Tiebout Sorting in Metropolitan Areas

In this article, we tackle the issue of sorting at the metropolitan area by utilizing an alternative methodological approach that permits us to avoid problems plaguing earlier studies. For this analysis, we take two Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) as our test cases: the Houston MSA and the Atlanta MSA. For each metropolitan area, we employ Monte Carlo computer simulations to randomly create a large number of metropolitan “jurisdictional” groupings. Based upon these Monte Carlos, we are able to estimate the level of jurisdictional homogeneity that is attributable to random chance. The observed levels of sorting, including the increasing homogeneity as populations decrease, are entirely consistent with what one might find if clusters of households were randomly grouped together into municipalities.     

Overestimating the Shift from Government to Governance: Evidence from Swiss Metropolitan Areas

There is an oft‐stated claim in political science research that public sector reforms in Western democracies are consistent with a shift from government to governance. This article challenges that claim. Based on a comparative analysis of governance reforms in Swiss metropolitan areas, the article reveals that what seems to be a shift to governance may turn out to be a path to government, however, including a change either from the local to the metropolitan level or from general‐purpose authorities to task‐specific jurisdictions. Further, the article analyzes the political dynamics behind governance reforms. It shows that exogenous pressures put existing governance schemes under strain. Its impact, however, is mediated by the initial institutional setting and the narratives responding to case‐specific political dilemmas.     

The Correlates of Life Quality in U.S. Metropolitan Areas

This study analyzes the correlates of life quality differencesin 243 U.S. metropolitan areas. Using an overall index of lifequality developed by Ben-Chieh Liu, it tests the empirical utilityof three competing explanations—racial dualism, economicdevelopment, and political culture. The results show that allthree exert substantial effects on the quality of life regardlessof metropolitan size. Overall the best predictor of life qualitydifferences is the percentage of adults who have received atleast a high school education. In addition, cultural differencesexert significant effects on the quality of metropolitan lifeindependent of racial and developmental differences. These culturaleffects are interpreted within two theoretically seminal theories:Elazar's theory of political culture and Gastil's theory ofcultural regions.     

The Fiscal Organization of Metropolitan Areas: The Allegheny County Case Reconsidered

Is consolidation of local governments within metropolitan areasdesirable? The "traditional reform approach" advocates greaterconsolidation to promote efficiency and equity. However, recentstudies by the U.S. Advisory Commission on IntergovernmentalRelations (ACIR), relying on a "public choice approach," arguethat formally fragmented systems can produce self-determination,citizen choice, competition, fiscal equivalence, accountability,and representation. This study reassesses the evidence presentedin the ACIR study on Allegheny County. While concurring thattraditional reform efforts are poorly conceptualized, the findingsshow that fiscal disparities among Allegheny County municipalitiespersist and have significantly increased over the past decade.These findings, taken together with those from citizen surveys,challenge the conceptual foundations and policy implicationsof both approaches. F or more than half a century, scholars     

The Impact of Political Debate on Government Trust: Reminding the Public What the Federal Government Does

Americans' confidence in government is low by historical standards. We fielded a national telephone survey to examine influences on government confidence and whether public discontent was affected by altering the salience of specific government operations. We used a question order experiment where we alternated between first asking a general question about confidence in government and first asking about confidence in specific government operations. We found that posing the specific policy questions first elevated general confidence more than the reverse. The largest and most noticeable effects were observed for Republicans and those most knowledgeable and attentive to politics. Findings of context effects and the partisan subgroup differences are consistent with existing theories on public opinion change as well as with previous question order experiments. But, evidence that the cognitive elite was especially influenced by question order challenges previous theories that presumed that its sophistication made it immune to influence. We suggest that education and political knowledge expand rather than contract the opportunities for priming.     

长三角区域政府合作构想——美国大都市区的启示

长三角一体化是一种必然的趋势。在长三角一体化进程中，各个地方政府具有决定性的作用，是最主要的推动力量。但长三角区域政府合作效果仍不容乐观。美国大都市区在政府合作和协调方面的经验，值得我们思考和借鉴。我国长三角区域政府合作受条块关系不顺、政绩观和二元行政文化的影响，效果并不理想。亟须建立制度化的跨区域协调机构，完善区域合作规则和健全政府绩效评估体系。     

Research Note: Reexamining the Suburban Exploitation Thesis in American Metropolitan Areas

The argument that suburbs exploit cities has been made so oftenthat it seems incontestable. Adherents to that view, however,rarely produce evidence for exploitation where suburban-generatedbenefits have been measured and compared with suburban-generatedcosts. Studies that examine only costs are not convincing evidencethat suburbs damage cities. Relatedly, what evidence existsthat metropolitan government fragmentation damages cities, whileconcentration helps them? When studies of those subjects arereviewed, the patterns challenge the suburban-exploitation thesis.Implications are discussed, including the significance for federalstructures of metropolitan governance.     

The Debate on Australian Federalism: Local Government Financial Interrelationships with State and Commonwealth Governments

The nascent debate on Australian federalism has hitherto focused almost entirely on Commonwealth-state interrelationships to the virtual exclusion of local government. Since Australian local government employs around 156,000 people and spends in excess of $10 billion this neglect is unfortunate. In an effort to at least partly remedy this oversight, the present paper seeks to assess various unsettled questions in local government financial relationships with both Commonwealth and state governments, especially the issue of financial assistance grants and their efficiency consequences.     

