Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Does It Hurt A State To Introduce An Income Tax?, David J. Shakow

All Faculty Scholarship

In an article in the Wall Street Journal, Arthur Laffer argued that, since 1960, the introduction of state income taxes reduced the relative size of a state’s gross state product and its relative per capita personal income. This paper criticizes Laffer’s conclusions on a number of grounds. 1. He uses incorrect figures for per capita income. In fact, relative per capita income rose in a majority of states that introduced an income tax since 1960. 2. The results are not clear when a state’s data is compared to other states in its region, rather than to the United States as …

Racial Attitude Effects In The 2008 Presidential Election: Examining The Unconventional Factors Shaping Vote Choice In A Most Unconventional Election, Herbert F. Weisberg, Christopher J. Devine

Political Science Faculty Publications

Every election has unique elements, but the 2008 U.S. presidential race had it all: an African-American presidential candidate who won his party’s nomination by defeating a former first lady, an historically unpopular outgoing president, two ongoing wars, a failing economy, and a war hero running for president with a female vice-presidential running mate. With so many unique elements to account for, disentangling their independent effects to identify the dominant factors shaping the 2008 election is a tremendous challenge. This paper explores a wide variety of factors potentially influencing the 2008 vote, but it devotes particular attention to two exceptionally relevant …

Recent Legislation To Promote Wind Energy In Nebraska, Ryan Lemke

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Nebraska is currently ranked 4th in the nation for wind energy potential, but ranks low in actual wind power production. The lack of wind energy production could be the result of Nebraska’s unique public power districts that have eminent domain of distribution and retail sales of electricity in the State. Public Power districts are prohibited from receiving benefits of state and federal tax incentives for the development of wind farms, however some Nebraska power districts still pursue wind energy as a renewable source of energy.

Recent legislation changes, including the passing of laws LB629 and LB1048, have provided the State …

Progressivism And The Executive Branch: Woodrow Wilson's Expansion Of Presidential Power, Christopher F. Fisher

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

This paper examines how and to what degree Woodrow Wilson expanded the power of the president. After the Civil War, immigration, urbanization, and industrialization changed America. Progressives like Wilson argued that many of these changes were harmful to society. Wilson argued that a president with an expanded role, supplemented by administrative bureaucracies, could solve what Progressives believed were the problems of capitalism and the Founder's vision of America.

No Student Left Behind: Ensuring The Accessibility Of Reading Technologies At Universities, Gary C. Norman

The Modern American

The author discusses the perspective of blind and vision impaired persons in relation to the introduction of emerging technologies. If they are not accessible to all students, such technology will impede an equal education of students with disabilities.

A Modern Twist On The Prison Industrial Complex, Isis Goldberg

The Modern American

The author discusses a new NPR article, “Prison Economics Help Drive Arizona Immigration Law,” that sheds light into the role that the private prison industry played in pushing forward Arizona´s controversial legislation, SB 1070. She relates this to the theory of prison-industrial complex postulated by Angela Davis, professor and former Black Panther member, and concludes that private corporations should not have influence or participate in drafting legislation because they do not have the public welfare at interest.

Prison Labor, Human Experimentation, & The Bp Oil Disaster, Zannie Carlson

The Modern American

The author argues that when BP hired prison labor to clean up the spill, corrections agencies failed to consider the impact of handling toxic chemicals on prisoner health.

Election Report: A "Heartland" Vote For Islamic Bigotry, Richael Faithful

The Modern American

The author discusses the legal community’s reaction to the Oklahoma referendum on November 1, 2010, in which voters approved a state constitutional amendment that bans the use of Islamic Law and international law in state court decisions.

Prosperity Versus Equality At The Polls, Nathan B. Oman

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Sampson, Flemon Davis, 1875-1967 (Mss 342), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 342. Family correspondence of Flemon Davis "Flem" Sampson, attorney, judge, and governor of Kentucky from 1927-1931. Includes correspondence of Sampson, his wife, daughter and their families, and miscellaneous papers.

America´S Access To Guns And The Effect It Has On American Gangs And Political Instability Abroad, Isis Goldberg

The Modern American

The author discusses the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms and how easy access to guns has triggered an epidemic of violence and murder in urban communities, increased insecurity in schools, and made gangs more dangerous.

The Housing Market 'Reset' And The Future Of American Housing Policy, Alan Mallach

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

The foreclosure crisis and the collapse in housing prices that have engulfed much of the United States are fundamentally changing the ways in which the American housing market works, challenging many of the assumptions about the role of housing and the housing market that we have held for the past decades. In my lecture, I will discuss how and why those changes are taking place and how they vary across the United States and explore what they mean for American housing policy in the future, and how they are making us reconsider how we think about home ownership, rental housing, …

Dadt, Doma And Fidelity To The Constitution, David Wexelblat

The Modern American

The author defends the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) decision to appeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) ruling on constitutional grounds: The Executive Branch has a constitutional obligation to defend the laws duly enacted by Congress

A Reflection On Employment Challenges And Opportunities, Gary C. Norman

The Modern American

The author discusses President Obama’s reinstatement of Executive Order 13163 of the Clinton administration that required the federal government to be a model employer and to increase the numbers of targeted disabilities in the federal workforce.

It’S Still A Secret, But Not For Long: A Dadt Play-By-Play, Alexandra Manrique

The Modern American

The author discusses the zig-zag by Congress, the White House, and the Departments of Defense and Justice to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the policy prohibiting gay citizens to serve openly in the military.

