Rents, dissipation and lost treasures: Comment

In an interesting recent paper, Dari-Mattiacci and Parisi (2005) extended Tullock's (1980) rent-seeking game with an entry decision. The mixed strategies identified by Dari-Mattiacci and Parisi for the case of increasing returns in the contest success function (r2) do not constitute an equilibrium of the game they study. However, these strategies are an equilibrium if the strategy space of the game is restricted by a minimum expenditure requirement, and this minimum expenditure requirement is an element of a specific interval.     

A power measure analysis of Amendment 36 in Colorado

Colorado’s Amendment 36 proposed to switch Colorado’s representation in the Electoral College from winner-takes-all to proportionality. We evaluate unilateral and uniform switches to proportionality both from Colorado’s perspective and from an impartial perspective on the basis of a priori and a posteriori voting power measures. The present system is to be preferred to a unilateral switch from any perspective on any measure. A uniform switch is to be preferred to the present system from Colorado’s perspective on an a priori measure, and from an impartial perspective on an a posteriori measure. The present system is to be preferred to a uniform switch from Colorado’s perspective on an a posteriori measure (with some qualifications), and from an impartial perspective on an a priori measure. We conclude with a discussion of the appropriateness of these measures.     

Social Pot Pourri: Sharing Life with Others

Innovation is a major driving force in all earthly bio-entities, from the macro to the micro. That influence is transmitted by an immense variety of communicational modes, and may present an unlimited range of results. One expectable result is that the phenomenon conventionally indentified as SOCIETY must be redefined in recognition of its composition as an infinite assortment of networks involving an infinite range of participant entities.     

Integrating Rigor and Relevance in Public Administration Scholarship: The Contribution of Narrative Inquiry

A traditional view of scholarly quality defines rigor as the application of method and assumes an implicit connection with relevance. But as an applied field, public administration requires explicit attention to both rigor and relevance. Interpretive scholars' notions of rigor demand an explicit inclusion of relevance as an integral aspect of quality. As one form of interpretive research, narrative inquiry illuminates how this can be done. Appreciating this contribution requires a deeper knowledge of the logic of narrative inquiry, an acknowledgement of the diversity of narrative approaches, and attention to the implications for judging its quality. We use our story about community-based leadership research to develop and illustrate this argument.     

企业合作问题研究

面对严峻的市场环境,许多企业纷纷从对立型的市场竞争转向合作型竞争,合作已经成为企业竞争的有效手段.企业合作不同于普通的市场交易,也有别于企业内部的层级管理,是介于市场交易和一体化之间的组织形式.企业是以赢利为目的的经济实体,降低交易成本、实现专业化分工和规模经济是企业进行合作的主要动力.在合作形式上有企业战略联盟、企业集团和对口支援等不同形式.     

吉林省生态农村建设的思考

生态农村建设作为生态省建设的重要组成部分,对吉林省的持续发展有着重要的作用。从国务院以环函〔1999〕436号文批准吉林省为全国生态省建设试点至今已有十年时间,系统回顾生态农村建设情况对吉林省未来发展有着重要的现实意义。本文系统分析了吉林省生态农村建设的现状及存在的问题,提出了相应的对策。     

The election timing advantage: Empirical fact or fiction?

Do non-fixed election dates in Westminster parliamentary democracies create an unfair incumbent advantage? The consensus in the literature is that the incumbent party can gain an advantage at the ballot box by controlling election timing (Bakvis, 2001; Docherty, 2010; Smith, 2004; White, 2005; Wolinetz, 2005). Surprisingly, however, there is a lack of empirical evidence to support this claim. We address this lacuna by providing an empirical test of whether the election-timing power matters for incumbent vote support. We do so by employing an innovative web-based voting experiment. Our findings show that the government does gain an advantage by timing an election when it is to their advantage, but the context is limited to conditions where the election follows immediately after a heightened level of positive government coverage.     

