Book Reviews

Books reviewed: Richard Fenno, The Emergence of a Senate Leader: Pete Domenici and the Reagan Budget Girard Miller, Investing Public Funds Marcia Stigum, The Money Market Saul D. Hofman and Laurence S. Seidman, The Earned Income Tax Credit: Antipoverty Effectiveness and Labour Market Effects     

Reviews

Books Reviewed: Betts, Katherine, The Great Divide: Immigration Politics in Australia Bennett, Tony, Emmison, Michael and Frow, John, Accounting for Tastes: Australian Everyday Cultures Elliot, Lorraine, The Global Politics of the Environment Gabbitas, O. and Eldridge, D., Directions for State Tax Reform     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed: A National Bureau of Economic Research Project Report, Harvey S. Rosen, (ed.) Studies in State and Local Public Finance Steven D. Gold, (ed.) Reforming State Tax Systems Daniel Bell and Lester Thurow, The Deficits: How Big? How Long? How Dangerous?     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed: Steven D. Gold, (ed.) The Unfinished Agenda for State Tax Reform Andrew Dunsire and Christopher Hood, Cutback Management in Public Bureaucracies: Popular Theories and Observed Out-comes in Whitehall The Auditor General's Report to the Legislative Assembly, Province of British Columbia, Canada, April 10, 1989 Charles K. Coe, (ed.) Public Financial Management for Public Budgeting & Finance     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed: Edward J. Clyncu and Thomas P. Lauth, (eds.) Governors, Legislatures, and Budget Across the American States C. William Garner, Accounting and Budgeting in Public and Nonprofit Organizations: A Manager's Guide Herman B. Leonard, Checks Unbalanced: The Quiet Side of Public Spending David M. Lawrence, Local Government Finance in North Carolina Timpthy J. Conlan, Margaret T. Wrightson, and David R. Beam, Taxing Choices: The Politics of Tax Reform     

Book Reviews

Books review: Daniel Cohen, The Wealth of the World and the Poverty of Nations Peter J. Taylor, The Way the Modern World Works: World Hegemony to World Impasse Anton Zijderveld, The Waning of the Welfare State: The End of Comprehensive State Succor Bill Jordan, The New Politics of Welfare: Social Justice in a Global Context Leonard E. Burman, The Labyrinth of Capital Gains Tax Policy TheConstitution of Iran, Asghar Schirazi. James C. Scott, Seeing Like a State Wolfgang Reinicke, Global Public Policy: Governing without Government? Peter Trubowitz, Emily O. Goldman, and Edward Rhodes, eds. The Politics of Strategic Adjustment: Ideas, Institutions, and Interests Frederick W. Mayer, Interpreting NAFTA: The Science and Art of Political Analysis J. Nicholas Ziegler, Governing Ideas: Strategies for Innovation in France and Germany Pietro S. Nivola, Laws of the Landscape: How Policies Shape Cities in Europe and America     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article: Far Right ELISABETH CARTER Extreme Right Parties in Western Europe, by Piero Ignazi. Right‐wing Extremism in the Twenty‐first Century, edited by Peter H. Merkl and Leonard Weinberg. From Tax Populism to Ethnic Nationalism: Radical Right‐wing Populism in Sweden, by Jens Rydgren. Modernity and Secession: The Social Sciences and the Political Discourse of the Lega Nord in Italy, by Michel Huysseune. New Labour new NHS? , Jennifer Dixon New Labour's State of Health. Political Economy, Public Policy and the NHS, by Calum Paton. Bad aid , Norman Flynn The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done so Much III and so Little Good, by William Easterly. Plato Lives! , Richard Mullender Plato's Republic: A Biography, by Simon Blackburn. Plato's Children: The State We Are In, By Anthony O'Hear. plato and the Virtue of Courage, by Linda R. Rabieh. Exporting Burke , Richard Bourke Foreign Affections: Essays on Edmund Burke, by Seamus Deane.     

The Low‐Income Housing Tax Credit An Analysis of the First Ten Years

Abstract

The Low‐Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) has been the de facto federal rental housing production program since its creation in the Tax Reform Act of 1986. In this article, using a detailed database on 2,554 LIHTC projects, we analyze the costs of building these projects, where they are built, their financial viability, whom they serve, who finances them, and the size of the subsidies provided to them.

The LIHTC is a flexible program that has built different types of housing in various markets. While LIHTC projects serve low‐ and moderate‐income households, their rents are beyond the reach of many poor households without additional subsidy. Revenues just cover costs for many LIHTC projects. Over time, considerably more of each tax‐credit dollar has ended up in the projects, and returns to equity investors have dropped significantly, perhaps reflecting an increased understanding of project risks. We estimate that LIHTC projects developed by nonprofits are 20.3 percent more expensive than those developed by for‐profits.     

