A stable popularity function? Cross‐national analysis

A considerable body of work explores the relationship between the economy and governmental popularity. These ‘popularity functions’ exhibit a good deal of instability in the economics coefficient, leading some to question its very existence. It is argued in this article that this instability is apparent, rather than inherent. Improvements in model specification, measurement, sample size and estimation reveal a strong and stable economic effect. In particular, fixed and random effects models on pooled time‐series (from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States) are estimated here. The impact of national economic perception on popularity emerges as statistically and substantively significant, across this sample of countries.     

ASSOCIATIONS OF FATHERS' HISTORY OF INCARCERATION WITH SONS' DELINQUENCY AND ARREST AMONG BLACK,WHITE, AND HISPANIC MALES IN THE UNITED STATES*

Nearly 13 percent of young adult men report that their biological father has served time in jail or prison; yet surprisingly little research has examined how a father's incarceration is associated with delinquency and arrest in the contemporary United States. Using a national panel of Black, White, and Hispanic males, this study examines whether experiencing paternal incarceration is associated with increased delinquency in adolescence and young adulthood. We find a positive association with paternal incarceration that is robust to controls for several structural, familial, and adolescent characteristics. Relative to males not experiencing a father's incarceration, our results show that those experiencing a father's incarceration have an increased propensity for delinquency that persists into young adulthood. Using a national probability sample, we also find that a father's incarceration is highly and significantly associated with an increased risk of incurring an adult arrest before 25 years of age. These observed associations are similar across groups of Black, White, and Hispanic males. Taken as a whole, our findings suggest benefits from public policies that focus on male youth “at risk” as a result of having an incarcerated father.     

The Middle Income Transition in China and America's Need for Structural Change

The G‐20 supplanted the G‐8 as the executive committee of globalization as the emerging and advanced economies came together in the wake of the Wall Street crash to stave off depression. Now, each country is going its own way. In this section we examine whether the G‐20 can be saved, and what the countries within it must do to bring the global economy into balance.     

THE FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT: ACCOUNTABILITY ISSUES

A good part of Western Europe has been united in a military alliance for more than 50 years, and grown into an economic union with a single market and a new, common currency. The European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) is adding another facet of coordination and cooperation among countries which are already highly integrated. Defense and security have lagged behind other areas of integration, with arms procurement and production particularly fragmented. One of the new instruments for increased integration related to ESDP development, is the Framework Agreement, which regulates important aspects of joint arms production among major Western European producers.     

POLICY-MAKING AND THE SCOTTISH OFFICE: THE DESIGNATION OF CUMBERNAULD NEW TOWN

The role of the Scottish Office in policy-making has been subject to a number of interpretations. It is difficult to regard it as having its own reserved policy spheres but it is clear that in certain circumstances it has the ability to forge its own policy lines. In the 1950s, in contradiction to the stated policy of the then Conservative Government. the Scottish Office was able to secure the designation of a new town at Cumbernauld. The main impetus for this policy came from the civil servants in the Department of Health for Scotland, seeking to preserve the philosophy of the 1946 Clyde Valley Plan. The case study throws considerable light on the bargaining process within government, the role of the secretary of state as spokesman for Scottish interests and the way in which the Scottish Office can gain Cabinet approval for its proposals.     

THE PUBLIC SERVICE ORIENTATION: ISSUES AND DILEMMAS

The public service orientation sets service for the public as the key organizational value, providing motivation and purposes both for the local authority and its staff. This article describes the public service orientation before focusing on the major issues which this orientation raises. In particular, it examines service for, not to, the public; the ways in which the public service Orientation differs from consumerism; and the relationship to the political process. Finally, the article surveys the dilemmas posed by the public service orientation.     

POLITICAL SOLUTIONS TO THE COLLECTIVE ACTION PROBLEM

Abstract This paper juxtaposes two important political solutions to the collective action problem in the context of a common set of core assumptions. Once the core assumptions have been discussed, the distinction between the consumption and the production problems associated with public goods provision is elaborated. These assumptions and this distinction are applied to a comparison between a theory of individualistic anarchy, and a theory of competitive political entrepreneurs. Revisions of both are required to enable them to be placed within this framework. While the two theories are neither exclusive nor exhaustive they can, between them, be used to understand public goods provision in a number of different circumstances.