The Dilemma of Modern Zoning

The zoning process is subject to steadily expanding volume and variety of demands and criticism. Some wish it, alone, to control the rate and location of growth and bemoan that often zoning is not so used. Others feel that zoning seldom has any rational basis and is applied on a case by case basis with little or no consideration of the existing or proposed capacity to serve the area with sewers, water, schools, parks and the many capital facilities which are an integral part of a community's infrastructure. A few say zoning is often decided on the basis of cronyism or bribery. More often critics say that zoning is decided on emotional issues by “mob rule” and that, in effect, many decisions exemplify democracy at its worst. The timid official yields to the most persistent voices by the developer, neighbors, or environmentalists and often ignores altogether the suggestions of the professional engineers and planners who in theory at least take an objective long-range view of urban development.     

Food Safety Regulation and the Conflict of Interest: The Case of MeatSafety and E. Coli 0157

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) aims to remove the longstanding conflict of interest between producers and consumers which is thought to lie at the heart of the rising number of food safety problems of recent years, to restore consumer confidence, and to protect public health. This paper sets out firstly to understand what the conflicts are, how they arise and their implications for food safety, and secondly to provide some means of evaluating the proposals for the Food Standards Agency. It does this by examining the current food safety regulatory regime as it relates to e. coli 0157, one of the problems that gave rise to the FSA and an exemplar of the problems of meat safety, and places it in its wider economic context.
The results show that the financial pressures on the food industry were such that food hygiene was largely dependent upon external regulation and enforcement. But the deficiencies in the conception, design and implementation of the Food Safety Act, which was fundamentally deregulatory and privileged producer interests, permitted the food safety problems to grow. The case also, by illustrating how the interests of big business predominate in the formulation of public policy at the expense of the public, reveals how the class nature of the state affects public policy and social relations. Without addressing these issues, the problems they give rise to will remain. While the case is based on experiences in Britain, the problem of food safety and the issues raised have an international significance.     

Production goes global,compliance stays local: Private regulation in the global electronics industry

Poor working conditions in global supply chains have led to private initiatives that seek to regulate labor practices in developing countries. But how effective are these regulatory programs? We investigate the effects of transnational private regulation by studying Hewlett‐Packard's (HP) supplier responsibility program. Using analysis of factory audits, interviews with buyer and supplier management, and field research at production facilities across seven countries, we find that national context – not repeated audits, capability building, or supply chain power – is the key predictor of workplace compliance. Quantitative analysis shows that factories in China are markedly less compliant than those in countries with stronger civil society and regulatory institutions. Comparative field research then illustrates how these local institutions complement transnational private regulation. Although these findings imply limits to private regulation in institutionally poor settings, they also highlight opportunities for productive linkages between transnational actors and local state and society.     

Online selling and contracting: An overview of EU rules

In the second of our series of articles considering the EU’s limited harmonisation of the laws regulating the activities of businesses using the Internet, we look at the rules governing contracting and selling online. We consider the circumstances in which three key EU directives apply, the rights, under these directives, of consumers who contract online and the effect of electronic signatures as used for online contracting.     

Asymmetric Loss Functions for Forecasting in Criminal Justice Settings

The statistical procedures typically used for forecasting in criminal justice settings rest on symmetric loss functions. For quantitative response variables, overestimates are treated the same as underestimates. For categorical response variables, it does not matter in which class a case is inaccurately placed. In many criminal justice settings, symmetric costs are not responsive to the needs of stakeholders. It can follow that the forecasts are not responsive either. In this paper, we consider asymmetric loss functions that can lead to forecasting procedures far more sensitive to the real consequences of forecasting errors. Theoretical points are illustrated with examples using criminal justice data of the kind that might be used for “predictive policing.”     

Randi Weingarten,the American Federation of Teachers,and the Challenges of Policy Leadership in a Hostile Environment

Randi Weingarten is the president of the most vocal and influential teachers’ union, the American Federation of Teachers. Since rising through the ranks to AFT president in just two years, Weingarten is now a major, if not the most prominent, nongovernmental player in national education policy. She has earned deep respect from many educational policy actors. Likewise, Weingarten elicits withering criticism from others. This fascinating profile explains why, in such a brief period, she has proved to be a fierce, fearless, and effective leader under extraordinarily difficult circumstances. Her experience offers invaluable lessons applicable for others working in similarly intense policy arenas.     

Foreign Aid Shocks as a Cause of Violent Armed Conflict

In this study we resolve part of the confusion over how foreign aid affects armed conflict. We argue that aid shocks—severe decreases in aid revenues—inadvertently shift the domestic balance of power and potentially induce violence. During aid shocks, potential rebels gain bargaining strength vis‐à‐vis the government. To appease the rebels, the government must promise future resource transfers, but the government has no incentive to continue its promised transfers if the aid shock proves to be temporary. With the government unable to credibly commit to future resource transfers, violence breaks out. Using AidData's comprehensive dataset of bilateral and multilateral aid from 1981 to 2005, we evaluate the effects of foreign aid on violent armed conflict. In addition to rare‐event logit analysis, we employ matching methods to account for the possibility that aid donors anticipate conflict. The results show that negative aid shocks significantly increase the probability of armed conflict onset.