bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Detection of a 14-d atmospheric perturbation peak at Paranal associated with lunar cycles
Authors: Cavazzani S , Ortolani S , Scafetta N , Zitelli V , Carraro G
Published: February 2019

In this paper we investigate the correlation between the atmospheric perturbations at Paranal Observatory and the Chilean coast tides, which are mostly modulated by the 14-d syzygy solar–lunar tidal cycle. To this aim, we downloaded 15 yr (2003–2017) of cloud coverage data from the Aqua satellite, in a matrix that includes also Armazones, the site of the European Extremely Large Telescope. By applying the Fast Fourier transform to these data we detected a periodicity peak of about 14 d. We studied the tide cycle at Chanaral De Las Animas, on the ocean coast, for the year 2017, and we correlated it with the atmospheric perturbations at Paranal and the lunar phases. We found a significant correlation ($96{\rm {per\, cent}}$) between the phenomena of short duration and intensity (1–3 d) and the tidal cycle at Chanaral. We then show that an atmospheric perturbation occurs at Paranal in concomitance with the low tide, which anticipates the full (or the new) moon by 3–4 d. This result allows to improve current weather forecasting models for astronomical observatories by introducing a lunar variable.
Current state of clinical trials in breast cancer brain metastases
Authors: Fares Jawad , Kanojia Deepak , Cordero Alex , Rashidi Aida , Miska Jason , Schwartz Charles W , Savchuk Solomiia , Ahmed Atique U , Balyasnikova Irina V , Cristofanilli Massimo , Gradishar William J , Lesniak Maciej S
Published: February 2019

Background

Breast cancer brain metastases (BCBM) are the final frontier in neuro-oncology for which more efficacious therapies are required. In this work, we explore clinical trials in BCBM, and determine the shortcomings in the development of new BCBM therapies to shed light on potential areas for enhancement.

Methods

On July 9, 2018, we searched ClinicalTrials.gov for all interventional and therapeutic clinical trials involving BCBM, without limiting for date or location. Information on trial characteristics, including phase, status, start and end dates, study design, primary endpoints, selection criteria, sample size, experimental interventions, results, and publications were collected and analyzed.

Results

Fifty-three trials fulfilled the selection criteria. Median trial duration across phases ranged between 3 and 6 years. More than half of the trials were conducted in the United States. Although 94% of the trials were in early phases (I-II), 20% of patients were in phase III trials. Two phase III trials were anteceded by phase II trials that were non-randomized; one reported positive results. Approximately one-third of the trials were completed, whereas 23% of trials were terminated early; mostly due to inadequate enrollment. Only 13% of all trials and 22% of completed trials had published results directly linked to their primary outcomes.

Conclusions

The low number of trials and accrual numbers, the lack of diversity, and the scarcity of published results represent the main troubles in clinical BCBM research. Optimization of BCBM trials is necessary to achieve effective therapies.
Increasing Babesiosis in Southeastern Pennsylvania, 2008–2017
Authors: Liu Hans H , Cushinotto Lisa , Giger Olarae , Daum Gary , McBride Patricia , Negron Elizabeth A , Vandegrift Kurt , Kapelusznik Luciano
Published: February 2019

Tick-borne illnesses are increasing but are often underreported. Few cases of babesiosis have been reported from Pennsylvania. Our 4-hospital system in southeastern Pennsylvania saw a rise in cases from 7 or fewer yearly in 2008–2014 to 26 cases in 2015. There appear to be multiple potential causes of this increase in frequency.
Predictors of Hepatitis C Treatment Failure After Using Direct-Acting Antivirals in People Living With Human Immunodeficiency Virus
Authors: Cachay Edward R , Mena Alvaro , Morano Luis , Benitez Laura , Maida Ivana , Ballard Craig , Hill Lucas , Torriani Francesca , Castro Angeles , Dore Elena , Castro Sheila , Mendoza Fernández Carmen de , Soriano Vicente , Mathews Wm C ,   HCV-TREN Cohort
Published: February 2019

Background

Little is known about the influence of ongoing barriers to care in the persistence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) viremia after treatment with direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) among people living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLWH).

