Gordon Tullock: His journal and his scholarship

The results presented here suggest that Public Choice is broadly cited by economists and political scientists. The journal currently ranks, approximately, in the middle of the pack with respect to various citation measures. Also, since the late seventies, the journal's ranking has improved significantly relative to both social science journals and to comparable economics journals. Some of the papers published in Public Choice are well cited and several made a significant impact on the thinking of scholars in both economics and political science. Either through his work as editor or through his articles, the thought of Gordon Tullock is well represented in the elite group of articles published in Public Choice.The analysis of citations in Section 4 shows that Tullock's ideas and writing have had considerable impact on the thinking of economists. His contributions are substantial, often multi-disciplinary, and certain to be enduring.     

Is Judicial Review Democratic? A Comment on Harel

Law and Philosophy -     

New Mexico’s experience with Indian casinos and crime

Gambling has been around forever. Yet we still know relatively little about the effect of gambling on the fabric of societies. Previous studies have attempted to explain the relationship between gambling and crime, but most have fallen short because the relationship is so complex and making the connection has been so difficult. In this paper we will examine the impact of Indian gaming on crime in the State of New Mexico. First, specific crime rates in New Mexico counties with tribal gaming are discussed. Second, comparisons of the rates of specific crimes are made between New Mexico counties with tribal gaming and those without. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Western Social Science Association, Reno, Nevada, April 18–21, 2001. Violet DeVore gathered much of the archival information while participating in the Kellogg Foundation American Indian Bridges Program at New Mexico State University. Drs. Russ Winn, of New Mexico State University, and Grant Stitt, of the University of Nevada-Reno, contributed immeasurably to this research with their helpful comments and suggestions. As always, any mistakes are those of the authors alone.     

The Rule of Law as Transition to Democracy in China

This paper assesses Pan Wei's proposal for a 'consultative rule of law system' for China, finding it a potentially important step along the path of political reform. China urgently needs political reform to deal with the rapidly mounting problems of corruption, abuse of power, financial scandals, rising crime and inequality, and declining legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party. A rule of law, with an independent judiciary and other autonomous institutions of horizontal accountability, is vital if China is to rein in these problems and deliver better, fairer, more transparent and effective governance. However, Pan Wei's proposed system goes only part of the way toward addressing the deficiencies of governance in China, and is therefore best viewed as a transitional framework. To work, horizontal accountability must be supplemented with and reinforced by vertical account ability, through competitive elections, which give local officials an incentive to serve the public good and enable bad officials to be removed by the people. Ultimately, I argue, China can only achieve adequate and enduring political accountability by moving toward democracy. Among the other issues addressed in the paper are the architecture and appointment of a system of horizontal accountability for China; the role of the Communist Party (or its successor hegemon) in a 'rule of law' system; and the timing and phasing of the transition to a rule of law.     

Houston Enhanced Action Patrol: Examining the Effects of Differential Deployment Lengths with a Switched Replication Design

Studies have tested variations of concentrated patrol combined with intense field interrogations, broken windows enforcement, Compstat accountability, and problem-oriented approaches. Although a majority of findings support the efficacy of concentrated patrol, a substantial number do not. Questions remain regarding six variables: dimension, dosage, duration, displacement, diffusion, and denouement. This study tested differential deployment lengths of geographically concentrated, proactive patrol for an additional 80?h per week in 13 high crime beats in Houston, TX. The original purpose was to identify optimal lengths of deployment periods. The study used a switched replication design with repeated treatments over deployment periods ranging from 4 to 12 weeks. Meaningful reductions in suppressible street crime occurred in only 2 of the 13 beats. The two beats were among the smallest, had among the highest crime rates, and received the highest dosage of concentrated patrol.     

Law and Ojibwe Indian “Traditional Cultural Property” in the Organized Resistance to the Crandon Mine in Wisconsin

Section 106 of the 1966 National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) requires that federal agencies “must take into account” the impact of their regulatory actions on historical properties, among them the “traditional cultural properties” of American Indian tribes. Conceiving of tribes' own social practices in terms of property creates the possibility for making claims about its loss for tribes, but it also problematizes their cultures' inherent dynamism that implicates its putative authenticity. This article offers commentary on the implications of practicing a form of action anthropology for the concept of culture via discovery and explication of such property under the NHPA. The context is a small American Indian community's effort to resist the development of a copper‐zinc mine adjacent to its reservation, on land that holds significant meaning for the community.     

Why was there no ‘Old Poor Law’ in Scotland and Ireland?

This article will attempt to explain why England's system of poor relief was not replicated in Scotland and Ireland until well into the nineteenth century. The difference rests on the development of a nation of wage-labourers in England, the result of agrarian capitalism, a process that was complete by the 1790s, at a time when the population of other European countries was overwhelmingly dominated by peasants. The unique class structure in England led from the 1530s onward to the creation of a poor relief system, state-provided welfare funded from taxation, a type of social assistance that was absent elsewhere.