Digital Commons Network^™

Environmental Justice And Domestic Climate Change Policy, Alice Kaswan

Alice Kaswan

This article argues that, except in California, environmental justice considerations have not received sufficient attention in climate change policy debates. It explores the environmental justice implications of emerging domestic climate change policies and provides policymakers with specific suggestions on how to integrate environmental justice concerns. The article begins by introducing the environmental justice movement and its central principles, and then explores the limited integration of environmental justice concerns in existing climate change policies.

The article then clarifies existing debates about the environmental implications of greenhouse gas cap and trade programs by providing a detailed assessment of their distributional benefits and …

Taken For Granted? Managing For Social Equity In Grant Programs., Brian Collins, Brian Gerber

Brian K. Collins

Managing for social equity performance has long been a goal without much guidance for public managers. We examine social equity performance in the context of indirect governance through the administration of grant programs and, more specifically, the matching of policy responses (grant funding) to social needs. Grant program managers must allocate funding to match needs while also ensuring accountability, but common administrative models that rely on competition can undermine social equity performance. We develop a unique framework to analyze the relative social equity performance of four models of grant administration in general. These models are defined by whether competitions or …

Is There A Role For Public Support Of Incumbent Worker On-The-Job Training?, Kevin Hollenbeck

Kevin Hollenbeck

States have begun to use training subsidies as a policy tool for employment retention and business competitiveness. This paper summarizes a survey of states concerning their investments in incumbent worker training. Altogether, states are investing about $550 to $800 million, which is perhaps one percent or less of total private sector training costs. The paper further discusses a study conducted for one state in which we found significant fiscal returns implying that underinvestment of public funds for incumbent worker training may be occurring. In this state, primary sector jobs were created or retained at a public cost of less than …

China’S Ventures In Africa, Emmanuel Aning, Delphine Lecroute

Emmanuel Kwesi Aning

In this paper, we are guided by several questions of which the critical one is whether Sino-African relations are merely opportunistic and based on an ad hoc momentum, or whether they reflect a real strategy based on presence and territorial domination in the new context of competition and cooperation on the reconfigured African continent. We argue that any endeavour to appreciate the complexities of this relationship needs a more nuanced and differentiated appreciation and understanding of Sino-African relations. Such an approach will elucidate the complex relationship between Africa and China and, more importantly, emphasise the delicate nuances that are overlooked …