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Public Choice (public + choice)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	50%
Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting	41%

Selected Abstracts

PENSION REFORM, POLITICAL PRESSURE AND PUBLIC CHOICE , THE CASE OF FRANCE

ECONOMIC AFFAIRS, Issue 4 2008
Laura Thompson
An ageing population and generous public sector pensions have put significant pressure on the funding of the French pension system making a reduction in the scope of state pension schemes imperative. Yet, as public-choice theory would predict, lobbying by interest groups has made reform difficult to achieve. [source]

Political Economics versus Public Choice,

KYKLOS INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, Issue 2 2006
Two views of political economy in competition
First page of article [source]

Reply to Blankart and Koester's Political Economics versus Public Choice Two Views of Political Economy in Competition

KYKLOS INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, Issue 2 2006
Alberto Alesina
First page of article [source]

Public Choice and Deviance

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY, Issue 1 2004
A Comment
First page of article [source]

Pluralism, Public Choice, and the State in the Emerging Paradigm in Health Systems

THE MILBANK QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2002
Dov Chernichovsky
The conceptualization of medicine as a unique field of endeavor is swiftly changing, and the change involves complex social and technological factors. The concept of "medicine" is dynamic: the range of ailments dealt with by medical care changes, as does the range of therapeutic options. In addition, with the growth in income and education, consumers,especially those in the middle- and upper-income brackets who are self-reliant and stress individualism,expect an increasing diversity of medical care and ins-titutions to supply it (Antonovsky 1987; Schneider, Dennerlein, Kose, et al. 1992; Williams and Calnan 1996). Hence, the character of the product or service offered and demanded is becoming more difficult to determine, especially in socioeconomically advanced communities. In developed nations, the absence of a correlation between a country's expenditures on medical care and the population's health as measured by morbidity and mortality complicates the issue further, since the association between health and the level of investment in medical care is not always as might be expected (OECD 1990). [source]

Politics, industry and the regulation of industrial greenhouse-gas emissions in the UK and Germany

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND GOVERNANCE, Issue 4 2004
Ian Bailey
This paper assesses the impact of ,new' environmental policy instruments (NEPIs), such as eco-taxes, tradable permits and environmental agreements, on the politics of regulating industrial greenhouse-gas emissions. Intense academic debate surrounds the extent to which environmental policy is driven by the public interest, public choices between actor and stakeholder interests, or embedded institutional traditions. However, the effects on environmental politics of the recent shift from direct regulation to NEPIs remain seriously under-researched. Surveys and interviews with industry and policy-makers on the implementation of United Kingdom and German climate policy indicate that, although economic pressures do influence the design of policy instruments, public choice is far from dominant; nor are industry reactions to particular NEPIs uniform between countries. This suggests that national institutional traditions are far more influential in informing policy choices and industry reactions to policy innovations than is often acknowledged. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley &,Sons, Ltd and ERP,Environment. [source]

Toward a US Shift from Agricultural to Rural Development Policy: Forces of Challenge and Change Auf einen Wechsel von der US-Agrarpolitik zu einer Politik des ländlichen Raums hinarbeiten: Die Triebkräfte der Herausforderung und des Wandels Vers une transition des politiques agricoles vers des politiques de développement rural aux États-Unis: Les forces du défi et du changement

