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ItemBiotechnology and national security: the role of the scientist/engineer in Washington(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2011-12-01) Butera, Robert ; Kosal, Margaret E.
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ItemFederal science funding in the America Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009: an assessment of two policy process frameworks(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2011-11-18) Hutto, Tamara E.In order to understand how policies are made, analysts need to be able to explain and describe the policy making process. This is a complex task due to the variety and complexity of policy making environments. The difficulty lies in accounting for the multiple actors who come and go, differing preferences, and impending problems and solutions sets which vary by policy environment. Therefore, there is a need to approach the understanding of policy processes from several different theoretical perspectives to aid in evaluating the multifaceted variations which ultimately affect policy making. An improved description of processes can lead to more accurate predictions of possible future policies, improved advocacy efforts, and enhanced problem solving. Two policy process frameworks, the Multiple Stream Framework (MSF) and the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework, were applied to a recent significant change in science policy. An understanding is developed to explain how federal science funding survived within the highly controversial and costly American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The volatile and unpredictable nature of science policy lends itself well to the MSF, while the more static IAD is less useful to explain how and why the funds stayed in the bill. This is telling about the scope and adaptability of the two frameworks, where each may be better suited for different policy environments. The MSF being more appropriate for unstable and capricious policy issues and the IAD better matched for policy issues which have a somewhat more stable environment.
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ItemStrategic planning in local government: is the promise of performance a reality?(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2011-11-14) Edwards, Lauren HamiltonThe purpose of this dissertation is three-fold. First, it explores whether or not experience with strategic planning increases comprehensiveness of the strategic planning process. Second, it investigates the potential impact of comprehensive strategic planning processes on performance. The final rationale for this dissertation is to determine whether the impact varies according to the dimension of performance analyzed. This exploratory study uses a unique data set that combines the performance measures of select local government departments from the International City/County Manager's Association and an original survey of the heads of those departments to determine their strategic planning practices. The dissertation utilizes an evaluative approach by analyzing the practical significance of the potential impact including correlation, differences between groups, and effect size. These analysis taken together can help demonstrate a potential relationship where regression analysis would be inappropriate due to small sample size. The findings justify further studying these questions about strategic planning in the public sector. First, the analysis demonstrates that departments with more strategic planning experience have higher mean comprehensiveness than departments with less experience. Second, though the findings are mixed concerning the impact of comprehensive processes, the majority of the findings support the hypothesis that more comprehensiveness leads to better departmental performance. Finally, the mixed findings demonstrate that strategic planning comprehensiveness impacts different dimensions of performance differently.
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ItemThree essays on the formation and finance of local governments(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2011-11-14) Brien, Spencer T.This dissertation follows a three-essay format. Each essay evaluates a different fiscal institution from a public administration perspective. In the first essay I examine whether state-funded property tax exemptions are effective in reducing the property taxes. This class of exemption is characterized by a grant from state to local governments that is intended to replace property tax revenue and lower property tax payments. Two separate theories of local fiscal behavior predict that that price effects and fiscal illusion will reduce the effectiveness of this type of tax relief. I test these predictions using panel regression analysis on county-level data from Georgia. I find that only two thirds of the revenue allocated to this program is actually used for tax relief. In the second essay I test a model of the property tax in which the levy is set to balance the difference between budgeted expenditures and expected receipts from all other revenue sources. This model demonstrates how the property tax can be used to offset unexpected changes to other revenues given a change in personal income. This model is contrasted with an alternative model in which expenditures are budgeted after expected total revenues have been determined. I will estimate both models for local governments in Georgia and test which more accurately describes local fiscal performance. I will also use both to predict changes to the property tax over a period of time and measure which model generated the more accurate forecast. Unlike the first two papers, which are quantitative analyses of fiscal data, this chapter is a case study of the contract city model of governance as implemented in the newly incorporated city of Sandy Springs, Georgia. I investigate whether the scope of outsourcing in contract cities creates additional challenges for city officials that manage contractor performance. I evaluate the incentive structures in the contract agreements that influence the principal-agent relationship using a textual analysis research method. I find that certain combinations of municipal functions in a single public-private partnership creates the potential for negative synergies to arise which would increase the difficulty of monitoring and managing the private partner.
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ItemSolid waste management: the barriers to sustainability on remote islands(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2011-11-14) Chirico, Jennifer M.Waste generation rates continue to grow around the world, creating a need for more comprehensive waste management strategies to meet sustainability needs. Remote islands are profoundly affected by the growth in waste and have a critical need to develop policy that addresses their unique characteristics, such as limited land space for waste disposal, higher per capita waste generation rates due to tourism, and lack of opportunities for interstate waste transport. This case study investigated one Hawaiian County's collaborative approach to adopting a new solid waste management policy. Ostrom's Institutional Analysis and Development Framework (IAD) was utilized to examine the facilitating and impeding institutional factors that affect the adoption of more sustainable waste management approaches on remote islands. The impeding factors that created barriers to sustainability included blueprint models, lack of financial incentives, financial cost, infrastructure, exclusion from waste services, remoteness, and illegal dumping. Facilitating factors were environmental concerns and exemplary waste examples by other communities. Recommendations are provided for addressing these barriers and using the available opportunities to work toward greater sustainable resource management on remote islands.
