Size,Democracy, and the Economic Costs of Running the Political System

The search for the optimal size of political systems is one of the most enduring in political thought. Given the validity of arguments for and against small units, one might expect variation in rearrangements of unit sizes. However, the reform trend is uniform: units, often at the local level, are amalgamated to harvest scale effects. The purpose of this article is to evaluate the argument on economies of scale in the economic costs of running political systems. Our testing ground is a recent Danish reform. It allows us to avoid endogeneity problems often facing researchers of size reforms. The reform was directed by the central government and constitutes an exogenous shock to 239 municipalities, whereas 32 municipalities were left untouched. We thus have a quasi‐experiment with pre‐ and posttreatment observations for both an experiment and a control group. Our findings show that scale effects, measured as administrative costs per inhabitant, are considerable.     

Rinderwahnsinn. Können Gesellschaften aus Krisen lernen?

Bovine Spongiforme Enzephalopathie, kurz BSE, ist ein Kulminationspunkt einer Reihe sozialer Krisen: BSE ist Symbol für die Krise der Natur, die Krise des Gewissheitsanspruches der Wissenschaften, die Krise der Verwaltungen oder der Agro- und Fleischindustrie. Die BSE-Krise fordert die institutionelle Landschaft moderner Gesellschaften auf besondere Weise heraus. Aber augenscheinlich fällt es Verwaltungen und Regierungen oder einzelnen sub-politischen Akteuren wie Organisationen und Expertengemeinschaften schwer, auf das komplexe Problem zu reagieren. Die Pluralisierung von Wissensansprüchen, -ressourcen und Werthaltungen, aber auch die Zunahme von Ungewissheit und Nicht-Wissen erschweren die Chancen für eine Konvergenz der Problemsichten und die gemeinsame Organisation von Ma\nahmen zur Problemlösung. Vor diesem Hintergrund stellt sich die Frage, inwiefern Gesellschaften überhaupt aus solchen Krisen ?lernen“ können. Die jüngere modemisierungstheoretische Diskussion setzt ihre Hoffnungen dabei auf die Lerneffekte von Netzwerken wie Epistemic Communities, Advocacy- oder Diskurskoalitionen, die die kollektiven Lernchancen quer zu den üblichen Disziplin-, Organisations- und Institutionsgrenzen denken. Der folgende Beitrag versucht über diese Ansätze hinauszugehen. Dabei wird deutlich, dass die Chancen kollektiven Lernens nicht nur von den akteursspezifischen und institutionellen Problemnarrationen abhängen, sondern auch von den institutionellen Kontexten und Verfahren, durch die das Lernen des Lernens organisiert wird. Ob sich durch das Zusammenspiel von Problemnarrationen und interorganisatorischer wie interinstitutioneller Kommunikation die Lernfähigkeit in den unterschiedlichen institutionellen Feldern erhöhen lässt oder sich die Wahrscheinlichkeit ihrer Blockierung erhöht, ist eine brennende Frage.     

Still Corporatism in Scandinavia? A Survey of Recent Empirical Findings

This essay surveys empirical research conducted in the 1990s on the influence of organized interests in the Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Norway and Denmark. The essay consists of five main sections. After a brief introduction, the first three main sections survey the emergence, development and present state of Scandinavian corporatism. Then the question of the impact of corporatism on the Scandinavian societies is discussed, followed by an overview of the state of corporatism outside the traditional areas of the labour market, industry and agriculture. The essay closes with a brief conclusion discussing areas in need of further study.     

The economic effects of direct democracy—a first global assessment

This is the first study that assesses the economic effects of direct democratic institutions on a cross-country basis. We find that total spending as well as spending on welfare is lower in countries with mandatory referendums, consistent with the previous literature. But we also find that countries with national initiatives appear to spend more and be more corrupt. Finally, budget deficits, government effectiveness, productivity and “happiness” appear unrelated to direct democracy. Institutional detail thus matters a great deal. In general, the effects of direct-democratic institutions become stronger if the frequency of their actual use is taken into account. Effects are usually stronger in countries with weak democracies.     

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)--standardised investigations and classification: recommendations

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) still accounts for considerable numbers of unexpected infant deaths in many countries. While numerous theories have been advanced to explain these events, it is increasingly clear that this group of infant deaths results from the complex interaction of a variety of heritable and idiosyncratic endogenous factors interacting with exogenous factors. This has been elegantly summarised in the "three hit" or "triple risk" model. Contradictions and lack of consistencies in the literature have arisen from diverse autopsy approaches, variable applications of diagnostic criteria and inconsistent use of definitions. An approach to sudden infant death is outlined with discussion of appropriate tissue sampling, ancillary investigations and the use of controls in research projects. Standardisation of infant death investigations with the application of uniform definitions and protocols will ensure optimal investigation of individual cases and enable international comparisons of trends.