Methods

We conducted a retrospective cohort analysis of PLWH treated through the standard of care in 3 Western countries, to investigate the predictors of HCV treatment failure (clinical or virologic), defined as having a detectable serum HCV ribonucleic acid within 12 weeks after DAA discontinuation. In addition to HCV and liver-related predictors, we collected data on ongoing illicit drug use, alcohol abuse, mental illness, and unstable housing. Logistic regression analyses were used to identify predictors of HCV treatment failure.

Results

Between January 2014 and December 2017, 784 PLWH were treated with DAA, 7% (n = 55) of whom failed HCV therapy: 50.9% (n = 28) had a clinical failure (discontinued DAA therapy prematurely, died, or were lost to follow-up), 47.3% (n = 26) had an HCV virologic failure, and 1 (1.8%) was reinfected with HCV. Ongoing drug use (odds ratio [OR] = 2.60) and mental illness (OR = 2.85) were independent predictors of any HCV treatment failure. Having both present explained 20% of the risk of any HCV treatment failure due to their interaction (OR = 7.47; P < .0001). Predictors of HCV virologic failure were ongoing illicit drug use (OR = 2.75) and advanced liver fibrosis (OR = 2.29).

Conclusions

People living with human immunodeficiency virus with ongoing illicit drug use, mental illness, and advanced liver fibrosis might benefit from enhanced DAA treatment strategies to reduce the risk of HCV treatment failure.
Health Disparities and the Social Determinants of Health: Ethical and Social Justice Issues
Authors: Venkatapuram Sridhar
Published: February 2019

The term health disparities (also called health inequalities) refers to the differences in health outcomes and related events across individuals and social groups. Social determinants of health, meanwhile, refers to certain types of causes of ill health in individuals, including lack of early infant care and stimulation, lack of safe and secure employment, poor housing conditions, discrimination, lack of self-respect, poor personal relationships, low community cohesion, and income inequality. These social determinants stand in contrast to others, such as individual biology, behaviors, and proximate exposures to harmful agents. This chapter presents some of the revolutionary findings of social epidemiology and the science of social determinants of health, and shows how health disparities and social determinants raise profound questions in public health ethics and social/global justice philosophy.
Abortion and Public Health Ethics
Authors: Fathalla Mahmoud F.
Published: February 2019

There is an ethical imperative to take public health action to eliminate the global problem of unsafe abortion. The moral obligation is dictated by the magnitude of the problem, the health inequities and social injustices that result from lack of access to safe abortion, the voices of women calling for action, and an international consensus recognizing unsafe abortion as a global health problem. The availability of public health interventions and the cost savings associated with fewer abortion complications reinforce the obligation to address unsafe abortion. Public health actions include reducing the need for abortion through family planning, providing safe abortion to the full extent of the law, managing abortion complications, and providing post-abortion care. These actions intersect with morality, religion, law, justice, and human rights. The public health community has a collective social and ethical responsibility to stand beside and behind women as they claim their human right to health.
Global HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment: Public Health Ethics Considerations
Authors: Barnes Mark , Cohen Devin Alexander
Published: February 2019

The global response to HIV/AIDS has struggled with balancing personal autonomy with public health needs over the past four decades. This article discusses the chronology of ethical developments in prevention and treatment methods, both within the United States and abroad. It tracks the globalization of the HIV/AIDS epidemic alongside the rise of the international response, particularly following the development of safe and effective HIV treatments. The ethical challenges posed by effective public health responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, including voluntary and mandatory antibody testing, contact tracing, partner notification, and even quarantine, are highlighted by social and political responses to restrictions on civil liberties worldwide.
Global Public Health, Noncommunicable Diseases, and Ethics
Authors: MacGregor Hayley
Published: February 2019

