Schar School of Policy and Government
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The Schar School of Policy and Government prepares undergraduate and graduate students to be leaders and managers who solve problems and advance the public good in all sectors and levels of government—in the United States and throughout the world.
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Item The Determinants of Hybrid-Electric Vehicle Adoption: Insights from State Registration Data(2006-12-15T18:08:14Z) Diamond, David; Auerswald, PhilipThis paper examines the effect of tax incentives, gasoline prices and other socio-economic factors on the demand for Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) in different U.S. states. As hybrid sales increase, it is important for policymakers to understand how these factors influence demand in order to judge the effectiveness of competing HEV incentive policies. The paper develops a demand model for per-state market-share, and uses cross-sectional time-series data on new Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) registrations in different U.S. states in 2003 and 2004 to evaluate the significance of difference factors. In 2003, a number of predictors were significant, suggesting different policy alternatives for promoting adoption. In 2004, when demand for the Toyota Prius exceeded supply, HEV registrations were explained almost entirely by dealer location.Item Policy Brief to the Minister of Finance of Liberia Mme Antoinette Sayeh: What Should Liberia Do to Improve Its Economy and the Well-Being of Its Citizens?(2007) Pyrtel, Mikael M.; Sandifer, Kirsten E.; Namabiro, Ann D.This policy brief is the result of Professor Todd La Porte issuing a challenge to students as part of an introductory course in the International Commerce and Policy (ICP) program at the George Mason University School of Public Policy. The assignment was to recommend ways in which the country of Liberia, having recently emerged from years of civil war and dictatorship, can strengthen the economy and improve the well-being of its citizens. We accepted the challenge and began researching Liberian history and the current political, economic, and social challenges that Liberia is working to overcome, and some of the development efforts currently underway with multi-lateral institutions. This policy brief begins with an executive summary and makes recommendations for economic growth and improved social well-being by addressing several areas, including fiscal policy, agriculture and rural development, and education.Item The Role of Democracy in Public Policy Making by Private Groups: A Case Study of the American Petroleum Institute (API)(2007) Dickson, StaciaThis paper explores API’s history, its multiple functions within the industry, and its connections to government. It focuses on policy- making processes and the level of democratic procedure employed in creating standards. A comparison is made between API and the Australian Gas Association to differentiate between the role of private groups in public policymaking in the United States, where such groups are more prevalent, and the international arena. API’s connections to other standard-making bodies and international associations are discussed in order to determine who API’s stakeholders are, whom the organization is ultimately accountable to, and from where it derives legitimacy in its ability to develop policies that its members, as well as the greater international oil and gas industry, voluntarily abide by. The study also attempts to support a hypothesis on the impact of government involvement in standard-setting on the number of viewpoints involved in API’s policymaking process.Item Item Best Practices for Successful Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR)(2007) Edloe, L. LenisseThis paper identifies and discusses “best practices” for successful disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) of former combatants in intrastate military conflicts and civil wars, which is a vital component of achieving peace among warring factions. By extracting and examining lessons learned from United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations over the past decade where DDR has been successfully employed, a clear set of best practices with respect to each component of DDR emerges.Item Item Weighing the Costs of Capital Punishment v. Life In Prison Without Parole(2007) Ebert, Michael EThis paper is a cost analysis that compares the costs of charging, trying, convicting and imposing a sentence of death versus the costs for its alternatives, life in prison without parole (LWOP) and life in prison with the possibility of parole (LPP) when the crime charged (“indictment”) involves one or more instances of aggravated first-degree murder. For the most part, the cost analysis will involve only one option to the death penalty, LWOP; this option is available to prosecutors in death penalty states for the same class of particularly heinous crimes for which a capital