182 notes to pages 110–118
- Establishing an efficient and well- institutionalized method for the identifi-
cation of social rank can have some pacifying effects. On the connection between
status inconsistencies in conflict, see Wallace 1971 ; Galtung 1964 ; East 1972. - For a discussion of the connection between Duesenberry’s and Veblen’s eco-
nomic and social theories, see McCormick 1983. See also Frank 2005. - This normative claim regarding the special value of middle powers follows
the Aristotelian worldview that sees the middle class as inherently better than
other classes (Politics, bk. 4 , pt. 11 ; Holbraad 1984 , 3 ). - Neack ( 1995 , 185 ) does find that middle powers are the most frequent par-
ticipants in UN peacekeeping operations, especially middle powers that at one time
or another tried to establish themselves as a regional power. However, it is not very
clear how middle powers were defined and therefore hard to assess whether this
finding is not in itself a result of the circular nature of the functional definition of
middle powerhood. - The DAC succeeded the Development Assistance Group (DAG) that was
created in 1960 , mainly as the result of an American initiative (Führer 1996 , 8 ). - DAC official aid statistics for 2007 (http://www.oecd.org /dataoecd /47/25
/41724314.pdf ). - DAC aid patterns correspond to findings of studies of philanthropy. Glazer
and Konrad ( 1996 ) note that when aid is categorized into different classes of dona-
tions, donors tend to contribute the lowest sum that could get them into a desired
category. When examining the distribution of donations to Carnegie Mellon Uni-
versity, the authors find that within the category of $ 500 –$ 999 , the average dona-
tion was $ 525. Similarly, 93 percent of all donations to the Harvard Law School that
belonged to the $ 500 – $ 999 category were of exactly $ 500. Most donors chose a do-
nation sum that barely passed the $ 500 threshold but could still qualify for mem-
bership in this class of donors. Glazer and Konrad note that if donations had no
signaling effect, we should expect donations to be more evenly distributed across
this spectrum. However, for prestige- driven donors a donation of $ 999 and $ 501
provides the same utility — both offer membership in the same class of donors. The
convergence of donors on these arbitrary thresholds, therefore, supports the sig-
naling hypothesis. The 0. 7 percent of GDP benchmark generates a similar phenom-
enon in the DAC. All countries that approach that level of aid end up surpassing
it. There is no value in contributing 0. 68 percent of GDP. All countries that fail to
meet the threshold maintain aid levels well below it. - ODA data were taken from the DAC’s online database: http://www.oecd
.org /dataoecd /50/17/5037721.htm. - This lack of variance over time is problematic for quantitative as well as
qualitative analysis. Including a lagged ODA variable as a measurement of path
dependency explains more than 90 percent of the variance in ODA levels. Because
international hierarchy, our independent variable, is highly sticky as well, using
cross- sectional panel data based on annual observation runs the risk of artificially