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ItemPolitics and tax morale. the role of trust, values, and beliefs, in shaping individual attitudes towards tax compliance.(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2011-11-11) Leonardo, GabrielTraditional models of tax evasion cannot explain why most people comply with their taxes. It has been proposed that taxpayers may have an intrinsic motivation (or willingness) to comply with taxes - Tax Morale. Empirical studies found that trusting government, upholding religious beliefs, and supporting democratic regimes, increase individual Tax Morale. Based on those results and drawing from related literature in Political Science, this study tests the role of trusting government institutions delivering public goods to taxpayers, ideological beliefs, individual support for political regimes, and upholding post-materialist values, on Tax Morale. Results for individuals living in democratic countries show a positive relationship between trust in government institutions and upholding democratic values on Tax Morale; a negative relationship between upholding ideological (conservative) beliefs and Tax Morale, and no relationship between upholding post-materialist values and Tax Morale. Results for individuals living under non-democratic regimes differ in some respects; whereas support for democracy is related with higher Tax Morale, other results - trust in government and ideological beliefs - differ from theoretical expectations. Overall, higher trust in government increases willingness to comply with taxes, and support for democracy elicits higher Tax Morale.
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ItemClimate Change and Global Energy Security: Debate and Book Signing(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2011-11-11) Brown, Marilyn A. ; Sovacool, Benjamin K. ; Curry, Judith A. ; McGrath, Robert T. ; Norton, Bryan G. ; Orlando, Thomas M. ; Deitchman, BenjaminFour faculty at Georgia Tech participated in a debate focusing on the theses of the newly published textbook (Climate Change and Global Energy Security) coauthored by Marilyn Brown (Georgia Tech) and Benjamin Sovacool (Vermont Law School). The book submits that our world already has most of the sustainable energy technologies it needs to do this, but it faces a system of reinforcing barriers that support incumbent technologies, handicap innovation, and prevent change.
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ItemFiscal stress in the U.S. states: an analysis of measures and responses(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2011-11-10) Arnett, SarahFiscal stress is an important and recurring problem that states face. Research to date on state fiscal stress involves, predominantly, cross-sectional and case study analyses and does not address the effectiveness of state responses. Many of these studies use different definitions and measures of fiscal stress compounding the difficulty of comparing fiscal stress findings. The present research effort adds to the fiscal stress literature by (1) clarifying the meaning of fiscal stress in the state context, (2) developing a measure of fiscal stress that operationalizes this meaning and is comparable across units, and 3) using this measure analyzes patterns in and the effectiveness of state responses. Fiscal stress is measured using four indexes: budget, cash, long-run, service-level. Eleven financial indicators, calculated using data from state Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFRs), are used to create these indexes for all fifty states for the years 2002-2009. Descriptive analysis compares state fiscal stress levels (grouped into low, moderate, and high fiscal stress by cluster analysis) to state economic growth rates, state responses, and institutional factors yielding several findings. First, states do not use an incremental or punctuated equilibrium strategy in responding to fiscal stress; nor do their responses follow the pattern predicted by Cutback Management theory. Second, institutional factors affect both the levels of fiscal stress and state responses to fiscal stress. Regression analysis supports and extends these findings. First, short-term responses of expenditure cuts, tax increases, and rainy day fund use do not affect state fiscal stress levels. Second, these responses have long-term effects on fiscal stress levels. A major implication of this research is that there is very little states can do in the short-term to reduce fiscal stress. However, by balancing expenditures and revenues states can set themselves up to weather the next economic downturn with lower levels of fiscal stress.
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ItemIntersection of Technology and Policy in Avation Safety(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2011-11-01) Pritchett, AmyAmy Prichett is an associate professor in the School of Aerospace Engineering.
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ItemReviving Manufacturing with a Federal Cogeneration Policy(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2011-10) Brown, Marilyn A. ; Cox, Matthew ; Baer, PaulImproving the energy economics of manufacturing is essential to revitalizing the industrial base of advanced economies. This paper evaluates a federal policy option aimed at promoting industrial cogeneration – the production of heat and electricity in a single energy-efficient process. Detailed analysis using the National Energy Modeling System and spreadsheet calculations suggest that industrial cogeneration could meet 18% of U.S. electricity requirements by 2035, compared with its current 8.9% market share. Substituting less efficient utility-scale power plants with cogeneration systems would produce numerous economic and environmental benefits, but would also create an assortment of losers as well as winners. Multiple perspectives to benefit/cost analysis are therefore valuable. Our results indicate that the federal cogeneration policy would be highly favorable to manufacturers and the public sector, cutting energy bills, generating billions of dollars in electricity sales, making producers more competitive, and reducing pollution. Traditional utilities, on the other hand, would likely lose revenues. From a public policy perspective, deadweight losses would be introduced by market-distorting federal incentives (ranging annually from $30 to $150 million), but these losses are much smaller than the estimated net social benefits of the federal cogeneration policy.