Public Policy Commons^™

A Political Theory Of Kulturkampf: Evidence From Imperial Prussia & Republican Turkey, Ioannis N. Grigoriadis, Theocharis Grigoriadis

Theocharis Grigoriadis

No abstract provided.

Religion, Administration & Public Goods: Experimental Evidence From Russia, Theocharis N. Grigoriadis

Theocharis Grigoriadis

In this paper, I argue that religion matters for the provision of public goods. I identify three normative foundations of Eastern Orthodox monasticism with strong economic implications: 1. solidarity, 2. obedience, and 3. universal discipline. I propose and solve a public goods game with a three-tier hierarchy, where these norms are modeled as treatments. Obedience and universal discipline facilitate the provision of threshold public goods in equilibrium, whereas solidarity does not. Empirical evidence is drawn from public goods experiments run with regional bureaucrats in Tomsk and Novosibirsk, Russia. The introduction of the same three norms as experimental treatments produces different …

Religious Origins Of Democracy & Dictatorship, Theocharis Grigoriadis

Theocharis Grigoriadis

Weber considered the Protestant work ethic the foundation of modern capitalism. I extend Weber’s theory by arguing that states with predominantly Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Muslim populations have had a stronger inclination toward underdevelopment and dictatorship than states with Protestant or Jewish majorities. This is the case because their respective religious collectives (monastery, tariqa) promote the hierarchical provision of common goods at the expense of market incentives. I define the aforementioned three religions as collectivist, in contrast to Protestantism and Judaism, which I define as individualist. I provide a historical overview that designates the Jewish kibbutz as the collective …

Policy Options For Revenue Neutral Gst For Oil And Gas, Sacchidananda Mukherjee, R. Kavita Rao

Sacchidananda Mukherjee

1. The study suggests alternative design of GST where tax cascading goes down and prices fall and the Government revenue remains unchanged. 2. Substantial reduction in cascading of taxes is observed for a shift from baseline to alternative scenarios and tax system becomes cleaner. 3. Elimination of cascading of taxes will result in rising export competitiveness of Indian industries in the international markets. 4. In all alternative designs of GST, the prices across the sectors either remain unchanged or decline 5. Dismantling the administered pricing mechanism for petrol and diesel along with introduction of comprehensive GST for petroleum products benefits …

Local Responses To Federal Grants: Evidence From The Introduction Of Title I In The South, Elizabeth Cascio, Nora Gordon, Sarah Reber

Nora Gordon

We analyze the effects of the introduction of Title I of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, a large federal grants program designed to increase poor students’ educational services and achievement. We focus on the South, the poorest region of the country. Title I increased school spending by 50 cents on the dollar in the average Southern school district and by more in districts with less ability to offset grants through local tax reductions. Title I induced increases in school budgets appear to have reduced high school dropout rates of whites, but not blacks.

Can We Actually Calculate The Social Cost Of Carbon?, Kyle Mckay

Kyle McKay

Social cost of carbon calculations poorly integrate the risk of worse-case scenarios and their impact on social equity, primarily due to the fundamental limitations of cost-benefit analysis. Continued use of the social cost of carbon is preferable to policy that assumes no social cost to carbon emissions, but risks overconfidence in modeling and political clashes around insufficiently important regulatory changes that could impair necessary larger scale policy changes.

Evaluating Social Impact Bonds As A New Reentry Financing Mechanism: A Case Study On Reentry Programming In Maryland, Kyle Mckay

Kyle McKay

Maryland Department of Legislative Services evaluation of the benefits, risks, costs, and feasibility of using social impact bonds as a financing mechanism for reentry programs in Maryland.

