Political Culture and State Development Policy

Economic development has become a prominent issue for stategovernments. Nevertheless, states vary in the economic policiesthey choose. Two general approaches to the issue are discussed:the maintenance/attraction strategy and the creation strategy.Factor analysis allows us to gauge state effort on these twocriteria. Regression analysis shows that political culture isan important factor in predicting which approach a state chooses,with traditionalistic states favoring the maintenance/attractionstrategy, and moralistic states favoring the creation alternative.Other predictors of state policy choices include the conditionof the economy and the diffusion of innovations. Also discussedis the interaction of political culture with other relevantvariables in shaping state policies.     

State Sales Tax Policy in a Changing Economy: Balancing Political and Economic Logic Against Revenue Needs

Soon after implementation in the 1930s, the general sales taxes emerged as the largest state tax source. In 1990, income taxes produced nearly as much state revenue as did sales taxes. Although income tax revenue have increased significantly, the sales tax is not in jeopardy of being replaced in the immediate future. The sales tax still remains a vital state fiscal concern, particularly to those states without a broad individual income tax.     

Political Institutions, Public Policy and Economic Growth

The argument of the Rise and Decline of Nulions (RADON) opens up a new area of important social science research: to understand the social and political setting of economic growth. The paper tests the argument that institutionalization leads fo the decline of nafions slowing down the rate of economic growth. Employing several indicators on economic growth and controlling for a number of factors the finding with regard to the OECD-nations is that the Olson emphasis on institutionalization is confirmed.     

Informing State Economic Development Policy in the New Economy: A Theoretical Foundation and Empirical Examination of State Innovation in the United States

This study considers recent evidence of state innovation capacity in order to better understand where new economy–type economic development is likely to occur and, by extrapolation, where strategies geared toward such growth are more likely to succeed. The research focuses on data from the National Science Foundation's State Science and Engineering Profiles, supplemented by data from other sources. Factor analysis was performed on this data set to observe underlying common factors that explain the variability of the original data in fewer dimensions. The resulting factor scores—human capacity and financial capacity—were used to classify states into four categories of new economy resource density: lagging, low, developing, and progressive. The scores for the two resulting factors were then used as independent variables in subsequent regression analyses, demonstrating positive correlations among innovation capacity resources, actual innovations, and overall state economic performance.     

Targeting in Economic Development: Comparative State Perspectives

This article examines recent efforts to target state industrialpolicy along three dimensions: sectoral aid to specific businessesor economic activities, geographic aid to growing or decliningregions, and direct assistance to the unemployed. While thestates have done better with sec-toral targeting than opponentsof a federal industrial policy have feared, industrial policymust compete with many other state programs, including moretraditional economic development efforts based on advertisingand tax expenditures. Only a few states have managed to channelmuch state aid to displaced workers or distressed communities.Despite some evidence as to the success of industrial policyfocused on limited areas or activities, dilution of policy focusand underinvestment of resources characterize state industrialpolicy efforts to date.     

State Spaceport Initiatives: Economic and Political Innovation in an Intergovernmental Context

State spaceports are an interesting example of intergovernmentalrelations because activities conducted at such facilities spanthe state, federal, and international realms. Five states—Alaska,California, Florida, New Mexico, and Virginia—are themost visible participants in the process. In this study, thesupporting rationales for such endeavors are discussed withinthe context of the broader contours of intergovernmental relations.The field is a product of the post-Cold War period during whichopportunities for state space activities arose due to changesin the national security environment. Three distinct but interrelatedexplanations are suggested for why the field has developed slowly,although during the past two years, progress in achieving goalshas begun to occur.     

Effects of Public Opinion and Political System Characteristics on State Policy Outputs

Rather than competing with socioeconomic variables as directdeterminants of state policy, political system characteristicsmay operate as mediating factors that either facilitate or impedethe translation of constituency preferences into policy. Inthis study, the state opinion liberalism index presented byGerald Wright, Robert Erikson, and John Mclver is incorporatedin multiplicative regression models as a measure of citizenpreferences to address this theoretical reformulation. Althoughpervasive empirical corroboration is not found for the reconceptualizedrole for political variables, political system characteristicsdo demonstrate significant effects on state policy. In addition,suggesting that public officials responddirectly to citizenpreferences, evidence ispresentedon democratic representationwithin the states.     

