values in the second measurement from samples were highly variable for all four parental lines ranging from 5 to 30% and 7 to 33%, respectively. A single marker QTL analysis identified at least three QTL for folate content in the F2 population. For the majority of identified QTL, dominance effects appeared to be the major genetic effect.