Identifying the Persuasive Effects of Presidential Advertising

Do presidential campaign advertisements mobilize, inform, or persuade citizens? To answer this question we exploit a natural experiment, the accidental treatment of some individuals living in nonbattleground states during the 2000 presidential election to either high levels or one‐sided barrages of campaign advertisements simply because they resided in a media market adjoining a competitive state. We isolate the effects of advertising by matching records of locally broadcast presidential advertising with the opinions of National Annenberg Election Survey respondents living in these uncontested states. This approach remedies the observed correlation between advertising and both other campaign activities and previous election outcomes. In contrast to previous research, we find little evidence that citizens are mobilized by or learn from presidential advertisements, but strong evidence that they are persuaded by them. We also consider the causal mechanisms that facilitate persuasion and investigate whether some individuals are more susceptible to persuasion than others.     

The Strategic Use of Information Technology by Nonprofit Organizations: Increasing Capacity and Untapped Potential

How are nonprofits using information technology to enhance mission‐related outcomes and boost organizational performance? The authors examine a large‐scale survey of nonprofits’ technology planning, acquisition, and implementation to assess the strategic use of IT in these organizations. They evaluate nonprofits’ strategic technology‐use potential by examining IT‐related competencies and practices that are critical for the successful strategic employment of technology resources. Several promising developments are found, alongside significant deficits in the strategic utilization of IT, especially in the areas of financial sustainability, strategic communications and relationship building, and collaborations and partnerships. To boost IT’s mission‐related impact, nonprofits must enhance their organizational capacities in long‐term IT planning, budgeting, staffing, and training; performance measurement; Internet and Web site capabilities; and the vision, support, and involvement of senior management.     

Wer wird Prof — und wann? Berufungsdeterminanten in der deutschen Politikwissenschaft

The article examines the determinants of professorial recruitment in German Political Science after 1990. More precisely, we analyze which factors influence a) the likelihood of obtaining a tenured professorship, b) the hiring of professors without habilitation, c) the age of obtaining the first tenured professorship, d) the duration between the habilitation and the first tenured professorship.     

Organisierte Interessen in der Landespolitik. Die Entstehung des INGE-Gesetzes in Hessen

In this case study we want to reduce the gap in research on the influence of organized interests at the federal state level. We analyse the “Gesetz zur Stärkung von innerstädtischen Geschäftsquartieren” (INGE) by applying social network analysis and statistical models. First, we show that the set of actors changes compared to the federal level. Second, we find that striving for influence pays off for non-state actors because influential actors find themselves close to the law. Third, we explain the degree of the actors’ influence. An OLS-regression shows that formal resources like governmental power as well as informal resources such as expertise and support increase influence. The use of informal resources is reflected in interactions in communication networks and specific network positions. Furthermore, we discuss this specific process of interaction between state and societal actors from the point of view of democratic theory.     

The social security earnings test and work incentives

The labor supply and benefit claiming incentives provided by the early retirement rules of the Social Security Old Age benefits program are of growing importance as the Normal Retirement Age (NRA) increases to 67, the labor force participation of Older Americans rises, and a variety of reforms to the Social Security system are considered. Any reform needs to take into account the effects and rationale of the Social Security Earnings Test and the Actuarial Adjustment Factor, which are likely to be widely misunderstood due to the relatively little attention paid by policymakers and researchers to the fact that Americans are willing to work while receiving benefits. We describe these incentives and emphasize that individuals who claim benefits before the NRA but continue to work, or return to the labor force, can reduce the early retirement penalty by suspending the collection of monthly benefits if they earn above the Earnings Test limit. We then argue that the Earnings Test can be distortionary and is costly to administer, and that these characteristics are inflated by the lack of information given to Older Americans regarding the consequences of working while receiving retirement benefits. We present results from statistical models of labor force exit behavior using data from the Health and Retirement Study showing the relevance of these incentives, and investigate the importance of informational asymmetries among beneficiaries regarding benefit withholding using a dynamic life‐cycle model of labor supply and benefit claiming. We then use the latter framework to compare the behavioral and welfare implications of a removal of the Earnings Test to the policy of providing more information regarding the Earnings Test and the adjustment of the rate of benefit pay to Older Americans. © 2007 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management     

The Potential for Local Diversity in Implementation of the National Competition Policy

Australian governments have embarked on a major effort to improve the competitiveness of the economy by adoption of a national competition policy (NCP). The policy extends the scope of trade practices legislation to encompass the public sector and professions, modernises policy in the areas of pricing and access powers, and is intended to revitalise the microeconomic reform agenda. The intended result is an integrated national economy, more uniform and consistent business regulation across the country and improved levels of competitiveness. But, there is an inherent tension between the imperatives for harmonisation, uniformity and reduced regulation on the one hand and tendencies for local diversity and increased regulation on the other. This article explores this tension with illustrations taken from three key aspects of the policy — opportunities for institutional diversity, treatment of the public interest and the prognosis for an integrated national, competitive market. The potential for each jurisdiction in Australia to take diverse and problematic approaches to the implementation of competition policy is then re-examined through the mechanism of a specialised case study involving the regulation of access to gas pipelines in Western Australia.     

B. Reviews: general

DISCOVERING ISLAM: MAKING SENSE OF MUSLIM HISTORY AND SOCIETY. By AKBAR S. AHMED. London and New York, Routledge and Kegan Paul, Ltd., 1988. 251pp.

THE CRUSADES THROUGH ARAB EYES. By AMIN MAALOUF. Translated by JON ROTHSCHILD. London, Al‐Saqi Books, 1984 (first published as Les Croisades vues par les Arabes, Paris, 1983). 295 pp., 2 maps.

THE SOCIAL ORIGINS OF THE MODERN MIDDLE EAST. By HAIM GERBER. Boulder, Lynne Rienner/London, Mansell, 1987. 300pp. £26.50 (U.K.)

PAN‐ARABISM AND ARAB NATIONALISM: THE CONTINUING DEBATE. Edited by TAWFIC E. FARAH. London/Boulder, Colorado, Westview Press, 1987. 208pp., notes, tables.

POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION IN THE ARAB STATES. Edited by TAWFIC E. FARAH and YASUMASA KURODA. Boulder, Lynne Rienner, 1987. vii‐xiv, 215pp.

ZIONISM AND THE ARABS, 1882–1948: A STUDY OF IDEOLOGY. By YOUSEF GORNY. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1987. 342pp. £32.50.

SHI'ISM, RESISTANCE, AND REVOLUTION. Edited by MARTIN KRAMER. Boulder, Co., Westview/London, Mansell, 1987. 324pp.

EGYPT: INTERNAL CHALLENGES AND REGIONAL STABILITY. Edited by LILLIAN CRAIG HARRIS. (Chatham House Papers, 39.) London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1988. 116pp. £5.95.

PALESTINIAN HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE WEST BANK AND GAZA: A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT. By SAMIR N. ANABTAWI. London, KPI, 1986. 84pp. 1 map, tables.

POLITICS AND THE ECONOMY IN SYRIA. Edited by J.A. ALLAN. London, Centre for Near and Middle Eastern Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1987. 142pp., maps, figs., tables.

IRAQ SINCE 1958: FROM REVOLUTION TO DICTATORSHIP. By MARION FAROUK‐SLUGLETT AND PETER SLUGLETT. London, KPI, 1987. 332pp. £12.95.

LAW AND JUSTICE IN CONTEMPORARY YEMEN: THE PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF YEMEN AND THE YEMEN ARAB REPUBLIC. By S.H. AMIN. Glasgow, Royston Ltd., 1987. vi, 159pp. £18.75

TRANSLATIONS OF EASTERN POETRY AND PROSE. By REYNOLD ALLEYNE NICHOLSON, with a new Introduction by C.E. Bosworth. London, Curzon Press/New Jersey, Humanities Press, 1987 (first published 1922). xvi, 200pp, 5 plates. £5.50.

