The economic effects of direct democracy—a first global assessment

This is the first study that assesses the economic effects of direct democratic institutions on a cross-country basis. We find that total spending as well as spending on welfare is lower in countries with mandatory referendums, consistent with the previous literature. But we also find that countries with national initiatives appear to spend more and be more corrupt. Finally, budget deficits, government effectiveness, productivity and “happiness” appear unrelated to direct democracy. Institutional detail thus matters a great deal. In general, the effects of direct-democratic institutions become stronger if the frequency of their actual use is taken into account. Effects are usually stronger in countries with weak democracies.     

The economic effects of federalism and?decentralization—a cross-country assessment

This paper explores the idea that institutional details matter and that attempts to estimate the economic effects of federalism by employing a simple dummy variable neglect potentially important institutional details. Based on a principal component analysis, seven aspects of both federalism and decentralization are used as variables for explaining differences in (1) fiscal policy, (2) government effectiveness, (3) economic productivity, and (4) happiness. The results show that institutional details do, indeed, matter. Different aspects of federalism impact on the outcome variables to different degrees. This study adds to our knowledge on the transmission mechanisms of federalism and decentralization.     

Israel — a Jewish polity with a multi‐ethnic population

A new book by a British author provides a remarkable record of ‘Hitler's mistakes’.     

Cyberbabble: The grammatology of on‐line communications

This paper considers the discursive conditions within on‐line communication spaces. The increasing use of electronic mail and internet relay chat as a form of communication, and the growing facination with multi‐user domains as a powerful dialogic space, has contributed to an emergent culture of virtual communities, in which participants engaged in dialogue no longer need to be present to ‘talk’ to one another. Indeed, the concept of telepresence is predicated on the idea that remote speakers can engage in a shared experience that is every bit as compelling as actually being in the same location. In order for this virtual communication space to be vivid, and to create the illusion o; f procimity, it has to efface itself as a signifying system. In other words, it has to behave according to the logic of oral rather than written communication. One assumption considered in the paper is that on‐line discursive practice is usually conducted as if it were a mode of speech, rather than writing.     

Private market provision of low‐income housing: Historical perspective and future prospects

Abstract

The unaided private market provision of new low‐income housing is substantially a fantasy. There is little on the horizon to alter this situation in the next decade. The income/cost gap is so substantial as to overcome the decline in household formation and positive changes in job patterns that have been advanced as bridge mechanisms.

To set the debate in context, an overview of the demographic and economic future of the United States is provided and mainstream forecasts of economic and demographic trends affecting housing supply and demand are reviewed. Particular attention is given to demographic maturation and shrinkage, household diversification and segmentation, and income and poverty dynamics.     

The Effects of détente on the two German states

In non-presidential systems the head of state is either a monarch or a president elected directly by the voters or by an assembly. The political powers of heads of state in non-presidential systems vary from being powerful to being just a symbolic figure of representation and integration. In response to the disastrous experience of the Weimar Republic, in the Federal Republic the choice fell on the latter with the result that the political powers of the President were significantly reduced. Hence, his role is usually described as largely ceremonial and representative and he is expected to be a figure of integration rather than divisiveness. However, the role of the President of the Federal Republic of Germany seems to have changed significantly under the Presidency of Horst Köhler who appears to have made considerable use of his powers and decisively exercised his role as one of the veto players of the German political system. This article examines to what extent the German Presidency has indeed undergone an increased politicisation under Horst Köhler since 2004.     

From Epic to Novel——A Stylistic Study on the History of Tom Jones a Foundling

This article takes Henry Fielding's novel Tom Jones as its object to make a textnal analysis.It can be easily seen that novel as a literature type just derived from the process of breaking the narrative and aesthetic distance of traditional epic.     