indictment is available.Item Funding New Infrastructure: Virginia's Public Private Transportation Act Experience, 1995-2006(2007) Jones, James WebbThis paper examines the Commonwealth of Virginia’s experience utilizing a state Public Private Transportation Act [PPTA or the Act] to promote funding for new infrastructure. Virginia’s PPTA is an initiative that federal highway officials recommend as a model for public private partnership legislation. Federal highway researchers have performed an exhaustive 28-point analysis of Virginia’s PPTA and found it to be extremely flexible. This paper will review Virginia’s PPTA project history and the use of the PPP concept and tolls in the United States. The paper will then focus on recent PPTA developments in Virginia including the June 29, 2006, $548 million concession arrangement concluded with an Australian toll operator to manage and maintain the 8.8-mile tolled Pocahontas Parkway near Richmond. Finally, this paper will present some conclusions about Virginia’s experience.Item Message from the Dean(2007) Haynes, Kingsley EMessage from the Dean of the School of Public Policy, Kingsley E. HaynesItem The Fairfax County Connector Bus System: Measuring the Impact of Subsidized Fares on Ridership(2007) Cosner, Matthew; Eisenberg, Marcy; Sachs, Marcus; Seneviratne, DulaniThis study hypothesizes that low-income, automobile-based commuters within the service areas of the Fairfax Connector bus system can be persuaded to use the Fairfax Connector county bus system, as opposed to a single occupancy vehicle (SOV), if the cost of their Connector fare is partially subsidized. This increase in the relative affordability of public transportation will enable targeted low-income commuters to take advantage of new, higher- paying job opportunities that may currently exist beyond their affordable commuting distance. Although not explicitly modeled, we surmise that increased utilization of the Fairfax Connector will also provide the added benefit of removing additional automobile traffic from the county's crowded roads and highways, thereby decreasing automotive traffic and providing benefits to commuters and employers.Item Balancing 'Brick-and-Mortar' and 'Bits-And-Bytes': An Analysis of Cyber Charter School Funding in Pennsylvania(2007) Clarke, Suzie; Hurlburt, Steven; Wines, LindsayThis paper examines the controversy related to the funding and management of Pennsylvania cyber charter schools through a discussion of the important characteristics of cyber charter schools and their emergence in Pennsylvania. In particular, it looks at the sustainability and fairness of the current funding model from the perspectives of both cyber charters and local school districts.Item Constrained Optimization: The State and the Indian Entrepreneur(2007-01-29T20:43:14Z) Banerjee, PritamThe quality of entrepreneurship has been considered by many scholars as a critical factor in the economic development of a society. While some scholars have sought to explain the difference in entrepreneurial quality among societies based on cultural grounds, this paper argues that entrepreneurship is a function of the incentives derived from institutions and the historical context that entrepreneurs face. It also argues that entrepreneurs are not inert actors in the institutional and historical process, but are actively engaged in shaping the political-economic landscape which they inhabit. The paper undertakes an historical analysis of Indian entrepreneurship in the last hundred years as an illustrative example of this theory of entrepreneurial dynamics in a society.Item Revisiting the Constitution: A Case For Parliamentary System in Central Asia?(2007-05-16T15:11:20Z) Abdukadirov, SherzodInstitutional design can impact the dynamics of power relations in authoritarian regimes. Under the presidential system in Central Asian states, the elite factions agree upon a presidential candidate before the elections and then ensure their candidate’s victory by manipulating the elections. As the cost of exclusion in this process is very high, every elite faction is forced to collude with the other factions. Under a parliamentary system, bargaining among the elites in selection of the head of state would occur after the elections as the elites would have to first secure parliamentary seats to be able to vote for the head of state. Such a process would reduce the stakes in each particular election, making it harder for the elites to manipulate elections yet safer to allow some opposition. Furthermore, the balance of power among the elites in parliament would be decided by the people, giving them a voice in the process.Item The Politics of “Entrepreneurial” State Economic Development Policy(2007-06-20T14:48:54Z) Hart, David M.