FROM THE IVORY TOWER: A CRITICAL STUDY OF TAWFIQ AL‐HAKIM. By PAUL STARKEY. (St Antony's Middle East Monographs, no.19.) London, Ithaca Press, 1987. 260pp. £18.00.

IRAN: AT WAR WITH HISTORY. By JOHN W. LIMBERT. (Profiles: Nations of the Contemporary Middle East.) Boulder, Co., Westview Press/London and Sydney, Croom Helm, 1987. xviii, 186pp., 5 maps, 12 photographs, glossary, chronology and index. £25.00.

IMAM RÜHULLAH KHUMAINI, ?AH MUHAMMAD RIZA PAHLAVI AND THE RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS OF IRAN. By GUDMAR ANEER. (Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, Historia Religionum, 8.) Uppsala, 1985. (Distributor: Almqvist and Wiksell International, Stockholm.) 93pp., 7 colour plates.

FUNDAMENTALS OF ISLAMIC THOUGHT: GOD, MAN AND THE UNIVERSE. By AYATULLAH MURTAZA MUTAHHARI. Translated by R. CAMPBELL. Berkeley, Mizan Press, 1985. 235pp.

SOCIAL AND HISTORICAL CHANGE: AN ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE. By AYATULLAH MURTAZA MUTAHHARI. Translated by R. CAMPBELL. Berkeley, Mizan Press. 1986. 164pp.

DEVELOPMENT PLANNING IN IRAN: FROM MONARCHY TO ISLAMIC REPUBLIC. By KAMRAN MOFID. Cambridgeshire, MENAS Press, 1987. 320pp., tables and figures, notes, bibliography.

THE ELEMENTARY STRUCTURES OF POLITICAL LIFE: RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN PAHLAVI IRAN. By GRACE GOODELL. Oxford, O.U.P., 1986. 326pp.

BANKING AND EMPIRE IN IRAN (THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH BANK OF THE MIDDLE EAST, VOLUME I). By GEOFFREY JONES. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, xxiv, 418pp. £40.00.

PAKISTAN SOCIETY: ISLAM, ETHNICITY AND LEADERSHIP IN SOUTH ASIA. By AKBAR S. AHMED. Karachi, Oxford University Press, 1986. 279pp.

TOWARD ISLAMIC ANTHROPOLOGY: DEFINITION, DOGMA AND DIRECTIONS. By AKBAR S. AHMED. Ann Arbor, Michigan, New Era Publications/London, al‐Quds Publications, 1986.79pp. $6.00.

HÉRITER EN PAYS MUSULMAN: HABUS, LAIT VIVANT, MANYAHULI. Edited by MARCEAU GAST. Paris, Editions du C.N.R.S., 1987. 302pp. (French and English abstracts to p. 296; Index of vernacular terms to p. 302). FF. 130.

OPEC: THE RISE AND FALL OF AN EXCLUSIVE CLUB. By SHUKRI M. GHANEM. London, Kegan Paul International, 1986. 233pp. £30.00.

OPEC AID AND THE CHALLENGE OF DEVELOPMENT. Edited by ABDELKADER BENAMARA and SAM IFEAGWU. London, Croom Helm, 1987. 130pp. £25.00.

SYRIA AND IRAN: THREE STUDIES IN MEDIEVAL CERAMICS. Edited by JAMES ALLAN and CAROLINE ROBERTS. Oxford, O.U.P., 1987. 248pp. £25.00.     

The Things Negotiators Do With Money

Deal-making negotiations, in the minds of most people, center on theamount of money that is involved in a transaction. However, the timing ofa money transfer, the different methods of payment, and the addition ofother parties to a negotiation are all factors that sometimes are just asimportant as the amount of the transaction. The author uses case examplesfrom a variety of recent negotiations to illustrate some of the ways thatthe who, when, and how of a deal can have significant impact on a negotiationprocess.     

How academic researchers select collaborative research projects: a choice experiment

The Journal of Technology Transfer - Although many studies have been conducted on the drivers of and barriers to research collaborations, current literature provides limited insights into the ways...