Temp to Perm: Stacking the Electoral Deck Through U.S. Senate Appointments?

One concern with allowing governors to appoint replacements for U.S. Senate vacancies is that appointees may have an advantage over their competition in seeking election. Another is that governors may use their power to further their own political ambitions. This investigation explores whether an electoral benefit is conferred through receiving or making an appointment. The analysis provides insight into how gubernatorial appointments shape electoral outcomes for quasi-incumbents and the Senate's membership. Notably, the results reveal an electoral boost for representatives who are appointed prior to making a run for the Senate. Although the results demonstrate that some appointees gain an advantage by receiving appointments, governors who run for Senate do not experience an electoral benefit from making an appointment.     

Partisan Efficiency in an Open-Rule Setting: The Amending Process in the U.S. Senate, 1865–1945

Given significant differences between the House and Senate's amending processes, one would anticipate the Senate majority party to be far less successful when voting on the floor. However, recent work has demonstrated that majority party success on the Senate floor is remarkably similar to the House. We argue that an overlooked explanation for majority party success stems from its ability to control intra-party amending activity through coordination between members of the majority party. Utilizing a new data set consisting of all amendments receiving recorded roll call votes in the Senate from 1865–1945, we demonstrate that majority party extremists refrain from offering amendments despite the relative open-floor setting. Nevertheless, chamber majorities cannot restrict minority legislators from offering amendments designed to force them to cast uncomfortable votes and delay the legislative process.     

Accuracy,efficiency and bias: The interpretation of women's work in the U.S. Census of Occupations, 1890–1940

The Canadian Century Research Infrastructure (CCRI) began with the development of designs for large representative samples of the decennial census from 1911 to 1951 and continued with the development of sophisticated SPIDER software for data entry and processing. This work builds on previous research projects in several ways, including the use of digital images within an integrated suite of Java-based software programs. By describing the theoretical and practical questions addressed in the CCRI initiative, the authors seek to contribute to international efforts to enhance construction of historical databases for systematic research on economic, social. and political change.     

Settlement Patterns, Source–Sink Dynamics, and Artiodactyl Hunting in the Prehistoric U.S. Southwest

Numerous studies in the US Southwest suggest that prehistoric artiodactyl populations in areas of dense human settlement experienced population reductions which substantially reduced their availability to human hunters. Although most assemblages from villages in this region are dominated by lagomorphs, some settlements maintained greater access to artiodactyls. Factors influencing this variability include both local settlement history and settlement location relative to productive source areas for large game. In our study areas, source–sink dynamics likely contributed to the long-term resilience of hunted artiodactyl populations and allowed villagers continued access to animals moving in from source areas despite relatively rapid game depletion in heavily hunted areas immediately around villages.     

Stakeholder Involvement in the Design of U.S. Voluntary Environmental Programs: Does Sponsorship Matter?

Voluntary environmental programs (VEPs) promise to provide firms and facilities additional flexibility in managing their environmental affairs while increasing internal efficiencies and improving their public image. Although stakeholder input is thought to improve program development, little is known about the extent that stakeholders are involved in the VEP design process. Based on a survey of 61 program managers, this research distinguishes between the intensity and diversity of stakeholder involvement and uses these two concepts to assess VEP development relative to government, industry, and third-party sponsorship. Even in the absence of a mandate, all three sponsors include a variety of stakeholders in program design. Although there is evidence that collaborative relationships are developing between sponsors and a range of stakeholder groups, variations in the intensity of involvement among sponsors suggest that some stakeholders may have disproportionate levels of influence in the design of VEPs.     

Measuring cost escalation in the formative era of U.S. higher education, 1875–1930

ABSTRACT

Cost escalation in higher education in the United States prior to 1930 has scarcely been studied, even though the period from the 1870s to the 1920s was formative for U.S. higher education. This article develops and explains a method to measure the cost during this period. The authors then compile more accurate cost data than have been available, calculate new cost indexes for higher education from 1875 to 1930, and compare these indexes to economy-wide indexes. The striking findings inform the two leading economic theories of cost escalation, advanced by economists Howard R. Bowen and William G. Bowen. Cost escalation in total expenses of higher education occurred consistently between 1875 and 1930, and exceeded the worrisome rate that economist Howard Bowen found for the period from 1930 to 1977. Cost escalation did not occur in the more salient per capita terms. This latter finding, combined with recent historical research, supports the “revenue theory of cost” of Howard Bowen and challenges the “cost disease theory” of William Bowen.