Public Policy Made by Private Enterprise: Bond Rating Agencies and Urban America

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 1098-1112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Biles
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Municipal Bonds ◽  
World War ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Bond Rating ◽  
Rating Agencies ◽  
Urban America ◽  
Bond Rating Agencies

Since World War II, and especially since the1970s, cities have increasingly relied on municipal bonds as a crucial source of income. At the same time, the bond rating agencies have exerted more influence on potential investors—a development with significant consequences for the nation’s cities. The need for elected officials to measure their actions against possible rewards and punishments imposed by the bond rating agencies allowed private businesses to shape public policies in distant places impervious to the mandates given democratically elected local governments. This paper examines the challenges faced by public officials in three cities (Philadelphia, Chicago, and Detroit) because of the power wielded by bond rating agencies.

scholarly journals Bond Ratings And Their Determinants In A Changing Environment

2011 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Ho ◽  
Ramesh P. Rao
Keyword(s):  
Changing Environment ◽  
Bond Ratings ◽  
Bond Rating ◽  
Rating Agencies ◽  
Stable Period ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Bond Rating Agencies

This study finds that bond rating agencies, to the extent that their behavior is captured in statistical rating models, tend to emphasize different variables over time and that this appears to be systematically related to the economic macro-environment. Specifically, the study finds that bond ratings are more sensitive to various measures of cashflow stability and solvency in an economically unstable period relative to a more stable period.

Debt Securities

2019 ◽  
pp. 139-156
Author(s):  
Alan N. Rechtschaffen
Keyword(s):  
Market Price ◽  
Cash Flows ◽  
Bond Rating ◽  
Treasury Securities ◽  
Rating Agencies ◽  
Interest Payments ◽  
Bond Rating Agencies

Debt instruments obligate an issuer to make interest payments and repay principal to the buyer according to the terms of an agreement between the lender and the borrower. The yield, or market price of these debt securities is related to the yield on U.S. Treasury securities. Treasuries remain the benchmark for risk-free credit investing, and other yields are related to the risk-free return Treasuries offer. Also known as bonds, debt instruments are attractive to investors because they can provide a reliable stream of cash flows in the form of interest payments and also might provide for the repayment of principal upon maturity. This chapter discusses the features of bonds, types of bonds, bond-rating agencies, special types of debt instruments, and the Securities Act.

Diversity, Decentralization, and Social Justice in School Reforms in Japan

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaori Okano
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Significant Degree ◽  
School Reforms ◽  
Individual Choice ◽  
World War ◽  
Reform Initiatives ◽  
Feudal Society ◽  
Major Reform

Japan’s two major national school reforms succeeded in helping transform the country from a premodern feudal society into a modern nation-state in the mid-19th century, and after World War II from a militarist society into a liberal democracy. Since then, there have been numerous reform initiatives. The key drivers of the reforms since the 1990s have been neoliberals, neoconservatives, progressive educationalists, and human rights advocates. Reflecting both struggle and collaboration among these groups, the reforms have been multidirectional and not necessarily consistent. The major reform directions identified are (a) decision-making becoming more decentralized, (b) educational offerings becoming more diverse and flexible, (c) the emergence of greater individual choice, (d) recognition of a widening gap among students and addressing equity and social justice, and (e) a greater role for outside-school providers. There is a significant degree of autonomy and discretion for actors in the middle (local governments, education boards, and schools) and teachers (both independently and collectively). They have utilized this in interpreting the national government’s directives, often avoiding direct challenges to the center.

The ethics of major American foreign policies

1980 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
World War ◽  
Greek Thought ◽  
The Family ◽  
Foreign Policies ◽  
City States ◽  
The City

The theologian Reinhold Neibuhr oftentimes warned that moralists who entered the foreign policy sphere were likely to be more destructive of a nation's ideals than were cynical realists. Evidently he feared that those who lacked a sense of the limits of foreign policy would proceed as if the values and goods which were attainable in the more intimate communities of the family, the locality and the nation were attainable in the international community as well. Whatever Neibuhr's quarrels and debates with classical Greek thought, he was at one with Plato and Aristotle and their present day followers in believing that justice could be more effectively pursued by the smaller communities, such as the city states. He insisted on a recognition of the differences between such communities and the major present day world powers. From World War II until his death, he wrote more about foreign policy than any other aspect of public policy. He wrote scores of articles, some published in less prominent journals, about American foreign policy and its moral basis.

Secular Schools? Religious Practices in New York and Viginia Public Schools Since World War II

1992 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 361-388
Author(s):  
Bruce J. Dierenfield
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
New York ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Church And State ◽  
World War ◽  
State Relations ◽  
Modern Era ◽  
The U.S

Scholars examining the controversy over church-state relations in the modern era have concentrated almost exclusively on its constitutional aspects. This is to be expected since the U.S. Supreme Court has handed down epic decisions that have drawn an increasingly sharper picture of the First Amendment's guideline concerning the government's involvement in religion. The Court did, in fact, lead the way in establishing or reestablishing the doctrine called “separation of church and state.” But the Court touched off a furious debate within the states that has intermittently yet persistently influenced public policy since the early 1960s. It is time that scholars examine more closely the participants outside of the Court.

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