High Heels In 2010?, Shailee Diwanji

The Modern American

The author discusses modern dress codes that require female employees to wear skirts and high heels, and which the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has generally held, and courts have ratified, that employers may establish varying dress codes for men and women without violating discrimination laws.

The Peregrinations Of A Post Graduate Law Student And Legal Professional With A Guide Dog, Gary C. Norman

The Modern American

The author offers two personal anecdotes involving a cafeteria worker and taxicab coordinator to illustrate that respect for persons with disabilities has a ways to go.

Hale, Robert Earl, B. 1894 (Sc 2387), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2387. "The Successors of the Whig Party in Kentucky," by Robert Earl Hale, a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, 1925.

Education Everywhere: The Popular Awareness Surrounding Education Reform, Alexandra Manrique

The Modern American

The author applauds the extensive media and political coverage of education reform.

Richards, Frances, 1893-1991 (Sc 2363), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2363. "John Rowan" by Frances Richards, a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, 1930.

From Korea To Vietnam: The Origins And Mindset Of Postwar U.S. Interventionism　朝鮮からヴェトナムへ−−戦後米国の軍事干渉の起源と考え方, Mel Gurtov

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

The wars in Korea and Vietnam were of a piece, directly related by virtue of U.S. global strategy and China’s security concerns. This paper, focusing mainly on the U.S. side in these wars, argues that three characteristics of American policy had enduring meaning for the rest of the Cold War and even beyond: the official mindsets that led to U.S. involvement, the centrality of the China threat in American decision making, and the common legacy of intervention against nationalism and in support of authoritarian regimes. It is part of a continuing Asia-Pacific Journal series on the Korean War on the …

Amidst Ongoing Slavery In The South, One Group’S Efforts To Enforce The 13th Amendment, Zannie Carlson

The Modern American

The author lauds the advocacy of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to prosecute Florida landowners engaged in forced labor and indentured servitude of workers.

Dissecting The Pieces From A New Study, Picked Apart: The Hidden Struggles Of Migrant Women In The Maryland Crab Industry, Richael Faithful

The Modern American

The author discusses the findings of the recent report produced by the American University Washington College of Law Immigrant Justice Clinic, “Picked Apart: The Hidden Struggles of Migrant Working Women In The Maryland Crab Industry.”

Help The Homeless -- Is It Enough?, Shailee Diwanji

The Modern American

The author discusses the increase in violence against homeless people and state and federal initiatives to pass legislation designating violence against the homeless as a hate crime.

The Intermountain West Today: A Regional Survey, Ruy Teixeira, Karlyn Bowman

Brookings Mountain West Publications

What does it mean to live in the Intermountain West today? What issues are most and least important to the region’s residents? Do Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah have a collective identity or are state-level differences too great? Is there an identifiable Intermountain West personality? Today we will present the results of a unique survey that attempts to answer these questions.

The Politic 2010 Fall, The Politic, Inc.

The Politic

No abstract provided.

Unlv / Brookings West: Intermountain West Region Regional Survey, University Of Nevada Las Vegas, Brookings Institute

Brookings Mountain West Publications

The 2010 Intermountain West Public Opinion Survey documents responses from 2,000 residents of the Intermountain West (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah). Gerstein | Agne Strategic Communications conducted the survey from August 23 – September 1, 2010. A minimum of 250 respondents for each state are included in the results for this survey. Respondents included 1,700 landline interviews and 300 cell phone interviews. Gerstein | Agne Strategic Communications provides strategic planning, communications, project management, and research services to a wide range of non-profit organizations, Fortune 500 companies, and candidates for elected office.

The survey includes an extensive series …

Immature Citizens And The State, Vivian E. Hamilton

Faculty Publications

Citizens are born, but they are also made. How its citizens come to be—whether the educations they receive will expand or constrain their future options, whether the values they assimilate will encourage or dissuade their civic engagement, etc.—fundamentally concerns the state. Through the power it wields over a vast range of policymaking contexts, the state can significantly influence (or designate those who will influence) many of the formative experiences of young citizens. Young citizens’ accumulated experiences in turn can significantly influence the future mature citizens they will become. The state insufficiently considers the cumulative nature of its citizens’ development, however. …

The New Financial Deal: Understanding The Dodd-Frank Act And Its (Unintended) Consequences, David A. Skeel Jr.

All Faculty Scholarship

Contrary to rumors that the Dodd-Frank Act is an incoherent mess, its 2,319 pages have two very clear objectives: limiting the risk of the shadow banking system by more carefully regulating derivatives and large financial institutions; and limiting the damage caused by a financial institution’s failure. The new legislation also has a theme: government partnership with the largest Wall Street banks. The vision emerged almost by accident from the Bear Stearns and AIG bailouts of 2008 and the commandeering of the bankruptcy process to rescue Chrysler and GM in 2009. Its implications for derivatives regulation could prove beneficial: Dodd-Frank will …

Deficits And Disaster, Ron Haskins

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

The nation’s deficit path is unsustainable. The public debt is likely to increase by $1 trillion per year until 2020, and then increase at an ever increasing rate after that. Far from helping the nation address its exploding deficit, the last two administrations and every congress since 2000 have taken actions that have intensified the problem. It is time for Americans to face the high probability that due most fundamentally to their continuing demand for high spending and low taxes, sometime in the next decade or so one or more catastrophes will strike America. This presentation will lay out the …