B. Reviews and notes: Bibliographies and works of reference

A GREEK AND ARABIC LEXICON: MATERIALS FOR A DICTIONARY OF THE MEDIÆVAL TRANSLATIONS FROM GREEK INTO ARABIC. Edited by GERHARD ENDRESS and DIMITRI GUTAS. Fascicle 1. (Handbook of Oriental Studies, the Near and Middle East, XI. Band.) Leiden, Brill, 1992. 30*. 96pp. Hfl.40.‐

THE ROLE OF THE BOOK IN THE CIVILISATIONS OF THE NEAR EAST: PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONFERENCE HELD AT THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY AND THE CHESTER BEATTY LIBRARY, DUBLIN, 29 JUNE – 1 JULY 1988 = MANUSCRIPTS OF THE MIDDLE EAST 5 (1990–1991). Leiden, Ter Lugt Press, c1993. 136pp. Hfl 210.‐

BROCADE OF THE PEN: THE ART OF ISLAMIC WRITING. Edited by CAROL GARRETT FISHER. East Lansing, Michigan State University, 1991. 100pp. B&W illustrations and Arabic calligraphy.

AFGHANISTAN. Compiled by SCHUYLER JONES. (World Bibliographical Series, 135.) Oxford, Santa Barbara & Denver, Clio Press, 1992. xxvi+281pp.     

The Last 30 Years of Public Choice: An Analysis of Author and Institution Rankings

In this paper we provide a statistical analysis of authorship in Public Choiceover the past 30 years. We explore trends in article length andcoauthorship, as well as provide rankingsof individual authors and institutions bytotal pages published in the journal. Thisis the first such ranking of publicationsin the journal since 1987. We find asignificant degree of turnover among theleading authors in Public Choice, andthat George Mason University is clearly theleading institution making a large share ofthe new contributions in the field.     

The truth about youth? Media portrayals of young people and politics in Britain

Some forms of political participation in Britain appear to be in crisis. Official rates of turnout are alarmingly poor and the sub‐population least likely to participate in general—and vote in particular—is the youngest section of society. Moreover, the way that the media and and politicians have responded to the apparent crisis of youth participation has become a self‐fulfilling prophecy. A full review of young people's place in the political environment is needed. This requires the application of different criteria for evaluating youth interests, and the avoidance of some of the most routinely used phrases to describe young people's attitudes to politics. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications     

Expressive Voting and Government Redistribution: Testing Tullock's `Charity of the Uncharitable'

Models of expressive voting postulate that voters will`consume' ideological stances on issues by voting for them,even when they are against the voter's own narrow selfinterest, if the probability of being a decisive voter is low.When a voter is unlikely to sway the outcome, the odds that avoter will incur any real personal cost (a higher tax burden,for example) from her own expressive vote is small. We testand find support for Tullock's straightforward empiricalimplication of this model, that government welfare (transfer)payments are inversely related to the probability of being thedecisive voter.     

Loving Freedom: Aristotle on Slavery and the Good Life

Most commentators on Aristotle's theory of natural slavery locate the source of slavishness in an intellectual deficiency that Aristotle describes. This paper sets out to show that Aristotle's natural slaves are not intellectually deficient in the way normally assumed, but are lacking an emotional faculty, thymos , which Aristotle connects to actual enslavement through its power to generate a love of freedom. It is also argued that Aristotle's understanding of slavishness entails a risk for a democratic regime, such as Classical Athens, since such a system has highly inclusive criteria for membership in the political association. Commentators have also failed to connect natural slavery to Aristotle's ethical thought and to note the theory's practical relevance to the goal of living a good human life.     

In defense of the Articles of Confederation and the contribution mechanism as a means of government finance: A general comment on the literature

I attempt to dispel several widely-held myths regarding government finance under the Articles of Confederation, some of which were reiterated in Dougherty and Cain (1997). I defend the contribution mechanism as a method of government finance that is superior to direct taxation by the federal government, and present evidence contradicting the belief that revenue collections under the Articles were poor. A proper comparison is with alternatives at that time, such as state tax collections and the federal governments own tax collections under the new U.S. Constitution, both of which were lower than the collection rate from states under the Articles.