Public Policy and Intergovernmental Relations: Measuring Perceived Change(s) in National Influence-The Effects of the Federalism Decade |
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| Authors: | Jae-Won Yoo Deil S Wright |
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| Institution: | Jae-Won Yoo is a graduateof Korea University, holds an MA in government from the University of Texas, and received his PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He currendy teaches at Korea University, Seoul, Korea. His specialty fields include intergovernmental relations, urban and local administration, policy analysis, and methodoiogy.;Deil S. Wright is Alumni Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Public Administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His publications on state government are part of his broader interest in intergovernmental relations and federalism. He is a past chair of the American Society for Public Administration section on Intergov-ernmental Administration and Management, has received the distinguished scholar award from the American Political Science Association section on Federalism and intergovem-mental Relations, and is the author of Understanding Intergovernmental Relations. |
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| Abstract: | Federal grants-in-aid have been a major instrument for the exercise of national influence on the states. This research investigates empirically the degree of perceived national influence (PNI) exerted through the grant process during the 1970s and 1980s. Respondents were state administrators heading agencies that received federal grants. Surveys at four points in time across the two decades produced a unidimensional measure of PNI. PNI levels were notably higher in the 1970s than in the 1980s. Two competing explanations were offered to account for the decline: (a) intergovernmental institutional policy changes promoted by the Ronald Reagan administration from 1981 through 1988, and (b) symbolic and rhetorical advocacy of an altered (reduced) national role in relation to the states. Both factors appear to have contributed to sharp decline in PNI between the mid-1970s and the mid-1980s. |
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