Analyzing the Effects of Local Government Fiscal Activity I: Sampling Model and Basic Econometrics

1992 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 1-40
Author(s):  
Walter R. Mebane
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Urban Politics ◽  
Fiscal Federalism ◽  
Local Politics ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Theoretical Development ◽  
The Past ◽  
Local Government Expenditures ◽  
Economic Well Being

At the intersection of urban politics, fiscal federalism, and political economy in the United States, probably the most important theoretical development in political science in the past 15 years has been the argument put forth by Paul Peterson in City Limits (1981). Informed by Tiebout (1956), Musgrave (1959), and Lowi (1964), Peterson uses the incidence of local government taxes and spending to develop an interest-driven theory of federalism and local politics. Peterson proposes a typology of local government expenditures, based on the degree to which the expenditures tend to be directed toward above-average or below-average taxpayers. Peterson assumes that expenditures of the former kind are beneficial for local economic well-being, while expenditures of the latter sort are, in general, harmful. These two kinds of expenditures he refers to as, respectively, “developmental” and “redistributive.” Expenditures of neutral incidence, and according to Peterson also of neutral economic consequence, are referred to as “allocational” (1981, 34-46).

The Study of American Local Governance: A Need for More and Better ‘Backyard‘ Scholarship

1988 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 11-14
Author(s):  
Ronald J. Oakerson
Keyword(s):  
Urban Politics ◽  
Local Politics ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Political Process ◽  
The United States ◽  
Basic Element ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
American Democracy ◽  
National Politics ◽  
State And Local

Occasional references to the old radical teaching that “all politics is local” notwithstanding, American political scientists have by and large treated the study of local politics as a subject of much lesser importance than national politics. The standard introductory course in “American democracy” has a national focus—often it is exclusively national. Briefly, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the study of “urban politics” occupied a more prominent place in the discipline, but interest has waned. The priority concern in both teaching and research continues to be American national government and politics.This narrow focus leads to a distorted and truncated view of American democracy. Despite increased nationalization, state and local government has been and remains a basic element in the practice of American politics. The productivity and creativity of democracy in America are outcomes, not simply of a national political process, but of a complex system of governance in which local collective action provides much of the energy and initiative for addressing public problems. A vast amount of political activity in the United States is channeled through state and local institutions, where much of the work of public problem solving is done.

To Provide or Protect? Masculinity, Economic Precarity, and Protective Gun Ownership in the United States

2021 ◽  
pp. 073112142199840
Author(s):  
Tara D. Warner ◽  
Tara Leigh Tober ◽  
Tristan Bridges ◽  
David F. Warner
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Family Status ◽  
Gun Ownership ◽  
Attitudes And Behaviors ◽  
Masculinity Threat ◽  
Economic Well Being

Protection is now the modal motivation for gun ownership, and men continue to outnumber women among gun owners. While research has linked economic precarity (e.g., insecurity and anxiety) to gun ownership and attitudes, separating economic well-being from constructions of masculinity is challenging. In response to blocked economic opportunities, some gun owners prioritize armed protection, symbolically replacing the masculine role of “provider” with one associated with “protection.” Thus, understanding both persistently high rates of gun ownership in the United States (in spite of generally declining crime) alongside the gender gap in gun ownership requires deeper investigations into the meaning of guns in the United States and the role of guns in conceptualizations of American masculinity. We use recently collected crowdsourced survey data to test this provider-to-protector shift, exploring how economic precarity may operate as a cultural-level masculinity threat for some, and may intersect with marital/family status to shape gun attitudes and behaviors for both gun owners and nonowners. Results show that investments in stereotypical masculine ideals, rather than economic precarity, are linked to support for discourses associated with protective gun ownership and empowerment.

God is Doing a New Thing in the ELCA: Trends from the FACT Data

2021 ◽  
Vol 78 (3) ◽  
pp. 256-266
Author(s):  
Deborah L. Coe ◽  
Brad Petersen
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Faith Communities ◽  
Congregational Studies ◽  
Lutheran Church ◽  
The Past ◽  
Evangelical Lutheran Church ◽  
Protestant Denominations ◽  
Evangelical Lutheran ◽  
The Church

For decades, mainline Protestant denominations in the United States have experienced steady membership declines. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is no different, and our research team has been exploring this topic for years. Faith Communities Today (FACT) is an interfaith project consisting of a series of surveys conducted by the Cooperative Congregational Studies Partnership, of which the ELCA is a long-standing member. In this article, we examine data collected from the three decennial FACT surveys to discern where, despite declining membership, God is, to quote the prophet Isaiah, “doing a new thing.” We find that over the past twenty years, the typical ELCA congregation has had a gradually increasing: sense of vitality, belief that it is financially healthy, desire to become more diverse, willingness to call women to serve as pastors, openness to change, and clarity of mission and purpose. Because there are multiple possible explanations for these positive trends, we recommend approaching such trend lines cautiously, viewing them through a critical-thinking lens. Even though there is an increased perception of congregational well-being, overall finances and the number of people involved in the church continue to decline. There is still much work to be done.

