Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: A particular finding of a number of studies is that minority managers are more likely to hire minorities than white managers. Although these studies have shed light on a number of mechanisms that are alleged to account for the pattern that minority managers tend to hire minorities, these studies’ research designs select on the dependent variable, and thus, cannot make inferences about race differentials in the tendency to select one group over another. We illustrate these arguments using unique data on how candidates are selected from the pool of candidates for entry-level jobs in a decentralized setting exhibiting variation in both hiring managers’ and job candidates’ race. When we adopt the analysis strategy of past research (i.e., looking only at hires and examining the relationship between hiring manager race and the chances that a hire is a minority), we show findings in this setting that are consistent with past research. However, when we avoid such selection on the dependent variable and look at race of manager differences in the tendency to select minorities from among a pool of candidates, we find no evidence of race of manager effects whatsoever. We conclude by discussing the theoretical and methodological implications of these findings.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Changes in the structuring of advocacy organizations have had noteworthy consequences for the culture of civic engagement. In recent years, commentators have noted that an increasing proportion of the third sector is composed of professionalized advocacy organizations that lobby in manner similar to institutions rather than voluntary associations. Thus, in a context in which public interest groups increasingly rely on public support from conscience constituents and check-writing patrons, the next logical step would be for such groups to rely on outside organizations such as grassroots lobbying firms to help coordinate their political campaigns. I employ data from the 1995 Encyclopedia of Organizations, and check to see which of these organizations is listed as the client of a grassroots lobbying firm. I find that although memberless groups are, in fact, significantly more likely to rely on support from a grassroots firm, there are also strong effects of membership size, as very large organizations are also likely to rely on a firm to coordinate their efforts. The effect of being a memberless organization, however, disappears when a group’s issue focus is controlled. In sum, these analyses suggest that as organizations rely less upon the own internal structures for membership mobilization, these groups run the risk of becoming increasingly disconnected from their members, employing them only as a force for political action and doing less to promote their capacity for developing social capital, learning political skills, and feeling a sense of cultural identification with the organization.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: A national survey was used to assess the acceptability of a job applicant's qualifications that include online coursework. The questionnaire was sent in response to academe position ads listed in the Chronicle of Higher Education and was returned by102 hiring committee chairpersons. The questionnaire described three applicants who earned degrees through a "traditional" institution, a "virtual" institution, and "mixed" coursework. The respondents were asked to select one applicant for the position and provide written explanations.
The applicant with a traditional degree was preferred in two different hiring scenarios when compared to equally qualified applicants holding a"virtual" degree or a "mixed" degree (98 percent and 74 percent repsectively). A binomial test showed that the selections could not be attributed to random chance (p< .0001). A qualitative analysis of the written comments revealed six categories of importance; student interaction, socialization, mentoring, lab experiences and institutional quality. Written comments were generally unfavorable towards online degrees and online courses taken in core subjects. Respondents perceived online coursework to be less acceptable and of lower quality.
Although there are many benefits to online programs, the results of this study should signal a red flag to those pursuing advanced degrees -- exclusively or in part -- through online courses. The quality of online courses are not perceived to be comparable by employers in the academe because of the lack of socialization, mentoring and face-to-face experiences. These factors should be carefuly considered as points to address by insitutions offering online courses and by doctoral candidates pursuing a higher education.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Federal democracies in the developing world?despite important differences in executive-legislative organization, party systems, and other institutions?may experience similar challenges to centrally-initiated programs of structural economic reform. Regional governments, facing electorates of their own, can reap political benefits from pursuing profligate fiscal policies, while shifting the economic costs of persistent deficit spending to the country as a whole. Central leaders, dependent on regional party-mates and coalition partners for political support, may lack the ability to impose the sub-national reforms needed to consolidate macroeconomic liberalization.In recent years, central leaders in several federal developing countries have consented to allow the World Bank to engage directly with regional governments?effectively thrusting external conditionality downward in hopes that the Bank would impose harder constraints on regional budgets. This paper investigates policy-based lending by the World Bank to sub-national state governments in India and Brazil, the first countries where it implemented such an approach beginning in the mid-1990s. Utilizing data from official interviews and primary document analysis, the paper shows that central authorities in both countries envisioned Bank conditionality as a ?two-level game? strategy for triggering reforms in the states: that is, the Bank?s conditions represented courses of action that the central authorities wanted the states to take anyway, but could not enforce on their own. While the paper argues that the two countries? reasons for authorizing sub-national adjustment lending are essentially analogous, it also shows that there have been important differences in implementation of the approach, which follow both from institutional variations in Indian and Brazilian federalism and from specific tactical decisions by the Bank in both cases. In the Brazilian case, the Bank?s state loans were soon rendered marginal and redundant by broader state debt negotiations and the passage of fiscal responsibility laws, and have receded to a small share of the Bank?s overall lending to the country. In India, state-lending became more fully articulated through two successive coalition governments at the center, and may be helping to catalyze a nascent shift to a more performance-based federal resource allocation regime. Ultimately, the analysis shows that while international institutions can shape sub-national economic governance in significant ways, in at least two of the most important countries in the developing world, such influence is still mediated through institutions of the national state.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper uses panel data on the employment of public school teachers in the 16 German States (1992-2004) to examine whether state education policy is subject to competence signaling political-economic cycles.