Is full better than half? Examining the longitudinal effects of full‐day kindergarten attendance

Kindergarten policy varies widely both across and within states. Over the past decade, a number of states have instituted a full‐day kindergarten requirement and others are considering it as a way to increase educational achievement. Many parents also support full‐day kindergarten as a source of child care. This paper uses the Early Child Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten Class of 1998–1999 to evaluate the efficacy of this policy. In ordinary least squares, probit, county fixed effects, and instrumental variables models, we find that there are initial benefits for students and the mothers of students who attend full‐day kindergarten, but that these differences largely evaporate by third grade. Contrary to claims by some advocates, attending full‐day kindergarten is found to have no additional benefit for students in families with income below the poverty threshold. © 2006 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management     

Distrust of Government, the Vigilante Tradition, and Support for Capital Punishment

This study probes the interconnections among distrust of government, the historical context, and public support for the death penalty in the United States with survey data for area-identified samples of white and black respondents. Multilevel statistical analyses indicate contrary effects of government distrust on support for the death penalty for blacks and whites, fostering death penalty support among whites and diminishing it among blacks. In addition, we find that the presence of a "vigilante tradition," as indicated by a history of lynching, promotes death penalty support among whites but not blacks. Finally, contrary to Zimring's argument in The Contradictions of Capital Punishment , we find no evidence that vigilantism moderates the influence of government distrust on support for the death penalty, for either whites or blacks. Our analyses highlight the continuing influence of historical context as well as contemporary conditions in the formation of public attitudes toward criminal punishment, and they underscore the importance of attending to racial differences in the analysis of punitive attitudes.     

The political economy of the peace dividend

We develop a model of the peace dividend and use it to predict the fiscal consequences of a reduction in the demand for military spending. The model is based on the assumption that the political process responds to political demands and costs in a way that maximizes net political benefits. The predictions of our model on how a peace dividend will be allocated over nonmilitary spending, tax relief, and deficit reduction is tested against the experience of eight major wars in United States history.     

A Test of Generalizability of the Social Development Model Across Gender and Income Groups with Longitudinal Data from the Elementary School Developmental Period

The social development model (SDM) is a theory of behavior that has proven useful in explaining the etiology of delinquency, violence, and substance use among adolescents as well as early antisocial behavior among pre-adolescents. A further test of the model is its generalizability across population groups. A section of the SDM representing prosocial influences in the etiology of problem behavior was compared for boys and girls and for children from low- and non low-income families using three waves of child, parent and teacher survey data on a sample of 851 elementary school students. Multiple group structural equation modeling was used to assess differences across groups in both measurement of model constructs and hypothesized structural paths between constructs. The results indicate overall similarity in the reliability of measurement models and validity of structural models.     

Diversity and Discontent: The Relationship Between School Desegregation and Perceptions of Racial Justice

A number of recent studies have explored the consequences ofinterracial peer effects on the academic and social performanceof minority students. This article contributes to that discussion,focusing, however, on perceptions rather than behaviors. Theanalysis suggests that exposure to white peers is associatedwith declining perceptions of racial justice among black andLatino high school students. While cautioning against causalinterpretations of this finding, the article suggests that theintegrationist aims of Brown v. Board of Education will notbe satisfied without more thoughtful and vigorous desegregationefforts.     

AT ARM'S LENGTH WITH DIRTY HANDS: TAXING THE AUSTRALIAN PUNTER

Abstract: Taxes on betting are a major source of revenue for Australian state governments. Specific taxes on the racing industry date from 1915. However, the revenue potential has only been tapped in all the states since the legalisation in the past 30 years of off-course betting through the state-run totalisator (TAB). The introduction of the TAB followed a long period when various states adopted different policies towards off-course betting, ranging from legalisation of bookmakers' betting shops to attempts at complete suppression. In tracing the history of these policies, the focus is on "implementation failure", or the many administrative pitfalls and obstacles that were experienced. These include insurmountable tax evasion by bookmakers, regulatory capture of betting boards by bookmakers and corruption of the law enforcement agencies. State governments also had to accommodate a range of conflicting interests, including the interests of the racing industry itself and the demands of the anti-gambling lobby. The TAB is shown to be a happy and convenient resolution of most, but not all, of these administrative and political dilemmas.