High School Graduation In The Context Of Changing Elementary And Secondary Education Policy And Income Inequality: The Last Half Century, Nora Gordon

Nora Gordon

Goldin and Katz (2008) document the key role that the educational attainment of native-born workers in the U.S. has played in determining changing returns to skill and income distribution in the twentieth century, emphasizing the need to understand the forces driving the supply of educated workers. This paper examines stagnation in high school graduation rates from about 1970 to 2000, alongside dramatic changes in elementary and secondary educational institutions and income inequality over those years. I review the policy history of major changes in educational institutions, including but not limited to the massive increase in school spending, and related literature. …

When Educators Are The Learners: Private Contracting By Public Schools, Silke Forbes, Nora Gordon

Nora Gordon

We investigate decision-making and the potential for social learning among school administrators in the market for school reform consulting services. Specifically, we estimate whether public schools are more likely to choose given Comprehensive School Reform service providers if their “peer” schools—defined by common governance or geography—have performed unusually well with those providers in the past. We find strong evidence that schools tend to contract with providers used by other schools in their own districts in the past, regardless of past performance. In addition, our point estimates are consistent with school administrators using information from peers to choose the plans they …

Reducing The Drug War's Damage To Government Budgets, David B. Kopel, Trevor Burrus

David B Kopel

This Article examines ways that governments can mitigate the economic damage caused by the drug war. Part I details four specific legal reforms enacted in Colorado, which aim to reduce the problems of over-criminalization: Requiring a fiscal note for the creation of new statutory crimes; reducing drug possession from a felony to a misdemeanor; narrowing the scope of 'three strikes' laws, and; adjusting old sentences in light of new laws.

Part II explores the fiscal benefits of ending prohibition, such as reduced law enforcement costs and substantially increased tax revenues.

Part III analyzes the conflict between congressionally-imposed prohibition, and state …

The Oecd And Phases In The International Political Economy, 1961-2011, Judith Clifton, Daniel Díaz-Fuentes

Judith Clifton

In 2011, the OECD turned fifty. To provide a broad foundation for further thinking on this organization, we analyse its evolution over half a century from two perspectives: phases in the international political economy and the literature on IPE. By so doing, we uncover two paradoxes. Firstly, we find that the organization’s evolution closely mirrored major phases in the postwar international political economy until recently. However, the OECD’s long-term dependence on theWest has now become an obstacle to its efforts to adapt to the latest phase, characterised by the rise of non-Western powers. Secondly, we show that, during the OECD’s …

Regulating And Deregulating The Public Utilities 1830–2010, Judith Clifton Dr.

Judith Clifton

History can provide invaluable insights into important issues of the economic and social regulation of utilities, and offer lessons towards future debates. But the history of utility regulation – which speaks of changing, diverse and complex experiences around the world – was, unfortunately, sidelined or marginalised when economists and policymakers enthusiastically embraced the question of how to reform the utilities from the 1970s. This paper provides an overview of the three, overarching, `waves' of utility regulation from the nineteenth century to the present, documenting how, when and why the ways in which the roles of the state, the market and …

From National Monopoly To Multinational Corporation: How Regulation Shaped The Road Towards Telecommunications Internationalisation, Judith Clifton, Daniel Díaz-Fuentes, Francisco Comín

Judith Clifton

One of the consequences of major regulatory reform of the telecommunications sector from the end of the 1970s – particularly, privatisation, liberalisation and deregulation – was the establishment of a new business environment which permitted former national telecommunications monopolies to expand abroad. From the 1990s, a number of these firms, particularly those based in Europe, joined the rankings of the world's leading multinational corporations. Their internationalisation was uneven, however: while some firms internationalised strongly, others ventured abroad much slower. This article explores how the regulatory framework within which telecommunications incumbents evolved over the long-term shaped their subsequent, uneven, paths to …

Fiscal Decentralization Stocktaking Study In Nepal: Final Report, Roy Kelly

Roy Kelly

Nepal is in the midst of a major political, administrative and fiscal restructuring reform moving towards a federal government structure to enhance governance and improve public service delivery. These ongoing efforts are being formulated against the background of the current sub-national governance structure which is largely based on the 1999 Local Self Governance Act (LSGA). The LSGA was a major decentralization reform at the time, introducing a number of key reform initiatives. Despite these bold initiatives under LSGA, however, the Nepalese government structure remained highly centralized, unable to address many of the pressing governance and service delivery problems. In fact, …

