Are Outcome Fairness and Outcome Favorability Distinguishable Psychological Constructs? A Meta-Analytic Review

Manipulations of outcome favorability and outcome fairness are frequently treated as interchangeable, and assumed to have redundant effects. Perceptions of outcome fairness and outcome favorability are similarly presumed to have common antecedents and consequences. This research tested the empirical foundation of these assumptions by conducting a meta-analytic review of the justice literature (N = 89 studies). This review revealed that outcome fairness is empirically distinguishable from outcome favorability. Specifically: (a) there is weaker evidence of the fair process effect when the criterion is outcome fairness than when it is outcome favorability, (b) outcome fairness has stronger effects than outcome favorability, and equally strong or stronger effects as procedural fairness on a host of variables, such as job turnover and organizational commitment, and (c) manipulations of outcome fairness and favorability have stronger effects on perceptions of procedural fairness than the converse.     

The Interest Cost Implications of the Financial Advisor Turned Underwriter

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) does not prohibit municipal financial advisors from participating in the bidding process to serve as underwriter on issues for which they provided advisory services. Some municipalities prohibit the practice, viewing such an arrangement as a conflict of interest. Using data from nearly one thousand competitively sold municipal debt issues in the state of Texas from 1991 to 1995, I test whether or not competition alone in the bidding process is sufficient to protect the interests of the issuer. For general obligation debt and state-backed school district debt these data indicate that there are no interest cost implications for the practice. For municipal and special district revenue debt I find weak evidence of some additional interest (about six basis points) when the advisor serves as underwriter, but the effect is not consistent enough throughout the data to reach statistical significance at the p<0.001 level (see note 10). What I do find is that unrated issues are much more likely to be bid on and won by the advisor, indicating that cities should be concerned about the guidance of their advisor when that advice is to take an unrated issue to market.     

The University's Role in Credentialing the Public Finance Officer

Three main issues related to the certification of public finance officers are reviewed in this article: (1) the evolutionary development of the Government Finance Officers Association of Texas (GFOAT) through the last fifteen years; (2) the advantages of national versus state-based certification; and (3) the role of universities in the credentialing process. The beneficial role of the last one is pointed out as regard to both the profession and the academy. The authors advocate the idea that the involvement of universities enhances the credibility of certification programs. The advantages are based on the greater pool of expertise and the increased variety of opportunities for continuing education for public officials without university education.     

Contractarianism, Liberal Neutrality, and Epistemology

This paper examines three arguments that attempt to justify liberal neutrality. Firstly the type of neutrality between conceptions of the good that is sought by the arguments is explained. Then the contractarian procedure that is one of the premises of each of the arguments is presented. The remaining sections then examine the arguments, which are Thomas Nagel's appeal to epistemic restraint, Brian Barry's appeal to the uncertainty thesis, and John Rawls's appeal to the burdens of judgement. The arguments attempt to show how the contractarian procedure results in liberal neutrality. They do so by trying to show how no conception of the good can be acceptable to everyone due to the epistemological status of conceptions of the good. It is concluded that none of the arguments succeeds.     

Applying NIBRS Data to the Study of Intimate Partner Violence: Massachusetts as a Case Study

Using data from Massachusetts, we illustrate three ways in which National Incident-BasedReporting System (NIBRS) data can improve the collection of importantinformation on intimate partner violence. First, because NIBRS usesincident-based reporting, data are collected on all crimes associated witheach incident. In our sample of women victimized by an intimate partner, 10%had experienced more than one crime during the incident. Second, NIBRSinvolves expanded data collection on the offender–victim relationship, aswell as reporting about additional offenses. For female victims, partnerswere more likely than nonpartners to commit the crimes of simple assault,intimidation, and aggravated assault. For crimes involving male victims, anaquaintance was most likely to be the offender. Third, NIBRS data allow usto connect information about the incident, the offender(s), and thevictim(s). Our data indicted that several victim- offender-, and incident-relatedvariables were risk factors for injury, including victims ethnicity,offenders relationship to the victim, offender's use of a weapon, whether or not thecase was cleared, type of crime committed, and whether or not drugs and/or alcoholwere involved in the incident. Although there are several limitations to NIBRSdata, its potential usefulness to the study of intimate partner violence deserves furtherattention.     

Understanding sustainable development in the context of other emergent environmental perspectives

Concepts of preservation, conservation, and development shaped in large part the debate about U.S. environmental policy at the end of the 19th century. Forest use was often the focal point of controversy. Throughout the 20th century, Americans continued debating forest use, but by the late 20th century, the assumption that 19th century beliefs prevailed had begun to create a barrier to understanding changing perspectives. This paper begins by discussing one of these new perspectives, sustainable development, which has gained international prominence since the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development after being mentioned in the 1986 World Commission on Environment and Development's Our Common Future. Following the introduction to sustainable development, this paper briefly presents the results of a 1989 study using Q methodology, which identified the emergence of sustainable development as one of several beliefs in a more complex framework of perspectives on forest use than had been assumed. In addition to sustainable development, this new framework included beliefs in nature as a community to be respected, a place for personal growth, a means for demonstrating self-reliance, and a rallying point for grassroots activism. This paper examines sustainable development in the context of these other belief types and concludes by cautioning policymakers to consider these additional policy arguments and define the policy agenda more fully.