Do fiscal rules dampen the political business cycle?

This paper develops and tests the theory that fiscal rules limit politicians' ability to manipulate the budget for electoral gain. Using panel data from the American states, I find evidence suggesting that stringent balanced budget rules dampen the political business cycle. That is, while spending rises before and falls after elections in states that can carry deficits into the next fiscal year, this pattern does not exist in states with strict “no-carry” rules. Neither binding gubernatorial term limits nor the partisan composition of government appear to significantly affect the magnitude of the political business cycle.     

The effectiveness of regulatory disclosure policies

Regulatory transparency—mandatory disclosure of information by private or public institutions with a regulatory intent—has become an important frontier of government innovation. This paper assesses the effectiveness of such transparency systems by examining the design and impact of financial disclosure, nutritional labeling, workplace hazard communication, and five other diverse systems in the United States. We argue that transparency policies are effective only when the information they produce becomes “embedded” in the everyday decision‐making routines of information users and information disclosers. This double‐sided embeddedness is the most important condition for transparency systems' effectiveness. Based on detailed case analyses, we evaluate the user and discloser embeddedness of the eight major transparency policies. We then draw on a comprehensive inventory of prior studies of regulatory effectiveness to assess whether predictions about effectiveness based on characteristics of embeddedness are consistent with those evaluations. © 2006 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management     

Learning and re-learning regime support: The dynamics of post-communist regimes

Abstract. The political support of citizens of new democracies reflects two sets of experiences. Initially, people are socialized into an undemocratic regime; then, they must re-learn political support in relation to a new regime. In an established democracy, it is difficult to disentangle the effect of early socialization and current performance because both refer to the same regime. However, this is both possible and necessary in countries where there has been a change in regime. Critical questions then arise: When, whether and how do citizens determine their support for their new regime? At the start of a new regime past socialization should be more important but, after a few years, current performance should become more important. We draw on 47 Barometer surveys between 1991 and 1998 in ten more or less democratic post-communist regimes of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union to test the relative importance of early socialization influences, the legacy of the communist past, and the political and economic performance of new regimes. We find that economic and political performance explains the most variance in support and, secondarily, the communist legacy. Early socialization is insignificant. However, contrary to economic theories of voting, the impact of political performance is greater than the impact of economic performance in post-communist countries – and its impact is increasing.     

HIGHWAY INTERMODAL FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION: A Policy and Administration Challenge for the New Millennium

This article provides an overview of factors influencing highway intermodal freight transportation planning and policy in the United States. The article provides examples of state and local initiatives to manage or balance the increasing highway transportation of freight with decreasing system capacity. It also identifies important trends in commerce affecting intermodal freight generation. It concludes with a discussion of issues facing intermodal freight transportation planning and policy making at the millennium.     

Influences and Mediators of the Effect of Poverty on Young Adolescent Depressive Symptoms

Data from a sample of young adolescents between the ages of 10 and 12 years (N = 898) from the mother–child data set of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth were analyzed in a study of influences that explain the relation between poverty and depressive symptoms measured 2 years later. Other variables that predicted youth depressive symptoms were also identified. Results indicated that neighborhood problems, nonparticipation in outside school and neighborhood activities, residing with mothers who exhibited depressive symptoms, and mother's use of physical punishment were partial mediators of the effect of poverty on depressive symptoms 2 years later. Youth health status, lower levels of school satisfaction, marital-partner conflict, and father's emotional support also predicted depressive symptoms. The findings indicate that youth depressive symptoms are multiply determined and that poverty can adversely affect young adolescents in many ways.     

Auditor Tenure, Fixed Fee Contracts, and the Supply of Substandard Single Audits

Our purpose is to provide empirical evidence of the relations between the quality of governmental audit services and auditor tenure and between quality and fixed fee audit contracts. Audit quality is assessed by Offices of Regional Inspectors General and is based on a review of the audit reports and supporting working papers. We test a model of quality supplied on a sample of audit engagements selected from a population of audited federal assistance programs. The empirical analysis finds that the probability of receiving a substandard audit increases with the length of the auditor-client relationship. Our analysis finds a positive relation between fixed fee contracts and the incidence of violations of professional standards among audits of federal assistance programs. Additionally, we provide evidence that the incidence of noncom-pliance with professional standards is significantly lower when the audit contract contains a provision for administrative and/or legal remedies in the event of substandard performance.