LGBTQ-Parent Families in the United States and Economic Well-Being

2020 ◽  
pp. 105-124
Author(s):  
Naomi G. Goldberg ◽  
Alyssa Schneebaum ◽  
Laura E. Durso ◽  
M. V. Lee Badgett
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Well Being

The Leeuwenhoek Lecture, 1972 - Carbohydrate transport by micro-organisms

1973 ◽  
Vol 183 (1071) ◽  
pp. 105-123 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Basis ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Black Pepper ◽  
Biological Information ◽  
Small Animals ◽  
Complete Understanding ◽  
The Past ◽  
Micro Organisms ◽  
Christopher Wren ◽  
Economic Well Being

It is 295 years almost to the day since the existence of micro-organisms was confirmed at a meeting of this Society. The minutes of that meeting of 15 November 1677 record Mr Hooke ̓s success in eliciting the appearance, in a suspension of black pepper in rainwater, of ̒. . . great numbers of exceedingly small animals swimming to and fro. They appeared of the bigness of a mite through a glass, that magnified about an hundred thousand times in bulk; and consequently it was judged, that they were near an hundred thousand times less than a mite.̓ Since some doubts had been expressed at previous meetings, the minute firmly concludes that ̒. . . there could be no fallacy in the appearance. They were seen by Mr Henshaw, Sir Christopher Wren, Sir John Hoskyns, Sir Jonas Moore, Dr Mapletoft, Mr. Hill, Dr. Croune, Dr. Grew, Mr. Aubrey, and divers others; so that there was no longer any doubt of Mr. Leewenhoeck ̓s discovery ̓. (Birch 1757.) It is not my purpose here to comment on the importance of that discovery to our physical and economic well-being, nor to describe the manner in which studies with micro-organisms have revealed much of the molecular basis of the events that enable cells to maintain and accurately to reproduce themselves. These topics have formed the subjects of previous lectures in honour of Leeuwenhoek ̓s memory. I wish to discuss a topic that, as far as I am aware, has been only touched on, once before (Gale 1957), yet that concerns the indispensable first step in the utilization of all food materials. I refer to the highly specific mechanisms that enable such food materials to enter microbial cells, and the means that regulate the operation of such systems. It is a measure of the rapidity at which biological information accrues, as well as an explanation of why a topic of such fundamental importance appears to have been neglected, that most of our still far-from-complete understanding in this area has been achieved within the past five years, and all of it since, in the first Leeuwenhoek Lecture (Fildes 1951) delivered exactly 22 years ago today, Sir Paul Fildes discussed ̒. . . the development of events which has made it convenient to foster a new branch of biology under the title Microbiology ̓.

STEM and Soft Occupational Competencies: Analyzing the Value of Strategic Regional Human Capital

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 356-371
Author(s):  
Fran Stewart ◽  
Minkyu Yeom ◽  
Alice Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Regional Economies ◽  
Soft Skill ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
Capital Development ◽  
Economic Well Being

This research examines the distribution of STEM—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—and soft-skill competencies in occupations within regional economies in the United States. This research explores the public policy question: Do occupational competencies offer a better measure of regional human capital than the commonly used metric of educational attainment? Policy makers at all levels of government have increasingly emphasized STEM education as vital to economic well-being. This research finds support for the importance of STEM occupational competencies to regional median wage and productivity, but findings also indicate the important contributions of “soft skills” to regional economic well-being. This suggests new avenues for region-focused training and human capital development aligned to occupational skill demands that reward workers and benefit regions.

Trends in Childhood Obesity Research: A Brief Analysis of NIH-Supported Efforts

2007 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 148-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry T-K Huang ◽  
Mary N. Horlick
Keyword(s):  
Childhood Obesity ◽  
Behavioral Change ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Obesity Epidemic ◽  
Obesity Research ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Economic Well Being

Childhood obesity continues to rise in the United States, with now over 17% of children and adolescents considered overweight. Childhood obesity predisposes an entire generation to increased risk of chronic diseases and disabilities and is a severe threat to the economic well-being of the nation. At first thought, the solution to the obesity epidemic may seem simple: encourage people to eat less and exercise more. However, the reality is that behavioral change is difficult to achieve without also considering the interplay of genetics, biological processes, and social and environmental mechanisms. As such, investment in obesity research has been considered an important tool to combat obesity and obesity-related diseases. Childhood obesity research, in particular, has drawn considerable attention, given the lower cost of prevention relative to treatment and the high potential for long-term benefits at a population level.

scholarly journals Health Insurance and Income Inequality

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 53-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Kaestner ◽  
Darren Lubotsky
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Insurance ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Government Programs ◽  
Cost Of Health Care ◽  
Government Benefits ◽  
Economic Well Being

Health insurance and other in-kind forms of compensation and government benefits are typically not included in measures of income and analyses of inequality. This omission is important. Given the large and growing cost of health care in the United States and the presence of large government health insurance programs such as Medicaid and Medicare, it is crucial to understand how health insurance and related public policies contribute to measured economic well-being and inequality. Our paper assesses the effect on inequality of the primary government programs that affect health insurance.

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