Varieties of Liberalism: Keynesian Responses to the Great Recession in France and Germany

This article argues that distinctive liberal traditions shaped France and Germany's Keynesian policy responses to the post‐2007 economic crisis. In France, “statist liberalism” privileges an activist state that favors macroeconomic intervention and investment. German “corporate liberalism,” by contrast, is more pluralist and emphasizes the powers and responsibilities of social and economic groups, who are viewed as the fundamental components of the social order. The article argues that these traditions shaped elite interpretations of the crisis and played central roles in defining policy trajectories. They informed a modest French response focused on macroeconomic stimulus that relied on existing income support and a larger German effort centered on a microeconomic strategy of group subsidization. It concludes that these outcomes are inconsistent with traditional institutional accounts and highlights the importance of research on the role of ideas in shaping national responses to economic crises.     

Fatal Wounds Sustained from “Falling Bullets”: Maintaining a High Index of Suspicion in a Forensic Setting

Celebratory gunfire injuries from “falling bullets” occur when guns are fired into the air during celebrations without realizing that this can cause serious injuries or even fatalities. Fatal celebratory gunfire injury is an uncommonly reported event in the continental United States. Our electronic database was queried for homicides occurring within days of July 4th and December 31st over a 14‐year period. We describe two cases of fatal gunfire injury due to celebratory gunfire occurring during New Year's Eve in Southern Florida. The relevant literature is reviewed. These case reports illustrate that fatal gunfire injuries sustained from “falling bullets” may pose as an unexpected mimic to sudden natural deaths especially in patients with prior medical history. A high index of suspicion to recognize such injury is required particularly during holidays.     

Simultaneous Detection of Human Mitochondrial DNA and Nuclear‐Inserted Mitochondrial‐origin Sequences (NumtS) using Forensic mtDNA Amplification Strategies and Pyrosequencing Technology

Next‐generation sequencing technologies enable the identification of minor mitochondrial DNA variants with higher sensitivity than Sanger methods, allowing for enhanced identification of minor variants. In this study, mixtures of human mtDNA control region amplicons were subjected to pyrosequencing to determine the detection threshold of the Roche GS Junior^® instrument (Roche Applied Science, Indianapolis, IN). In addition to expected variants, a set of reproducible variants was consistently found in reads from one particular amplicon. A BLASTn search of the variant sequence revealed identity to a segment of a 611‐bp nuclear insertion of the mitochondrial control region (NumtS) spanning the primer‐binding sites of this amplicon (Nature 1995;378:489). Primers (Hum Genet 2012;131:757; Hum Biol 1996;68:847) flanking the insertion were used to confirm the presence or absence of the NumtS in buccal DNA extracts from twenty donors. These results further our understanding of human mtDNA variation and are expected to have a positive impact on the interpretation of mtDNA profiles using deep‐sequencing methods in casework.     

Prior problem behavior accounts for the racial gap in school suspensions

Purpose

A large body of empirical research finds a significant racial gap in the use of exclusionary school discipline with black students punished at rates disproportionate to whites. Furthermore, no variable or set of variables have yet to account for this discrepancy, inviting speculation that this association is caused by racial bias or racial antipathy. We investigate this link and the possibility that differential behavior may play a role.

Methods

Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class (ECLS-K), the largest sample of school-aged children in the United States, we first replicate the results of prior studies. We then estimate a second model controlling for prior problem behavior.

Results

Replicating prior studies, we first show a clear racial gap between black and white students in suspensions. However, in subsequent analyses the racial gap in suspensions was completely accounted for by a measure of the prior problem behavior of the student – a finding never before reported in the literature.

Conclusions

These findings highlight the importance of early problem behaviors and suggest that the use of suspensions by teachers and administrators may not have been as racially biased as some scholars have argued.     

Joined-Up Government in The Netherlands: Experiences with Program Ministries

Over the last 15 years there have been many experiments with joined-up (also known as whole of) government practices, aimed at horizontal coordination to overcome the fragmentation of vertical governmental structures due to departmentalism and New Public Management. These practices were initiated to address wicked problems and to better interact with society at large. Now that there are signs that the rhetoric of joined-up government is winding down and many joined-up government developments are being dismantled, it is time to evaluate this approach. This is especially appropriate as some suggest that the overall impact of these developments may be relatively small, despite (overly) optimistic claims made in the past. In this article we take experiences with joined-up government in the Netherlands as the departing point for a critical discussion of this approach. By comparing the Dutch experiences with those in other countries, we will draw a picture of the challenges and dilemmas of horizontal coordination in the vertical world of government.     

The boundaries of generosity: Can administrators in charity hospitals provide “free care?”

The medical marketplace changes of the 1980's and 1990's have helped to redefine the charity care role which charity hospitals have played. How might charity hospital administrators succeed in fulfilling this responsibility, while simultaneously protecting the financial well-being of their institutions? This paper discusses how increases in charity care volume may relate to declining opportunities for cost-shifting, increased pressures for revenue-raising utilization policies, and limited support from government to subsidize uncompensated care. “Charity” and “free care” concepts are discussed, and economic and historical perspectives are introduced to provide the context for studying this issue.

The 1980's experience of charity hospitals in Massachusetts provides examples of specific policies within a state in which uncompensated care played a pivotal role in the debate over universal coverage. But there has been a quite recent refocussing upon the nonprofit hospitals' tax exemption. If such political pressures in the 1990's require a review of community benefits standards at charity hospitals, then perhaps the resolution of access questions for the poor and uninsured within forthcoming national health care reforms properly will take into account considerations of quality of care.     

Democratic Governance: A Genealogy

This essay draws on my book, Democratic Governance (Princeton University Press, 2010), to provide a genealogy of governance and to explore its implications for democracy. My arguments can be quickly stated: governance rose and spread as a consequence of new modernist theories and the public sector reforms that were inspired by these theories; policy actors respond to the challenges of governance by supplementing representative institutions with yet more modernist expertise.     

Subnational Collective Action: The Varied Patterns of Mobilisation of Local Government Associations

This article assesses differences in the way local government associations organise to influence EU legislation in different countries. EU policy outcomes have an increasing financial and administrative impact on local government. This has been increasingly recognised by both EU institutions and many national governments, and recent reforms have sought to ensure greater involvement of local authorities in the preparation of EU proposals and domestic pre-negotiations, with an emphasis on the aggregation of local government interests via European and national local government associations. Research suggests that representative organisations need to be well resourced to be able to mobilise at both European and national level to influence EU proposals. This article empirically assesses these claims by examining attempts by local government associations in England, Denmark and Ireland to influence EU environmental directives. The findings suggest that financial, staffing, and informational resources, as well as structural issues, are important factors influencing how local government representative bodies respond to EU legislative proposals.     

Unfinished business: The united states and Franco's Spain, 1944–47

‘Unfinished Business’ examines American and British postwar policy toward the regime of Francisco Franco in Spain. Although the emergence of the cold war eventually altered that policy from one of strenuous opposition to one of grudging acceptance, the continuing desire of the Western allies to alter or remove the Franco regime illustrates the persistent influence of anti‐fascism after World War II. In retrospect, the eventual alignment of Franco with the West seems a foregone conclusion, but in the fluid context of the years immediately after World War II policy makers on both sides of the Atlantic struggled to determine their interests in a world no longer defined by the war and not yet in the grip of the cold war.