Types Of Public Policies Research Articles

Coordination failure among multiple lenders and the role and effects of public policy

This paper analyzes the role and effects of public policy when inefficient financing can result from coordination problems among multiple lenders. Developing a financing game with both fundamental and strategic uncertainty, we first show that inefficient liquidation of a fundamentally solvent project can arise in equilibrium as a result of coordination failure among lenders. We then investigate the effects of two types of public policies: an information policy and a public guarantee program. The analysis shows that the inefficiencies caused by coordination problems among lenders can be effectively and efficiently removed only when both policies are simultaneously designed and implemented in an appropriate combination. We also address the potential cost of public intervention, focusing particularly on the negative influence on the ex ante effort incentives of borrowers.

Real estate and optimal public policy in a credit-constrained economy

This paper articulates a general equilibrium model of a two-sector economy where entrepreneurs borrow from households subject to a credit constraint. Real estate is a productive factor in the entrepreneurial sector and serves as collateral in entrepreneurs’ debt contracts. We consider two types of public policies that have the potential of improving upon the economy’s equilibrium outcome, one of subsidizing entrepreneurial real estate holding and the other subsidizing household interest income. It is found that the former policy opens up a wide range of possibilities for Pareto improvement when the supply of real estate is endogenous.

Clivagens ideológicas e empresas privadas nos investimentos públicos urbanos: São Paulo 1978-1998

O presente trabalho discute a relevância de processos políticos para a explicação dos padrões de investimento público urbano. Para a pesquisa, utilizamos informações relativas aos investimentos em infra-estrutura urbana realizados pela Prefeitura Municipal de São Paulo de 1978 a 1998. Esse tipo de política tem sido tradicionalmente analisada à luz do marxismo estruturalista, de estudos neomarxistas de movimentos sociais, de uma versão atenuada do pluralismo norte-americano e de uma versão urbana da teoria das elites. Para essas literaturas, os processos internos ao Estado, assim como as dinâmicas do próprio processo de decisão, teriam uma importância menor que os atores localizados na sociedade e os elementos ligados às regras do jogo político. Os dados apresentados indicam a insuficiência das explicações correntes e destacam a importância de dois outros elementos pouco ou nada considerados pela literatura: de um lado, clivagens políticas e ideológicas, de outro, a presença e a influência das empresas privadas ligadas à própria produção da cidade.

The Controversy Surrounding Stem Cell Research

This article discusses the current political debate regarding federal funding for human embryo-derived stem cell research (EDSCR) including an overview of the controversy behind the issue and the legislation and political activity surrounding the topic. The main controversy about whether federal funds should be made available for EDSCR is related to the opposition’s utilitarian belief of the immorality of destroying or using human embryos for scientific research. As a result, the political discussion surrounding EDSCR falls into the category identified by Christopher Z. Mooney as morality policy. An overview of morality policy is also included to illustrate the differences between it and other types of public policy. A discussion about how nursing researchers and nurses as health policy analysts can contribute to the political debate on stem cell research is included.

Drugs, Sex, Rock, and Roll: A Theory of Morality Politics

I assume that (a) the demand for sin is characterized by heterogeneous preferences and (b) private behavior diverges from public statements. From these assumptions, in the first section of this article I derive a series of propositions about morality policy. Rational politicians will perceive that demand for restrictive policies will be greater than it actually is and thus compete to produce more extreme policies. Bureaucracies will lack expertise and thus will not provide a check on political excesses. This “politics of sin” can be translated into a contemporary form of redistributive morality policy politics if the issue can be refrained by political actors to legitimate an opposition position. In the second portion of the article, I argue formally that sin policies in general will fail because they operate on subsets of the population that are more and more resistant to the policy instruments available to government. I conclude with potential expansions of this theory, including how it might be generalized to other types of public policy.

Public policies, regional inequalities and growth

This paper constructs a two-region endogenous growth model where industrial location and public infrastructures play a key role. The model analyzes the contribution of different types of public policies on growth, economic geography and spatial income distribution. It implies that an improvement in infrastructures that reduces transaction costs inside the poorest region decreases both the spatial concentration of industries, and the growth rate, and increases the income gap between the two regions. Conversely, an improvement in infrastructure facilitating transactions between regions has the reverse effect. In this sense, the paper highlights a trade-off between growth and the spatial distribution of economic activities. Contrary to transfers and traditional regional policies, it is shown that public policies that reduce the cost of innovation can attain the objectives of higher growth and more even spatial distribution of both income and economic activities. From that point of view, these policies seem preferable to the regional policies now implemented in Europe.

The economics of language: survey, assessment, and prospects

This paper offers a general presentation ofthe economics of language as it has evolved since the publication of the earliest articles in thisfield in the mid-1960s. To this end, it begins by extensively reviewing the main trends and results found in the literature, which is arranged, for the purposes of this paper, in nine categories. Although much of the existing research is empirical and documents the relationship between linguistic attributes and socioeconomic Status (usually in Canada or in the United States), an increasingly wide range of topics is being studied. These include language maintenance and shift, the relationship between linguistic patterns and economic activity, and the selection and design of language policies. The paper then moves on to an assessment of the particular challenges facing researchers in the economics of language. On the one hand, it is important to guard against tempting but misleading analogies, of which some examples are discussed; on the other hand, the economics of language is well equipped to shed light on some causal links between linguistic and economic variables and to select, design, implement, and evaluate language policies. I try to show that language planning raises questions that are analytically similar to many of those encountered in other types of public policy and must therefore be amenable to policy analysis; this requires the development of appropriate concepts and tools, many of which can be supplied by an economic approach. The priorities for further research are examined and shown to fall into two main categories. Thefirst consists of the development of a wide range ofsectoral models addressing specific issues, such as, for example, the cost structure of the production of language-specific goods and Services. The second points to a larger goal, that is, the development of an integrated perspective on language planning and linguistic plurality. The end of the paper is devoted to an outline of the essential features of this enterprise.

