Suchergebnisse

Private community associations have spread quickly in many parts of the United States, even though their members must pay both association dues and local taxes for similar services. Not only do private community associations offer several advantages over traditional governance structures, but local governments often encourage developers to establish them. Adapted from the source document

The poor economic performance of the Philippines over the long term is a puzzle and an apparent anomaly for the region. The decline in the Philippines' global position from the first part of the 20th century is particularly striking when viewed against the backdrop of rapid income gains in countries of East and Southeast Asia, countries the Philippines used to surpass in terms of physical and human capital. While there have been a number of attempts to explain the puzzle - difficult geography, macroeconomic policy failures, and corruption - none are completely convincing either because there are counterexamples or the factors cited are endogenous and derivative. On the other hand, the long-term economic record of the Philippines is strikingly similar to some countries of Latin America, such as Argentina, Mexico, and Peru. This paper advances the hypothesis that the political and economic experience in the Philippines stands in closer proximity to those of countries in Latin America than to Southeast Asia, and that this is rooted in their deep similarity of histories and cultures. In particular, the common Spanish and Catholic colonial history may have given rise to 'cultural attitudes that now stand in the way of freer markets and a more successful political democracy'.

Abstract.  During the 1970s, Congress created a new statutory foundation for public land management by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. The stated goal was to establish a rational administrative process for resolving the demands of competing users. Economists argued that public land decisions therefore must be made through comprehensive application of benefit‐cost and other economic methods. The hopes to ground public land management in economic analysis, however, were not realized. It would have required a radical change in the politics of the public lands, including a large loss of influence among historically dominant groups, and there was no powerful constituency to make that happen. By the 1980s, moreover, the environmental movement was promoting ecosystem management as a replacement for traditional multiple‐use management. In place of economic benefits, ecosystem management substituted biological goals that could not effectively be captured by economic methods. This article offers a case study of the failure of professional economic analysis to have much impact in many real‐world government settings.

AbstractFrom 1980 to 2000, 50 percent the new housing in the United States was located in a development project where it was subject to the governance of a private community association. The creation of a community association requires unanimous consent, which is achieved in practice by requiring home owner agreement as a condition of initial purchase in new developments. In an established neighborhood of existing homes and other properties, however, it is for practical purposes impossible at present to create a private community association. This paper proposes that state governments enact legislation to allow for retroactive creation of private community associations in established neighborhoods with a vote of less than unanimous consent. In this way, the same advantages of private neighborhood government that have proven so attractive to such large numbers of suburban homeowners in recent years could be extended as well into inner city areas.