Innovation Cooperation: Energy Biosciences And Law, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

This Article analyzes the development and dissemination of environmentally sound technologies that can address climate change. Climate change poses catastrophic health and security risks on a global scale. Universities, individual innovators, private firms, civil society, governments, and the United Nations can unite in the common goal to address climate change. This Article recommends means by which legal, scientific, engineering, and a host of other public and private actors can bring environmentally sound innovation into widespread use to achieve sustainable development. In particular, universities can facilitate this collaboration by fostering global innovation and diffusion networks.

Politiques Envers Les Migrants Hautement Qualifiés: Analyse Comparée Du Canada, Etats-Unis Et Union Européenne, Hristina Petrova

Hristina Petrova

My Master’s thesis is among the few, if not the only work which examines in comparative perspective the public policies of Canada, USA and EU (EU level) in the field of highly skilled migration. I find that this type of migration is understudied, not supported by any of the migration-related organizations, most probably due to its business nature. The triple case study explores the Canadian federal points-based system and the Provincial Programs; the US Green Cards and the H-1B visas; and the EU directive concerning the Blue Cards. My original contribution to the field goes as far as I dwell …

The Political Economy Of Telecoms And Electricity Internationalization In The Single Market, Judith Clifton, Daniel Díaz-Fuentes, Revuelta Julio

Judith Clifton

As a consequence of liberalization policies in the European Union (EU), a number of formerly inward-looking incumbents in telecommunications and electricity transformed themselves into some of the world’s leading Multinationals. The relationship between liberalization and incumbent internationalization, however, is contested. Three political economy arguments on this relationship are tested. The first claims that incumbents most exposed to domestic liberalization would internationalise most. The second asserts that incumbents operating where liberalization was restricted could exploit monopolistic rents to finance internationalisation. The third argument claims that a diversity of paths will be adopted by countries and incumbents vis-à-vis liberalization and internationalization. Using …

Evaluating Eu Policies On Public Services: A Citizens' Approach, Judith Clifton, Daniel Díaz-Fuentes

Judith Clifton

This article evaluates EU policies on public services – particularly public network services - from the citizens´ point of view. It is first argued that citizens´ perceptions are important because the provision of fundamental services is at stake and because they constitute the infrastructure necessary for social and economic development. Citizens’ “voice” can, therefore, be known, analysed and used in the design of improved policy on public services along with other indicators. Changing EU policy on public services is synthesised and classified into two main phases in section two. Citizen satisfaction with public services as revealed through surveys from 1997 …

John Rawls's Difference Principle And The Strains Of Commitment: A Diagrammatic Exposition, Greg Hill

Greg Hill

No abstract provided.

Some Wittgensteinian Reservationas About Neuroeconomics, Greg Hill

Greg Hill

Abstract: In Economic Theory and Cognitive Science, Don Ross proposes a radical reconstruction of neoclassical economics, retaining its rational-choice framework while substituting neural networks and other “mechanisms” for people as the prototypical decision-making agents. This essay describes some of the difficulties that arise when concepts belonging to what Wittgenstein called the human “form of life” are invoked to explain the behavior of such sub-personal “agents” as parts of the brain. The result is a misbegotten conception of “agency” and a “cyborg economics” the subject matter of which bears little relation to what economists and ordinary people mean by “making a …

Spanning Policy Silos In Urban Development And Environmental Management: When Global Cities Are Coastal Cities Too, Herman L. Boschken

Herman L. Boschken

No abstract provided.

From Brown To Busing, Elizabeth Cascio, Nora Gordon, Ethan Lewis, Sarah Reber

Nora Gordon

Brown v. Board of Education had little immediate effect on the dual system of education in the South; by the early 1970s, however, Southern schools were the most racially integrated in the country. This paper uses newly assembled and uniquely comprehensive data to document how different types of Southern school districts made this transition. Controlling for other factors, we find larger districts were more likely to be under court supervision both early and ever; over time the enrollment threshold for court supervision fell. Poorer districts—which stood to lose larger federal grants if they failed to desegregate—were particularly likely to desegregate …

The Basic Income Guarantee And The Goals Of Equality, Efficiency, And Environmentalism, Karl Widerquist, Michael Lewis

Karl Widerquist

No abstract provided.

