The Economic Origins of Entrenched Judicial Review

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Harvey
Keyword(s):  
Judicial Review ◽  
Majority Rule ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
The United States ◽  
Historical Record ◽  
Constitutional Amendment ◽  
First Year ◽  
Income Distributions ◽  
Economic Elites ◽  
Wealth And Income Distributions

This article proposes a new explanation for the origins of entrenched judicial review, or judicial review supported by supermajority constitutional amendment requirements. The explanation is based on ex ante levels of economic inequality: Where economic inequality is higher, economic elites have more to lose from the advent of majority rule. These elites will have both greater incentives and greater ability to resist or check institutions responsive to popular majorities. We may then be more likely to see the adoption of less democratically responsive institutions, like entrenched judicial review, where more unequal wealth and income distributions are threatened by majority rule. The theory is consistent with the qualitative historical record from several former British colonies, including that of the United States. It also finds considerable support in an econometric analysis of the presence of entrenched judicial review in the first year of continuous democracy for those former European colonies that had become democracies by 2008, where pre-independence European mortality rates are used as a proxy for pre-independence economic inequality. These findings suggest that the adoption of entrenched judicial review in democracies may have been motivated at least in part because of its anticipated protection for higher levels of economic inequality.

Organized Labor’s Check on Rising Economic Inequality in the U.S. States

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 148-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura C. Bucci
Keyword(s):  
Union Membership ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Organized Labor ◽  
Income Distributions ◽  
National Framework ◽  
The U.S

Recent demonstrations of growing economic inequality in the United States raise normative concerns about the political representation of all but the very wealthiest citizens. Building on existing cross-national work on the roles of unions in welfare states, I provide evidence that organized labor, as a political institution, limits unequal income distributions in the U.S. states. The states are useful to our understanding of labor’s influence on inequality as states differ in their acceptance of labor unions, base levels of inequality, political preferences, industries, and levels of development but are all nested within a single overarching national framework. Over the 39-year period examined, states where unions maintain more members remain more equal within the labor market and after redistribution via government transfer. These effects persist after accounting for state-level policy, demography, and economic conditions. However, states where union membership has the largest influence on inequality have also seen growing attempts to reduce unionization rates. Overall, I find that unions are still able to limit the growth of economic inequality in spite of declining levels of union membership.

James Bryce and the Australian Constitution

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-200
Author(s):  
Stephen Gageler
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Judicial Review ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Constitution ◽  
Constitutional Development ◽  
Practical Operation ◽  
Responsible Government ◽  
Shed Light

James Bryce was a contemporary of Albert Venn Dicey. Bryce published in 1888 The American Commonwealth. Its detailed description of the practical operation of the United States Constitution was influential in the framing of the Australian Constitution in the 1890s. The project of this article is to shed light on that influence. The article compares and contrasts the views of Bryce and of Dicey; Bryce's views, unlike those of Dicey, having been largely unexplored in contemporary analyses of our constitutional development. It examines the importance of Bryce's views on two particular constitutional mechanisms – responsible government and judicial review – to the development of our constitutional structure. The ongoing theoretical implications of The American Commonwealth for Australian constitutional law remain to be pondered.

The Architecture of Our Discontent

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yochai Benkler ◽  
Robert Faris ◽  
Hal Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Political Communication ◽  
News Media ◽  
The United States ◽  
Online Media ◽  
First Year ◽  
Media Ecosystem ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Right ◽  
Integrated Media ◽  
Presidential Election Campaign

This chapter presents the book’s macrolevel findings about the architecture of political communication and the news media ecosystem in the United States from 2015 to 2018. Two million stories published during the 2016 presidential election campaign are analyzed, along with another 1.9 million stories about Donald Trump’s presidency during his first year. The chapter examines patterns of interlinking between online media sources to understand the relations of authority and credibility among publishers, as well as the media sharing practices of Twitter and Facebook users to elucidate social media attention patterns. The data and mapping reveal not only a profoundly polarized media landscape but stark asymmetry: the right is more insular, skewed towards the extreme, and set apart from the more integrated media ecosystem of the center, center-left, and left.