The Federalism Debate

These papers examine current Australian federalism from the perspectives of an academic and a practitioner. Both acknowledge the opportunities arising from the current White Paper process, as well as challenges in the face of substantial cuts of proposed funding from the Commonwealth to the States. They insist upon the need for renewed commitment to the idea of federalism, and the importance of sustainable fiscal arrangements within the federation. Challenges in Reforming Australian federalism reminds us of the kind of federalism operative in Australia – concurrent, not coordinate – and develops reform proposals accordingly. Ten Steps to a Better Federation offers a range of ideas from a former state premier, drawing on his experience as both a participant at Council of Australian Government (COAG) and, later, Chair of the COAG Reform Council.     

Metropolitan Institutions and Policy Coordination: The Integration of Land Use and Transport Policies in Swiss Urban Areas

The article addresses the question of how different metropolitan institutional settings affect the quality of political negotiation processes and their subsequent policy decisions. Starting from the theoretical controversy of the two metropolitan reform traditions, two opposing ideal types of metropolitan government institutions are conceptualized: on the one hand the public choice model that stands for a decentralized, nonprofessional, and politically dependent administration in fragmented urban areas, and on the other hand the neoprogressive model that stands for direct public service production by centralized and professionalized bureaucracies within consolidated municipalities. A qualitative comparative analysis of nine decision cases in four Swiss urban areas uncovers three main results: voluntary, positive, and policy-driven coordination as well as well coordinated policy solutions are found in centralized rather than decentralized institutional settings, in fragmented rather than consolidated metropolitan areas, and in project structures with a strict separation of the political sphere of negotiating from the technical sphere rather than in negotiations without such clear distinction. However, it is only under very specific institutional conditions that these well-coordinated solutions are also being implemented. The findings must be put into perspective in two respects. On the one hand, the positive effect of fragmentation on the quality of deliberation is supposedly unique to Switzerland due to its very strong federalism. On the other hand, the importance of bureaucratic autonomy is probably due to Switzerland's marked tradition of a weak state. The results from the nine test cases in general, however, substantiate the hypotheses derived from the neoprogressive model of metropolitan government institutions rather than the public choice model.     

The Animal Research Debate

Animal rights extremism has encouraged the media to examine the benefits and justification of animal research. There is broad support from the scientific community and government for carefully conducted animal research; however, Parliament is hindered, as many MPs are ill-informed. The recent Nuffield Council on Bioethics investigated the issue and determined that in carefully considered cases animal research is justified, scientifically valid, and has contributed to human health. The great majority of the public accept the need for animal research for medical progress when there is no alternative method available. Arguments used by anti-vivisectionists are discussed, many of which are unfounded and based on misconceptions.     

Pierre-Louis Rœderer and the Debate on Forms of Government in Revolutionary France

The French Revolution raised the problem of how to construct a modern republic under conditions of acute political conflict. The debate over the forms of government was at its most intense before the outbreak of the Terror in 1793, when there seemed to be no alternative to instituting a republic, but there was serious disagreement over what this entailed. The problem was considered in terms of the political thought of Hobbes, Locke, Bayle, Voltaire, Helvetius, Montesquieu, Rousseau and Sieyès. The urgent political and constitutional need to reconcile accountable with effective government was central to the use made of both inherited and new ideas about the republican form of government. This parallels Madison's concern to reconcile accountable with effective government during the constitutional debates of the American Revolution.     

Tracking and Explaining Neighborhood Socioeconomic Change in U.S. Metropolitan Areas Between 1990 and 2010

This article addresses four fundamental questions about neighborhood change processes and outcomes among large U.S. metropolitan areas between 1990 and 2010: (a) Is it possible using census data and other secondary sources to come up with a consistent and robust method to measure gentrification and other forms of substantial neighborhood socioeconomic change (SNSEC) across all U.S. metropolitan areas? (b) To what degree are gentrification and other forms of SNSEC the result of metropolitan-scale economic and demographic forces versus more bottom-up and neighborhood-specific forces and dynamics? (c) To what degree are gentrification and other forms of SNSEC shaped by the actions of individual, and groups of, property owners, developers, and speculators versus the neighborhood service and location preferences of households? (d) To what extent are gentrification and other forms of substantial neighborhood change always accompanied by the displacement of existing residents?     

政府在农村公共物品供给中的理念创新

农村公共物品的有效供给是确保社会主义新农村建设进程和质量的决定性因素,政府作为推动新农村建设的主导力量,在农村公共物品供给中应该打破固有的观念束缚,用先进的理念来指导农村公共物品的有效供给,通过树立公共性理念、服务多元化理念、社会公正理念、民主正义理念、法治理念和追求效能理念,把政府对农村公共物品的供给提高到体现政府责任、实现社会公正和凸现价值正义上来。     

欠发达地区构建和谐社会政府策略选择研究

经济欠发达地区构建和谐社会存在着发展软硬件先天不足、经济社会发展缓慢、利益冲突、社会矛盾表现显著、城乡二元结构矛盾突显等一些重点及难点问题。欠发达地区构建和谐社会需要政府的全面介入,在转变发展观念、加快经济社会发展、完善利益机制、健全保障体系、加大政策支持等方面做好政府策略选择。