EUROCHOICES, Issue 1 2008
Charles W. Fluharty
Toward a US Shift from Agricultural to Rural Development Policy: Forces of Challenge and Change On the 5th of November 2007, Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, Chairman of the US Senate Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Nutrition, in opening the floor debate on the 2007 Farm Bill, urged a new US commitment to rural policy, keeping in mind that nearly 85 per cent of total farm household income is now generated off-farm. Recent institutional developments, moreover, evidence the success of a decade-long effort to increase focus on the rural development Title of the Farm Bill. One result was the formation of the Alliance for Sensible Agriculture Policies (ASAP), a loose federation of over 30 national organizations, representing the entire political spectrum. It remains highly active in support of Farm Bill reform. Currently, the Senate Bill contains a US$ 400 million increase in mandatory rural development funding. As we move toward an end-game, however, members of both the Senate and the House of Representatives will face the unbridled power of commodity organizations. It is likely that this will again overwhelm public sentiment and wise public choice. Despite overwhelming odds, a new commitment to a more innovative rural policy framework is emerging in the United States. I believe that this Farm Bill will ultimately be viewed as the beginning of a landscape-changing legislative framework for rural people and places in America. Vers une transition des politiques agricoles vers des politiques de développement rural aux États-Unis: Les forces du défi et du changement Le 5 novembre 2007, le Sénateur de l'Iowa Tom Harkin, Président du Comité du Sénat des États-Unis sur l'Agriculture, la Forêt et la Nutrition, en ouverture du débat sur la loi agricole 2007, a appeléà un nouvel engagement pour la politique rurale, en gardant à l'esprit que presque 85 pour cent du revenu total des ménages agricoles provient de sources non agricoles. En outre, les évolutions institutionnelles récentes on mis en évidence les succès d'une décennie d'efforts pour attirer l'attention sur le Titre "développement rural" de la loi agricole. Un résultat a été la formation d'une alliance pour des politiques agricoles raisonnables (Alliance for Sensible Agriculture Policies, ASAP), une fédération large de plus de 30 organisations nationales représentant la totalité du spectre politique. Elle reste très active pour soutenir la réforme de la loi agricole. A l'heure actuelle, la loi proposée par le Sénat prévoit une hausse de 400 millions de dollars des fonds obligatoirement destinés au développement rural. Cependant, à mesure que l'on s'approche de la décision finale, les membres du Sénat et de la Chambre des représentants seront confrontés au pouvoir sans frein des organisations de soutien des produits agricoles. Il est probable que cela va de nouveau dominer les sentiments du public et les choix sensés en matière d'action. En dépit des conditions dominantes, émerge aux États-Unis un nouvel engagement pour un cadre plus innovant pour les politiques de développement rural,.Je crois que cette loi agricole sera considérée comme un point d'inflexion dans le paysage pour les populations et les territoires ruraux aux États-Unis. Auf einen Wechsel von der US-Agrarpolitik zu einer Politik des ländlichen Raums hinarbeiten: Die Triebkräfte der Herausforderung und des Wandels Am 5. November 2007 forderte Tom Harkin, US-Senator aus dem Bundesstaat Iowa und Vorsitzender des Komitees für Landwirtschaft, Forstwirtschaft und Ernährung (US Senate Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Nutrition), ein größeres Engagement der USA im Hinblick auf die Politik des ländlichen Raums, als er die Plenardebatte über das Landwirtschaftsgesetz von 2007 eröffnete. Dabei hatte er vor Augen, dass mittlerweile beinahe 85 Prozent des gesamten Haushaltseinkommens der landwirtschaftlichen Betriebe aus außerlandwirtschaftlichen Aktivitäten stammt. Zudem belegen die jüngsten institutionellen Entwicklungen den Erfolg der jahrzehntelangen Bemühungen, die Aufmerksamkeit auf den Titel über die Entwicklung des ländlichen Raums im Landwirtschaftsgesetz zu lenken. Als Folge dessen wurde u.a. die Allianz für vernünftige Agrarpolitikmaßnahmen (Alliance for Sensible Agriculture Policies, ASAP) ins Leben gerufen, ein freier Verband von über 30 nationalen Organisationen, die das gesamte politische Spektrum vertreten. Die Allianz setzt sich immer noch sehr für die Reform des Landwirtschaftsgesetzes ein. Derzeit sieht das Gesetz im Senat eine Budgeterhöhung von $ 400 Millionen zur Finanzierung der verbindlichen Entwicklung des ländlichen Raums vor. Da wir jedoch auf die Endphase zusteuern, werden sowohl Mitglieder des Senats als auch des Abgeordnetenhauses der ungezügelten Macht der Rohstofforganisationen gegenüberstehen. Wahrscheinlich wird dies wieder einmal die Stimmung und die weise Entscheidung der Öffentlichkeit maßgeblich beeinflussen. Ungeachtet dessen entwickelt sich in den USA zurzeit ein neues Engagement hin zu einem innovativeren Rahmenprogramm in Bezug auf die Politik des ländlichen Raums. Ich bin der Ansicht, dass dieses Landwirtschaftsgesetz der Landbevölkerung als Zeitpunkt des Landschaftswechsels in Erinnerung bleiben wird. [source]