Gateway to Opportunity? Disparities in Neighborhood Conditions Among Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Residents

A key goal of housing assistance programs is to help lower income households reach neighborhoods of opportunity. Studies have described the degree to which Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) developments are located in high-opportunity neighborhoods, but our focus is on how neighborhood outcomes vary across different subsets of LIHTC residents. We also examine whether LIHTC households are better able to reach certain types of neighborhood opportunities. Specifically, we use new data on LIHTC tenants in 12 states along with eight measures of neighborhood opportunity. We find that compared with other rental units, LIHTC units are located in neighborhoods with higher poverty rates, weaker labor markets, more polluted environments, and lower performing schools, but better transit access. We also find that compared with other LIHTC tenants, poor and minority tenants live in neighborhoods that are significantly more disadvantaged.     

Sales and Use Tax Simplification and Voluntary Compliance

Because of difficulties collecting sales taxes on Internet sales, several states have engaged in an effort (the Streamlined Sales Tax Project, SSTP) to simplify their sales tax systems. One hope among SSTP proponents is that a simplified system will result in Internet vendors voluntarily collecting the sales tax. We address two issues:

• ? Will states adopt the extensive reforms proposed by the SSTP?
• ? Will vendors voluntarily collect the sales tax?

We argue that states are unlikely to adopt extensive reforms, but if they did, many vendors would voluntarily collect sales taxes.     

Book Reviews

Books reviwed:
Irene S. Rubin, Class, Tax & Power
Helen F. Ladd, Local Government Tax and Land Use Policies in the United Sates, Understanding the Links     

Book Reviews

Books Reviewed:
Alvin Rabushka and Pauline Ryan, The Tax Revolt
John J. Kirlin, The Political Economy of Fiscal Limits
David O. Sears, Tax Revolt: Something for Nothing in California     

Administrative Growth and Grant Payouts in Nonprofit Foundations: Fulfilling the Public Good amid Professionalization?

The Tax Reform Act of 1969 remains the core governing policy for the U.S. foundation sector, primarily for its qualifying distributions mandate, which ensures a baseline spending of foundation assets toward charitable purposes. However, implementation of this policy required additional foundation administrative resources and contributed to significant professionalization of the foundation sector. This article focuses on the payout requirement's potential paradox of accountability, as administrative expenses can be counted toward fulfilling foundations’ qualifying distributions. Using a 14‐year panel of grantmaking foundations, the analysis seeks to understand whether professionalization, measured by operating and administrative expenses, contributes to or crowds out grantmaking. Findings indicate that professionalization of the foundation sector has a small yet practically and statistically significant positive association with foundation grantmaking. From a policy perspective, the current structure of the qualifying distributions mandate does not appear to lead to a crowding out of grant allocations as administrative expenses grow.     

The Evolution of Low‐Income Housing Policy, 1949 to 1999

Abstract

The evolution of low‐income housing policy during the past 50 years can be divided roughly into two segments: the first running from 1949 to the 1973 Nixon moratorium on subsidized production programs and the second from 1973 to the present, marked by a diminished federal leadership role and an increased state and local role. After tracing the rise of the federal leadership role represented in the Housing Acts of 1949 and 1968, this article focuses on the development of three important policy instruments that mark the devolution of housing policy: housing vouchers, housing block grants, and the Low‐Income Housing Tax Credit.

The three‐pronged strategy of vouchers, block grants, and tax credits has achieved reasonably good results and attracted an unusual degree of political consensus. A steady expansion of all three offers the most promising path to the “realization as soon as feasible” of the national housing goal.     

Squaring Circles? Funding the Provision of Public Services

Reports reviewed in this article:
Institute for Public Policy Research, Building Better Partnerships: Final Report of the Commission on Public—Private Partnerships
Fabian Society, Paying for Progress: A New Politic of Tax for Public Spending     

Noam Chomsky's politics

Karen J. Warren: Ecological Feminist Philosophies . Bloomington, Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1996.

Nicholas Low and Brendan Gleeson: Justice, Society and Nature: An Exploration of Political Ecology. London and New York: Routledge, 1998.

Robert Elliot: Faking Nature: The Ethics of Environmental Restoration. London: Routledge, 1997.

Barbara Noske: Beyond Boundaries: Humans and Animals. Montreal: Black Rose Books, 1997.

