Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The public sector is mainly responsible for the provision of sewer services in the United States; however, the costs for these services considerably differ from place to place. This paper examines the factors and characteristics affecting differences in sewer prices across municipalities. Especially, it focuses on not only cost factors but also non-cost factors, such as institutional arrangements and government regulations. To do so, it employs the demand and price equations for sewer services, under a simultaneous equations framework. It uses North Carolina municipality data for two years (2000 and 2002). The use of municipality data within one year has certain advantages over previous studies in this topic. One important advantage is that it allows controlling state-level factors, including state environmental regulatory policies and programs. Preliminary findings are interesting. In addition to cost factors, several non-cost factors, such as municipal mandatory connection ordinances, ordinances regulating sewer use, ordinances related to sewer pretreatment, pricing rate structures, and whether inside- and outside-city sewer rates are same, are contributing factors to differences in sewer prices across municipalities.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Tremendous attention has been given to the use of alternative service delivery mechanisms by which local governments contract with private for-profit or nonprofit firms to deliver services. What has gone virtually unnoticed is that many of these arrangements experienced “vertical integration of production” where the service is taken in-house by the providing government.

Building on three typologies of service characteristics that are prominent in the literature, we examine whether vertical integration is systemically associated with certain types of goods and test whether the likelihood of vertical integration increases when mismatches occur between the service types and the modes of service delivery. Vertical integration can also be a response to market conditions, capacities for production and administration within government, or political, preferences of public decision makers. We view the vertical integration of services as more than the reverse of contracting out; it is the product of three distinct transaction problems relating to the characteristics of goods, production agents, and markets.

Empirical analysis of patterns of service production from 1997-2002 reveals that vertical integration of production is relatively more likely than additional contracting with private providers and almost as many services were brought in-house as contracted out in that period. The multivariate analysis reports finds services offered though joint production arrangements are most likely to be taken in house. The types of goods provide an incomplete explanation for local service delivery decisions; a more complete model highlights the role of jurisdiction level factors.

Publication Type: Informal Discussion Roundtable
Abstract: Municipal underbounding and redistribution of minority populations in the United States is a growing problem that continues to be avoided, therefore increasing the growth of the underclass. In North Carolina, Mississippi and several southern states African Americans and members of the lower and underclass are being excluded from public services by neighboring municipalities. The fringe populations which are located outside of the municipalities have limited or no public services. The areas with access to water, and garbage collection are paying higher fees than the residents who live within the municipalities. Although the residents of the fringe populations are contributing to the neighboring cities their basic needs are not being met because of political exclusion. If the fringe populations were approved for annexation African Americans would comprise more than fifty percent of the votes in many areas. Through redistribution of the African American populations, the underclass is growing in large numbers within the cities and rural areas. Through the use of underbounding, redistribution of African Americans, redlining, and white-flight those in power have found a way to legitimize without repercussions. African Americans are continuing to be subjected to racial discrimination by lending companies, real estate agents and local officials. Laws were put into place in the 60’s and 70’s to provide equal access for all people and today we are still seeing the use of racial discrimination in America at the hands of those in power.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Habermas’s theory of communicative action is a critically oriented theory of society. Often overlooked is the fact that the theory is fundamentally, i.e. in its speech pragmatics, an empirical one. There is an empirical literature. However, extant studies do not actually test the theory’s propositions. This paper reports such a test, with the aim of assessing whether the theory’s concepts provide enough empirical purchase to guide the development of measures useful for predictive purposes. Methodological implications of the theory are explored and an operational definition of communicative action is proposed. The test of a legitimation hypothesis derived from the theory is then described. High school students are surveyed regarding state government oversight of their city’s municipal budget. A structural equation model is estimated on these data using partial least squares techniques. In closing, the prospects for this approach to employing and testing the theory of communicative action are assessed.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed