Strategic Treasury Debt Management in Public Policy

The Treasury should supplement its bond offerings with adjustable-rate coupon bonds. The adjustable coupon would be linked to the six-month Treasury bill auction yield. Given the different magnitude of adjustable and fixed mortgage rates, the interest servicing costs would be dramatically lower for the floating-coupon bonds. This idea is already a proven winner in the corporate bond market where close to 30 percent of new Eurobond offerings in the last 10 years have been adjustable-rate bonds. In addition to reducing servicing costs, the strategy will relieve some of the burden on the long-maturity fixed-coupon bonds. Reducing the supply of the fixed-coupon bonds should increase prices and decrease long-term yields. Reduction in long-term interest rates enhances spending, construction and capital expenditures. Most importantly, these bonds help enforce a low inflation policy.     

把握职责定位 践行科学发展 努力推进公安信访工作持续良性发展

公安机关在执法服务理念、信访管理手段和工作方式等方面存在不适应性,应当准确把握新形势下公安信访工作的职责定位和人民群众对公安信访工作提出的新期待、新要求,明确：一、践行科学发展观,始终坚持第一要义是发展的要求,开拓创新,要在维护社会稳定的水平上有新提升;二、践行科学发展观,始终坚持以人为本、执法为民理念,要在维护社会稳定的能力上有新提高;三、践行科学发展观,始终坚持全面可持续发展的基本要求,创新信访工作长效机制,要在实现信访工作的良性循环上有新突破。     

Can We Plan Too Much? – The Case of the 2010 Metropolitan Strategy for Adelaide

With a Labor government in power in South Australia since 2002, a series of interlocking plans for the state have been developed of which the most important are the strategic plan for the state, the strategic infrastructure plan for the state and the metropolitan strategy for Greater Adelaide. The metropolitan strategy of 2010 reflected the ambitious population and employment targets of the state strategic plan and provided a liberal supply of residential land for urban expansion together with ambitions for a more compact city with higher densities. There are inconsistencies in these objectives which have not been resolved and reflect the optimistic forecasts of the state strategic plan and the nature of the metropolitan planning process with strong input from the development industry. Preliminary evidence is that the plan is not tracking as proposed and more attention needs to be paid to short‐ and medium‐term prospects, and community involvement particularly in strategic localities.     

Municipal Bond Insurance: Trends and Prospects

Privately sold bond insurance is the most common form of credit enhancement for municipal bonds. Research generally finds that bond insurance reduces interest costs for lower rated, long–term debt issues. Researchers have concluded that these results are consistent with presumed investor risk aversion, as well as more "rational" risk management behaviors, and with theories concerning the efficiency–enhancing properties of financial intermediation in imperfect markets. We propose a research agenda based both on traditional theories and on additional hypotheses that seek to account for the observed use of bond insurance where net savings would not normally be predicted.     

Setting the Post War Australian Policy Agenda – Causes and Content

What are the origins of policy agendas and what determines agenda setting? The one robust theory in the literature associates different agendas with different moments in the evolution of the broader party system namely mass, catch‐all and most recently cartel patterns. This article explores Australian evidence for this thesis. It also argues the cartel moment has recently mutated. Agenda setting is now circumscribed by a mismatch between the needs of policy making and the political incentive structure. The media have become primary tissue connecting political elites to their publics. But this traps the system in short term, primarily populist stances. Systemic capacities to mediate agenda setting have thus been corrupted.     

The preservation needs of public housing

Abstract

The paper examines the preservation needs of public housing from the perspective of its physical condition and its ongoing repair and replacement needs. It begins by examining the range of needs that exist today, including the level of expenditures that would be required to put the stock in working order to meet existing codes, and to ensure the long‐term viability of the development. It then explores the level of expenditures that would be required on an ongoing basis to keep the stock in good repair and to meet future capital and preventive maintenance needs. The final section addresses several important policy issues, including overall funding requirements, the cost‐effectiveness of preservation efforts compared with vouchers and new construction, the special problems of troubled public housing authorities, and the need to establish stronger incentives for capital planning.     

Does democracy produce quality of government?

This article analyses the effects of political regimes over state capacity or the quality of government (QoG): Do democratic states perform better than authoritarian ones? Previous studies point to a nonlinear relationship between democracy and government quality. It is argued here that QoG is a function of both forces of supply (leaders who have the power to make reforms) and demand (citizens' desire for mid‐ to long‐term investments over short‐term needs), the latter of which is a function of economic development. In democratic states, leaders have stronger incentives to improve QoG after a certain degree of wealth is reached, while in poorer countries they have little incentive for long‐term bureaucratic investments. Thus it is predicted that the relationship between democracy and QoG is conditional, based on economic development. With over 125 countries in the sample, this hypothesis is tested using time‐series panel data and spatial models, and strong empirical support is found.     

