COMPARABLE WORTH IN STATE GOVERNMENT; TRENDS AND ISSUES

Comparable worth continues to be a controversial issue both in the private and public sector, but particularly in state government. Between 1981 and 1985, a t least 38 states entertained the comparable worth issue at some level. Based on three surveys conducted in 1984 and 1985, this study found that the extent o f states' comparable worth activities, when measured by the introduction of comparable worth bills, tends to vary depending upon the states' geographical location, party line-ups in the legislatures, unionization of state employees, and the states' votes on the Equal Rights Amendment. The study also identifies a few issues in implementing comparable worth in state government–such as job evaluation, and costs of comparable worth.     

Redistributive policies in decentralised systems: The effect of decentralisation on subnational social spending

This article uses cross‐national data to examine the effects of fiscal and political decentralisation on subnational governments’ social expenditures. It revisits the benefit competition hypothesis put forward by fiscal federalism research, which posits that subnational governments in decentralised countries match welfare benefit reductions by their peers to keep taxes low and avoid an in‐migration of welfare dependents. As a consequence, subnational social expenditures are assumed to plateau at similar and low levels. Using a new cross‐national dataset on social expenditures in 334 subnational units across 14 countries and 21 years, the author explores whether benefit competition causes subnational governments to converge on similar levels of social spending. The analysis reveals that as countries decentralise, subnational social spending levels begin to diverge rather than converge, with some subnational governments reducing their social expenditures and others increasing them. Furthermore, decentralisation is not likely to be associated with lowest common denominator social policies, but with more variability in social expenditure. The article also examines the effects of other macro‐level institutions and demonstrates that policy coordination influences the relationship between decentralisation and subnational social spending levels.     

INITIATING A COMPARABLE WORTH WAGE POLICY IN MINNESOTA: NOTES FROM THE FIELD

As of January 1986, Minnesota has progressed farther than any other state in implementing acomparable worth (pay equity) wage policy, with two laws requiring pay equity, one covering state employees and a second covering employees of all types of jurisdictions. This article presents a discussion of Minnesota's importance as a case study, a definition of comparable worth, the history and politics o f pay equity policy in Minnesota, and an analysis of Minnesota's role in a national campaign to change wage policy. The article shows that implementation has been more straight-forward in state government than for the 1,583 local jurisdictions, many of which had less-developed personnel systems than did the state. The passage of the local pay equity law ushered in a new stage in this policy, where the issue Is no longer controlled by a small number of legislators, bureaucrats, and lobbyists.     

THE ROLE OF STATE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS IN NATIONAL INDUSTRY POLICY

A decade of economic stagnation has produced a plethora of calls for government action to stimulate economic growth in employment. Arguing that activists federal industry policy is likely not to emerge in the United States, Rasmussen and Ledebur examine the potential role of states in a "federalist industry policy." States presently administer effective programs of financial assistance to business enterprises. These efforts are "rationally parochial" in that their purpose is served equally well by cresting a new job or pirating from other jurisdictions. This paper considers how state programs can be reoriented to serve national growth and development objectives as well as those of specific jurisdictions. It concludes that a subnational industry policy offers a unique opportunity to reallocate existing state resources to achieve a much higher social return.     

Observations on the State of Comparative Administration Research in Europe — Rather Comparable than Comparative

This article tries to review public administration research undertaken in Europe since about 1980. As there is little comparative research, an attempt is made to systematize comparable research along three dimensions: organization structures (macro and micro), meta-policymaking as it refers to budgeting and planning procedures, and research about personnel and personnel policy. It is observed that neo-conservative reform policies in the Anglo-American countries have had a noticeable impact on the orientation of academic research. Subsequently, these policies not only affected macro-structures by privatization and decentralization measures, but also gave meta-policymaking a characteristic turn, quite as it tried to induce a more managerialist role understanding in the civil service. It is argued in favor of more basic research and the institutionalization of administrative monitoring on the national level as well as stronger cooperation on the international level to advance comparative research beyond secondary analysis of the incidentally comparable.     

States on Steroids: The Intergovernmental Odyssey of American Climate Policy

Climate change has conventionally been framed as an issue that would be addressed by an international regime established through negotiation among nation‐states. The experience of policy development in the decade following the signing of the Kyoto Protocol indicates that climate change also needs to be examined as a challenge of multilevel governance. The increasingly central role of state governments in American climate policy formation squares with recent experience in other Western democracies that share authority across governmental levels. This paper examines the American experience, considering factors that have contributed to a state‐centric policy process and using that body of experience to assess competing strategic choices faced by individual states based on their mix of emission trends and policy adoption rates. In turn, the collective state experience allows for consideration of the varied political feasibility of competing climate policy tools that remain under active review in subnational, national, and international contexts. The paper concludes with a set of scenarios that explore different ways in which a state‐centric system may be integrated with expanding involvement at the national level.     

