Effects of Public Opinion and Political System Characteristics on State Policy Outputs

Rather than competing with socioeconomic variables as directdeterminants of state policy, political system characteristicsmay operate as mediating factors that either facilitate or impedethe translation of constituency preferences into policy. Inthis study, the state opinion liberalism index presented byGerald Wright, Robert Erikson, and John Mclver is incorporatedin multiplicative regression models as a measure of citizenpreferences to address this theoretical reformulation. Althoughpervasive empirical corroboration is not found for the reconceptualizedrole for political variables, political system characteristicsdo demonstrate significant effects on state policy. In addition,suggesting that public officials responddirectly to citizenpreferences, evidence ispresentedon democratic representationwithin the states.     

The Consequences of Gentrification for Racial Change in Washington,DC

This article looks at the effects of gentrification on the racial composition and transformation of urban neighborhoods. The investigation examines Washington, DC, a city that has undergone significant and contentious racial transformation in the past few decades. To provide for a more robust analysis of how gentrification is associated with measures of racial displacement and diversity, I employ two separate quantitative measures. Using U.S. Census Bureau long form, American Community Survey, and decennial census data, I compare tract-level changes in racial evenness and displacement between gentrifying and nongentrifying areas from 1990 to 2010. The findings suggest that gentrification is associated with the displacement of blacks, but this racial turnover is not consistently associated with greater levels of racial and ethnic diversity compared with nongentrifying neighborhoods.     

Sovereignty and its Presuppositions: Before 9/11 and After

Is the modern states system in terminal decline? Are we witnessing a great transformation in that regard? Are the events of 9/11 indicative of that? Or is state sovereignty evolving, yet again, in response to scientific, technological, economic and social changes – as it has done throughout the post-medieval era of its existence? That latter line of argument is put forward in this essay.     

Term Limits,Campaign Contributions,and the Distribution of Power in State Legislatures

Using campaign contributions to legislators as an indicator of member influence, we explore the impact of term limits on the distribution of power within state legislatures. Specifically, we perform a cross‐state comparison of the relative influence of party caucus leaders, committee chairs, and rank‐and‐file legislators before and after term limits. The results indicate that term limits diffuse power in state legislatures, both by decreasing average contributions to incumbents and by reducing the power of party caucus leaders relative to other members. The change in contribution levels across legislators in different chambers implies a shift in power to the upper chamber in states with term limits. Thus, the impact of term limits may be attenuated in a bicameral system.     

Innovations and intellectual property: the case of genomic patenting.

In an effort to balance static and dynamic efficiency in the production and use of knowledge, societies institute intellectual property policies. In the United States, the patent system is a well-established mechanism to provide inventors with time-limited protection of new technologies in exchange for disclosure of information about their inventions. Emerging biotechnology, specifically the filing of patents on gene sequences, raises serious questions about whether the patent system is appropriately weighing societal costs and benefits in its grants of intellectual property protection. Gene sequences represent a hybrid case between discrete inventions and more general pieces of information that are useful for many, potentially very different, purposes. This information content in genes makes it possible for a patent on a gene to cover a wide range of possible technological applications and, as a result, be of unknown breadth when issued. This analysis explores the potential effect of these characteristics on future innovation in biotechnology. Copyright 2003 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.