An Assessment of Research on American Counties

In a 1992 issue of this journal, 12 scholars proposed an ambitious research agenda for the study of the American county. By all accounts, this agenda was both a catalyst and a guide for those interested in the nature, role, functions, operations, and practical relevance of county governments to either continue their research or to launch new studies in this underresearched area. The present article provides a detailed inventory of the research that has been conducted in the eight areas identified in the 1992 agenda. Specifically, which research questions have or have not been addressed satisfactorily? Such an exercise is a logical prerequisite for charting a path for future research on counties; it represents a synthesis of scholarly needs for theory building, hypothesis testing, and cumulative research and the dynamic and enduring knowledge‐base needs of county practitioners and elected officials.     

Municipal Bond New Issue Transaction Costs

As with any market, there are transaction costs associated with the sale of municipal bonds. Only a small number of studies have examined this topic, and therefore we have only a limited understanding of the magnitude and determinants of new issue municipal bond transaction costs. We use data on California municipal bond transaction costs from 2007 to 2009 to test whether scale economies exist. We find that there are considerable transaction cost scale economies for California municipal bonds and that pooling bond sales would likely save substantial amounts of money.     

We are all denizens now: on the erosion of citizenship

This article makes a contribution to the general theory of citizenship. It argues that there is a need for a supplementary concept of ‘denizenship’ to illustrate changes to and erosion of postwar social citizenship as famously described by T H Marshall. The first aim is to construct a more theoretically developed idea of what the concept of a ‘denizen’ means in sociological terms. In its conventional meaning, this term describes a group of people permanently resident in a foreign country, but only enjoying limited partial rights of citizenship. I label this Denizenship Type 1. By contrast, Denizenship Type 2 refers to the erosion of social citizenship as citizens begin to resemble denizens or strangers in their own societies. The argument then is that there is a general convergence between citizenship and denizenship. As such, Denizenship Type 2 provides a possible supplement to the various terms that have recently been proposed, such as flexible citizenship, semi-citizenship, or precariat to describe the attenuated social and economic status of citizens under regimes of austerity and diminished rights and opportunities. As the life chances of citizens decline, they come to resemble denizens. One illustration of this basic transition is to be found in the changing nature of taxation. This observation also allows me simply to observe that the political economy of taxation has been somewhat neglected in the recent literature on citizenship where questions about identity and subjectivity have become more dominant. As a result of these socio-economic changes, the modern citizen is increasingly merely a denizen with thin, fragmented, and fragile social bonds to the public world. The corrosion of the social, economic, political, and legal framework of citizenship offers a new slogan: ‘we are all denizens now.’     

When Is a Gerrymander Not a Gerrymander: Who Benefits and Who Loses from the Changed Rules for Defining Parliamentary Constituencies?

Members of the British Labour party have, not for the first time, criticised the Boundary Commissions’ proposals for new constituency boundaries as gerrymandering. This represents a misuse of the term: the Commissions have produced recommended constituencies in the context of new rules for such redistributions that give precedence to equality of electorates across all seats and the boundaries of those constituencies have been defined without any reference to the likely electoral consequences. The Conservatives, who were responsible for the change in the rules to emphasise electoral equality, wanted to remove a decades‐long Labour advantage in the translation of votes into seats because of variations in constituency size, and the Commissions’ implementation of those rules has achieved that. A Labour advantage has been removed but not replaced by a Conservative advantage: in terms of electoral equality between the two, the playing field has been levelled. Labour's claim to have been disadvantaged by decisions on the electoral register is also examined; the disadvantage is probably only small.     

Enduring neoliberalism in Alberta's oil sands: the troubling effects of private–public partnerships for First Nation and Métis communities

Changes in federal government relations with First Nations and Métis in Canada have been described as shifting over time, from fur trade colonialism, to welfare colonialism, to neoliberal partnerships. Acknowledging changes and continuities in Aboriginal peoples–state relations over time, this article examines the effects of recent policies that emphasize private–public partnerships for economic development on Indigenous communities in northern Alberta. We argue that while the term ‘partnership’ connotes equality, cooperation, and consensus, the actual workings of partnerships are anything but equal, and the effects include fragmentation, competition, and lack of overall accountability. These outcomes work against the needs and aspirations of Indigenous communities.     

Preserving the Public Interest in Highway Public–Private Partnerships: A Case Study of the State of Texas

Faced with existing revenues sources that are insufficient to finance highway maintenance and construction needs, some state and local governments are using or considering highway public–private partnerships. These partnerships may be attractive as a way for a government to obtain upfront revenues from the long‐term lease of a road and to shift some of the construction and operations risks to a private firm. However, with these benefits, comes the need to preserve the public interest. This paper discusses issues related to preserving the public interest in highway public–private partnerships and presents a case study of the State of Texas. The case study focuses on an analysis of the strengths and limitations of Texas’ policies and procedures to protect the public interest in the use of long‐term leases for the financing, construction, and operation of new toll roads. The case study also discusses what other governments may be able to learn from Texas’ experiences.     

The Municipal Bond Market in a Changing Economy

Due primarily to the Tax Reform Act of 1986, the municipal bond market has undergone great changes in the last two years. Because of severe limitations on the purposes for which and processes by which tax-exempt bonds can be issued, the volume of new issues has fallen dramatically. Interest rates, while volatile, have been declining. The municipal market, although dealing with various cross-currents of unrest emanating from credit quality problems, changing buyers, disclosure concerns, and adverse court decisions, nevertheless appears well positioned to concentrate its resources on its traditional role in the financing infrastructure.     