Herman E. Daly and Kenneth N. Townsend, eds.: Valuing the Earth: Economics, Ecology, Ethics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1993

Steven Mark Cohn: Too Cheap to Meter: An Economic and Philosophical Analysis. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1997.

Jesse Vorst, Ross Dobson, and Ron Fletcher, eds: Green on Red: Evolving Ecological Socialism. Winnipeg/Halifax: Society for Socialist Studies/Fernwood Publishing, 1993.     

On Sugar,Capitalism, and Socialism

Elinor G. K. Melville: A Plague of Sheep: Environmental Consequences of the Conquest of Mexico . New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994

Douglas Murray: Cultivating Crisis: The Human Cost of Pesticides in Latin America ,Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994

Wes Jackson: Becoming Native to this Place . Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1994.

Jeremy Brecher and Tim Costello: Global Village or Global Pillage: Economic Reconstruction From Ground Up .Boston: South End Press, 1994.

Wolfgang Sachs, editor: Global Ecology: A New Arena of Political Conflict . London and New Jersey: Zed Books and Halifax, Nova Scotia: Fernwood Publishing, 1993.

John Walton: Western Times and Water Wars: State, Culture, and Rebellion in California . Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1992.

Brendan Prendiville: Environmental Politics in France . Boulder, Co.: Westview Press, 1994.     

Reviews

THE ROOTS OF U.S. POLICY TOWARD LA TIN AMERICA

G. Pope Atkins, Latin America in the International Political System, second edition. (Boulder: Westview Press, 1989. Pp. 421.)

Lars Schoultz: National Security and United States Policy toward Latin America. (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1987. Pp. 377.)

Kevin J. Middlebrook and Carlos Rico, eds.: The United States and Latin America in the 1980s (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1986. Pp. 648. Second printing 1988.)

GENEROSITY AND SELF‐INTEREST

Teresa Odendahl: Charity Begins at Home: Generosity and Self‐interest among the Philanthropic Elite. (New York: Basic Books, 1990. Pp. 298.)

HOBBES AMONG THE PATRIARCHS

Arnold A. Rogow: Thomas Hobbes: Radical in the Service of Reaction. (New York: W. W. Norton Company, 1986. Pp. 287.)

STRACHEY AND MACLEAN: BRITISH ALTERNA TIVES

Michael Newman: John Strachey. (Manchester: Manchester Press, 1989. Pp. 201.)

B. J. Ripley and J. McHugh: John Maclean. (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1989. Pp. 201.)     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed: Chris Rumford, European Cohesion: Contradictions in EU Integration Michael Burgess, Federalism and the European Union: The Building of Europe, 1950–2000 David McKay, Federalism and European Union: A Political Economy Perspective Dimitris N. Chryssochoou. I. B. Tauris, Democracy in the European Union Robert R. Geyer, Exploring European Social Policy Ben Rosamond, Theories of European Integration Colin Crouch, (ed.) After the Euro: Shaping Institutions for Governance in the Wake of European Monetary Union Richard Layard, The Case for the Euro Pat Thane, Old Age in English History: Past Experiences, Present Issues Stan Luger, Corporate Power, American Democracy, and the Automobile Industry Paulina Borsook, Cyberselfish: A Critical Romp through the Terribly Libertarian World of High‐Tech Charles Williams, Adenauer: The Father of the New Germany J. M. Ross, Forward to Basics—Back from the Brink: Can Humanity Rescue Itself? Larry Siedentop, Democracy in Europe Cécile Fabre, Social Rights under the Constitution: Government and the Decent Life Sebastian Reinfeldt, Nicht‐wir und Die‐da: Studien zum rechten Populismus Christa Zöchling, Haider: Licht und Schatten einer Karriere Klaus Larres with Elizabeth Meehan, Uneasy Allies: British–German Relations and European Integration since 1945     

Reply

Sandra Steingraber: Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment . New York: Addison Wesley, 1997.

Rodney Barker: And The Waters Turned to Blood . New York: Simon and Schuster, 1997.

Richard Grove: Ecology, Climate and Empire: Colonialism and Global Environmental History 1400–1940 . Cambridge: White Horse Press, 1997.

Richard Primack, David Bray, Hugo Galletti and Ismael Ponciano: Timber, Tourists and Temples: Conservation and Development in the Maya Forest of Belize, Guatemala and Mexico . Washington, DC: Island Press, 1998.

Alan Weisman: Gaviotas: A Village to Reinvent the World. Chelsea Green Publications, 1998.

Pierre McDonagh and Andrea Prothero, eds.: Green Management: A Reader . London: Dryden Press, Harcourt Brace, 1997.

Vandana Shiva: Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge . Boston: South End Press, 1997.