"A Hand upon the Throat of the Nation": Economic Sanctions and State Repression, 1976,2001

INTERNATIONAL STUDIES QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2008
Reed M. Wood
While intended as a nonviolent foreign policy alternative to military intervention, sanctions have often worsened humanitarian and human rights conditions in the target country. This article examines the relationship between economic sanctions and state-sponsored repression of human rights. Drawing on both the public choice and institutional constraints literature, I argue that the imposition of economic sanctions negatively impacts human rights conditions in the target state by encouraging incumbents to increase repression. Specifically, sanctions threaten the stability of target incumbents, leading them to augment their level of repression in an effort to stabilize the regime, protect core supporters, minimize the threat posed by potential challengers, and suppress popular dissent. The empirical results support this theory. These findings provide further evidence that sanctions impose political, social, and physical hardship on civilian populations. They also underscore a need for improvements in current strategies and mechanisms by which states pursue foreign-policy goals and the international community enforces international law and stability. [source]

Temporary Liaisons: The Commitment of ,Temps' Towards Their Agencies*

JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, Issue 3 2005
Gerla Van Breugel
abstract The majority of research on organizational commitment has focused on commitment in traditional, ongoing and open-ended relationships. The commitment of employees in non-standard work arrangements such as temporary employment has been subject to much less theoretical and empirical investigation. In this study, we examine the affective and continuance commitment of temporary workers towards their agency and its determinants. We distinguish two groups of determinants: the process by which the temporary worker chose a particular agency and the support provided by the agency. The findings can be summarized as follows: (1) affective commitment among temps is generally higher than their continuance commitment; (2) having more alternative agencies to choose from (i.e., volition) does not enhance the commitment of temporary workers; (3) a public choice for a particular agency raises both types of commitment, whereas the perceived agency dependence created by the choice increases continuance, but not affective commitment; and (4) both types of commitment are positively influenced by agency supportiveness, reflected in the way the agency deals with problems, the career support it provides, and the way it keeps in close contact with its temporary workers. Finally, the results suggest that factors raising affective commitment may ,spill over' to increase continuance commitment. [source]

Governance in Houston: Growth Theories and Urban Pressures

JOURNAL OF URBAN AFFAIRS, Issue 5 2003
Igor Vojnovic
This research will present a historical review of the role of local government and then examine two theoretical interpretations, the public choice and political economy perspectives, in explaining Houston's governance and public policy directions. The work will also show that recent events in Houston that might initially appear to contradict the city's historical development practices, such as greater ethnic sensitivity and increasing concern for the environment, have in no way challenged the city's pro-growth agenda. The new directions in Houston's policy are simply a reflection of a different growth strategy reflecting changing demographics in the city and the new reality of Houston's diversifying economy. [source]

The Importance of Deviance in Intellectual Development

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY, Issue 1 2004
Especially at Virginia Tech in the 1970s
This paper seeks to explain the success of public choice at Virginia Tech in the 1970s in two ways. First, I reflect on my graduate school experience at Virginia Tech, with the intent of identifying particular characteristics of the people and location of Virginia Tech, including its remoteness, that facilitated the development of the paradigm shift that public choice, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, represented. Second, I argue that the success of public choice at Virginia Tech depended critically upon the willingness of the people here to disconnect from professional constraints and to think outside the conventional economics box. I make this point with the aid of a computer simulation of the evolutionary development of "people" (or "trials") as they attempt to scale the highest "mountain" within a "mountain range," the exact features of which (including the heights of the various "mountains") are not known before the climb is started. In such an environment, finding the highest peak, the assumed goal, is critically dependent on a measure of "deviance," or the willingness to shun short-run opportunities of exploiting accepted methods. [source]