Are Future Doctors Prepared to Address Patients’ Nutritional Needs? Cooking and Nutritional Knowledge and Habits in Medical Students

2021 ◽  
pp. 155982762110181
Author(s):  
Sam Sugimoto ◽  
Drew Recker ◽  
Elizabeth E. Halvorson ◽  
Joseph A. Skelton
Keyword(s):  
Medical Students ◽  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
The United States ◽  
First Year ◽  
Nutritional Knowledge ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Nutritional Needs ◽  
Second Year ◽  
First Year Medical Students

Background. Many diseases are linked to lifestyle in the United States, yet physicians receive little training in nutrition. Medical students’ prior knowledge of nutrition and cooking is unknown. Objective. To determine incoming medical students’ prior nutrition knowledge, culinary skills, and nutrition habits. Methods. A dual-methods study of first-year medical students. Cross-sectional survey assessing prior knowledge, self-efficacy, and previous education of cooking and nutrition. Interviews of second-year medical students explored cooking and nutrition in greater depth. Results. A total of 142 first-year medical students participated; 16% had taken a nutrition course, with majority (66%) learning outside classroom settings. Students had a mean score of 87% on the Nutritional Knowledge Questionnaire versus comparison group (64.9%). Mean cooking and food skills score were lower than comparison scores. Overall, students did not meet guidelines for fiber, fruit, vegetables, and whole grains. Interviews with second-year students revealed most learned to cook from their families; all believed it important for physicians to have this knowledge. Conclusions. Medical students were knowledgeable about nutrition, but typically self-taught. They were not as confident or skilled in cooking, and mostly learned from their family. They expressed interest in learning more about nutrition and cooking.

¿Comprenderán Mis Amigos y La Familia? Analyzing Spanish Translations of Admission Materials for Latina/o Students Applying to 4-Year Institutions in the United States

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary W. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
The United States ◽  
Reading Level ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
First Year ◽  
Linguistic Capital ◽  
Undergraduate Admissions ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Grade Reading Level ◽  
Language Content

This study examines first-year undergraduate admissions materials from 325 bachelor-degree granting U.S. institutions, closely analyzing the English-language readability and Spanish-language readability and translation of these materials. Via Yosso’s linguistic capital, the results reveal 4.9% of first-year undergraduate admissions materials had been translated into Spanish, 4% of institutional admissions websites embed translation widgets, and the average readability of English-language content is above the 13th-grade reading level. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

scholarly journals Spatial Disparities of COVID-19 Cases and Fatalities in United States Counties

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (16) ◽  
pp. 8259
Author(s):  
Sarah L. Jackson ◽  
Sahar Derakhshan ◽  
Leah Blackwood ◽  
Logan Lee ◽  
Qian Huang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Great Plains ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Temporal Trends ◽  
The United States ◽  
First Year ◽  
Significant Case ◽  
Urban Rural ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Trends ◽  
Mitigation Policies

This paper examines the spatial and temporal trends in county-level COVID-19 cases and fatalities in the United States during the first year of the pandemic (January 2020–January 2021). Statistical and geospatial analyses highlight greater impacts in the Great Plains, Southwestern and Southern regions based on cases and fatalities per 100,000 population. Significant case and fatality spatial clusters were most prevalent between November 2020 and January 2021. Distinct urban–rural differences in COVID-19 experiences uncovered higher rural cases and fatalities per 100,000 population and fewer government mitigation actions enacted in rural counties. High levels of social vulnerability and the absence of mitigation policies were significantly associated with higher fatalities, while existing community resilience had more influential spatial explanatory power. Using differences in percentage unemployment changes between 2019 and 2020 as a proxy for pre-emergent recovery revealed urban counties were hit harder in the early months of the pandemic, corresponding with imposed government mitigation policies. This longitudinal, place-based study confirms some early urban–rural patterns initially observed in the pandemic, as well as the disparate COVID-19 experiences among socially vulnerable populations. The results are critical in identifying geographic disparities in COVID-19 exposures and outcomes and providing the evidentiary basis for targeting pandemic recovery.

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