Bicameralism and majoritarian equilibrium

Recent papers have established that bicameralism can support a non-empty core in majority voting games in two dimensional policy spaces. We generalise this result to the n-dimensional case, and provide a discussion of multi-cameralism. Bicameralism generates a core of potentially stable equilibria by institutionalising opposition between mutually oriented median voters, this provides a clear link with the standard median voter model and with more traditional analyses of bicameralism.An earlier version of this paper (Brennan and Hamlin, 1990), written in ignorance of the work of Hammond and Miller (1987, 1990), benefited from comments at the Public Choice Society meetings, Tucson; the European Public Choice Society meetings, Meersburg; the Center for Study of Public Choice, and the Universities of Chicago and Oxford. Hamlin is grateful for the support of visiting fellowships at ANU and All Souls College, Oxford.     

Influencing Public Opinion of Space Policy: Programmatic Effects Versus Education Effects

The public is generally supportive of space policy, but less supportive of spending for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) compared to other government programs. Previous research has helped identify who is more likely to be supportive of NASA spending, but not why. This study seeks to understand the causal mechanisms that influence support for NASA. Using natural between-survey and induced within-survey experiments, this study attempts to identify factors influencing changes in public support for NASA spending. Short-term programmatic and related media effects appear to have no influence on public support for NASA spending. However, correcting information asymmetries in regard to NASA's budget appears to have a significant positive effect on public support for NASA spending. The findings speak to the importance of the public being well informed on policy issues in order to make a correct policy choice, and demonstrate that individual programmatic aspects may not be as important as overall agency direction.     

Creating and contesting meanings of place and community in the Ylay Talaa Valley of Kyrgyzstan

Formal schooling was virtually non-existent before the Soviet power in nomadic Kyrgyzstan, as communal life and learning was organized informally at the household and clan level. During the Soviet period, however, educational success became an avenue to a new form of upward social and geographical mobility, and the school provided new and prestigious positions for local teachers and administrators. This paper explores how the externally imposed Soviet collectivization policies reshaped the understandings and meanings of place and community during the twentieth century, a reshaping that centrally involved redefining education and the importance of ‘the school’. In the post-Soviet period, the utility of secondary and higher education in local and national labour markets has diminished, as has the power and prestige of educators. Yet the appeal of education lingers on. The authors seek to document these claims using oral histories, ethnographic interviews and participant observations in the Ylay Talaa Valley of the Kyrgyz Republic.     

Ten years of infitah: class,rent, and policy stasis in Egypt

The Political Economy of Income Distribution in Egypt. Edited by Gouda Abdel‐Khalek and Robert Tignor. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1982. $55. ISBN 0 8419 0633 5.

Employment Opportunities and Equity in Egypt: A Labour Market Approach. By Bent Hansen and Samir Radwan. Geneva: International Labour Office, 1982. $25.65 and $19.95. ISBN 92 2 102995 6 and 102996 4.

Egypt: Politics and Society, 1945–1981. By Derek Hopwood. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1982. £12.50. ISBN 0 04 956011 5.

An Economic History of the Middle East and North Africa. By Charles Issawi. London: Methuen, 1982. £12.50. ISBN 0 416 34330 9.

Population and Development in Rural Egypt. By Allen C. Kelley, Atef M. Khalifa, and M. Nabil El‐Khorazaty. Durham, NC: Duke Press Policy Studies, 1982. $22.75. ISBN 0 8223 0475 9.