The programme went beyond many dementia activities. Despite no evidence for lasting effects, all involved wanted the programme to continue. A carer quote: You do it for the moment encapsulates a sense that an activity is worthwhile even if it gives benefit only whilst running. The programme is continuing and expanding.

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Using data collected from the European Social Survey (made available by the Norwegian Social Science Data Services), we compare the political acts of buycotting, boycotting, and direct monetary donation and examine the diff erent individual-level attributes that determine people to engage in these political acts. Specifi cally, we examine the individual attributes that best indicate an individual's propensity to engage in these activities. Our main fi ndings are that women and young people participate in political consumerism more than men and older people. We also fi nd that donors diff er substantially from buycotters and boycotters, which leads us to conclude that donating is a diff erent, more traditional type of participation than is political consumerism. Th is sets the stage for studying nontraditional realms of political expression and in particular indicates a need for future studies on political actors most likely to engage in political consumerism.

The viability of traditional economic development strategies has long been questioned by urban policy scholars; yet traditional strategies remain the norm among city leaders. Traditional concerns emphasize economic and business considerations at the expense of nontraditional community considerations such as quality of life. In this paper, we examine the conditions under which city leaders give weight to nontraditional community concerns when making economic development decisions. Our analysis of the results of a survey conducted of more than 200 leaders in over 150 Texas cities indicates that although traditional economic development concerns remain dominant, certain conditions may exist that allow or compel city leaders to give increased weight to non-traditional community considerations. Conditions revealed by our study include the socioeconomic status of Texas cities and the relative differences in leadership positions and professionalism among city leaders. The paper concludes with a discussion of how our study contributes to the literature about economic development policy and points to avenues for future research on the conditions under which decision-making strategies are pursued by city leaders.

The suburb/central city dichotomy has been a conceptual tool used by scholars to differentiate communities in a number of ways, including politics, policy preference, and political ideology. Given the various changes undergone by suburbs and central cities during the past few decades, a renewed investigation into how well this classification actually accounts for differences in the policy preferences of city leaders is beneficial to an overall understanding of urban politics and policy. Using census data and survey results of several types of city leaders in Texas, we examine the ways in which the suburb/central city dichotomy influences the policy preferences of city leaders. Our findings indicate the dichotomy remains a useful conceptual tool for understanding urban policy making particularly with respect to influencing and promoting particular attitudes among city leaders in the important area of economic development.