Public Members on Medical Licensing Boards and the Choice of Entry Barriers

This paper investigates the impact of medical and consumerinterests on the choice of physician licensing requirements inthe United States. Using data on licensing requirements in thefifty states between 1986 and 1993, we find that, in general,public members on licensing boards are associated withlicensing requirements that have educational justification. Incontrast, medical interests, measured in terms of licensingboard independence and campaign contributions by medicalassociations, are associated with licensing requirements thatare more difficult to justify with educational criteria.     

Monitoring of Levamisole Concentration in Serum of Traffic Participants after Cocaine Consumption

This study highlights the problem of levamisole‐adulterated cocaine in context of active traffic participation. For the purposes of levamisole concentration monitoring in human serum, an analytical method based on LC‐MS/MS and solid‐phase extraction was applied. A Luna 5 μm C18 (2) 100 A, 150 mm × 2 mm column and a mobile phase consisting of A (H₂O/methanol = 95/5, v/v) and B (H₂O/methanol = 3/97, v/v), both with 10 mM ammonium acetate and with 0.1% acetic acid (pH = 3.2), were used. The validation experiments demonstrated that the method applied was appropriate for levamisole quantification in human serum. For 23% of levamisole‐positive samples, the concentrations exceeded 20 ng/mL. Therefore, the interaction of this drug with cocaine has to be considered as important for active traffic participation. As a consequence, monitoring of levamisole concentration in human serum is recommended, as long as it is used as cocaine adulterant.     

A scale for the measurement of attitudes toward handgun control

This paper presents a scale designed for the measurement of attitudes toward handgun control. A review of the literature was undertaken in order to identify salient questions used in previous surveys measuring attitudes toward gun control in general and, more specifically, toward handgun control. Subsequently, thirteen items were developed and included in a statewide survey of 1,442 Texas residents. The thirteen items were then examined using the Guttman scaling evaluation procedure, and nine items were retained on the final scale. The coefficient of scalability for the nine-item scale was .698, and the coefficient of reproducability was .915. This scale represents the first multi-item instrument available for the measurement of attitudes toward handgun control and, therefore, presents a means for more advanced statistical analysis of the factors influencing these attitudes.     

Rent-seeking in the deregulatory environment: State telecommunications

Proponents of rent-seeking theories argue that firms pressure and reward politicians and bureaucrats to pursue favorable policies so they can achieve higher than normal, market returns. In an era of deregulation, often with long transition periods toward unregulated competition, how do firms develop specific political strategies to achieve success in rent-seeking? Deregulation of telecommunications at the state level allows comparison of the strategies of the seven firms created in the AT&T divestiture in more than one political jurisdiction. One firm, U S West, has pursued the most aggresive political strategy. This paper argues that U S West executives correctly perceived that the political environment in which they operated differed greatly from that in the rest of the country and that a different deregulatory strategy was appropriate. The firm exploited institutional differences by bypassing state regulators and going directly to state legislators to get favorable policies.     

“The Information Gap?”

While the “achievement gap” generally and appropriately focuses upon gaps in test scores and other outcome measures, there may also be an “information gap” between higher and lower income parents that creates a disadvantage for lower income families in choosing good schools. In this article, we examine the extent to which there is such a gap, with a focus on data from a new survey of low‐ and moderate‐income parents who have made school choices. We find that, at least in relatively mature school choice environments like Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Washington, DC, most low‐ and moderate‐income parents report being quite well informed and they engage in a variety of different activities to become informed. Thus, the information gap between lower and higher income parents may not be as large as scholars and policymakers had assumed. We do find that parents at the very lowest end of the income spectrum, especially those earning less than $10,000 per year, do feel less well‐informed and gather less information, but even here the differences are not enormous, relative to higher income parents.     

Fiscal Management Implications of the TABOR Bind

Following a wave of state-adopted tax and expenditure limitations (TELs), in 1992 the state of Colorado amended its constitution with the strictest TEL to date. Called the Taxpayer Bill of Rights and known as TABOR, the amendment has limited the size and scope of Colorado governments. Praised as a restraint on unbridled government growth in good economic times, TABOR reared its highly restrictive head as the state economy turned downward. The central issue explored is how binding tax and expenditure limitations affect the state's ability to weather economic recessions and employ sound fiscal management practices. As in most institutional arrangements, the devil is in the details. The analysis presented here reveals that binding limitations create perverse incentives for budgetary actors to earmark, privatize, and shift responsibilities to other jurisdictions, which ultimately combine to reduce the state government's ability to perform and to maintain sound fiscal management practices.     

A scale for the measurement of fear of crime

This paper presents research findings from a victimization survey of 1442 Texas residents. Specific attention is given to the fear of crime indicators in the survey with comparisons made to other findings on this subject.     

Comparison of the criminal statistics of the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany

A systematic procedure for comparing the criminal statistics of the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany is presented. The procedure was developed after (1) reviewing and translating applicable paragraphs of the Federal Republic of Germany's Penal Code and (2) reviewing both the formal and informal processes used in both countries for recording crime statistics. Subsequently, a detailed comparison of criminal statistics was made using this comparative procedure.