An Evaluation of Alternative Tax and Expenditure Limitation Policies on Kansas Local Governments

Cross-sectional time series data in a partial adjustment model are used to examine county government fiscal behavior under a "hard" tax and expenditure limitation policy, an aggregate property tax levy limit, versus a "soft" limit under Truth in Taxation in Kansas. Results indicate that under the aggregate levy limit, per capita property taxes, own-source revenues and own-source expenditures were significantly higher than under the Truth in Taxation policy where local officials face many fewer restrictions on their ability to raise the levy.     

The New Aerospace Diplomacy: Reconstructing Post-Cold War US-Russian Economic Relations

Post-Cold War U.S.-Russian diplomacy reveals the increased importance of new diplomatic actors and processes, whilst underscoring the continued key role of state-state negotiation in reconstructing the bilateral relationship between the United States and post-Soviet Russia. The Clinton administration and Yeltsin government negotiated measures to promote political stability, democratization, and conversion to a neoliberal market economy in Russia, a centrepiece of which was the integration of Russia’s globally competitive aerospace sector into the global production chain. Establishing the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission, a top-level binational economic and technology policy committee, and signing a bilateral trade liberalization treaty on commercial satellite launch services paved the way for public-public and public-private bilateral space cooperation, and for major private joint ventures between US and Russian aerospace firms.     

Restructuring Justice in Russia: A New Era of Challenges

This paper reviews the criminal justice system in Russia from historical and contemporary perspectives. The realities of greater liberalization and the dissolution of the Central Soviet Government will have a significant impact of the future criminal justice program. Based on a criminal justice delegation including meetings with Soviet criminal justice participants, it is argued that the Soviet will likely lean toward incorporating a more continental crime reduction ideology instead of a Western-style Common Law that emphasizes legal process rather than crime reduction.     

EXAMINING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MILITARY SERVICE AND CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR DURING THE VIETNAM ERA: A RESEARCH NOTE*

Throughout U.S. history, the military has played a role in the lives of a large proportion of the U.S. population. However, little research has focused on this topic, particularly in criminology. This study seeks to determine whether military service changes an individual's criminal behavior and/or whether the military provides another setting for the continuation of prior behavior. To address these questions, this study uses Wolfgang's 1945 Philadelphia birth cohort and Shannon's 1949 Racine, Wisconsin birth cohort data sets. Statistical methods were used to account for potential differences in selection and the presence of unobserved heterogeneity. Results suggest that military service reduces later offending in general. However, there is no significant effect of service on later violent behavior.     

Synthesizing Related Rules from Statutes and Cases for Legal Expert Systems

Abstract. Different legal expert systems may be incompatible with each other: A user in characterizing the same situation by answering the questions presented in a consultation can be led to contradictory inferences. Such systems can be "synthesized" to help users avoid such contradictions by alerting them that other relevant systems are available to be consulted as they are responding to questions. An example of potentially incompatible, related legal expert systems is presented here - ones for the New Jersey murder statute and the celebrated Quinlan case, along with one way of synthesizing them to avoid such incompatibility.     

On either side of a moat? Elite and mass attitudes towards right and wrong

This article develops a cognitive institutionalist account of mass and elite evaluations of political ethics, which is tested on a new dataset from the United Kingdom. The analysis explores the extent of contemporary disagreement among British political elites and those they represent by comparing responses to questions asked in a representative survey of the public with similar questions asked of incumbent MPs and parliamentary candidates. There are systematic differences between members of the public, candidates and MPs at both aggregate and individual levels – differences which can be accounted for with reference to the framing effects of Parliament as an institution. Candidates for parliamentary office display significantly more tolerance of ethically dubious behaviour than other members of the public. Within the elite category, elected MPs exhibit more permissive ethical standards than those candidates who are unsuccessful.