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This Introduction provides a thematic overview of this special issue. It draws attention to the multiplicity of forces that produce new and complicated forms of oppression and exploitation in post-Cold War, post-9/11 America and provides brief descriptions of the articles collected here, highlighting their contributions to Americanist critical theory and ethnography and anthropology in general. Key Words: inequality, insecurity, political economy, United States

The adverse effects of the September 11th terrorist attacks on the demand for services of airlines in Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan and the US are examined. The effect of perception of risk on demand determined using time series analysis.

Contemporary public discourse often defines citizenship with language of consumer capitalism. In the wake of September 11, 2001 corporations moved swiftly to assert the relation between consumption and citizenship. Drawing on a close reading of advertisements addressing the attack published in the New York Times, I argue that within the first month after September 11, corporate advertisers created identification between corporations and America such that the health of corporations was part of the health of the nation. Advertisers utilized this identification to argue that enacting consumption was a central mode of practicing patriotic citizenship. The advertisements, then, served to create consumer citizens through the civic duty of shopping.

Byline: Markus Glaser (1), Martin Weber (2) Abstract: This study uses data that offers the unique opportunity to analyze how an unprecedented crisis such as the September 11 tragedy influences expected returns and volatility forecasts of individual investors. Via e-mail, we asked a randomly selected group of individual investors with accounts at a German online broker to answer an internet questionnaire at the beginning of August 2001. A second e-mail to the investors who had not yet answered, scheduled five weeks later, was postponed due to the terror attacks until September 20, which was exactly the day with the lowest share prices in Germany in the year 2001. Based on the answers to questions concerning stock market predictions, we find that return forecasts of the investors in our sample are significantly higher after September 11, suggesting a belief in mean reversion. Our results show that investors interpret the large drop in share prices during the ten day period after September 11 mainly as temporary rather than permanent. After the terror attacks, volatility forecasts are higher than before September 11. In two out of four cases, historical volatilities are overestimated. Therefore, investors are not generally overconfident in the way that they underestimate the variance of stock returns. Differences of opinion with regard to return forecasts are lower after the terror attacks whereas differences of opinion concerning volatility forecasts are mainly unaffected. Author Affiliation: (1) Business School, University of Mannheim, Germany (2) Business School and CEPR, University of Mannheim, Germany Article History: Registration Date: 24/05/2005 Article note: We would like to thank William Goetzmann (the editor), Alexander Klos, Markus Noth, Jens Reynders, Zacharias Sautner, an anonymous referee, several faculty members of the Fuqua School of Business, and seminar participants at the University of Mannheim for valuable comments and insights. Parts of this paper were written while Markus Glaser was visiting the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, North Carolina, USA, whose support is gratefully acknowledged. Financial Support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) is also gratefully acknowledged.

The authors focus on a relatively unexplored aspect of the September II. 2001, terrorist attacks the extent to which it was ethically appropriate to compensate victims of that tragedy, especially in comparison to victims of other unfortunate events. After providing background on federal disaster and victim compensation policies, the authors offer a set of principles for determining when the government should provide direct reimbursement to victims for losses incurred, drawing on both deontological and utilitarian reasoning. The authors their apply these standards to the September II attacks and other unfortunate events such us the Oklahoma City bombing. Keywords: victim compensation; terrorism victims: disaster insurance

An overview is presented on regulatory policies of the Securities and Exchange Commission during the past quarter century, and the influence of specific agency individuals in creating, developing, and changing those policies. Discussion focuses on how they impacted capital market reshaping after the economic recession and September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

Byline: Anthony Yanxiang Gu (1) Keywords: patriotic repurchase Abstract: The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks created a unique situation where patriotism became a significant motive for companies to make stock buyback announcements. Officials from the stock markets and the SEC encouraged stock repurchase announcements to help stabilize the markets. However, some analysts questioned the wisdom of repurchase announcements at this time of economic uncertainty, given that buybacks reduce the firm's cash and equity. This study finds that announcements made during the two weeks following the attacks had a positive effect on a firm's stock price. It was also found that the earlier the announcement following the attacks, generally the more positive the market response. This suggests the possibility of a 'patriotism effect' where the firms most eager to show their patriotism were rewarded by patriotic investors. Author Affiliation: (1) Jones School of Business, State University of New York, Geneseo, NY, 14454 Article History: Registration Date: 17/10/2004