This chapter focuses on the framing of the “global” nature of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) with reference to the implications of the growing burden in low- and middle-income countries. It argues that the complex nature of these conditions and of causality require a nuanced and context-specific picture in terms of understanding the social and economic patterning of NCDs and the implications for poor people. Within an overall consideration of health justice, these issues fall under two broad areas: firstly, prioritization and resource allocation; and secondly, questions of responsibility with respect to prevention measures. The chapter focuses on the tension between emphasizing individual-level action and a systems approach that pays attention to broader structural factors, global and national inequalities, health system drivers, and sociopolitical determinants of NCDs.
An Overview of Ethical Issues in Food, Water, and Nutrition in Public Health
Authors: Davis Claire , Fanzo Jessica
Published: February 2019

Food, water, and nutrition are fundamental components of public health. Though the need for food and water is essential, the conceptual and practical applications for food, nutrition, and water are rife with ethical implications. This chapter provides an overview of the ethics of food, water, and nutrition, one of the areas of focus in The Oxford Handbook of Public Health Ethics, and it introduces the chapters in the related section of this volume that examine the ethics of water security, malnutrition, and obesity prevention. One of society’s major challenges is providing enough nutritious food and water for the planet’s growing population in an environmentally sustainable way, a concern that is reflected by the authors’ focus on justice, equity, and fairness for humanity and the planet alike.
Obesity Prevention and Promotion of Good Nutrition: Public Health Ethics Issues
Authors: Barnhill Anne
Published: February 2019

This chapter provides a brief introduction to obesity prevention and discusses some ethical concerns with obesity prevention efforts, as well as some ethical arguments for them. A first set of ethical issues centers on justice and the perceived inequity or unfairness of obesity prevention efforts, as well as justice-based arguments for obesity prevention efforts targeted at disadvantaged groups. A second set of ethical issues concerns stigma, responsibility, and moral blame, and whether obesity discourse and efforts inappropriately stigmatize or assign responsibility to individuals. A third set of ethical concerns focuses on choice, and whether government regulation of the marketplace is problematically paternalistic. After providing a brief overview of these ethical concerns with obesity prevention, the chapter ends by arguing that the ethical conversation would be enriched by more fully incorporating a discussion of the value of eating.
Water, Justice, and Public Health
Authors: Powers Madison
Published: February 2019

This chapter utilizes theories of social justice and human rights to examine issues of access to clean water and sanitation services, along with competing uses that include agricultural purposes essential for human health. Prospects for a just system of resource access are complicated by several factors. While water is an essential public health resource, competing uses and social values must be balanced. Because groundwater and surface water availability depends on how each is used, integrated water management approaches are necessary, and their comprehensive authority results in decisions that touch on every aspect of social life. Moreover, physical water scarcity, once limited to arid and desert regions, now affects the majority of the world’s population, especially the global poor and megacities. Finally, as water assumes greater importance as a global commodity, existing models of property rights are open to fresh moral scrutiny, ideals of democratic control over vital resources are challenged, and effective national sovereignty is tested by the complex realities of transboundary waters.
Decision-Making by Water Managers Despite Climate Uncertainty
Authors: Wilby Rob , Murphy Conor
Published: February 2019

Some of the most profound impacts of climate variability and change are expected in the water sector. These include more frequent, severe, and persistent droughts; more frequent, widespread, and extreme floods; more episodic and harmful water pollution episodes. Coping with more variable water supplies alongside rising demand will involve institutional reform, new infrastructure, adjustments to operations, and water demand management. A smarter, decision-led approach to deploying climate information in water management will also be required. This chapter begins with an overview of analytical frameworks for assessing and adapting water resource systems to uncertain climate threats and opportunities. It then gives examples of the diverse sources of information that are being accessed by some water managers to establish plausible ranges of climate change as a basis for decision-making. Examples from Denver, Colorado, and Dublin, Republic of Ireland show how narratives of future system changes and historical data can help test the efficacy of decisions under uncertainty. These two case studies demonstrate how early dialogue and information exchange among practitioners and scientists are fundamental to adaptation planning. In both places, unconventional sources of climate risk information were used to more rigorously stress test water management and planning assumptions. The preferred adaptation decision frameworks were dynamic, iterative, and open-ended. The chapter closes by acknowledging that further development of the decision-making approaches described herein may be needed to evaluate mixtures of adaptation options across multiple sectors.
Spatial Voting Models of Party Competition in Two Dimensions
Authors: Adams James F.
Published: February 2019

