“[It's] what you do after the mistake that counts”: Positive employment credentials,criminal record stigma,and potential pathways of mediation

The findings from prior research indicate that positive credentials, or documentation of prosocial accomplishments, can vary in strength and perceived value in mitigating aversions to hiring individuals with criminal records. In the current study, we examine why certain types of positive credentials may be more influential in reducing stigma than others. Using data from a nationwide survey of American adults (N = 3,476), we combine a mediation analysis with content-coding of open-ended responses to identify key themes and patterns in decision processes. The results indicate the factors examined here—employee dependability, trustworthiness, recidivism risk, and workplace crime—explain a large proportion of the total effect across credentials and are the strongest for reference letters. Trustworthiness is the most influential mediator across credentials, whereas general recidivism risk is consistently the lowest. An analysis of open-ended responses provides further context and insight into these patterns. Although policy strategies often target risk reduction on the employer's end, credentials that also relay information about skills, character, and the timeline of recent life events are especially influential.     

State Policy and National Representation: Marijuana Politics in American Federalism

Members of Congress represent geographically demarcated districts embedded in subnational policy environments. Drawing on policy feedback literature and literature on congressional representation, I argue that, because of this institutional configuration, subnational policy adoption can affect national representation. More specifically, policy reforms in the states they represent can increase pressures members face from organized groups and individuals in their constituencies to promote aligned federal policies. Empirically, I examine the effects of state marijuana legalization. The inferential design leverages differences across the states in statewide citizen initiative institutions, which provides exogenous variation in legalization. Instrumental variables analysis indicates legalization influenced pro-marijuana bill sponsorship and roll calls in the 116th Congress. The evidence points to growing influence of industry in legalizing states—including the ability to mobilize employees and customers—as the key mechanism, thus underscoring the importance of a political economy perspective for studying interdependencies in American federalism.     

Impacts of the Community Reinvestment Act on Neighborhood Change and Gentrification

The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) encourages bank lending in low- and moderate-income areas. We use a regression discontinuity design that exploits the relative-income threshold that distinguishes CRA-eligible from ineligible neighborhoods (census tracts) and find little evidence that CRA has contributed to neighborhood changes associated with gentrification in eligible areas. Over the 1989–1999 period, we find that eligible tracts had greater increases in mean income relative to ineligible tracts, but we find little evidence that the CRA caused decreases in the proportion of long-term residents or increases in the proportion of White or college-educated residents.     

State administrators and ombudsmen

This article examines the extent of ombudsmen offices in state government, administrators’ use and perceptions of ombudsmen and the sources of information on which administrators base their conclusions about ombudsmen.     

The distribution of power from government-by -area to government-by -bureau

This essay is concerned with the shift in the distribution of power - from areal functional agencies - and the impact on decision-making. The principal approaches to the issue of the distribution of power among national ministries, regional agencies, and local units may be viewed in a spectrum ranging from a functional to an areal emphasis. Four major patterns among present day governments may be discerned based on their use of a coordinating ministry, a regional executive, and the local chief executive. Prototypes are the Federal Republic of Germany (modified government-by-aea), adn the United Kingdom (government-by-bureau). The shift affects not only the environment in which decisions are made but also what type of officials make decisions, where decisions are made, and what kind of decisions are made.     

Placement activities of MPA programs and their parent institutions (#)

Results from a survey of NASPAA member programs indicate that NASPAA programs and their parent institutions provide a wide range of placement services. Less than 60 percent of the 68 respondents had a formal placement program at the department level. One fifth of these programs do not provide training in job search techniques, a quarter do not subscribe to placement newsletters, a third do not provide assistance in resume preparation, a third do not assist their students in preparing for interviews, and two- thirds do not provide mock interviews. More than three-quarters do not publish lists of their new graduates and four-fifths do not send these lists to prospective employers. Fortunately, institutional and departmental programs supplement one another in many universities. Nevertheless, central placement agencies do not offer all of these services. Five institutions did not have a formal central placement agency. Public administration programs will improve their placement services for a variety of pragmatic reasons.     

Business priorities and the relative importance of state and local economic-development incentives

State and local governments commonly use a variety of incentives to encourage economic development and business retention. Policies which include economic development incentives are commonly criticized as being ineffective and wasteful uses of public funds. This paper addresses the issue of wastefulness through a business community's assessment of the relative value of eighteen incentives commonly used for business retention and development. Results are based on survey responses from nearly 700 businesses located in Wichita, Kansas. This study illuminates differences in value assigned to incentives by different types of business. Findings indicate that state and local governments that offer incentives without consideration of business type are in many cases delivering “windfalls” to the private sector. Even such highly touted incentives as property tax abatements are not valued equally by all types of businesses. This paper provides state and local governments with an improved understanding of business investment motivation and the relative value of different incentives to effective economic development policy.