Byline: Neil A. Doherty (1), Joan Lamm-Tennant (2), Laura T. Starks (3) Keywords: capacity constraint; principal agent conflicts; informational efficiency; signaling; transparency Abstract: The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center caused unprecedented economic and structural ramifications in the insurance markets, resulting in considerable uncertainty and informational asymmetry. We test several theoretical models of how markets respond to and recover from extreme capital shocks. Using the capacity constraint, post-loss investment and implicit insurance contract models, we develop testable hypotheses predicting the temporal and cross sectional variation in insurance company stock prices following September 11th. We find evidence consistent with the models' predictions, in particular, the predictions regarding relations between net losses and leverage and stock price performance after the shock. Author Affiliation: (1) Department of Insurance and Risk Management, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA (2) Financial Center, Berkshire Hathaway/General Reinsurance Corporation, 695 East Main Street, Stamford, CN, 06904, USA (3) Department of Finance, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA Article History: Registration Date: 03/10/2004

Byline: J. David Cummins (1), Christopher M. Lewis (2) Keywords: insurance; terrorism; long-term contracting; parameter uncertainty; World Trade Center attack Abstract: This paper examines the reaction of the stock prices of U.S. property-casualty insurers to the World Trade Center (WTC) terrorist attack of September 11, 2001. Theories of insurance market equilibrium and theories of long-term contracting predict that large loss events which deplete capital and increase parameter uncertainty will affect weakly capitalized insurers more significantly than stronger firms. The empirical results are consistent with this prediction. Insurance stock prices generally declined following the WTC attack. However, the stock prices of insurers with strong financial ratings rebounded after the first post-event week, while those of weaker insurers did not, consistent with the flight-to-quality hypothesis. Author Affiliation: (1) The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 3641 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA (2) Fitch Risk Management, Inc., 500 West Putnam Avenue, Greenwich, CT, 06830, USA Article History: Registration Date: 03/10/2004

Marsh & McLennan Companies offices in the World Trade Center were destroyed on September 11, 2001. Jeffrey W. Greenberg, the author of this article, and chairman of Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc. recounts his immediate response to the airplane attack, efforts to save lives, locate people, recapture company data, help with the healing, inspire confidence, and generally insure that the company and its employees were able to continue.

The war against terrorism declared by the Bush administration is being used to conceal a war on working people that began in the 1980s. Since Sep 11, 2001, the wealthiest Americans and largest corporations have been given advantages by Congress not possible during ordinary times.

The effects of the attack on the World Trade Center have been especially felt within New York City's large tourism industry. An important source of employment for low-skilled workers, the tourism industry has sustained substantial job loss in the aftermath of September 11th. Within the context of regulation theory we can see that the tourism regime is caught in a difficult dilemma. On the one hand, it must develop the city in a way that seems welcoming to visitors--that is, it must regulate the city for the benefit of visitors. On the other, it must regulate tourists to assure that they do not present a danger to residents, visitors and the industry itself.

Preventing US workplace violence is especially relevant since the terrorist attacks of Sep 11, 2001.

Following the September 11 crashing of two airplanes into the World Trade Center (WTC) by terrorists, the US government adopted a large airline subsidy with the apparent goal of preserving essential airline services. However, economic analysis shows that it is unlikely to achieve this goal because it leaves marginal cost and marginal revenue unchanged. Thus, it is unlikely to affect the level of airline service and unlikely maintain airline employment. In essence there was a large transfer of money to the industry for very little, if any, public benefit. A very generous victim assistance program was also adopted. No rational reason can be found for a program that assists these victims more than those killed or injured in other disasters. Keywords: Airline subsidies, World Trade Center, terrorsim, economic role of government, market as allocator, trade unions, market self-regulation, victim assistance.

Within a week of the attack, I added my voice to the clamor of voices dedating the events of 11 september 2001. I made two sets of comments then, and [...]

The author considers the effect that the September 11 terrorist attacks will have on commercial leases. He discusses insurance and rent abatement issues that commercial renters will have to consider.

When former Rep. Henson Moore, R-La., became the president of the American Forest & Paper Association in 1995, he understood a thing or two about business mergers. The AF&PA had [...]