The Political Viability of Carbon Pricing: Policy Design and Framing in British Columbia and California

The adoption of climate policies with visible, substantial costs for households is uncommon because of expected political backlash, but British Columbia's carbon tax and California's cap‐and‐trade program imposed such costs and still survived vigorous opposition. To explain these outcomes, this article tests hypotheses concerning policy design, framing, energy prices, and elections. It conducts universalizing and variation‐finding comparisons across three subcases in the two jurisdictions and uses primary sources to carry out process tracing involving mechanisms of public opinion and elite position‐taking. The article finds strong support for the timing of independent energy price changes, exogenous causes of election results, reducing the visibility of carbon pricing, and using public‐benefit justifications, as well as some support for making concessions to voters. By contrast, the effects of the use of revenue, industry exemptions/compensations, and making polluters pay are not uniform, because the effects of revenue use depend on how it is embedded in coalition building efforts and a middle path between exempting or compensating industry and burdening it appears to be more effective than pursuing just one or the other approach.     

西部大开发的内在动力源泉探析

大力发展西部民营经济,加大对西部大多数国有中小企业的非国有化改革力度,加快对西部国有大中型企业的现代企业制度改革,使西部各种所有制经济共同繁荣发展,是西部大开发内在动力的源泉所在。     

The use of antisemitism in the Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil War saw an outburst of antisemitism in the Nationalist-controlled areas of the peninsula and in the Moroccan protectorate, an antisemitism influenced by the work of ultra-right-wing intellectuals associated with the Acción Española review. All the factions of the Nationalist camp interpreted the civil war as a crusade against the 'Jewish-Masonic-Bolshevist' conspiracy. In mainland Spain, where there were only a few Jewish families, antisemitism was largely confined to the written word. In this way, it was used mostly as a rhetorical tool to attack the Nationalists' real and imaginary enemies: the Republican forces, the French and the Soviets. Although there was no systemic persecution of the Jews, some aggressive acts took place in Seville and Barcelona. The situation of the larger Jewish community in Spanish Morocco was quite different. The Moroccan Jews were adversely affected by the Nationalists' efforts to enlist the support of the Muslim population against the Republicans and by the German presence in the protectorate. They were also victimized by the Falangists who confiscated their property and imposed heavy fines on them. The military authorities of Morocco tried to restrain these excesses as they realized that blatant antisemitism could hurt the rebels' image abroad. They also believed that Jewish wealth and connections could serve the Nationalist cause.     

越南《大越史记全书》版本源流述略

《大越史记全书》古代曾于黎朝和阮朝两次刊刻,至今有"正和本"(1697)、"内阁本"(1856)、"国子监本"(1856)、"引田本"(1885)、"校合本"(1984)、"影印本"(1998)6个版本。黎、阮两朝刊刻的《大越史记全书》越南国内现存15部;法国藏有数部,其中巴黎亚洲协会图书馆藏1部,系"内阁本",即"影印本"之底本;日本亦藏有数部。日人引田利章校订句读并首次活字印刷;陈荆和编校的"校合本"目前内容最为完整;"影印本"保留较多原貌。     

Reconocimiento del matrimonio religioso contraído en el extranjero (perspectiva mexicana)

The author presents the legal and doctrinal decisions about religious marriage recognition abroad. He finds that the “form” (the qualification) has not been the instrument to recognize the marriage. It is questionable whether that marriage in Mexico is a problem of form.     

中国5个民族mtDNA(CA)n重复的多态性

目的 探讨中国维族、汉族、黎族、瑶族、藏族mtDNA 514-523位置(CA)n重复遗传多态性。方法应用自行设计的引物对维族、汉族、黎族、瑶族各100名无关个体及42名藏族无关个体进行直接测序。结果 维族人群发现5种等位基因,黎族4种,瑶族3种,而汉族、藏族只观察到两种等位基因。结论 五个民族间mtDNA(CA)_n重复次数存在差异,与国外其他人群相比也有差异。     

When Is Science Used in Science Policy? Examining the Importance of Scientific and Technical Information in National Research Council Reports

A frequent lament among researchers is that public policy makers should pay more attention to scientific and technical information (STI). If there is any single area where one might expect STI to be used in public policy making and agenda setting it is in science and technology policy. Many of the policy makers in science and technology policy are themselves scientists or researchers and presumably would prove especially receptive to STI. However, STI is only one of many types of information used in policy making and policy actors often differ in the extent to which they view STI as credible, particularly compared to other types of potentially policy‐relevant information. Research on credibility (the believability of information, information types, and media) has shown variance and policy makers’ “credibility maps.” Thus, some policy makers have preference for formal information generally and STI specifically, but others privilege raw data, personal experience, authority, history and anecdote, analogical reasoning, or conformance to ideology, to name just a few of the information choices. Here, we build on the current researchers’ previous bibliometrics‐based work and use data from 41 semi‐structured elite interviews with National Research Council (NRC) executives and staff and NRC committee members concerning the use of STI in reports issued by the NRC. Findings show that the use of STI in NRC reports varies according to the nature of the inquiry and the sponsor. Information used in the reports is based on not only the assessed credibility of information but also its perceived direct relevance and the availability of STI as compared to other types of information. In general, the amount of STI in the NRC reports tends to have modest effects on the likelihood that reports will be used in policy making or by the mass media. More important factors include the timing of the report with respect to political agendas, the party requesting the report, and the enacted roles of NRC staff members and committee chairs.     

Renewable Portfolio Standards and Policy Stringency: An Assessment of Implementation and Outcomes

This research examines the impact of increasing the stringency of renewable portfolio standards (RPS) on the consumption of energy produced from renewable sources. Putting prior findings in the context of policy learning, first we focus on technological innovation, factor endowments, and economic energy dependence of American states to track how RPS have proliferated and strengthened. Next, we look at the net effect of this RPS evolution on state fossil fuel energy divestment. To evaluate the interplay between: a) the political desire to lower fossil fuel use, b) technological feasibility to do so, and c) the economic trade‐offs and risks, we focus on the industrial sector dependence on energy security and affordability. Our results indicate that energy security is a priority and even in light of increasing RPS stringency, states with relatively weak but mandatory RPS are leaders in aggregate renewable energy consumption. This fact is due to favoring biofuel and hydro generation rather than solar and wind because of lower deployment costs.