Whatever Happened to the Progressive Century?

In the mid-1990s, after eighteen years of Conservative rule, there was much talk about the prospects for a progressive century. Tony Blair, under the tutelage of Roy Jenkins, made it clear that he wanted to end the schism on the centre-left. Paddy Ashdown saw the same opportunity. Ironically, the electorate's desire to kick out the Conservatives and vote in progressives of any stripe delivered a Labour landslide that made cooperation impossible for Blair and Ashdown. Some progressive policies, notably on the constitution, have been implemented, but the political and intellectual roots to create a progressive century have yet to be properly established. Foreign policy divisions, especially on Iraq, have made this much more difficult. This article looks at the prospects for progressives—under new leadership—up to and after the next election in terms of ideas and policy.     

Appraising Commitments and Guarantees with Option Prices1

Budgetary decision‐making is prone to myopia and to tunnel vision. Pension commitments suffer from both of these pathologies. In this case, we look closely at the State of Oregon's Public Employee Retirement System to show how the disclosure standards adopted by the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) help correct the fiscal vision of state and local governments and further conclude that postemployment commitments ought to be comprehensively examined in GASB's review of its accounting and reporting standards scheduled for 2008, ideally from the standpoint of present‐value budgeting.     

Friends in high places: The wealth effects of JFK's assassination on the assets of LBJ's supporters

This paper uses anecdotal evidence to identify a group of firms that had significant ties to President Lyndon Johnson and determines the effect of Johnson's unexpected rise to the Presidency on the market value of these firms. The unexpected nature of President Kennedy's death eliminates the confounding event problem typically associated with election results. We are able to identify four separate portfolios of firms that had political ties to Lyndon Johnson. Our research suggests that the market expected significant benefits to accrue to these firms as a result of Johnson's becoming President. When Catholic John Kennedy and Johnson were running together in 1960 a joke hop-scotched around the parties in Texas and Washington that Kennedy had told Johnson, “Lyndon, when we get elected I'm going to dig a tunnel to the Vatican,” and Lyndon had replied, “That's OK with me as long as Brown & Root gets the contract” (Dugger, 1982: 286).     

The Diffusion of Responsibility: An Alternative Perspective for National Policy Politics in the US

This article proposes a diffusion of responsibility perspective in analyzing post–World War II politics in the United States. Many analysts test the American system by a responsible party perspective, proposing reforms that will orient the system toward the goals of that model. Divided government has characterized much of the period since 1945 and identifiable (and wholly constitutional) politics has accompanied that development. The diffusion of responsibility alternative is characterized by a separated presidency, an expansive Congress, competition between the branches for shared power, and, absent a crisis, a tendency toward perpetuation.