Counter-Reform in the American Welfare State: Ideas,Institutions, and Progressive Taxation

The Nixon/Ford years were a pivotal period when severe fiscal problems emerged whose resolutions constrained the ambit of social policy afterward. A shared diagnosis of economic challenges produced divergent effects in the electoral fortunes of the major political parties and set the stage for an upward redistribution of wealth. Horizontal equity became synonymous with overall tax equity. This article examines how economic ideas acquire political traction.     

Hungary

European Journal of Political Research -     

Essential medicolegal death investigation services: standardization of a survey instrument based on the Essential Public Health Services

The National Academy of Sciences recommends that states assess the performance of medicolegal death investigation agencies. To aid in performance assessment, we adapted an instrument based on the CDC's 10 Essential Public Health Services by translating the terminology to that of essential medicolegal death investigation services. This produced a survey that could be used to standardize reporting practices and services of agencies. To validate the instrument, a stratified random sample of 12 death investigation chiefs in 12 states was interviewed. This sample represented both medical examiner and coroner jurisdictions within the varying medicolegal structures. A cognitive testing process elicited how well participants could respond to and interpret the survey questions. The response was favorable in that the respondents agreed that given specific revisions toward question clarification, the instrument would be a useful and relevant tool for assessing system performance.     

2009 H1N1 Fatalities: The New Mexico Experience

Abstract: Histopathologic features of New Mexico 2009 H1N1 fatalities have not been representative of those reported nationwide. We retrospectively reviewed medical records of all New Mexico 2009 pandemic influenza A (pH1N1) fatalities (n = 50). In cases in which autopsy was performed (n = 12), histologic sections and culture results were examined. In contrast to previously published studies, the majority of our fatalities did not have diffuse alveolar damage (DAD) (2/12; 16.7%). Common findings included pulmonary interstitial inflammation and edema, tracheobronchitis, and pneumonia. Two cases had significant extra‐pulmonary manifestations: myocarditis and cerebral edema with herniation. The majority had a rapid disease course: range from 1 to 12 days (median, 2 days), and Native Americans were disproportionately represented among fatalities. These findings suggest that New Mexico H1N1 fatalities generally did not survive long enough to develop the classic picture of DAD. Pathologists should be aware that H1N1 may cause extra‐pulmonary pathology and perform postmortem cultures and histologic sampling accordingly.     

Contracting Out Local Services: A Tale of Technical and Social Services

Governments face a fundamental choice between in‐house production and contracting out for the delivery of services to citizens. This article examines the importance of ideology, fiscal pressure, and size for contracting out in technical and social services. The analysis builds on a panel data set covering municipal spending on services in all 98 Danish municipalities. The authors find that contracting out is shaped by ideology in social services but not in technical services, which indicates that social services are the contemporary ideological battlefield of privatization. The analysis further reveals that economically prosperous municipalities are more likely to contract out social services, whereas contracting out of technical services is not influenced by economic affluence. Finally, larger municipalities contract out more in technical services but less in social services, demonstrating that the size effect is contingent on the transaction cost characteristics of the service.     

Women and Sport in Scandinavia: Policy, Participation and Representation

Throughout the 20th century women have gradually gained access to sporting activities but it is only in recent decades that they have become widely represented in the decision-making bodies of sport. How can we account for this development and the weak position of women in sport? The perspective in this article is historical and three levels of explanation are considered. To what extent can the developments be explained as the result of public policy, the organization and policy of the voluntary associations and federations and by the action or predispositions of (groups of) women themselves. The article presents an overview of the state of the art in the research on women and sport in Scandinavia in the sense that new data have been collected and existing research and writings are being reviewed. By questioning central myths about sport and politics, and about the roles women play, it is shown that the role of women in sports is related bom to gaining access to the sporting activities per se and to the fora where decisions are being made, and that this access has been hampered as well as facilitated by government policies and policies of associations and interest organizations of the sports world. Government policies, however, cannot account for the remarkable changes in physical participation and democratic representation of women in sports which has taken place during the past century. The policies of the voluntary sports associations and federations are of greater importance. But the key to the understanding is found among the women themselves. So it is argued that physical performance and involvement in management and decision-making are dependent not only on formal structures and the policies of governments and interest organizations, but to a large extent upon the way in which women see themselves. This argumentation rests on the available data and a critical reading of the literature and research on women and sport in Scandinavia.     

When Efficiency Is Unbelievable: Normative Lessons from 30 Years of City–County Consolidations

We use a new model of city-county consolidation to analyze 12 local government consolidation attempts during the last three decades. Using a rigorously designed comparative case study, we identify the critical variables that explain why some consolidations succeed and others fail. Arguments for consolidation typically fail when they focus on the increased equity to be gained from the redistribution of revenues from the suburbs to central cities. Traditional arguments that are based on increased efficiency are also unsuccessful. Instead, the essential element of a successful consolidation is a group of civic elites who define the economic development vision for the community, determine that the existing political structure is incapable of supporting and implementing that vision, and convince the voters that city–county consolidation is the key to economic development that will benefit the whole community, not just the elites.     

The Airport and Airway Trust Fund: A Continuing Controversy

Despite calls for increased outlays from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund to help finance improvements in the nation's air transportation system, the fund's surplus continued to grow during the Reagan years. It becomes readily apparent, when the issues surrounding the trust fund and its surplus are analyzed, that placing the blame solely on deficit considerations is too simplistic. Instead, partisan politics, the congressional budget process, delays in technology development, and budget pressures are responsible for the growing surplus.