Voice in the Classroom: How an Open Classroom Climate Fosters Political Engagement Among Adolescents

Does civics instruction have an impact on the political engagement of adolescents? If so, how? Analysis of data from CIVED, a major study of civic education conducted in 1999, finds that an open classroom climate has a positive impact on adolescents’ civic knowledge and appreciation of political conflict, even upon controlling for numerous individual, classroom, school, and district characteristics. Furthermore, an open classroom environment fosters young people’s intention to be an informed voter. Results further show that exposure to an open classroom climate at school can partially compensate for the disadvantages of young people with low socioeconomic status.     

Developing Multilateral Surveillance Tools in the EU

The development of the infrastructure of the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) is an unaddressed topic in scholarly debates. On the basis of secondary literature on the European Employment Strategy, it is hypothesised that a conflict between an incentive and reluctance to act on the EU level on the side of member states limits the choice for a policy instrument to the OMC, and is a driving force behind the development of its infrastructure. From empirical findings on the OMC e-Europe it shows that for the development of the infrastructure of an OMC on a policy field, a need for an instrument has to be present that can neutralise the conflict between an incentive and reluctance to act on the EU level.     

我国电子废弃物回收处理研究——基于生产者责任延伸制度

当前,我国电子废弃物回收处理存在一些问题,为此,应结合我国企业的发展实际,尽快建立和完善以生产者责任延伸制度为切入点的电子废弃物回收与处理体系,从根本上解决电子废弃物对环境的负面影响。     

能力建设及其在当代中国的实践

进行能力建设是人类历史发展的启示,是知识经济的兴起和市场经济建设的内在要求,是我国实现全面、协调和可持续发展的迫切需要,也是促进人的思维发展和人的全面发展的必由之路.能力建设,就是为了促进社会和人的全面发展而展开的开发人的潜能,增强人的能力和充分发挥人的能力的教育、培养、配置、使用、管理和激励的活动和过程.围绕培养和提高人的创造能力,充分调动广大人民群众的积极性,加强领导和管理,实现制度创新和体制创新,建立能力运行机制,塑造能力人,营造能力型组织和能力型社会,是当前我国进行能力建设的必然选择.     

Ernest S. Griffith: A Renaissance Man,a Pioneering Public Administrator

In the 1940s and 1950s, Ernest Stacey Griffith was well known on Capitol Hill and frequently featured in major newspaper and magazine articles about the work of Congress. He was also recognized as an influential scholar. Today, few members of Congress and only a handful of the thousands employed by the legislative branch have ever heard of him. Even at the Congressional Research Service—Congress's think tank—which he headed for 18 years, Griffith is mostly an unfamiliar name. During his century‐long life, this Rhodes Scholar left an indelible legacy in several arenas. Griffith was not only a pioneering advisor to the nation's legislators and an astute observer of American democracy, he also achieved acclaim as a public administrator, an innovative teacher and educator, an early supporter of the conservation movement, a prominent community and religious leader, and a record‐setting mountain climber.     

改革开放以来国内高薪养廉问题研究综述——基于CNKI的分析

作为反腐败的重要方法,高薪养廉在一些国家和地区成功地进行了实施,那么它能否引入国内,成为遏制和消除腐败的利器？国内学术界对此进行了广泛的研究。根据中国学术期刊网CNKI收录的文献资料,从论文发表年份、作者所属单位、所在地区、学术地位、年龄段以及作者观点等方面,就改革开放以来我国国内学术界对此问题的研究进行梳理和分析,可以发现：国内学术界对“高薪养廉”问题的研究呈现出一种持续上升的趋势,高校是研究的主要力量,研究人员的年龄呈倒U型,认为“高薪未必养廉”的观点占主体。但无论是支持“高薪能够养廉”还是坚持“高薪未必养廉”的研究者,都认为“高薪养廉”并非孤立的、一步到位的政策,需要与一系列的监督、制约、惩戒及教育制度配套实施才能达到其预期的效果。     

