Institutional Collective Action and Economic Development Joint Ventures

There is high interest in economic development efforts involving cooperation or collaboration among metropolitan jurisdictions. To determine why some local governments engage in cooperative agreements while others do not, this paper investigates transaction obstacles, including bargaining, information, agency, enforcement, and division problems. The authors then advance an institutional collective action explanation for intergovernmental cooperation, focusing on the conditions under which these transactions costs are low. This work anticipates that the costs associated with interlocal cooperation are influenced by the demographic characteristics of communities, local political institutions, and the nature of regional government networks. Empirical analysis based on a national survey of local development officials provides support for several predictions from this model and identifies policy variables that, in turn, increase the prospects for cooperation, specifically through the development of informal policy networks.     

Educating the Least Informed: Group Endorsements in a Grassroots Campaign

Theories of low-information rationality claim that uninformed voters can compensate for their lack of political knowledge by employing heuristics, such as interest group endorsements, to make voting decisions as if they were fully informed. Critics of low-information rationality contend that politically unaware voters are unlikely to use group endorsements effectively as a heuristic since they are unlikely to know the political relevance of interest groups. We address this debate by entertaining the possibility that contextual information coupled with a source cue may enhance the effectiveness of group endorsements as a heuristic. We test competing expectations with a field experiment conducted during the 2006 election in two highly competitive Pennsylvania statehouse races where a well-known liberal interest group endorsed Democratic candidates and canvassed both core supporters and Republicans believed to be likeminded. Our results reveal that Republicans used the endorsement as a negative voting cue and that the group's endorsement helped some Republicans compensate for their lack of awareness about politics.     

Trends in US emergency department visits for suicide attempts, 1992-2001

This article describes trends in suicide attempt visits to emergency departments in the United States (US). Data were obtained from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey using mental-health-related ICD-9-CM, E and V codes, and mental-health reasons for visit. From 1992 to 2001, mental-health-related visits increased 27.5% from 17.1 to 23.6 per 1000 (p < .001). Emergency Department (ED) visits for suicide attempt and self injury increased by 47%, from 0.8 to 1.5 visits per 1000 US population (p(trend) = .04). Suicide-attempt-related visits increased significantly among males over the decade and among females from 1992/1993 to 1998/1999. Suicide attempt visits increased in non-Hispanic whites, patients under 15 years or those between 50-69 years of age, and the privately insured. Hospitalization rates for suicide attempt-related ED visits declined from 49% to 32% between 1992 and 2001 (p = .04). Suicide attempt-related visits increased significantly in urban areas, but in rural areas suicide attempt visits stayed relatively constant, despite significant rural decreases in mental-health related visits overall. Ten-year regional increases in suicide attempt-related visits were significant for the West and Northeast only. US emergency departments have witnessed increasing rates of ED visits for suicide attempts during a decade of significant reciprocal decreases in postattempt hospitalization. Emergency departments are increasingly important sites for identifying, assessing and treating individuals with suicidal behavior.     

Crossing the Ideological Divide? Egypt's Salafists and the Muslim Brotherhood after the Arab Spring

An important strand in the literature has stressed the analytical distinction between the Muslim Brotherhood's brand of Islamism and the Salafist movement. This article examines the shifts that have occurred within these two movements in Egypt since the Arab Spring. It specifically asks whether approximations between them in terms of strategies of actions have been paralleled by ideological approximations. The article argues that both movements have seen increased diversification which has—especially at the fringes—involved a reshaping of identities and ideological approximations that may facilitate cooperation between segments of these movements in the future.