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 -     

Mixing Communities? Riots,Regeneration and Renewal on Problem Estates in France and England

Riots, social exclusion, and endless improvement programmes have been a feature of the poorest neighbourhoods in France and England for the last thirty‐five years or more—particularly focused on large social housing estates. Programmes of improvement have followed similar paths in each country, with mixed success. This article sets out a short overview of these programmes in each country, then contrasts and compares the objectives, approaches, and outcomes. Each country has key elements of inter‐agency working, local and resident participation and planning, large‐scale building rehabilitation and demolition programmes, though the French system is more often based on specific local contracts between cities and the central departments. Similar evaluation outcome indicators and frameworks of ‘floor’ and ‘gap’ targets have been set, although evidence of success is limited and, particularly in France, there has been considerable criticism of the approach and framework. In parallel, however, the concept of ‘mixed communities’ has emerged as an alternative strategic approach—intuitively reasonable, politically popular, but lacking an evidence base and often ineffective in dealing with poverty.     

How a demanding employment relationship relates to affective commitment in public organizations: A multilevel analysis

It has recently been recognized in the public administration literature that multiple reforms coexist in public organizations, ranging from the Weberian bureaucracy to New Public Management and, more recently, new public governance. This study develops a typology of the employment relationship with features of these macro‐level changes and tests their impact on the civil servant's affective commitment by including the individual‐level social exchange relationship. This multilevel model is tested with data from 936 employees in a public organization. The findings confirm the existence of different approaches to the employment relationship: overdemanding, mutual investment and moderately demanding. Civil servants in a mutual investment employment relationship are most affectively committed, and civil servants in a moderately demanding employment relationship benefit most from a positive social exchange relationship. Implications for public management theory and practice are discussed.