Generational Accounting and the Saving Rate Decline, 1960–2000

Government agencies in 26 countries construct generational accounts, defined as the present value of remaining lifetime net taxes that a generation can expect to pay. This paper calculates generational accounts for the United States, 1960–2000, and finds that generational account changes do not coincide with the abrupt decline in the saving rate that began in the mid‐1980s. First, transfers to the elderly, as reflected in changes to the generational accounts, increased gradually after 1960. Second, the fiscal burden placed on future generations, measured both in real terms and relative to newborns, was no higher in 2000 than in 1960.     

Townies

His work has been featured in numerous publications.     

Police use of body worn cameras

This article gives an overview of police use of body-worn cameras (BWCs). In doing so it explores the widespread adoption of BWC technology around the world and shows how different jurisdictions are adopting the cameras for a variety of uses. Next, the review examines the empirical research of BWCs and assesses the perceived benefits and concerns of the technology. The article then examines a case study of police use of BWCs in Canada. Politicians and civil rights groups have called on police in Canada to adopt BWCs to improve accountability, but little movement has been made in this direction. The article identifies several reasons why police have been slow to adopt the technology in Canada despite public demand and the widespread deployment of the technology elsewhere. It concludes with suggestions for areas of future research.     

Governmental and Societal Support for Environmental Enforcement in China: An Empirical Study in Guangzhou

The enforcement behaviour of environmental officials in developing countries has not received adequate attention despite enormous challenges to regulatory enforcement in those areas. Accordingly, this article examines the relationship between perceptions of support from local governments and society and evaluations of enforcement effectiveness. A model in which organisational commitment partially mediates these relationships was tested using a sample of 202 enforcement officials in Guangzhou, China. The findings confirm a partial mediating role for organisational commitment and an interaction effect between government and societal support. A plot of this interaction reveals that when enforcement officials perceive high levels of governmental support, societal support further enhances their perceptions of enforcement effectiveness. However, when they perceive government support to be low, higher levels of societal support appear to diminish their assessments of enforcement effectiveness.     

Public Attitudes toward Climate Science and Climate Policy in Federal Systems: Canada and the United States Compared1

Multilevel governance poses several challenges for the politics of climate change. On the one hand, the unequal distribution of power and interests can serve as a barrier to implementing coherent policy at a federal level. On the other, these features also enable policy leadership among sub‐federal units. In the context of wide variation in climate policy at both national and sub‐federal levels in Canada and in the United States, this paper utilizes an original data set to examine public attitudes and perceptions toward climate science and climate change policy in two federal systems. Drawing on national and provincial/state level data from telephone surveys administered in the United States and in Canada, the paper provides insight into where the public stands on the climate change issue in two of the most carbon‐intensive federal systems in the world. The paper includes the first directly comparable public opinion data on how Canadians and Americans form their opinions regarding climate matters and provides insight into the preferences of these two populations regarding climate policies at both the national and sub‐federal levels. Key findings are examined in the context of growing policy experiments at the sub‐federal level in both countries and limited national level progress in the adoption of climate change legislation.     

The Characteristics of Countries with Generational Account Imbalances

This article empirically tests competing explanations for intergenerational policy differences using a cross section of generational accounts from Kotlikoff and Leibfritz (1999). Generational imbalance rises when a public transfer program is created that benefits living generations and harms future generations. Generational imbalance is greatest in countries with a large elderly population, high income growth rate, greater income inequality, and dispersed political parties. The results are consistent with successful rent seeking by the elderly and poor, and suggest that countries with a high income growth rate and coalition government are less able to resist intergenerational redistribution.     

Tackling Problems of Overfishing: Protecting Sharks and Bluefin Tuna

Sharks and bluefin tuna are two highly migratory top predators in the world's ocean ecosystems. The rise of large commercial fishing operations and a high global demand for these large fish combined with pollution to their habitats have led to a devastating depletion of their stocks. Steps must be taken, both domestically and internationally, to protect these species.     

Quebec Confronts Canada: Two Competing Societal Projects Searching for Legitimacy

Forced centralist policies, made possible by the utilizationof Ottawa's spending, taxation powers, and frequent oppositionto Québec's policy preferences led a large number ofQuébecers to favor greater sovereignty. The federal government'sattempts to reduce provinces tojunior governments in the federationhave backfired in Québec's case, and led to the constructionof a modern, liberal, pluralistic, and territorial nationalistproject. Meanwhile, Québecers continue to shape a visionof themselves lhal is marked by sharp differences with the Canadianpolitical project of undifferentiated citizens and that erectsinstead a communitarian model inspired by social democraticvalues.     

Touring a once pious nation: gender,medievalism, tourism,and Catholic nation-building in early twentieth-century France

ABSTRACT

In 1900, the first of the Guide national et catholique du voyageur en France appeared. Published by the Assumptionist Order alongside the Exposition Universelle, the guidebook suggested sites for Catholic travellers visiting Paris that year. Additional volumes on other regions of France soon followed. Known for their national pilgrimages to Lourdes, the Assumptionists departed here from their usual publications by presenting a religious travel experience based on curiosity more than faith, yet motivated by nostalgia for a medieval, pious France; a nation anchored in its regional traditions. Central to the guidebooks were female religious personalities—saint, visionaries, and miracle workers—who reflected this idealized vision of the nation. Using the lens of gender, this article explores the Guide's use of female religious figures and Marian apparitions in the construction of a Catholic nation to be explored, reaffirmed, and travelled at the beginning of the twentieth century.