Citizen Representatives Research Articles

Private Investment and Sovereign Debt Negotiations

The author studies models of sovereign debt bargaining of the kind proposed by J. Bulow and K. Rogoff. All agents act rationally with perfect foresight and perfect information. The main departure from previous studies is that the government of the debtor country acts on behalf of, but is not identical to, its representative citizen. This seemingly minor change surprisingly implies that there is an indeterminacy of bargaining outcomes, including some of the sunspots type; agreement may be delayed for many periods; and marginal debt may not be worthless. Copyright 1995 by Economics Department of the University of Pennsylvania and the Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association.

Success of citizen advisory committees in consensus‐based water resources planning in the great lakes basin

Abstract Advocates for public involvement in environmental planning often herald the use of consensus building among diverse interests to improve decision making. The 42 Great Lakes “Areas of Concern”; use broadly representative citizen advisory committees that work toward consensus about appropriate cleanup actions for affected communities. In 1990, the contributions of these committees and the quality of the public involvement experience were evaluated through four in‐depth case studies using site visits, personal and telephone interviews, document review, and mail questionnaires. Although consensus on planning decisions was rarely reached, the committees generally supported the decisions and perceived the decision‐making process as fair and open. There was a high level of satisfaction with the planning process, and most committee members felt their individual goals were being at least partially met. Participation on a committee proved to be a valuable educational experience for most involved, which may...

Defining the public interest: Citizen participation in metropolitan and state policy making

AbstractThe legitimacy of policy making at the regional level, as with policy making at more conventional levels of government, depends on the quality of representation. Citizen appointments and voluntary committees bypass the expense of the electoral process, but lack value when restricted to token advisory roles in potential conflict with other, “financially articulate” interests. Experience shows that lay citizen representatives can make sound decisions on the technical issues that typify regional problems, when information is properly shared. Regional entities must demonstrate the will to establish their legitimacy.

Lower World Energy Prices: Good News or Bad News?

Lower world energy prices may reduce the overall rate of return to capital and slow down the rate of capital formation and GDP growth in a new energy-importing economy even if capital and energy are complementary inputs in 95 percent or more of the economy that uses energy as an input. Whether the economy is a net energy importer or exporter, lower world energy prices will increase the sustainable real income of the representative citizen if energy-specific resources are privately owned.

The Public Administrator as Representative Citizen: A New Role for the New Century

We must have magistrates, for without their prudence and watchful care a state cannot exist. In fact the whole character of a republic is determined by its arrangements in regard to magistrates. Not only must we inform them of the limits of their administrative authority, we must also instruct the citizens of the extent of their obligation to obey them. For the man who rules efficiently must have obeyed others in the past, and the man who obeys dutifully appears fit at some later time to be a ruler. Thus he who obeys ought to expect to be a ruler in the future, and he who rules should remember that in a short time he will have to obey. Cicero, Laws, III, 2

Taxpayer Preferences and the Choice of Efficient Transfer Systems

The taxation' and expenditure2 components of Pareto optimal income transfer mechanisms designed to replace the present inefficient welfare system have been studied by economists for over ten years. The theoretical research on the expenditure side has centered on the advantage of variants of negative income taxes versus wage subsidies. Until Zeckhauser [15] there was not much linkage between the taxation and expenditure components of the problem; the important work incentive comparisons of the average recipient's reaction to income floors, wage subsidies, and negative income taxes were attempted with only vague references to the representative taxpayer's willingness to pay for transfer schemes. Zeckhauser's innovative contribution to the search for a Pareto optimal mechanism of income transfers treats the interaction of the representative citizen and recipient in a general equilibrium model and demonstrates the superiority of wage subsidy plans. The purpose of this paper is to build upon the Zeckhauser analysis to allow a more complete expression of the general equilibrium approach. In our analysis we will demonstrate:

Anticipating the impact of Public Law 93-641 on mental health services.

Implementation of the new federal law setting up Health Systems Agencies (HSAs) on a regional basis offers many opportunities for participation by psychiatry. On the basis of interviews with mental health service providers, planners, and citizen representatives, the author formulated an inventory of the law's potential impacts, grouped around six general themes. He discusses the positive aspects of each, along with possible problems and hazards.