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF COMPARABLE WORTH IN IOWA

This research describes and analyzes the implementation of comparable worth legislation in Iowa and focuses on two aspects of the issue: implementatlon of the job evaluation study mandated by the law, and implementation of the classification and compensation systems which resulted from the study. The paper argues that the General Assembly involved itself too directly and too long in the implementation process which led to confrontation with the executive branch and numerous problems in the implementation of comparable worth legislation.     

公共行政道德化的双重向度

公共行政道德化问题是当代公共行政研究中的一个极其重要的问题,也是行政改革和构建新型公共行政模式的一个重要突破口.公共行政的道德化包括两个向度:其一是公共行政的制度和体制的道德化,即在制度安排中有着道德化的合理规范,包含着道德实现的保障机制,同时,已经确立的制度又是有利于道德因素的生成和成长,能够对行政人员的道德修养的提高有着鼓励的作用;其二是行政人员的道德化,要求行政人员以道德主体的面目出现,在他的行政行为中从道德的原则出发,贯穿着道德精神,时时处处坚持道德的价值取向,公正地处理行政人员与政府的关系、与同事的关系和与公众之间的关系.没有制度的道德化,行政人员个体的道德是不稳定的;但是,如果没有行政人员的道德化,那么制度的道德就会成为空洞的教条.     

Territorial Representation and the Opinion–Policy Linkage: Evidence from the European Union

A key feature of federal systems is the representation of subnational units by “territorial representatives” in policymaking at the federal level. How do such arrangements influence the linkage between public opinion and policy outputs? I argue that policymaking under territorial representation should be systematically skewed toward opinion in those states where citizens care about a policy issue and have a uniform view on it. This claim is tested using a novel data set of policy change in the European Union (EU), covering 211 policy issues and 6,506 observations of opinion–policy dyads. Results show that measures weighting opinion across member states by how much national citizens care about an issue are better predictors of policy change than EU‐wide mean opinion. Moreover, congruence between state‐level opinion and EU‐level policy becomes more likely, the more salient and clear‐cut opinion in a member state is. These findings refine our understanding of the opinion–policy linkage under territorial representation.     

The Chinese Paradox of High Growth and Low Quality of Government: The Cadre Organization Meets Max Weber

Much research has argued for the importance of state's administrative capacity for development. Disregard for the rule of law and failure to get corruption under control are seen as detrimental to economic and social development. The China paradox refers to the fact that in all commonly used measures of levels of corruption and the quality of government, China is a country that scores quite low. China also lacks the Weberian model of bureaucracy that is seen as central for development. It is argued that this paradox is the result of disregarding the existence of a different public administration model in China—the cadre organization. Instead of rule following, this organization is marked by high commitment to a specific policy doctrine. The argument is that while very different from Weberian bureaucracy, this organization is well suited for effectively implementing policies for economic and social development.     

Austerity versus Stimulus? Understanding Fiscal Policy Change at the International Monetary Fund Since the Great Recession

Since 2008, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has become more open to the use of discretionary fiscal stimulus packages to deal with recessions, while changing its doctrine on the timing and content of fiscal consolidation. The article traces this evolution of the Fund's doctrine to staff politics, more diverse thinking in mainstream economics, and a careful framing of the message through the use of mainstream macroeconomic models. To map the changing contours of institutional views on fiscal policy through 2008–2013, the article undertakes a detailed content analysis of official publications from the Fiscal Affairs Department and the Research Department. The connection between these shifts and significant personnel shake‐ups is demonstrated through an extensive biographical analysis of the authors of all IMF studies cited in the official reports of the two departments. The findings contribute to the emerging debate on the sources of intellectual and policy change in international economic organizations.     

Neutrality and advocacy in policy research

The naive scientism which has dominated federal policy research and most policy research institutes has become a self-blinding dogma, an armchair philosophy which fabricates and distorts reality and has failed at its task of understanding our social and economic problems. Broader approaches are needed which do not artificially isolate and arbitrarily quantify selected factors but examine them in their social and historical context. The vain search for “objectivity” should be replaced by an honest avowal of the interests being served. The sanctimonious assertion of an undefinable “public interest” should be replaced by a definable fairness doctrine setting forth the status of the draft and final reports, project finances, and institute and sponsor controls. Such a doctrine could provide the basis for a new professional consensus and self-regulation in the policy research community, and for new IRS tax regulations governing nonprofit research institutions.     

Developing Options for the Administration of Local Taxes: An International Review*

Do decentralization arguments extend to administration of subnational taxes? While centralized administration promises quality service at reasonable cost, it may dull accountability and slow the revenue flow. Also, central administration may devote less attention to collecting these taxes than for its own. Self‐administration brings administration closer to taxpayers and assures representation of jurisdictional interests in revenue apportionment disputes. However, subnational governments may lack technical capacity. That is the dilemma: while the central administration may be indifferent to rigorous collection of subnational taxes, subnational governments may lack capacity for self‐administration. In practice, nations use many different alternatives for administering subnational taxes.     

