Hedonic Estimation and Policy Significance of the Impact of HOPE VI on Neighborhood Property Values

HOPE VI was designed as a program to revitalize distressed public housing. This study uses hedonic methods to test whether projects that are rebuilt with HOPE VI funds have a positive effect on surrounding property values. Comparisons are made between HOPE VI and other types of public housing programs using data on property values by census block groups from the 2000 census. We find that HOPE VI had a statistically significant positive impact on surrounding property values on the order of 8–10% for every quarter‐mile closer that a housing unit was located to the development. Other public housing developments were found to have little if any effect on property values.     

Window of opportunity: Reflections on an idea fashionable in the west

The essay warns about the extreme danger of the fashionable idea that the West has only a marginal role to play in Russia's integration into the world community. It does not take into account the ferocious war of ideas in post‐Soviet Moscow which all but insures that nationalist ambition ‘to return Russia to the status of a leading global power’ would come out a winner. As a result of this the window of opportunity that opened after the disintegration of the Soviet empire may well slam shut again. The only way to prevent it seems to be for the West to create its own strategy of Russia's integration in which the dominant up to now theme of economic assistance (hardware) is replaced by the theme of intellectual participation (or the software of integration). That is why the purpose of the essay is to try to offer a logical set of criteria that could provide the basis for such an intelligent strategy.     

Canadian public service employee satisfaction and its main drivers

Using the results of the 2005 Public Service Employee Survey (PSES), this paper identifies which factors have the greatest effect on employee satisfaction in the Canadian public service. Several hypotheses are tested against the backdrop of existing literature. In general, public servant satisfaction is affected by belief in opportunities for promotion, fair classification, adherence to client service standards, life balance, recognition by immediate supervisors, team relationships with colleagues, how well information is shared and, finally, belief in the abilities of senior management. Some interesting elaborations of these basic findings emerge when other variables are controlled. The discussion considers how the public service can be seen as a more desirable career choice.