Shareholder wealth effects of legislative events: The case of airline deregulation

This paper presents empirical evidence about the impact on shareholder wealth of legislative events leading to the enactment of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. In contrast to prior regulatory event studies, this paper examines not only the final legislative enactment but also the Congressional hearings that preceded it. No significant effect on shareholder wealth is indicated when averaged across all airline firms and all legislative events. Impact of deregulation, however, was expected to be different for trunk airlines than for local airlines. Moreover, market expectations likely changed with the change in the political climate during the course of deregulation deliberations, from an industry financial health emphasis under a Republican (Ford) administration to a consumer welfare emphasis under a Democratic (Carter) administration. We find that trunk airlines experienced significant positive abnormal returns during the Ford administration, but negative abnormal returns during the Carter administration. In contrast, local airlines exhibited significant negative abnormal returns during both the Ford and Carter eras. Systematic risk of both trunk and local airlines also increased with the change in the political climate.     

Airline deregulation: What's behind the recent losses?

The recent disastrous financial performance of the airline industry is probably thought by many to indicate that deregulation is not workable. But simulations suggest that the current recession and the 1979 fuel price increase are primarily to blame. Deregulation has caused transitional losses for some segments of the industry; but the new freedoms accorded to the airlines probably have helped rather than hurt the profitability of the industry.     

Federalism Revised: The Promise and Challenge of the No Child Left Behind Act

Federalism in education has undergone significant changes since the Winter Commission. During the early 1990s, federal policy makers faced the challenge of organizational fragmentation and policy incoherence in public education. In the last 15 years, the intergovernmental system has evolved from one that is predominantly compliance‐driven to one that is performance based, as suggested by the congressional adoption of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001. While the former is often characterized by images of “picket fence” federalism and administrative silos, the latter remains very much a work in progress, with the promise of raising academic proficiency. This paper first examines the paradigm shift and then considers emerging politics in intergovernmental relations. The author explores the ways in which state and local policy makers are altering the rules governing education service provision in response to performance‐based federal expectations.     

AIR TRANSPORTATION POLICY AND ADMINISTRATION AT THE MILLENNIUM

This article examines air transportation policy and administration at the millennium. It reviews and analyzes major problem areas and focuses on issues that have to be dealt with to streamline the policy and administration in the field as it becomes more integrated in our increasingly intermodal transportation system. The first part of the article sets the stage for the changes experienced after deregulation: It utilizes an analytical model to examine: airports; airline industry management; terrorism and security; and safety, equipment and human resources. The second part of the article focuses more specifically on a policy and administration analysis itself. It demonstrates how we have evolved into a customer model more aligned with the market place, efficiency, and risk taking; while moving away from a safer and less entrepreneurial period identified as the citizen model period. With the canage of models, we find trust diminished. Passengers, customers and citizens, become more disenchanted and cynical, to the point of organizing through elected officials to promote an airline passenger bill of rights and reform the system.     

Deregulation as regulatory reform: the case of environmental policy in the Netherlands

Abstract. Deregulation in the Netherlands has been associated with the perceived crisis of the welfare state. But in the area of environmental policy it has not meant dismantling those substantive regulations designed to promote improved environmental quality. Deregulation in environmental management has involved the retention of overall regulatory objectives while striving to simplify and streamline existing regulatory procedures, and developing alternatives to the more traditional instruments of regulation. Deregulation in this area is a prime example of 're-regulation'- of steps taken to make existing regulations more effective, or to replace rules with other instruments designed to achieve more effectively and efficiently the same behavioural changes sought with the original regulatory scheme.     

Market forces and private sector processes in government policy: The job training partnership act

This article examines those provisions of the Job Training Partnership Act designed to introduce the presumed efficiency of marketlike forces and incentives into federal employment and training programs. First, the JTPA replaced the administrative system used in earlier training programs (which emphasized detailed federal control and monitoring of the programs at the local level) with a system that, in effect, set a price for a prescribed level of performance and reduced oversight of the training process. Second, the Act gave people in private business some control over programs at the local level. According to available data, JTPA program performance is no different in local areas with a strong private-sector involvement than in areas where that involvement is weak and passive. The performance standards have had an effect, although the relationship between the standards and the goals of the JTPA is ambiguous at best. The article outlines the limitations of a market-oriented system for the administration of public policy.     