This chapter broadly surveys spatial voting models of party competition in two dimensions, where, in Western democracies, the first dimension is typically the left-right dimension pertaining to policy debates over income redistribution and government intervention in the economy. The second dimension may encompass policy debates over issues that cross-cut the left-right economic dimension, or it may encompass universally valued “valence” dimensions of party evaluation such as parties’ images for competence, integrity, and leadership ability. The chapter reviews models with office-seeking and policy-seeking parties. It also surveys both the theoretical and the empirical literatures on these topics.
Valence Politics
Authors: Evrenk Haldun
Published: February 2019

In the context of politics, the term valence refers to bonds between candidates and some desirable qualities in the public’s mind. This chapter provides a review of formal models of spatial political competition when candidates differ in their exogenous valence. Employing simple numerical examples, this chapter discusses the role of several assumptions (on voter preferences, candidate objectives, the timing of the game, etc.) employed in these models in restoring the existence of a divergent pure strategy Nash equilibrium and in determining the equilibrium policies and vote shares. The chapter mostly focuses on models of two-candidate competition, multicandidate competition is discussed only briefly.
The Study of Strategic Voting
Authors: Blais André , Degan Arianna
Published: February 2019

This chapter stresses the necessity of distinguishing between a strategic vote and a strategic voter. The sincere voter always casts a sincere vote, while the strategic voter casts a sincere or strategic vote depending on the context and the voting rule. This leads to two definitions of strategic voting: a broad one, where a strategic vote is one that is partly based on expectations about the outcome of the election, and a narrow one, where a strategic vote also entails not voting sincerely. The chapter then reviews three types of empirical research that differ with respect to the type of data used: the observation of electoral outcomes, survey data, and lab experiments. That literature has confirmed that indeed some voters cast a strategic vote, though many studies have found most votes to be sincere. That research has also shown that there is some degree of strategic voting under all kinds of voting rules; that, contrary to conventional wisdom, there is as much strategic voting under proportional representation as under plurality rule; and that the propensity to vote strategically depends very much on the type of information that is available.
Turnout
Authors: Kaniovski Serguei
Published: February 2019

Within the past seventy years, citizens have cast some twenty-seven billion votes in national elections across the world. This impressive figure would likely double if votes cast in local elections and referenda were included. Electoral participation is a mass phenomenon. However, what exactly motivates people to vote? The question of why people vote has been at the center of positivist political theory. Political scientists and economists have devised numerous theories for why people may or may not vote, in addition to gathering an impressive amount of empirical evidence on the determinants of electoral participation. This chapter offers a bird’s-eye view of historical trends in voter turnout, theories of rational voting motivation, and the role of embedding political or socioeconomic environments, as exposed by empirical research.
Altruism and Political Participation
Authors: Jankowski Richard
Published: February 2019

Democratic government requires the participation of its citizens, but Downs shows that it is not in the self-interest of individuals to vote, or acquire political information. This chapter reviews the theoretical and empirical support for the three explanations for political participation: civic duty, expressive benefit, and altruism. The preponderance of evidence supports the civic duty and altruistic explanations for why people vote. But the civic duty explanation does not readily extend to the acquisition of political information, campaign contributions, or contributions to public interest groups. Additionally, neither civic duty nor expressive identification offers an explanation of why turnout increases in close elections or for strategic voting. Altruism incorporates probabilities in the determination of expected benefits from political participation and hence easily explains these phenomena. The preponderance of evidence, as indicated in this chapter, now favors the altruistic explanation for the different types of political participation.
Primaries, Conventions, and Other Methods for Nominating Candidates
Authors: Serra Gilles
Published: February 2019