THE GREEN GRASSROOTS: SMALL BUSINESS AND THE ENVIRONMENT

ABSTRACT Based on the results of a survey conducted by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, this paper examines the attitudes and actions of the small-business community with respect to the natural environment. Emphasizing the structural and behavioural similarities between the economy and the ecosystem, opinions of business owners are examined and various public policy options discussed. The main findings uncover a significant amount of environmental action on the part of small firms and reinforce the notion that attitudes of business owners are congruent with the general public on major social issues. Similarity in attitudes, with the lack of economies of scale, suggest that small firms have more in common with households than with large businesses—a finding that raises serious questions to the appropriateness of certain types of public policies and regulations.

A FRAMEWORK FOR THE CLASSIFICATION OF GOVERNMENT POLICY ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP: CONTRASTING SIX MODELS

ABSTRACT Attempts by governments to increase prosperity have been vastly different, and experience has shown that some government policies tend to encourage entrepreneurship more than do others. This study is almost a controlled experiment in economic development: Similar neighbouring islands have been ruled by their respective policies. This paper identifies six distinct policy approaches, as used by six island economies. Each of the six models is classified on a grid according to level of intervention and affinity for entrepreneurism. The author develops a new model, and applies it. An analysis of neighbouring Caribbean islands supports the hypothesis that using GDP as a measure of economic success, successful communities tend to have a policy of minimal government intervention coupled with a higher affinity for entrepreneurism. The number of governmental programs meant to encourage new ventures is not an explanatory variable; more important are socio-demographic factors along with type of public policy.

The Role of Public Policy in the Education of Girls and Women

In order to make education more equitable and effective for all, educators need to understand some of the complexities involved in developing public education policies to benefit over half our population which is female. A conceptual framework has been developed to indicate how different types of public policies have intended or unintended positive, mixed, or negative effects on girls and women in education. Examples of public policies that focus on sex equity goals, sex differential goals, and general education goals are followed by recommendations to help educators and policymakers assume responsibility for ensuring that education policies help, instead of harm, females.

Public Policy & the Emergence of Religious Politics

Studies of religion and politics have tended recently to ignore the role played by public policy in the political activity of religious groups. This article, which examines religious politics in the 1970's and 1980's, finds reasons for this tendency in both liberal society's view of religion and the dynamics of social science in a liberal society. It suggests that different types of public policy, classified here as church-state, personal morality, and peace / justice, will have different effects on religious interests and promote different kinds of political activity by religious groups. The authors analyze major theoretical perspectives on religion and politics-interest group theory, civil religion, status politics, and secularization, and they conclude that conditions are such as to suggest the persistence of religious activity in American politics.

Three Basic Questions in Political Inquiry

Discussion about political research could be seen as dealing with three basic questions. The first being whether type of government or type of public policy should be considered as our main object. The second being whether constitutional law or the more realistic approach of political science should dominate. And the third being whether we should be arguing in or about politics. If we separate these three questions it is much more likely that discussion will improve.

A Unitary Model of Local Taxation and Expenditure Policies in the United States

Two models of local policy formation can be set forth. Although they are complementary rather than competing models, for heuristic purposes it is useful to present them as contrasting approaches. Since the first, the bargaining model, is well known, I shall concentrate in this paper on elaborating and applying a second, unitary model of policy making. The paper is divided into four main parts. After briefly identifying the limitations of the bargaining model, the first part develops the theoretical rationale for the unitary model. The second part uses the model to analyse empirically differences in the revenue sources for national, state and local governments. Part 3 does the same for expenditure policies, and, in the course of the analysis, distinguishes among three types of public policy – developmental, allocational and redistributive. In the final part, hypotheses deduced from the model are tested by means of a regression analysis of state and local expenditures.

Types of Democratic Systems and Types of Public Policy: An Empirical Examination

With the success of the behavioral in political science have come a number of positive changes in the study of comparative politics.1 We have long abandoned the strict constitutionalism and institutionalism which had characterized traditional comparative government studies.2 These have been replaced with a broader conception of politics and the political process. The apparent problem with comparative politics at present is that this revolution has been too successful. Now the study of the input side of the political system-political parties, pressure groups, electoral behavior, and mass attitudinal configurations-has become so popular that we tend to ignore the conversion functions of the political system-those governmental and institutional configurations so important in traditional comparative politics. Further, we have especially ignored until quite recently the comparative study of the output side of the political system. The reasons for the emphasis on inputs are numerous. One of the most important is the reliance on the Eastonian version of systems theory as an approximation of a paradigm for the discipline.3 Although some slight attention is given to the processes of decision making, this influential work directs our attention mainly toward political inputs. It further tends to assume a direct correspondence between the inputs and outputs of this political system. Roy Macridis has referred to this focus in comparative politics as inputism and notes that: