Explaining Institutional Effectiveness in Australian Environmental Management: An Application of the Haas,Keohane and Levy Model

In their Institutions for the Earth (1993), Haas, Keohane and Levy argue that, at the international level, three fundamental conditions must be met for the effective management of environmental problems. They summarise these conditions as the three 'Cs'-the building of concern; the existence of a suitable contractual environment; and the growth of state capacity. We applied the Haas, Keohane and Levy (HKL) model to three case studies at the national level, in order to ascertain the extent to which the three Cs explained the emergence of successful institutional regimes. We found that two of the three variablesimprovements to the contractual environment and increases in state capacity-had considerable explanatory power. Concern was important in providing the motive force for change, but high levels of concern did not lead to effective institutional regimes unless the other two factors were present. We found a strong reciprocal relationship between state capacity and the contractual environment-the ability to monitor solutions and to generate policy-relevant 'trustable' information, was positively associated with improved negotiating structures and outcomes.     

The Comparative Cost of Privatized Public School Transportation in Tennessee

This paper provides evidence from an empirical test of service contracting versus bureaucratic production of school bus transportation. Actual contracted cost of school bus service is compared to the estimate of in-house cost for providing the same service in 19 Tennessee public school systems. In-house cost is estimated from a two-output, two-input translog cost function regressed on 91 school systems. Contracted cost is found to be lower than in-house cost in 15 of the 19 contract systems. The potential savings equals 27% of average contract cost for these 15 systems. In the other 4 contract systems, actual cost exceeds the estimated in-house cost by 21% of their average contract cost.     

Dueling Decisions

In a government of divided powers, the respective roles of the president and Congress in determining American foreign policy often are disputed. Rival Supreme Court decisions on this matter, U.S. v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corporation (1936), and Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952), were resurrected and argued with renewed vigor following the Iran-contra affair. Despite attempts by the defenders of each decision to discredit or reinterpret the rival case, both decisions stand as reasonable, if incompatible, interpretations of constitutional meaning.