Policy Design, Analysis, and Evaluation Commons^™

Do No Harm: Perceptions Of Short-Term Health Camps In Nepal, Dena Seabrook

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Short-term health camps are a growing form of delivering health care services to needy populations. Often these camps, usually lasting around 2 weeks, are led by I/NGOs in developing nations like Nepal and are staffed with volunteers from the Global North. These camps are largely ungoverned, and there are no evaluative techniques in place to monitor the effectiveness of the work done, raising concerns about the unintended consequences of short-term health camps camps. Nepal is particularly vulnerable to this issue because of the vast number of I/NGOs currently operating within its boundaries.

This research sought to expand the conversation surrounding …

Community-Engaged Decision Support For Foreclosed Housing Acquisition And Redevelopment In Boston, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Public Policy and Public Affairs Faculty Publication Series

This project develops decision tools and analytical methods to help non‐profit community development corporations (CDCs) acquire and redevelop foreclosed housing for neighborhood stabilization and revitalization. Interviews and direct observations at partner CDCs have helped us identify current practices, data and requirements for our decision models. Problem‐structuring methods through CDC focus groups have generated core operational and organizational objectives. Spreadsheet‐ and optimization based decision models generate policy and operational alternatives that address multiple resident and community outcomes. Our research will support efficient responses to the recent foreclosure crisis, especially in distressed neighborhoods, and suggest policy implications at local and national levels.

Local Economic Benefits Of Early Childhood Programs: Investing In Kids, Timothy J. Bartik

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Where Are The Jobs? Employment Stagnation After The Great Recession, Gary Burtless

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

The Great Recession of 2008-2009 was the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Unlike most other recessions in the post-war era, however, the recovery has brought back only a small fraction of the almost 9 million jobs lost in the downturn. Gary Burtless will explain the puzzling absence of an employment rebound in his talk. Why has the rebound been so slow? What can we do to speed it up?

James A. Garfield: 20th President Of The United States, José Villalobos

Selected Works Temporary Series

President James A. Garfield served for only 200 days before an assassin’s bullets ended his unlikely rise to power. Garfield was the last “log cabin” president and a life-long Republican, both in the tradition of his predecessor, Ulysses Grant. In his lifetime, he served honorably as educator, general, and politician. His surprising nomination for president in 1880 earned him the nickname of the “Dark Horse” candidate, and his victory in the general election sealed his place in history as a U.S. president. His rise to power and tragic death highlight an important episode of the Gilded Age. Although Garfield’s time …

James A. Garfield: 20th President Of The United States, José Villalobos

Departmental Papers (PS)

President James A. Garfield served for only 200 days before an assassin’s bullets ended his unlikely rise to power. Garfield was the last “log cabin” president and a life-long Republican, both in the tradition of his predecessor, Ulysses Grant. In his lifetime, he served honorably as educator, general, and politician. His surprising nomination for president in 1880 earned him the nickname of the “Dark Horse” candidate, and his victory in the general election sealed his place in history as a U.S. president. His rise to power and tragic death highlight an important episode of the Gilded Age. Although Garfield’s time …

Incorporating Lower Mississippi River Port Assets Into Emergency Preparedness And Response Initiatives, James R. Amdal, Jay Jayawardana, Stanley L. Swigart

UNOTI Publications

The Lower Mississippi River (LMR) and its 5 deep water ports represent a significant national asset as well as a critical portion of a major transportation corridor from the heartland of the country to the Gulf of Mexico. The lower portion of the Mississippi River is particularly subject to major disruptions caused by both manmade and natural disasters. In light of recent events of national significance (Hurricane Katrina of 2005 and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill of 2010) researchers at UNOTI questioned: 1) what assets at the LMR ports are available to respond to these events; 2) what agreements either …

The Staffing Of Presidential Assistants: Their Effect On Presidential Success In The House Of Representatives, Nicholas R. Jesteadt

Gettysburg Economic Review

This paper examines the Congressional success of United States Presidents based on the reported Congressional Quarterly Presidential Box Scores. Their individual success is examined as an effect of the senior staff member a President chooses and whether they are chosen from the campaign, personal experience, or previous administrations. It is important for a President to consider the origins of these staffers as these Assistants to the President act as the body of the President’s administration. The econometric analysis presented reveals several interesting results. First, the predominance of a President to choose staff members from his campaign shows no significant impact …

Ford Foundation, José Villalobos

Selected Works Temporary Series

No abstract provided.

