Big Guys Eat Big Cakes: Firm Size and Contracting in Urban and Rural Areas

ABSTRACT

A great deal of attention has been devoted to the analysis of different levels of privatization in urban and rural areas. However, until now no empirical study has been conducted on what types of firms are present in different geographical environments. We find that large firms that operate on a national basis dominate the contracts in the most populated and urban municipalities, and these firms seem to have closer relationships with nation-wide political parties. On the contrary, small firms that operate at a local level usually have the contracts in the less populated and isolated municipalities. This market structure may be harmful for competition in both types of municipalities, damaging the likelihood of obtaining cost savings from privatization.     

Let Them Eat Marblecake: The Preferences of Michigan Citizens for Devolution and Intergovernmental Service-Provision

Based on a survey of Michigan residents, this study explorespublic support for devolution of public services to state andlocal governments. The survey allowed respondents to choosemore than one level of government to provide services. On onehand, a large majority endorsed the devolution of services fromthe federal government to the states in general. On the otherhand, for most of 11 specific services studied, respondentspreferred arrangements involving all three governments. Regressionanalysis indicates that a preference for having services deliveredby state and/or local governments only is stronger among Republicans,conservatives, whites, and older citizens. Overall, however,Michiganians embrace "marblecake " federalism.     

Let Them Eat Lunch: The Impact of Universal Free Meals on Student Performance

This paper investigates the impact of extending free school lunch to all students, regardless of income, on academic performance in New York City middle schools. Using a difference-in-differences design and unique longitudinal, student-level data, we derive credibly causal estimates of the impacts of “Universal Free Meals” (UFM) on test scores in English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics, and participation in school lunch. We find UFM increases academic performance by as much as 0.083 standard deviations in math and 0.059 in ELA for non-poor students, with smaller, statistically significant effects of 0.032 and 0.027 standard deviations in math and ELA for poor students. Further, UFM increases participation in school lunch by roughly 11.0 percentage points for non-poor students and 5.4 percentage points for poor students. We then investigate the academic effects of school lunch participation per se, using UFM as an instrumental variable. Results indicate that increases in school lunch participation improve academic performance for both poor and non-poor students; an additional lunch every two weeks increases test scores by roughly 0.08 standard deviations in math and 0.07 standard deviations in ELA. Finally, we explore potential unintended consequences for student weight outcomes, finding no evidence that UFM increases the probability that students are obese or overweight. We also find no evidence of increases in average body mass index (BMI). Instead, we find some evidence that participation in school lunch improves weight outcomes for non-poor students. Results are robust to an array of alternative specifications and assumptions about the sample.     

Human Rights Culture: Solidarity,Diversity and the Right to be Different

The concept of a human rights culture has been crucial to the incorporation of the European Convention of Human Rights into UK law. In this paper media and activist representations of human rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender human rights are considered as indicative of an emerging human rights culture, especially around the Civil Partnerships Act 2004. A typology of representations of rights is developed and discussed. It is concluded that insofar as there is an emerging human rights culture, it is one that is concerned above all with creating and maintaining civic relationships rather than with the assertion of individual liberty, and as inviting political compromise rather than a principled stance on universal human rights.     

种族冲突与国家弱化--兼论弱化国家的行政管理

冷战后,种族冲突和民族分离主义在世界各地迅速泛滥,对世界和平与发展构成严重威胁.本文认为,世纪之交种族的冲突和民族分离主义与民族国家的弱化有密切关系,国家弱化主要表现在两个方面一是民族国家在管理职能上的弱化,二是殖民主义分而治之的殖民遗产造成民族国家发展上的弱化,国家弱化加深民族冲突.     

反腐防腐必须治理“协腐、容腐、羡腐“行为

协助腐败、容允腐败、羡慕腐败是腐败滋生蔓延的温床.民主化程度不高、法制不健全所导致的政治冷漠是"协腐、容腐、羡腐"行为产生的主要原因.治理"协腐、容腐、羡腐"行为,要着力培养全社会的共同政治理想,加快政治民主化进程,大力加强法制建设和廉洁文化建设.     

As-salaam alaikum,my sister,peace be unto you: The honorable elijah muhammad and the women who followed him

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad's ministry drew a steady stream of converts into his Nation, an organization designed to return the “so-called Negro” back to his glorious ancient past. According to Muhammad, the first step in this journey was the control and protection of Black women. He made it abundantly clear that wives had to be obedient to their husbands. Yet he also demanded that Black men learn to love and respect their women. This rhetoric helped to camouflage gender inequalities and enticed Black women into the Nation, despite its patriarchal core. Demonstrating masculinity was a constant for Nation men and during the dispute over Elijah Muhammad's seduction of his secretaries, he and his famous Minister Malcolm X struggled over different types of masculinity. Throughout the history of the Nation, Muhammad never changed his agenda in terms of appropriate roles for women and men, and women struggled to create a balance between his rules, the Qur'an, and their political and personal desires.     

Public Service Reform in Malta, 1988-95: Lessons to be Learned

Malta's latest round of administrative reform has produced mixed results. While it has achieved more than any previous initiative, vital elements of the reform program have not been carried out and results have fallen short of initial expectations.
The reform initiative yields a number of lessons, some of which have already been brought to light—the need to keep the reform agenda small, the need for sustained political backing—and others which are less well known, such as the difficulty of creating an effective authority to direct reform, and the drawbacks to giving reform agencies lavish funding and a high profile.     

Facing the powers that be

Lobbyists, entrenched forces in congress and self-interested friends will try to stymie Clinton's efforts. A look at four key arenas of combat.     

Our quest to be perfect

You don't have to be wrinkled or rich to go under the knife. New techniques are luring more and younger patients, while doctors hurry to set up shop. But there are risks as well as options in cosmetic surgery's new age.     

Should Egalitarians be Perfectionists?

Political philosophers often worry about the potentially elitist implications of perfectionism as the basis of distributive justice. Richard Arneson challenges this familiar connection between perfectionism and elitism by developing an egalitarian theory of distributive justice with distinctively perfectionist grounds. In this article, I argue that Arneson's theory is implausible, because an egalitarian political morality renders perfectionism either irrelevant or arbitrary.