Private authority and public policy interactions in global context: Governance spheres for problem solving

Private organizations play a growing role in governing global issues alongside traditional public actors such as states, international organizations, and subnational governments. What do we know about how private authority and public policy interact? What are the implications of answering this question for understanding support for, and effects of, policy development generally? The purpose of this article is to reflect on these questions by introducing, and reviewing, a special issue that challenges explicit claims, and implicit methodologies, that treat private and public governance realms as distinct and/or static. We do so by advancing a theoretical and conceptual framework with which to explore how the contributions to this special issue enhance an understanding about governance interactions across a range of empirical, sectoral, and regional domains. We specifically introduce the concept of governance spheres to capture the proliferation of issue domains denoted by highly fluid interactions across public and private governance boundaries.     

Governing sustainable palm oil supply: Disconnects,complementarities, and antagonisms between state regulations and private standards

The global palm oil value chain has grown in complexity; stakeholder relationships and linkages are increasingly shaped by new public and private standards that aim to ameliorate social and environmental costs while harnessing economic gains. Regulatory initiatives in the emerging policy regime complex struggle to resolve sector‐wide structural performance issues: pervasive land conflicts, yield differences between companies and smallholders, and carbon emissions arising from deforestation and peatland conversion. Identifying opportunities for more effective governance of the palm oil value chain and supply landscapes, this paper explores disconnects, complementarities, and antagonisms between public regulations and private standards, looking at the global, national, and subnational policy domains shaping chain actors’ conduct. Greater complementarities have emerged among transnational instruments, but state regulation disconnects persist and antagonisms prevail between national state regulations and transnational private standards. Emerging experimental approaches, particularly at subnational level, aim to improve coordination to both enhance complementarities and resolve disconnects.     

Environmental equity and public participation

The principles and practice of public participation can serve to promote environmental equity for disadvantaged social groups. The effectiveness of such practice in preventing or reducing environmental inequity depends upon the use of participation methodology which caters to the cultural and social needs of such groups. These methods need to provide appropriate forms of information, suitable venues for participation, and access to expertise and education which enable the public to understand policy issues and formulate preferences. The extent to which public preferences are incorporated in policy decisions determines the worth of public participation programs in promoting environmental equity.     

Multi-level muddling: Candidate strategies to “nationalize” local elections

Comparative literature has identified how political parties at subnational levels strategically refer to the performance of parties or policy issues at national level to varying degrees. Building upon these studies on multi-level electoral dynamics, the article demonstrates how individual legislative candidates, and not just parties, selectively adopt what we call “cross-level electoral appeals”(CLEAs): campaign messages which emphasize issues, performances, and actors in levels of government other than that which the candidate or party is seeking office. Advancing existing conceptualizations of nationalization, we posit that there are mainly three types of such CLEAs, those in which local candidates: 1) praise or criticize a specific national policy or 2) performance of the national government; or 3) emphasize personal linkages to national-level parties or politicians. The article investigates the potential factors which lead to more frequent CLEAs by observing candidate manifestos for local legislative elections in Japan. We use an original dataset from a sample of prefectures differently affected by specific national policies, candidates affiliated to parties differing in organizational centralization and from districts varying in seat magnitude as well as incumbent party popularity. To test hypotheses about national and local level party popularity as well as district-level variables on the frequency of such appeals, the article analyzed the data set using the novel methodology of not just counting, but also measuring the surface area of specific appeals in candidate manifestos. Through regression analysis, we find evidence of national government party popularity leading to more frequency of local candidate CLEAs. We also find that local candidates who are more dependent on the party vote (i.e. those in smaller district magnitudes and in centralized party organizations) are more prone to certain types of CLEAs.     

Analyzing Global Governance Failure: A Philosophical Framework

This article seeks to make a contribution to theory development by explicating the competing approaches (explanatory frameworks and research methods) that can be used in the analysis of episodes of global governance failures—undesirable events (such as war, or incidents of international terrorism) and behaviors (such as rogue political leaders accumulating weapons of mass destruction or supporting international terrorist groups) that are a consequence of the ineffectiveness of a global governance process. It does so by constructing a methodological taxonomy, which enables the identification of the competing philosophical methodologies that underpin contending perspectives on the causation of, and solutions to, episodes of global governance failures, by reference to contesting understandings of what knowledge is (an epistemological issue) and what exists that is capable of giving rise to consequences (an ontological issue). It then identifies the epistemological and ontological challenges facing policy analysts seeking to analyze and address global governance failure. Meeting these challenges requires the adoption of a methodology that draws insights from the epistemological and ontological syntheses that have emerged within contemporary social theory.     

论民生保障与政府公共性的重塑

民生问题凸现在一定程度上是政府“公共性”缺失在民生领域的反映。改善民生状况，是中国社会目前十分迫切的问题。民生问题之解决与政府行为密切相关，解决民生问题，提高政府民生保障水平，必须重构政府公共性。重构政府公共性的途径，一是加强行政伦理建设，确立和弘扬公共精神；二是不断推进民主政治建设，大力加强法治政府建设；三是不断健全完善社会政策，加快发展社会事业；四是加快政府职能转变和服务型政府建设；五是不断提高公共政策的公共性。