A Multiple-Perspectives Construct Of The American Global City, Herman L. Boschken

Herman L. Boschken

PAPER ARGUES AND TESTS THE PROPOSITION THAT THE GLOBAL CITY IS BEST DESCRIBED AND ANALYZED FROM A HOLISTIC CONSTRUCT OF COMPETING PERSPECTIVES. IT EMPLOYES FACTOR AND K-MEANS CLUSTER ANALYSIS TO DIFFERENTIATE 53 US URBANIZED AREAS.

Privatizing Public Enterprises In The European Union 1960-2002: Ideological, Pragmatic, Inevitable?, Judith Clifton, Daniel Díaz-Fuentes, Francisco Comín

Judith Clifton

Privatization, recognized as one of the most important economic policy reforms from the 1970s, has attracted significant attention from scholars, and the literature on the topic is now vast. Yet there is little agreement on the reasons why governments privatized. Three dominant paradigms explaining European Union (EU) privatization put forward distinct motivations. The ‘British paradigm’ assumed that market-friendly ideology played a significant role in a path towards a global programme inspired by the UK experience. The ‘multiple logics’ approach observed that the UK was an anomaly, not a leader, and that EU privatization was so diverse that there were few, …

Art Of The State: Explaining State-Level Appropriations To Arts Agencies, Douglas S. Noonan

Douglas S. Noonan

This report focuses on appropriations to state arts agencies (SAAs), a primary figure in arts and cultural policy in the United States. It examines a specific category of state government expenditures using variation over time and across states to identify the different influences on SAA appropriations. The statistical model sheds light on the fiscal, institutional, and demographic determinants of appropriations.

‘Empowering Europe’S Citizens’? Towards A Charter For Services Of General Interest, Judith Clifton, Daniel Díaz-Fuentes, Francisco Comín

Judith Clifton

This article analyses the development of the European Union (EU) project of a Charter for Services of General Interest (SGI) from the mid-1990s to the publication of the White Paper on Services of General Interest and the draft European Constitution in 2004. Though service charters are often associated with New Public Management (NPM) reforms related to privatization, they are also an integral part of the process of EU institution building, and need to be understood alongside developments such as the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Using a four-stage model of international NPM convergence analysis four phases of the Charter for SGI …

From Hayek To Keynes: G.L.S. Shackle And Our Ignorance Of The Future, Greg Hill

Greg Hill

G.L.S. Shackle stood at the historic crossroads where the economics of Hayek and Keynes collided. Shackle fused these opposing lines of thought in a macroeconomic theory that draws Keynesian conclusions from Austrian premises. In Shackle’s scheme of thought, the power to imagine alternative courses of action releases decision makers from the web of predictable causation. But the continuous stream of spontaneous and unpredictable choices that originate in the subjective and disparate orientations of individual agents denies us the possibility of rational expectations, and therewith the logical coherence of market equilibrium through time.

Social Class, Politics, And Urban Markets: The Makings Of Bias In Policy Outcomes, Herman L. Boschken

Herman L. Boschken

No abstract provided.

Chapter 10: Upper-Middle-Class Politics And Policy Outcomes: Does Class Identity Matter?, Herman L. Boschken

Herman L. Boschken

This chapter in Clark and lipset's book on class in American politics resulted from a multi-day workshop at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars in the summer of 1999. The piece reverses the normal causality of class politics. It does not analyze citizens in elections, but government officials creating policies. It asks why policies differ across localities (specifically public transit decisions in 42 U.S. metropolitan areas). It probes how some government officials work with an "upper-middle-class" citizenry in mind, while others do so less. The chapter then tests for differences across localities and finds quite distinct patterns. The chapter …