Ein gordischer Knoten der Politikwissenschaft? Zur Vereinbarkeit von Föderalismus und Demokratie

Politische Vierteljahresschrift - Politische Systeme im nationalen und internationalen Kontext werden zunehmend nach Prinzipien des Föderalismus organisiert. Nach wie vor ungeklärt ist...     

Northern Ireland: 20 Years On

To speak of what is exceptional about Northern Ireland today requires a provocative sense of irony, for constitutionally it can be argued Northern Ireland has become one of the most stable parts of the United Kingdom. The fact if not the value of the Union has become more deeply entrenched as both the fact and the value of the Union have come more openly into play elsewhere, even in England. Nevertheless, Northern Ireland is not immune from larger political developments and fantastic uncertainties attend consideration of the next twenty years at different levels of analysis. This article considers these uncertainties according to two possible scenarios, one involving a nationalist narrative and the other involving a unionist narrative. The key issues in each scenario and narrative are the constitutional debate in the United Kingdom, especially the referendum on Scottish independence; the future of the European Union and the United Kingdom's relationship to it; and the changing electoral demographic within Northern Ireland. If Northern Ireland's future is inextricably linked to uncertainty this makes it the rule and not the exception today.     

Public subsidies and charitable giving: Crowding out,crowding in,or both?

Abstract Whether government subsidies to nonprofit organizations leverage (crowd in) private donations, or rather crowd them out has been actively debated for some time. A third hypothesis, explored theoretically and tested empirically in this paper, is that the two phenomena are actually not inconsistent with one another: At low levels of subsidies, government support may stimulate private giving, whereas at high levels it could have just the opposite effect. The model presented is based on this idea, which yields implications relevant to nonprofit management and public policy, and tests it with data on symphony orchestras. The conclusion is that the maximization of private donations and total “unearned” revenues are not compatible goals. Further, nonprofits that suffer from short‐term liquidity problems or managerial shortsightedness may face a “subsidy trap,” in which they are forced to rely on suboptimal levels of subsidies in terms of maximizing the firm's revenues. © 2000 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

Who opposes government arts funding?

While the reasons for the controversy overpublic arts funding are well-understood,less clear is the set of variables thatassociates with strong opposition orsupport for arts subsidies. Using data fromthe General Social Survey, this paperbuilds a model to predict opposition basedon ideological, economic, and demographiccharacteristics. The most importantpredictors of opposition are found to bepolitical views, gender, income, privatedonations to the arts, and region ofresidence. The results in this papersuggest that the benefits of public artsfunding accrue primarily to those in thehighest income class, and that supportvaries somewhat according to the level ofgovernment providing the funding. ``The far right is waging a war for the soulof America by making art a partisan issue.And by trying to cut these arts programs,which bring culture, education, and joyinto the lives of ordinary Americans, theyare hurting the very people they claim torepresent.'' Barbra Streisand, in a speech delivered atHarvard University (1995) The National Endowment for the Arts hasbecome a play thing ... for an elitegroup. Newt Gingrich, in an interview on C-SPAN(Lamb, 1994)     

Tourism in Society

This essay starts with a discussion of the scope of tourism as a major force in our contemporary global consumer culture. It also contains information on the development of tourism education in universities and problems students studying tourism often face in the workplace. The main function of the essay is to introduce the articles I have solicited from a number of tourism scholars, which reflect various disciplinary approaches to tourism. They deal with the following topics: sociological studies of tourism and modernism, questions about postmodernism and the role of authenticity in tourism, a historical perspective on the growth of the cruise industry, a case study investigating the role of advertising in tourism and an analysis of the functions of stereotypes in tourism. It is hoped that these essays will induce scholars not working in the area to consider investigating tourism in future research.

Is There a Dark Side to Government Supportfor Nonprofits?

The relationship between government social spending and private donations to the nonprofit sector is an issue that is relevant to both public administrators and nonprofit managers. Does government funding displace philanthropy, or encourage it? This article introduces the debate into the public administration literature. First, I survey and interpret the empirical work performed to date in this area by economists. Second, I retest this question across four nonprofit subsectors using data on both federal and state/local spending. My survey of the literature shows mixed results, although a broad pattern indicates that “crowding out” tends to dominate, particularly in the areas of social service provision and health. My empirical results are consistent with these findings, although they must be interpreted cautiously from a policy perspective: While results are statistically significant, the degree of crowding out is generally small. On the other hand, the claim that government funding stimulates giving seems to lack both statistical and policy significance.     

Sorting out the Seeking: The Economics of Individual Motivations

Various models of individual motivations are confronted with evidence from different kinds of laboratory experiments. The motivations distinguished are categorized as selfish, other regarding, or cooperative. The experimental evidence shows that the traditional, selfish model is too limited, but that the alternative models that have been suggested each have shortcomings of their own.     

Trade protection comes to Silicon Valley

He has written extensively on the issue of international trade including Made in America: The 1981 Automobile Carteland How Import Restraints Reduce Employment.