当前我国政策绩效的价值取向解读

理论上,政策绩效不同于政策结果之处在于它对其内在价值及其行为方式改变的特别关注,因而具有较强的价值意蕴.政策绩效在社会转型中的"应然"状态与"实然"现实之间的差别,就是政策问题存在的闭区间.在此基础上,公共政策的自由裁量权、公共政策的回应性、有效性、公共性、公民精神以及治理、善治等作为一种"绩效指标",对政策绩效及其实现程度等都有很大的影响.社会转型时期各种特质的社会问题的大量积聚、政府主导的政策模式、公民社会的不健全等,首先作为一种"自变量",影响着当下我国的现实政策绩效,某种程度上决定了公共政策的自由裁量权、回应性、有效性、公共性、公民精神等的存在形式和发生作用路径;另一方面,作为"因变量",它们被嵌入不同的制度运行、政策实践以及社会生活的各个环节中,成为一种既定的公共政策价值取向,决定着当下各种利益诉求、利益整合、利益分配、利益落实等的性质和内容.在技术和价值之间,政策绩效找到了其存在的基本空间.     

State Renewable Energy Governance: Policy Instruments,Markets, or Citizens

Since the 1990s, state governments in the United States have diversified policy instruments to encourage the electric power industry to deploy renewable sources for electricity generation. This study identifies the trends and variations in renewable energy (RE) policy governance among states and examines the effectiveness of policy instruments in the deployment of RE sources for electricity production. This study explores 18 state legislative, RE‐related regulations, programs, or financial incentives existing between 2001 and 2010 in 48 states in the United States. Renewable energy policies were classified into three types of policy approaches: command‐and‐control, market‐based, and information instruments. Results suggest that authoritative approaches are more likely to be effective in the governmental intervention toward a pre‐existing market, and information instruments and citizen participation became important in the power industry in the 2000s. In addition, it gives us some evidence that federal assistance under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 influenced the overall growth of the renewable electricity industry, in addition to state government–led policy designs.     

The Regulatory Gift: Politics,regulation and governance

This article introduces the “regulatory gift” as a conceptual framework for understanding a particular form of government‐led deregulation that is presented as central to the public interest. Contra to theories of regulatory capture, government corruption, “insider” personal interest, or profit‐seeking theories of regulation, the regulatory gift describes reform that is overtly designed by government to reduce or reorient regulators’ functions to the advantage of the regulated and in line with market objectives on a potentially macro (rather than industry‐specific) scale. As a conceptual framework, the regulatory gift is intended to be applicable across regulated sectors of democratic states and in this article the empirical sections evidence the practice of regulatory gifting in contemporary United Kingdom (UK) politics. Specifically, this article analyses the 2011 UK Public Bodies Act, affecting some 900 regulatory public bodies and its correlative legislation, the 2014 Regulator's Code, the 2015 Deregulation Act, and the 2016 Enterprise Bill. The article concludes that while in some cases the regulatory gift may be aligned with the public interest – delivering on cost reduction, enhancing efficiency, and stimulating innovation – this will not always be the case. As the case study of the regulatory body, the UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, demonstrates, despite the explicit claims made by legislators, the regulatory gift has the potential to significantly undermine the public interest.     

"A TERRIBLE HIDING." WESTERN AUSTRALIA'S ABORIGINAL HERITAGE POLICY*

Abstract: The Western Australian Museum was given responsibility for the administration of the Western Australia Aboriginal Heritage Act when it was enacted in the early 1970s. This essay examines the Museum's record in protecting the State's Aboriginal heritage particularly in relation to sites of current and continuing significance to Aboriginal people. It is argued that the Museum has been unwilling or unable to take the forceful action required if the wider society is to become cognizant of its responsibilities. The Noonkanbah and Argyle developments are examined in some detail; it is argued that the Museum, following retrograde amendments to the Act in 1980, has become a political arm of the government rather than an independent body able to provide professional advice on the protection of the State's Aboriginal heritage. Future prospects are discussed and recommendations made to improve the administration of the Act and the implementation of stated Government policy.     

Transparency and Openness: A Reform or Education Policy?

Current policies are developed through complex and dynamic historical processes and conflicts originating in these processes. In 2002 a new Act on Transparency and Openness in education was put into effect in Denmark. The Act is a formalised system of performance measurement, and introduced a new feature to the governing of the Danish education system. All educational institutions are obliged to publish on the Internet average grades of final examinations. The historical institutional concept of path dependency shows how the outline of the Act is made at an earlier stage. The Act is layered as a new institutional arrangement on top of pre-existing institutions. By focusing on how institutional and political processes interact and are combined, new contributions to historical institutionalism are further developed without considering institutional reproduction and innovation as opposites. It is elaborated how the Act, with respect to certain dimensions, respectively reproduces, breaks with and combines two formerly outlaid paths of education policy and reform policy.     

The decision to exclude agricultural and domestic workers from the 1935 Social Security Act

The Social Security Act of 1935 excluded from coverage about half the workers in the American economy. Among the excluded groups were agricultural and domestic workers-a large percentage of whom were African Americans. This has led some scholars to conclude that policymakers in 1935 deliberately excluded African Americans from the Social Security system because of prevailing racial biases during that period. This article examines both the logic of this thesis and the available empirical evidence on the origins of the coverage exclusions. The author concludes that the racial-bias thesis is both conceptually flawed and unsupported by the existing empirical evidence. The exclusion of agricultural and domestic workers from the early program was due to considerations of administrative feasibility involving tax-collection procedures. The author finds no evidence of any other policy motive involving racial bias.     