A Human Rights-Based Approach (Hrba) In Practice: Evaluating Ngo Development Efforts, Hans Peter Schmitz

School of Leadership and Education Sciences: Faculty Scholarship

Human rights-based approaches (HRBAs) promise greater alignment of development efforts with universal norms, as well as a focus on the root causes of poverty. While HRBAs have been widely adopted across the development sector, there is little systematic evidence about the actual impact of this strategic shift. Evaluating the effectiveness of HRBAs is challenging because various non-governmental and other organizations have developed very different understandings of how to apply a rights-based framework in the development context. This essay takes a step toward the rigorous evaluation of HRBAs by offering a comprehensive review of rights-based programming implemented by Plan International, a …

The Role Of Assertive Outreach In Ending 'Rough Sleeping', Rhonda Phillips, Cameron Parsell

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

No abstract provided.

Ford Foundation, José Villalobos

Departmental Papers (PS)

No abstract provided.

Measuring Human Rights: A Review Essay, David L. Richards

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Measuring Human Rights. By Todd Landman & Edzia Carvalho. New York, NY: Routledge, 2010. 163pp.

Do Political Contributions Purchase Regulatory Discretion In Mining Inspections?, Neil K. Malani

CMC Senior Theses

A vast literature acknowledges the corruptibility of regulators; however, empirical tests on the matter have been limited to two-agent models examining the rulemaking process and price regulation of natural monopolies. It remains an open question whether political contributions, by driving legislative pressure, can entice laxity from regulators in their application of the rules. To remedy this issue, I observe the highly-regulated coal mining industry for which there exists several points for inspector discretion. By comparing the outcomes with Congressional coal mining contribution levels, I am able to ascertain capture across several dimensions. Specifically, I find that contributions are associated with …

Corporate Income Tax Credits: Examining The Relationship Between Tax Credits And Employment, Elena Yatskovskaya

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Tax incentives - in particular, corporate tax credits - have been a prominent topic of discussion among government administrators, public economists, and political scholars. This capstone project will contribute to the discussion by addressing the relationship between tax credits and employment, and provide an empirical analysis to aid in determining the effect that tax credits may have on employment.

The study uses aggregate data spanning ten years, from 1999 to 2008, and representing 18 industrial sectors with 180 observations. The data are analyzed with the help of the two panel data regression models: Fixed Effects and Between Effects. The …

Federal Tax Policy And Charitable Giving: Revisiting The 1985 Study By Charles T. Clotfelter, Mary Catherine Tinnon

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

This study was inspired and given its basic research design by a study conducted in 1985 by Charles T. Clotfelter, which sought to explain charitable giving by both individuals and corporations in relation to federal tax policy. Clotfelter determined that federal tax policy did influence charitable giving by corporations. The issue to be addressed here is, do the Clotfelter findings still hold true today?

The focus of this current study is on charitable giving by corporations only and the dataset was built from the same IRS Statistics of Income that Clotfelter used. Additional data were added from the Bureau of …

Nutrition Policy, Nonmarket Failure, And The Obesity Epidemic, James Woodward

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which are based on the Dietary Goals for the United States, represent the federal government’s first attempt to improve the nation’s health by recommending that Americans avoid certain foods. The Guidelines were based on what was perceived, by the government and nutritionists alike, to be solid scientific evidence that consumption of fat and saturated fat in particular, increase the risk of developing heart disease. They also emphasized, and continue to emphasize, the importance of exercise and calorie restriction as the primary means of maintaining a healthy weight. In short, the Guidelines sought to …

“It’S All Political, But Public Policy Is Irrational”, Jaquelyn King

Pepperdine Policy Review

No abstract provided.

A Reply To David Richards’ Review Of Measuring Human Rights, Todd Landman, Edzia Carvalho

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Professor Richards highlights, in his generous review of our book Measuring Human Rights that one of the aims of the book is to bring to the forefront the importance of conceptualization before operationalization – that conceptual clarity (or lack of it) is at the heart of the problems concerning the measurement of human rights. He draws out three key issues from the book as the springboard for further discussion on measurement of the concept – a) the “Respect, Protect and Fulfill” (RPF) framework, b) the lack of reliable data sources, and c) the conceptual links between human rights, human development, …

The Eu Polity And Foreign Policy Coherence, Clara Portela, Kolja Raube

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The present article examines the character of the European Union (EU) as a polity by looking at the mechanisms it employs to ensure the coherence of its foreign policies. It first contrasts three ideal polity types. The methods chosen to ensure coherence in foreign policy actions differ according to each of the three polity types. The article then explores how the EU ensures coherence through institutional reform, and subsequently looks in detail at two illustrative policy fields: aid sanctions and civilian crisis-management. The investigation concludes that the organisation of EU foreign policies combines elements from different polity types.