Capital Financing of Schools: A Comparison of Lease Purchase Revenue Bonds and General Obligation Bonds

School building construction is on the rise nationwide and Texas has led the nation in outlays on school construction. We consider key factors that distinguish lease purchase revenue (LPR) bonds and general obligation (GO) bonds as debt instruments for financing school facilities in Texas. Our research shows that LPR bonds typically have a higher interest cost than GO bonds and they do not have any advantages over GO bonds in circumventing state restrictions on school district tax and debt authority. Voter approval requirements implicit in the state aid formulae supporting school bond repayments and the bond election requirements are however both less stringent in the case of LPR bonds than GO bonds.     

Electoral alignments in the netherlands

Religion and class have been the major factors structuring party choice in the Netherlands until the mid-1960s. Since then a process of dealignment has set in. According to some the old bonds were never replaced. Others claim the emergence of new cleavages which would have supplemented or possibly even replaced the former ones. Most frequently mentioned are left-right ideology and (post)-materialist value orientations. In this article the current structure of electoral alignments in the Netherlands is analysed. Left-right turns out to be the most important determinant of party choice. Religion and class are still correlated with choice, but they exert no strong direct causal influence. Post-materialist orientations are of negligible importance in a causal model of party choice.     

The physical and mental health status of homeless adults

Abstract

This paper reviews recent research on the physical and mental health status of homeless single adults and briefly summarizes definitional, sampling, and measurement problems. It presents findings from research examining the physical health status of homeless adults; the data suggest that homelessness places people at greater risk for specific health problems and also complicates treatment. The authors then review findings on the mental health status of homeless adults from several methodologically rigorous studies that carefully define and measure mental illness among the homeless population. The final section discusses what is known about the short‐ and long‐term service needs of the physically and mentally disabled homeless population.

The studies reviewed suggest that individuals with chronic physical or severe mental illnesses are more vulnerable than others to homelessness. Homelessness exacerbates physical and/or mental conditions and complicates their treatment. Despite myths to the contrary, research and demonstration programs have shown that most homeless individuals are willing to receive assistance. By linking health and mental health services to appropriate housing, such individuals can be treated and cared for in community settings. However, local communities often do not have the necessary resources to meet the long‐term needs of severely mentally ill or physically disabled homeless people.     

Anti-racism,racism and asylum-seekers in France

Anti-racist movements in France have been characterized by their strong political orientation and their tendency to be highly centralized. However, in the past decade the increasing salience of the position of ‘new immigrants’, a term that in France is used to include asylum-seekers, has been accompanied by a shift in the form and content of anti-racist mobilization. Support for asylum-seekers has been provided by a multiplicity of specialist national and local organizations developing modes of solidarity that are more akin to welfare, social work or humanitarian aid than the more directly and overtly political interventions common among French anti-racists. At the same time local committees have developed in places of high tension, but at some distance from the political limelight of Paris. Lloyd examines some of these developments in the context of the crisis of provision for asylum-seekers in France. After setting out some basic information about asylum, undocumented migrants and the law in France she examines the political debate about ‘the new immigrants’ and racism. Comparing the relatively successful sans papiers movement of the 1990s with the difficulties of organizing among and with more isolated, transient and socially deprived asylum-seekers, she discusses the way in which this new set of issues has challenged the main anti-racist organizations and given rise to new actors and alliances.     

Terminating entitlements: Veterans' disability benefits in the Depression

A new term, entitlement, has appeared in the federal lexicon with increasing frequency during the last few years. Although in common use, its definition receives little attention in agency glossaries and its impact even less by those who legislate and administer them. This article first considers the pragmatic meaning of the term and then analyzes the difficulty of limiting such benefits once they have been authorized, by examining a short-lived attempt to reduce entitlement benefits for veterans during the era of the Depression. After documenting the social and political conditions which facilitated the entitlement reduction, attention is directed to the process through which political pressure was mobilized and focused in order to force a reversal of congressional action. This historical episode is then compared to an ill-fated, modern-day attempt by DHEW to limit free social service programs under the terms of the Social Security Act.     

The Biopolitics of Policy-Making: Medical Activism in the Century of the Brain

This article argues that advances in biotechnology and the life sciences, particularly the ongoing neuro-revolution, have changed the relationship between science and politics. Since the “Decade of the Brain” project of the 1990s, new neuroscientific terms and biological understandings of the self have given rise to what Paul Rabinow refers to as “biosociality,” that is, groups that organize around, and identify with, a specific disease or disability to lobby for recognition, better treatment options, access to resources, and, in some cases, equal rights. This biopolitical relationship between citizens and scientific experts in the policy-making process can be seen in the current debate between the neurodiversity movement and anti-autism groups over the needs of autistic people. However, this article shows that within policy discussions, both groups have been (re)constructed by competing medical discourses and illness narratives in a way that has limited their ability to voice their needs and effectively evoke policy change.