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Policy Research
Environmental Sustainability: A Case of Policy Implementation Failure?
Michael Howes, Liana Wortley, Ruth Potts, Aysin Dedekorkut-Howes, Silvia Serrao-Neumann, Julie Davidson, Timothy Smith, Patrick Nunn
January 2017
Sustainable Development, or the idea that we should help meet the needs of people presently while not disadvantaging future generations, has been an idea since the 1970s, however no real progress has been made towards better environmental quality and the situation has gotten worse world-wide. In developing countries in particular the policy implementation in fields like energy and transport have failed because of lack of economic incentives and political factors.
Environmental sustainability and production: taking the road less traveled
Joseph Sarkis, Qingyun Zhu
May 2017
Environmental concerns are not a new phenomenon, instead, they’ve evolved over time, particularly in the field of supply chain. The evolution observed in this article is how environmental responsibility is studied and written about in the International Journal of Production Research over time, going as far back as 55 years ago. The research shows trends of calling for changes in production and operations that are more conscious of the effects it has beyond the production site, but rather the ecosystem and community that surrounds it.
Where Do Women Serve? A Comprehensive Analysis of the Gender Gap in U.S. Government
Alejandra Aldridge , Nathan Lee
August 2019
This study collected data on the federal, state, and local level to analyze women’s participation in government. The study found that there is a large gender gap between men and women on all levels (with the disparity being roughly even across levels of government) and that women are the least likely to hold executive positions of any kind. They are most likely to serve as unelected officials, especially as legislative staffers or municipal/county clerks. In fact, gender parity is actual reached for congressional staffers, and reversed for those at the state and local level. Women are mostly likely to serve in lower level, unelected positions
When love meets hate: The relationship between state policies on gay and lesbian rights and hate crime incidence
Brian L. Levy, Denise L. Levy
January 2017
Legislation regarding sexual orientation has proven to be correlated with the number of reported hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation in those states which enforce them as well as states nearby. Constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage, state-wide partnership recognition policies, and the immediate years following pro-equality policies saw an increase in hate crimes. Decreases in reported hate crimes were found in areas with anti-discrimination and pro-equality policies dealing with sexual orientation over time. There was no statistical significance after the first pro-equality legislation was passed but benefits of this policy were seen after the second policy was passed. This study did not control for all state-related effects being that it took place over a span of 13 years, not taking into account policies passed prior.
State-level climate, anti-discrimination law, and sexual minority health status: An ecological study
Alexa Solazzo, Tony N. Brown, Bridget K. Gorman
January 2018
This article outlines one of the first studies done to find that there is a positive relationship between sexual-minority friendly climates and state-level anti-discrimination law on LGB health. This study emphasizes that the context in which individuals live is pertinent in understanding population health. In states with anti-discrimination laws and sexually minority friendly climates, the health of LGB adults is significantly greater than those LGB adults living in states without such laws or friendly climates. The LGB Climate Index was used in this study, though there was however, a distinction to be made between bisexual adults and gay or lesbian adults. For bisexual adults, there were no significant findings to suggest that anti-discrimination laws and sexual-minority friendly climates had a positive effect on health, just as there was not any data found to suggest such a relationship between heterosexual adults
Does Perception of Gas Tax Paid Influence Support for Funding Highway Improvements
Ronald C. Fisher, Robert W. Wassmer
August 2016
The article asserts the claim that the amount of fuel taxes paid by an individual, influences his or her support for funding highway improvements The magnitude of state fuel taxes affects their views for supporting the funding of roads and infrastructure. The article makes the argument that there will most likely be more support for roads if accompanied by a campaign identifying the existing rate of the state’s gasoline excise tax. This article compares the excise tax of Michigan and California to analyze the different issues of perception concerning the public finance of roads
Michigan Reading Law would hold back almost 5,000 third graders if took into effect today
Zara Phillips
July 2019
As referenced in the article, Michigan State University’s Education Policy Innovation Collaborative, when reviewing the 2017-18 M-STEP results, it is estimated that between 2% and 5% of third-graders are not skilled in reading. Specifically discussing that if Michigan’s Read by Grade 3 retention law were to go into effect sometime this fall, almost 5,000 third graders would have to be held back. The number of African American students that would have to repeat the third grade is between 7% and 11% while the percent of special education students that would have to repeat are at 10%.
Improving college access in the United States: Barrier and policy responses
Lindsay Page, Judith Scott-Clayton
Despite an initial increase in college-educated adults in the latter half of the 20th century, recent years have seen those numbers plateau, particularly among lower-income families. College cost, as it is being placed more and more on students and less and less on states is becoming a larger portion of family income. Because of a number of barriers including FAFSA complexity, standardized testing failures, remedial placement misconceptions, and alternative action policies, students are increasingly higher class despite massive policy and programmatic efforts to make college affordable for all. These policies often have flaws, such as the barriers listed above, that create unintended results
One Size Fits None: Local Context and Planning for the Preservation of Affordable Housing
Kathryn L. Howell, Elizabeth J Mueller, Barbara Brown Wilson
December 2018
This article examines three cases of local efforts in preserving affordable housing in Chicago, Illinois, Washington, DC, and Austin, Texas. In Chicago, the preservation network focuses on small owners and providing them with resources such as education programs. The DC efforts focus on tenant’s rights through collaboration across sectors. Finally, Austin is still developing their preservation network and navigating an environment with limited policy support from local and state governments.
Housing Supply Dynamics under Rent Control: What Can Evictions Tell Us?
Brian J Asquith
May 2019
This article uses eviction data from San Francisco to examine how landlords react to increases in housing demands in rent controlled markets. It proposes that rent control incentivizes landlords to have quick turnarounds with tenants so that they can raise base rents once more, especially when there is an increased housing demand that leads to increased rents. The results ultimately suggest that landlords do not increase evictions in response to increased housing demands.