The way political parties select their candidates should be considered a fundamental topic in political science. In spite of being profoundly consequential in several regards, candidate selection methods were understudied for a long time in the academic literature. A renewed awareness of the implications of different nomination rules, along with an increased use of primary elections around the world, has accelerated this research in the last two decades. This chapter reviews the main areas of inquiry regarding candidate selection as reflected in contemporary research. It surveys the most recent literature asking four broad questions about candidate selection methods: What types are there? What consequences do they have? What are their origins? What questions can be formulated for future research? The chapter aims to convey that research on candidate selection is important, growing, and full of open questions.
The Structure of Contests and the Extent of Dissipation
Authors: Wärneryd Karl
Published: February 2019

The formal analysis of rent seeking contests has largely concerned itself with models of individual rent seekers competing on their own against everybody else. Yet rent seeking in the real world often takes place between interest groups, who act as collectives in competition with other interest groups, or between lobbyists acting on behalf of interest groups or individuals, or in one of many other more complicated forms. This chapter considers how various contest structures affect aggregate equilibrium efforts or expenditures. Open entry into rent seeking, delegation, rent seeking by groups, and within-group conflict over the spoils of rent seeking could all lead to lower aggregate efforts than individualistic rent seeking. The chapter also notes that self-selection into contests of potential contestants may have the property of maximizing dissipation.
Empirical Evidence on Rent-Seeking Costs
Authors: del Rosal Ignacio
Published: February 2019

The literature on rent seeking has proven to be very fruitful in its theoretical dimension. However, empirical attempts to estimate the effects of rent seeking have shown that the measure of the rent-seeking costs is elusive. The purpose of this chapter is to provide an updated review of the empirical literature that has sought to estimate the social cost of rent seeking. The most relevant papers are classified, analyzed, and then summarized. An important lesson is that the complete dissipation hypothesis should not be assumed without further explanation, as the papers that address this question show that dissipation is far from complete.
Public Choice
Authors: Mueller Dennis C.
Published: February 2019

This chapter reviews the early contributions to public choice beginning with what might be called its antecedents. These include the works of the Marquis de Condorcet (1743–1794), Jean-Charles de Borda (1733–1799), Charles L. Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) (1823–1898), Harold Hotelling (1895–1973), Knut Wicksell (1851–1926), and Joseph A. Schumpeter (1883–1950). The chapter dates the modern literature from 1948, starting with the work of Duncan Black (1908–1991). It defines the early modern literature as spanning the twenty-five years after Black’s first contributions (1948–1973). The chapter proceeds by chronicling the contributions of the leading figures in public choice over that period in addition to Black—James M. Buchanan (1919–2013), Kenneth J. Arrow (1921–2017), Kenneth O. May (1915–1977), Anthony Downs (1930–), Gordon Tullock (1922–2014), William Vickrey (1914–1996), William H. Riker (1920–1993), Mancur Olson (1932–1998), James S. Coleman (1926–1995), Amartya K. Sen (1933–), and William A. Niskanen (1933–2011). It offers some final thoughts on the early literature in the closing section.
Leadership as Persuasion
Authors: Hermalin Benjamin E.
Published: February 2019

Persuasion can be seen as a strategic setting—a game—in which a better-informed individual (a sender) seeks to influence what a less well-informed individual (a receiver) knows. The tension in such a game arises because the interests of sender and receiver are not fully aligned. Leaders often have incentives to mislead their followers. How leaders can communicate credibly to their followers has recently become a topic of study. This chapter surveys and synthesizes that literature. It offers an introduction to sender-receiver games and considers ways in which the problem of an untrustworthy leader may be overcome. At the end the chapter offers some directions for future research.
Public Choice and Social Democracy
Authors: Kurrild-Klitgaard Peter
Published: February 2019