RAILROAD POLICY AND INTERMODALISM: Policy Choices after Deregulation

Intermodalism is widely viewed as a promising recent development in transportation. This article examines the role played by railroads in intermodal freight transportation and the framework of public policies around whic intermodal freight movement has evolved. Intermodalism emerged because of technological, organizational, and public policy developments that contributed to its rapid growth. Deregulation of the rail industry since 1980 has led to significant restructuring through mergers and direct contracts between railroads and customers. As intermodal shipments become more important to the overall transportation system in the United States, attention will need to be given to ways in which intermodal concerns are addressed in surface transportation programs.     

The future of crime in the united states from now to the year 2000

Societal factors are identified which are driving toward qualitative and quantitative changes in the pattern of crime in the United States. Some of these factors will amplify while others will diminish the importance of current categories of crime. They will also lead to new crimes or increased relative significance to certain crime categories. On the other hand, the interaction of these factors also may lead to the virtual extinguishment of some crimes or to their removal from the rosters of illegality. Against that background some opportunities and needs for public policy decisions and related research are suggested.Presented at the First Assembly of The World Future Society, Washington, D.C., May 14, 1971.The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not imply endorsement of factual accuracy or opinion by the National Science Foundation, Departments of the U.S. Government, or any organization with which the author is associated.     

Implementation of the Federal Chief Financial Officers Act

The Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act of 1990 proposes to rationalize the many financial practices and systems of the federal financial establishment. Due to the significant number and magnitude of the changes required by the Act, those involved in implementing the Act are encountering unanticipated practical problems and issues. This article addresses some of the surfacing difficulties, including, the qualifications of CFO's; implementation costs, standards, and authority; content of financial statements; and the scope of audits including performance measurement.     

The Policy Constraints of Deficit Reduction: President Clinton's 1995 Budget

The federal budgeting process is now limited by deficit reduction policy constraints. This article examines the FY 1995 budget requests within the context of long term budget trends, changes in the federal budget process, and the recently established political and fiscal budget constraints. It further examines enactment of the Omnibus Budget Enforcement Act of 1993, the policy changes it contained, and its further tinkering with the process of budgeting. Finally the article evaluates the first budgeting process of the Clinton administration and their initiatives in deficit reduction following these policy constraints.     

“Unredressed” Grievances under RTE: Navigating the State Labyrinth

Despite the refrain that India's statutory rights suffer from weak enforcement, little academic attention has been paid toward the role of grievance redress mechanisms that are crucial to rights enforcement. This article undertakes a systematic policy analysis of the grievance redress system under the Right to Education (RTE) Act at the level of both design and performance by illustrating it through the Karnataka example. Our findings show that the redress procedures under RTE in Karnataka are perplexing and poorly designed and have not led to enforcement of the right. With faltering administrative accountability, many complainants find themselves with unresolved grievances leading to unenforced or improperly enforced rights. Significant changes in the law and a substantial redesign of institutions are vital for effectively enforcing the RTE.     

ADVISING THE GOVERNMENT: THE FAMILY LAW COUNCIL

Abstract: The Family Law Council was established in November 1976 with the responsibility of advising the Attorney-General on the operation of the Family Law Act 1975. This paper examines the role, membership and operation of the Family Law Council and its performance as a body providing policy advice to government. Statistical data is included on a number of matters. Although the paper draws mainly on the experience of the Family Law Council, some of the comments and suggestions made are possibly appropriate, in varying degrees, to other advisory bodies of a similar type. The paper suggests that such bodies are capable of offering inexpensive and representative advice to government and, if certain disadvantages can be overcome, more use of some existing advisory bodies may be desirable and this may even result in economies. It also suggests that there is a need to examine the whole advisory body field and that it is also desirable that the need for some ground rules for the creation and the operation of advisory bodies should be looked into.     

THE CHANGING CONTEXT OF ACADEMIC SCIENCE: UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY RELATIONS IN BIOTECHNOLOGY AND THE PUBLIC POLICY IMPLICATIONS

The issue of university-industry relations in the field of biotechnology illustrates the changing context of academic science. Research has become an organizational enterprise and no longer can be seen as simply the accumulation of individual efforts. This development complicates the normative context of academic science and in so doing introduces important policy questions, especially regarding interaction between industry and universities. Funding, faculty conflict of Interest, and the ownership of intellectual property resulting from research are policy issues which are analyzed in the context of some of the recent organizational changes in the performance of academic research.