Volume 12, No. 1, Summer 2008

Mixing Faith and Policy: An Examination of Religiosity and Lottery Adoption in the American States
Cara West

Any observer of American politics, no matter how casual, is certain to notice the prevalence of religious faith in today’s political realm. While faith and politics seem to be indisputably intertwined, to what extent does religion bleed into policy making itself? The paper examines the link between religion and public policy using a survival model of lottery adoption in the U.S. states. The results show that religious faith in the states has not absolutely prevented the lottery—nothing has—but rather the survival model suggests that the influence of religion has slowed the rate of lottery adoption considerably. Ascertaining religion’s role in the policy process is important not only in the development of political culture theory, but also to understand various influences on individual voters and officials.

Read the full article (PDF).

Caroline West is a 2008 candidate for a Master’s in Public Policy at the Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago. After completing her B.A. in economics at Wellesley College in 2003, West returned to her home state of Arkansas to staff a local Congressional race, where she observed the intersection of religion and politics first-hand. She then spent two years in Washington, D.C., as a research assistant at the non-partisan Urban Institute. Following graduation from the Harris School, West will be an Associate in Public Finance Ratings at Standard & Poor’s in Chicago.

The Environment Goes to Market: Lessons from Thirty Years of Emissions Trading
Cate Hight

Emissions trading is one of the most widely discussed policy tools in environmental policy today. This paper seeks to chronicle the rise of emissions trading, from its origins in the US in the 1970s to its incorporation into the Kyoto Protocol and its use today as a key tool in European climate policy. After exploring the theoretical foundations of emissions trading and the types of trading policy available, the paper examines several U.S. trading programs, including the lead-in-gasoline trading program and the sulfur dioxide trading program to reduce acid rain. It then discusses the greenhouse gas trading provisions of the Kyoto Protocol and how the European Union is meeting its Kyoto commitments through the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. The paper concludes with a list of lessons learned from these experiences with emissions trading. Among these lessons are the importance of allowance banking, the necessity of strict monitoring and enforcement provisions, and the conclusion that emissions trading programs can achieve both environmental objectives and cost savings.

Cate Hight is a Research Fellow at the Mission Climat of the Caisse des Dépots, a French public financial institution. Cate specializes in American climate policy and advises the French research and business community on opportunities and challenges in US carbon markets. Before coming to the Mission Climat, Cate was an Environment Fellow with the US House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, chaired by Congressman Henry Waxman. She also worked in Congressional affairs for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change in Washington, DC and for the Environmental Law and Policy Center in Chicago, IL . Cate graduated with an M.P.P from the Harris School in 2007 and has a BA in Romance Languages from Washington and Lee University.

Jordan, the United States, and the Future of the Middle East
Jeff Bladt, Tabassum Haleem, Amanda Huskey, Katie King, Josh Kipnis, Kerstin Millius, Ted Mullin, Alyssa Oldani, J.C. Ravage, Madeleine Sumption

Jordan and the United States have several shared regional goals: a peaceful resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict, stability in Iraq, mitigation of Iranian aggression, the elimination of terrorism and religious extremism, and the ultimate goal of long-term regional stability. Despite this commonality of interest, the U.S. relationship with Jordan is not currently being leveraged to its full potential. U.S.-Jordan policy has not emphasized Jordan's role as a moderate Middle Eastern ambassador. Future U.S. policy should focus on not only incorporating Jordan into an integrated neighborhood strategy that aims for lasting regional peace, but also maintaining short and long-term domestic stability.

The authors participated in the International Policy Practicum, which enables selected students to participate in a seminar on Jordan's role to help the United States achieve its foreign policy goals. In December 2007, the authors visited Jordan and Israel to interview relevant policy actors.

Time Out of the Workforce and Women's Wages: A Critical Literature Review
Jessica Manvell

This paper summarizes the research on the wage penalty associated with women's time spent out of the workforce, specifically when such gaps are for child and caregiving reasons. It considers how the findings support or refute human capital theory and explores other explanations for the lower wages associated with gaps in employment. Finally, it looks at a separate body of research that is based on interviews with and surveys of women about their experiences moving in and out of the workforce. This research identifies additional factors that may play a role in the wage penalty, including bias against mothers, structural constraints of the workplace, and non-wage career effects, and argues that these effects must be considered along with quantitative findings on wages in order to create a more complete understanding of the consequences for women of taking time out of work.

Jessica Manvell will receive her Master of Public Policy in June 2008 from the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. She has previously worked in advocacy, research, and academic settings on women's employment issues. She graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science in Human Development.

Entrepreneurial Efforts with Gangs: Destructive and Productive
Jason King

Formal and informal crime organizations have always existed and continue to plague many countries of the world. These organizations come in many forms: gangs, "mafia organizations", drug operations, and black market operators are just some examples. Attempts to discourage and contain such organizations have varied over time based on the abilities of the government, the strength of the organizations, and the willingness of the public at large to allow this to occur. The paper theorizes that each of these crime organizations has many qualities of entrepreneurs such that each is reacting to the structures around them. Building on William J. Baumol's paper Entrepreneurship: Productive, Unproductive, and Destructive, I discuss how gangs are products of the rules of the game, and that any attempts to dissuade their unproductive or destructive actions should be made with a consideration regarding the incentives, payoffs, and other components of the structures in place. As a reaction to this, the paper examines specific actions taken to counter these destructive actions; my theory is that efforts more commonly relied upon – namely incarceration – are more damaging and costly than those that change the structure or those that are more productive and entrepreneurial in nature. I argue that there is a greater need for the use of productive measures, particularly from leaders working through social entrepreneurial actions to make a difference toward destructive entrepreneurial efforts. Literature is full of economic studies focusing on crime and this paper extends the idea with available data from these studies and other sources, with a particular focus on 20th century gangs of American inner city.

Jason King is a student at the University of Chicago and a candidate for a joint degree: an MBA with the Graduate School of Business, and an MPP with the Harris School of Public Policy. He received a Bachelor's degree from Michigan State University in Urban and Regional Planning. Prior to attending the University of Chicago, Jason worked as a consultant to governments and real estate developers for five years. While studying at Chicago, Jason has worked in affordable housing, real estate investment, and public finance.

Depressive Symptoms in Traditional and Transitional Retirement
Michelle Pannor Silver

Using data from the Health and Retirement Study (1994-2004), this study explores the relationship between depressive symptoms and whether a worker retires in a "traditional" or "transitional" manner. Traditional retirement is defined as the transition from working to being fully retired and transitional retirement is defined as the transition from working to being retired but still working for pay. I find that individuals who traditionally retire are more likely to experience depressive symptoms than transitional retirees. Prior to retirement, traditional retirees have higher rates of depression and they continue to experience increased rates of depressive symptoms during and after retirement, while transitional retirees tend to resume prior levels of depressive symptoms after experiencing a slight dip in depression rates when they retire. These results strengthen the case for policies that help keep older adults in the workforce, retrain older adults, and discourage age discrimination.

Michelle Pannor Silver is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and an NIA pre-doctoral fellow. Her research interests are related to life-course transitions and aging. She holds a B.A., B.S., and M.P.P. from the University of California Berkeley.