Personality traits and party identification over time

Why do some people stably identify with a party while others do not? This study tests whether and how the direction, stability and strength of party identification are associated with big five personality traits, using panel data from a representative sample of German citizens. First, the study confirms that personality traits are related to identification with different political parties. Second, it moves beyond previous research by showing that personality traits are related to the strength and variation in party identification over time. The implications of the study for the classical perspectives on party identification, as well as the personality and politics literature, are discussed.     

Tax and Spending Effects of Municipal Enterprises: The Case of Florida Electric Utilities

This study tests the appropriateness of two competing hypotheses drawn from the public finance literature about the impact of municipal utility profits on local tax and spending patterns. By comparing data from cities that own their electric utilities to nonelectric cities, this research finds that neither city expenditures nor property tax rates are significantly affected by the transfer of profits. The evidence suggests that the profits are used by cities with relatively weak tax bases to obtain revenues from tax-exempt institutions, homeowners, and nonresidents.     

A comparative analysis of selected European guidelines and recommendations for biobanks with special regard to the research / non-research distinction.

Classifying an activity as research has considerable normative consequences: On the one side research activities are especially protected ("freedom of research"), on the other side stricter ethical rules legal regulations may apply to such activities, e.g. compulsory review by ethics committees. It is therefore important to find criteria to delimit research from non-research activities. The aim of the present study is to analyse some European guidelines and recommendations for biobanks and to see whether these documents provide comments that help to elucidate the research/non-research distinction.     

Editorial: From Kyoto to The Hague: European Perspectives on Making the Kyoto Protocol Work

International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics -