Partisan commitment: A research note

The commitment of respondents to their answers to the National Election Studies party identification question is examined in a nationwide experiment using the traditional wording and two variant wordings. About two-thirds of the sample were found to be committed to their responses. Leaners and pure independents were particularly uncommitted. Committed independents were much closer to the classical image than those identified as independents by the traditional measure. Leaners are not entirely consistent either with the view that they are disguised partisans or with the view that they are mostly independent with a tendency to lean toward a party. Of particular theoretical importance were the one-fifth of the sample who, when given the chance, indicated that they did not think of themselves in either partisan or independent terms. We suggest that the standard question on party identification should be supplemented with periodic monitoring of the extent of nonconforming answers.     

Major findings and paths for research: A concluding note

Abstract.  In this concluding note, the editors of this special issue first produce a synthesis of the findings of the empirical cases. Regarding delegation problems in the participatory devices under scrutiny, the conclusions are contrasting, and the outcome depends very much on the institutional design of each procedure, and on the kind of skills that are necessary to participate. Regarding the quality of deliberations, moderately positive conclusions are reached as a rule. With respect to the efficiency of these mechanisms, the results are much more limited: their decisional impact is weak, with the exception of the most elitist mechanisms, and the procedures under scrutiny did not seem to have any lasting integrative or 'educative' effects on the participants. Also, the situation with respect to transparency is problematic: there is no link between the degree of formalisation and influence on decisions, and most mechanisms are weakly publicised. In the end, the editors underline shifts in legitimacy principles induced by these procedures and sketch some paths for future research that should include a survey of the interplay between these procedures, the representative framework at large and other kinds of shifts in policy making.     

Editorial note: Introduction to research articles

JPAM aspires to cover a wide range of policy topics and variety of methods. This issue shows the usual range of coverage: welfare reform, public management, methodology, and environmental decisionmaking. Articles on unfamiliar topics or using unfamiliar methods sometimes challenge readers. Meanwhile, abstracts aim to summarize the article for specialist readers rather than for a broader audience. One remedy for this problem, the Editorial Board suggested, is a more accessible and less technical introductory essay that gives the reader a better sense of what makes each article worth reading; the Brookings Papers on Macroeconomic Activities provides a long‐established model of this kind of introduction. Surely no one will read every article, but this endeavor may lead some readers to peruse articles they would otherwise have skipped. The next four issues will serve as an experimental period, at the end of which I will seek feedback as to whether the essays are helpful. The summaries of the articles are initially prepared by the authors and then edited for integration into this essay. © 2002 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

The ends justify the means: A global research agenda for political marketing and public affairs

Political marketing has developed into an increasingly mainstream discipline in universities globally over the last decade. There are many schools of political marketing with different approaches, such as the North American approach, the Western and Eastern European perspectives, and the Asian position. The study and application of political marketing has been categorised with different perspectives, such as electoral, governmental, and international aspects. It is becoming increasingly evident that political marketing needs further classification like any matured and established discipline. A close analysis of political marketing practices and academic research leads one to perceive two distinct areas of political exchanges in two different markets: the intranational market and the international market. The first deals with political marketing at a local, district, municipal, state/provincial, and national levels. The second deals with political marketing across national borders. As in the case of commercial marketing, international marketing became a major study field when marketing grew into a matured mainstream discipline in the 1980s.     

Does regulation reduce electricity rates? A research note

This paper reasseses the original data of Stigler and Friedland's influential 1962 article on the effects of regulation, which studied U.S. electricity rates in the early 1900's. Whereas Stigler and Friedland contended the economic effects of regulation serve those regulated regardless of the statutory characteristics of the regulations, a critical look at their data suggests the regulations studied did have their intended effect.     

Remarks concerning a research note on The Dutch Affair 1

Claire Sterling, The Time of the Assassins: Anatomy of an Investigation (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1983, new edition 1985), pp. 295, $4.95 (paperback).     

The policy opinions of British nonvoters; a research note

Abstract. Using data from the British Election Studies of 1974 and 1979, patterns of nonvoting among the British public are explored. Nonvoters are much like voters in specific issue opinions and in social class. They do not have a strong ideology or a markedly different attitudinal structure than their fellow citizens. Implications of this for British democracy are discussed.     

How welfare reform affects young children: Experimental findings from Connecticut—A research note

As welfare‐to‐work reforms increase women's labor market attachment, the lives of their young children are likely to change. This note draws on a random‐assignment experiment in Connecticut to ask whether mothers' rising employment levels and program participation are associated with changes in young children's early learning and cognitive growth. Children of mothers who entered Connecticut's Jobs First program, an initiative with strict 21‐month time limits and work incentives, displayed moderate advantages in their early learning, compared with those in a control group. A number of potential mechanisms for this effect are explored, including maternal employment and income, home environment, and child care. Mothers in the new welfare program are more likely to be employed, have higher income, are less likely to be married, have more children's books in their home, and take their children to libraries and museums more frequently. However, these effects explain little of the observed gain in child outcomes. Other parenting practices and the home's social environment do explain early learning, but these remained unaffected by welfare reform. © 2003 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management     

Comparative economic assessments and the endogeneity of left/right self placement: A research note

Abstract. Previous survey level research on attitudes towards the economy among European voters has tended to focus on the short-term implications of these attitudes, relating them to vote choice or executive popularity. In this paper we seek to examine the relationships between economic assessments and more fundamental aspects of voter attitudes. More concretely, we examine the links between ideology and economic information, arguing that they are interdependent to the exctent that they can be seen to exist within a reciprocal relationship. In the wake of Kramer, we approach this problem from a comparative perspective, and find that the hypothesised reciprocal relationship is well supported by the statistical evidence.     

Policy sciences teaching in context: A note on Germany

This is an attempt to relate the specific opportunities for policy sciences teaching to the broader context of a changing policymaking system. In West Germany, policy-sciences teaching could not develop as long as legal education remained the predominant type of pre-entry training for the career civil service, and as long as constitutional and administrative law seemed to supply decision premises fully adequate for the types of policy problems that were regarded as critical. This pattern was functional as long as the basic conservatism of post-war policies did obscure the problem of policy choice and the need for policy analysis. It became dysfunctional, however, when the fiscal crisis of 1966/67 dramatized the need for a rationalization of budgetary choices, and when the urgency of new problems and new political demands exposed the insufficiency of conservative policies.These emerging demands on policymakers at all levels of government have led to an increasing awareness of the need for better policy-analysis and planning, and for the recruitment of personnel trained in policy sciences. While retraining programs will meet some of this demand, the growing number of planning staffs has created an opportunity for new policy-oriented programs of pre-entry training for civil service functions. The article concludes with the outline of one such program.     

The value of reducing risks of death: A note on new evidence

Government agencies face difficult resource-allocation decisions when confronted with projects that will reduce risks of fatality. Evidence from individual behavior helps determine society's values for reducing risks. The most credible evidence is based on individuals' willingness to pay (or willingness to accept compensation) for small changes in risks. Studies of consumer behavior are limited, but more evidence is available relating wages to job risks. Contingent valuation studies reinforce the wage-risk implications, leading to a range of values that can be compared with the costs of proposals to reduce fatal risks.     

Philantropic motives and contribution policy: A note

This note analyzes the results of Ben-Zion and Spiegel regarding different forms of transfer from rich persons to poor ones. Assuming a more general utility function, not necessarily additive or homothetic, this note shows that a combined policy of income transfer with specific subsidy to the poor consumer can lead to an optimal solution (first best) from the donor's point of view. If it is not possible to differentiate between consumers, a system of subsidy to all consumers can achieve a second best solution.