Books in review

He is the author of Importing Foreign Workers: A Comparison of German and American Policy.     

Generational equity or privatization of social security?

He is primary author of Ties That Bind: The Interdependence of Generations,a study that examines the framing of the generational equity debate. He is currently doing research for a book concerning the planning of retirement of the baby boom generation.     

Industry Knowledge Sources and the Role of Universities

In recent yems, rapid growth hm occurred in both the number and diversity of university-industry progrmns in the United States. While little comprehensive assessment of these programs exists to date, this paper argues that a systematic empirical analysis of a cmpany's perception of universities as knowledge sources is critical toa clear understanding of the newallknces between industry and academia. From a survey of216 companies, a pattern emerges where the sources of technical knowledge perceived as important by industry are complex and highly interrelated, and they also vary according to the characteristics of companies, especially size. It is seen that university research rather than universities as institutions per se are critical ingredients to the development of new products and production processes.     

Institutional features of congressional decisions: The fight to prohibit smoking on airlines

A pervasive theme of the congressional politics literature is that the committee system is fundamental in determining the policy status quo. Such an assertion hinges crucially upon committees controlling their jurisdictions; congressional delegation is undermined if a committee can assert authority over any issue domain at any time. Yet, representatives may possess an incentive to support a policy proposal that would change the status quo, even if it entails disregarding procedures. Indeed, standard conceptualizations of how members of Congress make their voting choices assume that only the benefits and costs associated with a policy matter, and they do not consider institutional factors such as whether a bill emerged from the correct committee.This analysis examines whether representatives will sacrifice policy interests to preserve institutional features of the legislature. The effort in 1987 to curb smoking on airplanes — which became embroiled in a difficult-to-resolve jurisdictional dispute — serves as a vehicle to analyze how sensitive members are to such features. The results demonstrate that a sizable number put aside their [generally moderate] policy preferences and voted against limits on smoking for institutional reasons. These findings have important implications both for specifying the determinants of policy change and for understanding institutional stability.     

Masks of autonomy

He teaches in the department of philosophy at Fordham University in New York City. He has published widely on ethical topics.     

Taiwan’s 1991 second national assembly election

The author assesses Taiwan’s fifth competitive national election and its first ever nonsupplementary election. The electorate picked a “new” National Assembly, absent those elected on the mainland before 1949 or later appointed to fill vacancies. The election was a major victory for the ruling Nationalist Party or Kuomintang (KMT) affording it perhaps its first real mandate — a product of the KMT’s good reputation for engineering economic development and in recent years political development as well (since it was largely responsible for getting the “elder parliamentarians” to retire). In addition, the opposition Democratic Progressive Party made a mistake by putting Taiwan independence into the platform. Two other parties contested the election but failed to win a significant number of votes. The new National Assembly will amend the nation’s Constitution which will make some important changes in Taiwan’s polity.