Public Attitudes About Land Use Policy and Their Impact on State Policy-Makers

Results from a study in Ohio, and replicated in six additionalstates, show public opinion toward state land use regulationto be aggregated around two major attitudes: the Environmentalistsstress the impact of negative developmental externalities andfavor broader review of land use decisions; the Localists areconcerned with accountability and local control of decision-making.An intensive analysis of the Ohio Land Use Work Group revealsthe policy-making elite in basic sympathy with the Environmentalists,but constrained by intra-agency rivalries and apprehensionsabout public reaction. Discussion focuses on the shifting publicconsensus toward greater land use control, and the implicationsfor state policy-making. ^*Originally read at a meeting of the Midwest Political ScienceAssociation, Chicago, 1975. The authors gratefully acknowledgefinancial assistance from the Academy for Contemporary Problems,Columbus, Ohio, and from the Ohio Office of Budget and Management.Special appreciation is expressed to the Academy's president,Ralph R. Widner, and to Dean Clark and Paul Goesling who, atthe time of the study, were affiliated with OBM. Gratitude alsoto individuals who facilitated the national-regional interviewing:David Gillespie, Brij Khare, Michael Obrey, Michael Shay, JosephThomas, and Hugh Winebrenner.     

Underwriters' counsel as gatekeeper or turnstile: an empirical analysis of law firm prestige and performance in IPOs

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. Key points

• The article investigates the relationship betweenpricing in an initial public offering (IPO) and the prestigeof the participating underwriters’ law firm.
• The hypothesisof the article is that law firm quality affects how law firmsperform their obligations in IPOs—more prestigious lawfirms acting more independently. Consistent with this hypothesis,the authors find a negative relationship between pre-IPO priceadjustment and the participation of prestigious underwriters’counsel, and a negative relationship between the participationof prestigious underwriters’ counsel and initial return,which is consistent with market trading reflecting the decreasedrisk associated with offerings involving prestigious underwriters’counsel.
• Finally, it is found that certain observable characteristicsindicating diminished likelihood of undisclosed negative information(venture backing and quality of the issuer's counsel) are associatedwith an increased likelihood that prestigious underwriters’counsel is used.