“Entrepreneurial” state economic development strategies, which focus on nurturing home-grown high-technology and other high-growth businesses, lack immediate payoffs for politically powerful constituencies, a condition that would seem likely to limit their political appeal compared to the alternative “locational” strategy of attracting large investments from elsewhere. Nonetheless, many states have added programs with entrepreneurial attributes to their economic development portfolios in recent years. This paper explores how the political obstacles to such programs have been overcome, using a set of sixteen brief case studies. In a few cases, an institutional innovation in the policy-making process drew in new participants who provided ideas for and support to programs with entrepreneurial elements. More commonly, the preferences of the executive branch officials, especially governors, appear to have been critical to the enactment and implementation of such programs. The finding suggests that ED policy-making may be more technocratic than is commonly believed, and that the educational efforts of policy experts, who generally favor entrepreneurial ED strategies over locational ED strategies, have been fruitful and should be sustained.Item Minnesota's Next Generation Energy Initiative(2007-10) Dodge, Cami; Zulkosky, Eric; Roach, Caroline; Mulholland, Kerry; Sprenger, DavidIn this report, Clean Consulting examines and evaluates the most suitable options and strategies for helping Minnesota to meet its growing demand for ethanol and solve other environmental issues as the state adjusts to the recently-enacted Next Generation Energy Initiative (“Initiative”).Item The Project on National Security Reform: Overview and Relevance to Current Public Policy Issues and Trends(Graduate School of Public Policy, 2007-10) Jonas, ChrisGlobalization and threats posed by weak, failing, and failed states have propelled the United States into a new age of national security. Chris Jonas details a Washington, DC-based initiative, The Project on National Security Reform (PNSR), and its efforts to identify the implications posed by our current national security system's inability to act cohesively across departments and agencies and how this might be corrected.Item Evaluating the Impact of Federal Abstinence-Only Education: A Research Synthesis(2007-10) Warden, Rebeccafrom the introduction by Professor David Armor: Rebecca Warden wrote this as a term paper in PUPB 713 (Policy and Program Evaluation). This is an excellent example of a research synthesis on a major federal policy initiative. Warden did a thorough search to find the best evaluations of sexual abstinence programs, and she gave special attention to the methodological quality of each study-- which she takes into account in weighing the findings and arriving at her policy conclusions. Her novel use of Exhibits is very helpful for giving the reader a brief summary of the major points and findings of her analysis.Item Impact of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Policy(2007-10) Hentges, Justin DThis paper is a synthesis of six studies on the impact of the DADT policy, beginning with a brief history of the program and then reviewing various evaluations that have been done on the program. Finally, it discusses some policy questions regarding DADT that are not specifically addressed in the evaluation studies.Item Stop Loss and the Future of America's All-Volunteer, All-Recruited Military(2007-10) Green, Matt; Murray, Kenneshia; Catilozi, Seth; Melakou, Lia; Boyer, BrookeThere are specific challenges to maintaining an all-recruited, all-volunteer military. This analysis addresses several policies, previous and current, used to raise and maintain our armed forces, including an examination of other countries. Our focus is more on the retention side of the military personnel equation; however all of the alternative courses of action discussed ultimately have an impact on recruiting. After a critical review of the most viable options available, using five key evaluative criteria, it was determined that the most effective approach to meeting force levels was to pursue a combined strategy of three major initiatives. They are: 1) cash incentives, 2) military to civilian conversions, and 3) greater use of the Guard and Reserve.Item Changing Attitudes towards Minimum Wage Debate: How is the Neoclassical Economic Theory holding in the face of a New Era of Minimum Wage Studies(2007-10) Krasniqi, MikraThis paper compares the traditional neoclassical economic perspective with the recent empirical findings regarding minimum wage effect on employment. The comparison is done by reviewing and analyzing relevant literature and data that have recorded, over time, the changing attitudes toward the issue since the Great Depression era. By taking this approach, the argument is made that in the face of recent scientific findings and empirical research studies, the neoclassical argument that minimum wage laws have a negative effect on employment is gradually losing its appeal among scholars as well as practitioners. As a result, a new public debate is taking place on the issue, which in turn, has begun to have a transformative impact in the policymaking of minimum wage at the state and federal levels.