Racial/ethnic differences in housing outcomes for first‐time,low‐income home buyers: Findings from a National homeownership education program

Abstract

Federal housing policies aimed at making homeownership more accessible through education and affordable lending have been successful in raising the homeownership rate among minorities. By marketing homeownership to underserved populations and helping them overcome financial and informational obstacles, such programs might be expected to promote equality in housing outcomes, including housing quality, neighborhood composition, and neighborhood conditions, for minority homeowners.

This article examines the experience of participants in a national home‐ownership education program. While the transition to homeownership has been associated with modest progress, it does not overcome persistent disparities in housing quality. Homeownership appears to lead to poorer neighborhood conditions for all lower‐income buyers—not just minorities—and may be exacerbating social and spatial isolation rather than helping to overcome it. Differences in neighborhood outcomes, however, may be due to locational preference rather than discrimination in housing and mortgage markets.     

Pension politics in France: Patterns of co‐operation and conflict in two recent reforms

This article looks at the political side of pension reform in France. Policy makers are caught between two contrasting pressures: increasing expenditure on the one hand, and strong public support for existing arrangements on the other. In the last few years, the government has attempted to deal with the issue on two occasions, with rather different results. First, in 1993 a pension reform was successfully adopted after negotiations with the unions. Later, in 1995 the government had to abandon plans for a second reform as a result of a massive union‐led protest movement. The article argues that the different fortunes of the two reforms are related to changes in the configuration of power between the two events. It also claims that the popularity of current pension arrangements constitutes a strong pressure on the government to adopt a negotiated solution to the pension problem.     

Regionalism in the Asia‐Pacific — a response to Kanishka Jayasuriya

This paper is a response to the debate generated in the special issue of The Pacific Review on ‘Ideas, policy networks and international policy coordination in the Asia‐Pacific’. It suggests that an understanding of the discourses and practices of regionalism in the Asia‐Pacific has to be based on a broader account of societal discourses and a sharper delineation of the policy process specific to the region.     

Channelling attention and choice? Examining effects of consideration sets on electoral decision-making

This article sheds light on the utility of consideration set modeling in analyzing electoral decision-making in multi-party systems against the background of the German federal election in 2013. The results show that large portions of the German electorate choose a party comprised by their consideration set over the course of the campaign. The size of consideration sets does not precipitously decline as Election Day approaches, however. The analysis also suggests that the composition of voters' consideration sets slightly affects their exposure to campaign communication and their evaluation of campaign events and gaffes. Finally, the evidence demonstrates that consideration sets virtually did not condition the impact of campaign reception and evaluations of campaign events on voting behavior. The overall results suggest that consideration set modeling deserves further exploration in future research.     

The economic effects of constitutions: replicating—and extending—Persson and Tabellini

Persson and Tabellini (The Economic Effects of Constitutions, The MIT Press, Cambridge, 2003) show that presidential regimes and majoritarian election systems have important economic effects. Here, the number of countries is expanded and more recent data is used. In replicating and extending their analyses, we find that the effect of presidential regimes vanishes almost entirely. With regard to electoral systems, the original results are largely confirmed: majoritarian (as opposed to proportional) electoral systems lead to lower government expenditure, lower levels of rent seeking but also lower output per worker. The institutional details, such as the proportion of candidates that are not elected on party lists and district size, are particularly important.     

A banana republic? The effects of inconsistencies in the counting of votes on voting behavior

Public Choice - We examine whether local inconsistencies in the counting of votes influence voting behavior. We exploit the case of the second ballot of the 2016 presidential election in Austria....     

Property rights and competing for the affections of?Demos: the impact of the 1867 Reform Act on stock prices

The 1867 Reform Act in Britain extended the electoral franchise to the skilled but propertyless urban working classes. Using stock market data and exploiting the fact that foreign and domestic equities traded simultaneously on the London market, this paper finds that investors in British firms reacted negatively to the passage of this Act. We suggest that this finding is consistent with investors foreseeing future alterations of property rights arising from the pressure that the large newly enfranchised group would bring to bear on government policy. We also suggest that our findings appear to be more consistent with the Tory political competition explanation for the Act rather than the Whig threat-of-revolution explanation.