Disparities between social and economic development in Guangdong

China has achieved almost double‐digit annual economic growth since Deng Xiaoping launched market‐oriented economic reforms and open policies in 1978. Nevertheless, social development in China has lagged behind. This paper is concerned with the disparities between social and economic developmental trends in China, with particular reference to Guangdong Province. Having benefited by the open and reform policies since 1979, Guangdong Province has experienced rapid economic growth, especially in industrialization and urbanization. When compared with the spectacular development in its economy, social advancement in Guangdong has, however, appeared to remain far behind. The vast majority of the people in the province, especially the peasants in rural areas, and those who serve as contracted workers in factories, construction sites, or for the private sector in cities, are not protected by any systematic form of social security. This paper argues that the malpractice of local governments is the major factor leading to these divergent processes of economic and social development.     

The (Mis)Uses of Detention and the Impact of Bed Space in One Jurisdiction

Analysis of booking data prior to and following the opening of a new facility doubling available bed space reveals that 53.0% of detentions end prior to or at a detention hearing, charges for 48.8% of bookings are for technical violations of probation or status offenses only, and that 62.5% of bookings are for a combination of the prior two offense and other minor offenses. These trends as well as the actual number of youths detained increased with the move into a new facility with twice the bed space. The data suggest that detention is frequently used as shelter and/or punishment even though a juvenile does not technically represent a threat to self, community, or of absconding.     

Gender Turnover and Roll‐Call Voting in the U.S. House of Representatives

A number of studies suggest that the gender of a legislator affects his or her congressional ideology. We argue that these studies may have produced misleading results because of insufficient controls for constituency influences. To better account for constituency effects, we use a longitudinal research design based on electoral turnover, which holds constituency constant while allowing gender and party to vary. We apply ordinary least squares regression to data from the 103d, 104th, and 105th Houses of Representatives and estimate the effect of gender turnover on changes in DW‐NOMINATE roll‐call voting scores. We find that, when we sufficiently control for both party and constituency influences, gender is not a determinant of the liberalness of a representative's roll‐call voting behavior.     

Early‐Life Origins of Life‐Cycle Well‐Being: Research and Policy Implications

Mounting evidence across different disciplines suggests that early‐life conditions can have consequences on individual outcomes throughout the life cycle. Relative to other developed countries, the United States fares poorly on standard indicators of early‐life health, and this disadvantage may have profound consequences not only for population well‐being, but also for economic growth and competitiveness in a global economy. In this paper, we first discuss the research on the strength of the link between early‐life health and adult outcomes, and then provide an evidence‐based review of the effectiveness of existing U.S. policies targeting the early‐life environment. We conclude that there is a robust and economically meaningful relationship between early‐life conditions and well‐being throughout the life cycle, as measured by adult health, educational attainment, labor market attachment, and other indicators of socioeconomic status. However, there is some variation in the degree to which current policies in the United States are effective in improving early‐life conditions. Among existing programs, some of the most effective are the Special Supplemental Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), home visiting with nurse practitioners, and high‐quality, center‐based early‐childhood care and education. In contrast, the evidence on other policies such as prenatal care and family leave is more mixed and limited.     

When Politics Matters: The Impact of Politicians' and Bureaucrats' Preferences on Salient and Nonsalient Policy Areas

For three decades, the “politics matters” literature has found that political ideology is an important explanation of public policy. However, this literature systematically fails to include the influence of the bureaucracy. In fact, it is almost impossible to identify a single study in this literature that controls for the influence of the permanent bureaucracy. In this article, we investigate whether politics still matters when bureaucratic preferences are taken into account. We do this in a simultaneous test of political and bureaucratic influences on public budgets, a policy measure often studied in the “politics matters” literature. We find that political preferences trump bureaucratic ones in policy areas salient to the public but not in less salient areas. This might be comforting news from a democratic perspective. However, as public budgets represent an easy case for political influence, it is food for thought that political preferences do not always prevail.