Editors' Notes

Abstract

This issue of the Policy Studies Journal includes articles of interest and value for a broad spectrum of policy scholars and practitioners. Dorothy Daley (University of Kansas) examines the diffusion of voluntary market mechanisms as state-level policy instruments for addressing environmental problems in the US. She finds that the states are responsive to both interest group pressures and to the actions of surrounding states, effectively coupling diffusion models with advocacy-based models of policy change. On a methodological note, Paul Steinberg (Harvey Mudd College) addresses the daunting problem of causal attribution in policy cases for which data are limited. Drawing on the concept of process tracing, Steinberg proposes a useful means for ranking the importance of the identified causal paths. For practitioners, we include papers that explore the mode in which policy analysts ply their trade (by Iris Geva-May, Simon Fraser University) and careful analysis of the kinds of tradeoffs faced by NGOs that “partner” with governments to produce public goods (by Kwangho Jung of Seoul National University and Jae Moon of Yonsei University). And Brian Gerber (University of West Virginia) provides an extremely useful review essay of what has been learned about disaster management practices in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Also in this issue is a collection of papers, guest-edited by Kishore Gawande (Texas A&M University), addressing the environmental implications of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The focus of the collection is on the prospect that less restrictive trade policies will result in shifting pollution to those states with most lax pollution standards—dubbed the “pollution haven” effect. These papers provide a lucid account of the related theoretical issues, followed by analyses that empirically test the pollution haven proposition at the level of the state, the individual business or firm, and at the level of the operating industrial plant. We are particularly pleased with the manner in which this collection employs multiple points of focus, coupled with careful empirical analysis, to provide both practical and theoretical policy implications. In sum, this is an exciting issue that we expect will hold broad interest for the community of public policy scholars and practitioners. We are deeply grateful to both the authors and reviewers who gave of their time and effort to bring it about. On a more administrative note, this issue the Policy Studies Journal marks the last before a change of institutional homes. In August of 2007, the PSJ will move from Texas A&M University to the University of Oklahoma. We express our lasting appreciation for the support that the Journal has received from Texas A&M, and especially from the Bush School and the Bush Library Foundation which provided generous support for the editorial functions of the PSJ. We will discuss the future of the Journal at the University of Oklahoma in a later edition of these editorial notes. As always, our editorial policies are designed to bring you the best writing in public policy, covering the range of theoretical and substantive developments in the field. We continue to urge you to send your best papers to the Policy Studies Journal. Hank C. Jenkins-SmithEditorWarren S. EllerManaging Editor