Rent-seeking in natural resource quota allocations

This paper examines the incentives for rent-seeking in the allocation of natural resource quotas to competing user groups by political bodies. The political body has discretion in making the allocation, and competing user groups rent-seek to influence the allocation. We investigate ways in which the governmental body can affect the behavior of the players by setting the ground rules for the competition. A political body can affect an allocatively (Pareto) efficient outcome by choosing an appropriate default (pre rent-seeking) policy. Surprisingly, an allocatively efficient default policy is unlikely to minimize social costs. However, winner-take-all default policies are likely to maximize, not minimize, rent-seeking. A competitive post-allocation market reduces rent-seeking, but is not, either itself or in combination with an efficient default policy, capable of minimizing social costs. However, forcing winners in political redistributions to fully compensate losers both lowers the rent-seeking levels relative to a potential compensation criterion and, when used together with an efficient default policy, is capable of obtaining the first-best solution of an allocatively efficient allocation with zero rent-seeking.     

Friendship and environmental politics in childhood

A variety of scholarship across disciplines suggests that an environmental ethic begins in childhood. However, few studies have been conducted with children to learn more about the factors that contribute to an environmental ethic. This paper aims to investigate children's pre-reflexive political engagements with their physical environment in an effort to learn more about the development of an environmental ethic. Through an ethnographic study with children aged 9–11 in rural New Zealand, analysis shows that children's relationship with their environment is substantially influenced by their social relationships with friends and family. Therefore, this paper argues that to reach a better understanding of the development of children's environmental politics, more research is needed to explore the politics of friendship.     

Building Social Capital in City Politics: Scope and Limitations at the Inter-organisational Level

This article explores the relations between voluntary organisations and the city administration in two British cities through an analysis of the impact of social capital. It provides a corrective to the dominant individual-level approach by offering an organisational-level analysis of social capital. The evidence suggests that inter-organisational social capital is not distributed equitably within cities. Voluntary organisations that regularly engage with a city administration can build networks of trust and information flows that outstrip those available to other voluntary organisations. Although it is easier to build social capital within a sector, such as the voluntary sector, building it in tight networks with voluntary organisations would appear to be an achievable goal for a city administration – but such networks do not guarantee an enhanced overall confidence in the local political system.     

AMNESTY FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS: THE AUSTRALIAN EXPERIENCE

This study indicates that the three amnesties granted by Australia did not remove the presence of illegal aliens nor end the movement of persons into Australia who would become illegal residents. Instead, amnesty encouraged the growth of an illegal alien population. Some persons who were unable to get an immigrant visa decided to come to Australia and remain as an illegal alien living anonymously within an ethnic community. Illegal aliens expected that pressures from the ir ethnic communities would compel the government to grant another amnesty. Amnesty appears only to be a temporary expedient used by the government to appear humane and to relieve pressures from nonethnic Australians who want to end the presence of illegals and from ethnic communities who want their coethnics legalized. Amnesty turns out not to be a long-term solution to the existence of an illegal alien problem.     

A Danish Party Cohesion Cycle

The aim is to analyze short-term fluctuations in Danish parliamentary party cohesion on the backdrop of an American electoral pattern in party cohesion. A Danish cycle is documented: party cohesion in relation to voting behavior is especially high just after an election, then it drops to rise again as election time approaches. A rational choice re-election model predicts the rise in party cohesion, but an obligation actualization model predicts the full cycle. Elections actualize Danish MPs' moral obligation to their party. Where American party cohesion drops in an election year, Danish party cohesion rises when an election approaches. This may be explained by different preferences in the American and Danish electorates: Danish voters value party cohesion per se , American voters do not.     

The resource curse revisited: governance and natural resources

The paper analyzes the impact of natural resource abundance on selected governance indicators. We use a panel data set with observations on a large number of countries over an extended period of time and employ an instrumental variable technique to account for endogeneity. The results show that exports of natural resources have, above all, led to an increase in corruption. This result is robust to both different model specifications and an alternative indicator for natural resource abundance. For other governance indicators, such as law and order and bureaucratic quality, we either find no results or results that lack robustness.