Since World War I, “social democracy” has been one of the most influential political ideas. It refers to a partisan political movement, an ideological orientation, and a set of political institutions. Common denominators are the extension of democracy to socioeconomic spheres and an expansion of government activities beyond those of merely providing national security, law and order, and a narrow set of public goods. However, such a program would seem problematic given a number of insights offered by public choice theory: All forms of majority decisions are sensitive to even small changes in the procedures and are likely to produce outcomes not preferred by a majority. Majority decisions also risk producing Pareto-inferior outcomes, especially when costs can be imposed on others. And the fewer constitutional limits on government activities there are, the larger the extent of rent seeking with associated welfare losses is likely to be. Together these points are significant challenges to a program that wants to extend majority decision to new spheres while simultaneously promising prosperity for all.
Utilitarianism as a Criterion for State Action
Authors: Tideman Nicolaus , Plassmann Florenz
Published: February 2019

As a criterion for state action, utilitarianism faces the difficulty that it permits the expectations of some to be overridden for the benefit of others. Neither Bentham’s felicific calculus nor the related cost-benefit analysis can justify the coercion needed for state action. Social welfare functions, including those that incorporate Rawls’s difference principle, face the same difficulty as utilitarianism. One way of resolving this problem is to move to a constitutional framework of constrained utilitarianism, under which only policies that violate no one’s reasonable expectations are considered. To ensure that no one will have a reasonable basis for objecting, there must be a Tieboutian opportunity for dissenters to form their own polities.
Public Choice and Happiness
Authors: Frey Bruno , Stutzer Alois
Published: February 2019

This chapter discusses how the analysis of self-reported measures of subjective well-being can contribute to a better understanding of the extent to which public choices serve individuals’ preferences. Research insights will be drawn from the analysis of the well-being consequences of alternative institutional arrangements, the assessment of specific policies, the study of procedural utility, and the testing of theoretical predictions derived from models of the political process. The chapter also adopts a reverse perspective and discusses how the application of insights from public choice analyses can inform and inspire happiness research on issues related to public policy. In particular, happiness indicators provide new and complementary information about the satisfaction of citizens’ preferences, which will strengthen democratic competition. However, the happiness approach also has clear limitations if it is understood as a decision rule for good policy and the interaction between citizens and the government is reduced to monitoring reported happiness.
Supreme Values, Totalitarianism, and Terrorism
Authors: Bernholz Peter
Published: February 2019

Totalitarian regimes and terrorist groups striving to create them are characterized by ideologies with lexicographic preference orderings. This means that they demand that their followers sacrifice everything, if required, including the lives of others and of themselves to reach the aims postulated. More than twenty such regimes have existed, from the Mongolian and Aztec Empires among the first, to much later Nazi Germany and the Communist Soviet Union, and in recent years to the rule of the Taliban in Afghanistan and ISIS in Syria and Iraq. This means that the respective ideologies are usually very different, but that all follow a lexicographic preference order. This chapter studies the development, success, and demise of such regimes, which usually persecute, torture, and even kill nonbelievers, and often are engaged in bloody wars of expansion with many victims. This is also the case concerning their secularly or religiously based aims, which, moreover, characteristically control their behavior concerning the lifestyle of their populations, the arts, and their culture. Totalitarian regimes that have reached their aims are called mature ideocracies. They are characterized by the fact that the whole population has accepted (or at least pretends to accept) the ruling ideology.
Fair Division in Allocating Cabinet Ministries
Authors: Brams Steven J.
Published: February 2019

This chapter describes a mechanism for allocating cabinet ministries, considered to be indivisible goods, to political parties in a parliamentary government according to the proportion of seats that each party holds in a parliament. It precludes the usual bargaining and horse trading over how many, and which, ministries each party will get by using one of two apportionment schemes that prescribe the order of choice in which parties, based on their size, choose ministries. It was used, in modified form, to allocate ministries to each of the major Catholic and Protestant political parties in Northern Ireland in 1999.
Manipulation
Authors: Plott Charles R.
Published: February 2019

