THE SOURCES OF PUBLIC POLICY: WELFARE POLICY IN THE AMERICAN STATES

The conceptualization of political and economic determinants of public policy as interactive rather than sufficient causes is subjected here to a comparative state analysis. An examination of interactive effects of culture, wealth, and gubernatorial power on AFDC grants and Medicaid benefits offers empirical illustration of Stonecash's reconceptualization of the classic politics-process-policy model. The results indicate that political dispositions become more potent in combination with increasing concentrations of wealth and executive power.     

THE ECONOMICS OF SOCIAL SECURITY POLICY

Books reviewed in this articles:
Henry J. Aaron, Economic Effects of Social Security
Peter J. Ferrara, Social Security; Adverting the Crisis
Carolyn L. Weaver, The Crisis in Social Security; Economic and Political Origins     

THE USE OF SHELL-TEMPERED POTTERY IN THE CADDO AREA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES

Abstract

Freshwater mussel shell was used as a temper in the manufacture of ceramic vessels by potters in the Caddo area of the southeastern United States after ca. A.D. 1300. This was at least one or two centuries after it became the dominant temper used by aboriginal groups in much of the Eastern Woodlands but generally contemporaneous with shelltempered usage in parts of the Southern Plains. The introduction of shell temper was variable across the Caddo area, and in certain regions its use was negligible in ceramic vessel assemblages until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries but then was rapidly adopted as the dominant temper employed in vessel manufacture, particularly for utility wares. In the traditional territory of the historic Hasinai Caddo in East Texas, shell temper did not appear in vessels until the early eighteenth century, and then only in minor amounts on presumed trade vessels.     

REGIONAL FINANCIAL SEGMENTATION IN THE UNITED STATES*

ABSTRACT. Responding to continuing discussions in this Journal regarding the importance of regional money supply and credit, a simple reduced-form regional money supply model is posited and an investigation of real regional money supplies is performed for several states around the country. Hypothesis tests are performed regarding the question of regional financial market segmentation, concluding that segmentation still exists in the United States. The empirical results also imply that interregional trade, presumably via the consequent constraint on regional banks, has at least as much effect on regional money supplies as Federal Reserve policies. These results lend further support for the assertion that regionally available money matters at the local level, and that regional analysis should continue to include regional money and credit as explanatory variables. The implications for policy makers are that: 1) national monetary policy cannot cure regional ills if the problems are manifested in regional industry mixes; and 2) some proposed banking reforms now being debated in Congress, i.e, nationwide branch banking and, particularly, industrial ownership of banks, are suspect. A healthy caution is warranted without more tests of these reforms.     

COMPARISONS IN THE SPATIAL KNOWLEDGE SURFACES OF SUBJECTS FROM CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES

This paper advances the spatial-choice modelling literature by further examining the way in which spatial knowledge is gained. The specific research purpose of this paper is to see how a major boundary (the U.S.A.-Canada border) will affect the generation of a spatial-knowledge surface. It is accepted that an important impact on the way an individual makes a spatial choice, such as a decision to migrate, is the amount and quality of the information he / she possesses about different locations. A positive influence on such a knowledge surface is the population size of the location. Negative influences include the separating distance between individual and location, and the degree of clustering the location faces in respect to other places around it. This paper investigates the way in which these influences also hold if a major boundary lies between a subject and the investigated research space. The paper uses a multi-variate model calibrated on lists of recalled United States city names generated at 9 different Canadian test sites. These are then compared to similar model results from 22 U.S. test sites. The Canadian test results are more consistent than those for the United States. Also, for Canadian subjects, there is no distance decay in the probability of recalling a location unless the Canadian test site is located proximate to a major American border city. A strong relationship exists between the population size of the recalled location and its probability of being recalled. There is also further evidence to support a hierarchical method of knowledge processing, albeit in a weaker form than found in the U.S. test sites. Cet article contribue à la documentation sur la modélisation des choix spatiaux en analysant comment on acquiert des connaissances sur l'espace. Le but spécifique de la recherche est d'observer comment une frontière géographique (la frontière entre les États-Unis et le Canada) influencerait la génération d'une surface de connaissances spatiales. Lorsqu'un individu choisit un lieu d'une perspective spatiale (et lorsqu'on prend une décision de migrer) la quantité et la qualité des ren-seignements qu'on possède au sujet des différentes situations influencent profondément sa décision. La population d'un lieu a une influence positive sur une telle surface de connaissances. Parmi les influences négatives il y a la distance qui sépare l'individu du lieu dont il s'agit, la proximité de ce lieu aux autres et le degré d'agglomération d'un lieu par rapport aux autres dans les environs. Dans cet article nous essayons de déterminer comment ces influences fonctionnent si une frontière importante reste entre l'individu et l'espace qu'on étudie. Cette investigation utilise un modèle multivarié, calibré sur des listes de noms de villes aux Etats-Unis qu'on rappelle et qui furent générés à 9 sites canadiens différents. Nous faisons la comparaison entre ceux-ci et des résultats semblables des modèles de 22 sites aux Etats-Unis. Les résultats des tests au Canada sont plus uniformes que ceux des Etats-Unis. De plus, pour les canadiens la distance n'a aucune influence sur la probabilité de rappeler un lieu à moins que le lieu canadien ne se trouve pas très près d'une ville importante américaine située sur la frontière. Une relation forte existe entre la population d'un lieu rappelé et sa probabilité d'être rappelée. D'autres faits suggèrent également la validité d'une méthode hiérarchique de traitement des connaissances, même si ces indications sout moins fortes que ce que l'on observe aux sites américains.     

COAL MINING AND THE RESOURCE CURSE IN THE EASTERN UNITED STATES

We measure the effect of resource‐sector dependence on long‐run income growth using the natural experiment of coal mining in 409 Appalachian counties selected for homogeneity. Using a panel data set (1970–2010), we find a one standard deviation increase in resource dependence is associated with 0.5–1 percentage point long‐run and a 0.2 percentage point short‐run decline in the annual growth rate of per capita personal income. We also measure the extent to which the resource curse operates through disincentives to education, and find significant effects, but this “education channel” explains less than 15 percent of the apparent curse.     

美国大都市区尺度上的工业区位研究

工业化和城市化之间的互动关系体现在都市区尺度上的工业区位上。本文在新经济地理学和城市地理学所揭示的产品差异化和城市集聚效应相互关系的基础上,通过区位熵分析、赫芬达尔-赫希曼指数,对美国工业区位与大都市区间的耦合关系进行实证研究。结果显示:集聚于大都市区核心区的往往是产品个性化和定制化程度较高的行业;位于大都市区外围区的大都是产品依赖于城市市场,但标准化程度较高的行业;传统制造业则往往位于非大都市区。多数都市工业的市场集中度较低,而大部分传统工业的市场集中度较高。这不仅印证了新经济地理学的理论推演和城市地理学的行业分析,而且对包括中国在内的转型国家城市及其产业发展具有重要的参考意义。