The State as Architect of Political Order: Policy Dynamics in German Health Care

The focus of this article is on the state as an actor that can create, rearrange or even destroy established structures of interest representation. Through small, often almost overlooked, and sometimes even failed interventions, governmental policies create a legacy that can serve as a springboard for further political action. This policy dynamic is triggered by “architectural” activities of the state, aiming at the structure of the interest group system. This kind of policy bears the potential not only to manipulate the structure, but also the preferences and strategies of interest groups so as to overcome their veto-power. The case of German health care reform policies since the late 1970s is used to illustrate how suck a kind of governmental “design” has exerted a decisive impact on the structure of the policy field, culminating in an unexpected legislative success for the federal government.¹     

经济全球化语境下的中国文化发展战略

作为一种现实的存在,经济全球化对中国文化产生了不容忽视的影响。在丰富多彩、多元共生的文化图景下,中国文化必须以开阔的视野、健康的心态、创新的精神和超越的意识积极应对经济全球化——既要敞开国门、拥抱世界,又要独立自强、不丢本色;既要大力弘扬民族文化、保持中国文化的独立性,又要积极融汇外来文化、使中国文化具有更多的国际品质。     

State Wildlife Policy and Management: The Scope and Bias of Political Conflict

State wildlife policy and management are often characterized by divisive political conflict among competing stakeholders. This conflict is increasingly being resolved through the ballot-initiative process. One important reason the process is being used so often is the way state wildlife policy and management decisions are often made by state wildlife commissions, boards, or councils (the dominant way these decisions are made in the United States). These bodies are often perceived by important stakeholders as biased, exclusive, or unrepresentative of nonconsumptive stakeholder values. As a result, unsatisfied interest groups often try to take decision-making authority away from these institutions and give it to the public through the ballot initiative. Cases and examples from Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, and Idaho are examined in this context. The article finishes by outlining four broad alternatives that may be debated in the future: the no change alternative, the authoritative expert alternative, the structural change alternative, and the stakeholder-based collaborative conservation alternative(s).     

国家控制力在中国经济发展中的作用

本文在批判“北京共识”的基础上提出并论证的核心观点是：同时具有控制强度和控制质量。且通过发展型政府得以实施的强国家控制力是解释中国经济发展的关键变量。强国家控制力确保了国家创造经济发展的必要条件、市场替代、贯彻国家发展战略、制度供给以减缓社会压力和矛盾、抵制国际资本渗透等，促使后发展经济起飞和赶超的关键性作用的有效发挥，在中国经济发展中同时起到了“发动”和“减压”作用。     

Economic Actors' Political Activity in 'Overlap Issues': Privatisation and EU State Aid Control

This article considers the political activity of economic actors in what we refer to as 'overlap issues'. The cases examined here are the domestic level privatisation policy-making processes in Spain, France and Ireland, and the subsequent European Commission decisions on state aids given during the sales. Although the influence of economic actors is crucial in understanding the domestic-level privatisation aid negotiations, such actors' participation is absent in the supranational decision-making process. In order to explain this limited political activity of firms at the EU level, attention is focused on both the role of the member states and the paradoxes in EU policies that simultaneously guide and constrain the Commission from making a decision against capital.     

村级治理与农村政治文明建设

村级治理方式演变的轨迹体现着政治文明的发展水平。农村社会的变迁必然要求农村治理方式的创新,村民自治对农村政治文明建设产生了积极的效应。以村级治理创新推动农村政治文明建设,必须以政治理念的文明渗透和指导村民自治;以政治制度的文明支撑和固化村民自治;以政治行为文明规范和引领村民自治。     

State Government Targeting in Economic Development: The New York Experience

New York State has made extensive use of social, geographic,and sectoral targeting in economic development. It has targetedboth distressed industries, particularly manufacturing, andgrowth industries. When the initial assistance provided to manufacturingin the 1960s did not stem the decline of this sector, the stateresponded by providing larger subsidies. Even though manufacturingcontinued to decline, both absolutely and relatively, supportfor its preferred status has, nevertheless, remained strong,and few of the programs initially aimed at this sector haveseen any sign cant changes in their manufacturing focus. Effortsto target distressed areas and individuals, however, were notsustained over time. The state's two most significant effortsat geographic targeting were expanded statewide over relativelyshort periods of time.     

经济发展方式转变与政治体制改革的内在逻辑

经济发展方式转变与政治体制改革有着十分密切的内有逻辑关系.一方面,经济发展方式转变的自身规律和价值诉求呼唤着政治体制改革;另一方面,政治体制改革的稳步推进需要尽快转变经济发展方式.从一定意义上讲,经济发展方式转变内在地要求政治体制改革,而政治体制改革则是实现经济发展方式转变的根本保障.经济发展方式转变要以三个层面的内涵为依托,以经济发展方式转变为契机,积极稳妥地推进政治体制改革,从而使政治体制能够适应与契合经济发展方式转变的需要,更好地为经济发展方式转变提供支持与保障.     

The Development of Hazardous Waste Management as a State Policy Concern

Hazardous waste management has become a primary concern of state governments. Thk concern is relatively recent, with state governments assuming a leading role in hazardous waste policy development and implementation only in the past decade. This article outlines the scope of the hazardous waste problem to which stdegouernments must respond. The scope of the problem is then linked to changing public perceptions and intergooernmental relntionslzips to explain the expanding state government policy role in hazardous waste management.