Systematic opportunities for manipulation emerge as a by-product of the structure of all group decision processes. Theory suggests that no process is immune. The study of manipulation provides principles and insights about how parts of complex decision systems work together and how changes in one part can have broad impact. Thus, manipulation strategies are derived from many features of voting processes. Public choice theory highlights relationships among group choice, rules, and individual decisions. The theory is a source of surprises and paradoxes that suggests tools for manipulation of group choices. This chapter catalogs many of the surprises that harbor potential sources of manipulation in the hope that a deeper understanding of manipulation will produce better systems.
Voting Power
Authors: Napel Stefan
Published: February 2019

This chapter investigates ways to quantify how institutional rules, such as different voting weight arrangements in councils or two-tier voting systems, allocate influence on outcomes among the collective decision makers. After basic concepts of the common binary voting framework have been laid out, several indices of voting power are introduced with their key properties and probabilistic interpretations. Techniques for the computation of these indices, limit results for large voting bodies, and the problem of designing rules with desirable power implications are discussed. The chapter also points out possibilities to analyze the distribution of influence in scenarios richer than just binary voting.
Aggregation of Information by Binary Voting Rules
Authors: Nitzan Shmuel , Paroush Jacob
Published: February 2019

A group of individuals faces the choice of an alternative out of a set of alternatives. Each member of the group holds an opinion regarding the most suitable (best) alternative for which he or she votes. In this setting, the individual votes are based on their decisional competencies, which hinge on the information to which they are exposed and on their ability to make use of that information. The main question is how to translate the group members’ voting profile to a single collective choice. This chapter studies different aspects of this question in the context of binary voting where the group faces only two alternatives. The selection of an appropriate aggregation rule is a central issue in the fields of social choice, public choice, voting theory, and collective decision making. Since the votes are based on the individual competencies, the applied aggregation rule should take into account not only the voting profile but also the competency profile. In fact, it should also take into consideration any other relevant environmental information such as the asymmetry between the feasible alternatives, the dependence between individual votes, decision-making costs, and the available past record of the voters’ decisions. The chapter focuses on the clarification of the relationship between the performance of binary aggregation rules and the relevant variables and parameters. This has direct normative implications regarding the desirable mode of collective decision making and, in particular, regarding the desirable aggregation rule and the size and the composition of the decision-making body.
How Should Votes Be Cast and Counted?
Authors: Tideman Nicolaus
Published: February 2019

This chapter evaluates extensions of majority rule for elections with multiple candidates, based on a judgment that the question should not be approached predominantly in terms of logical criteria, for no rule satisfies all desirable criteria and logical criteria take no account of the frequency with which conditions are violated. Instead, the question is explored in terms of a combination of three statistical frequencies with which rules achieve desirable conditions (identifying the highest-value candidate when voters vote sincerely, resistance to strategy, and resistance to tying), one two-stage logical criterion (resistance to clones), and three criteria of simplicity (ease of voting, ease of counting votes, and ease of understanding the vote-counting process). Eighteen rules selected from previous inquiries are evaluated in terms of these criteria. A winnowing process is recommended for identifying the rule that a group finds most attractive. The Condorcet-Hare rule is likely to be most attractive.
Choosing Voting Rules in the European Union
Authors: Plechanovová Běla , Hosli Madeleine O. , Plechanov Anatolij
Published: February 2019

This chapter studies voting and representation in the European Union, specifically the Council of the EU and the European Parliament, over time. The authors assess the linkages between decision-making and democratic legitimacy, and then focus on potential alternatives to decision-making in the Council. They discuss development of the double-majority rule in view of aspects such as democratic representation, efficiency, and equitability and then offer analyses for different scenarios for the EU’s future, assuming different membership constellations and changes in member-states’ population sizes. They offer new calculations on voting power, the institution’s capacity to act, and equitability. Equitability, also with new rules incorporated into the Lisbon Treaty and effective as of November 2014, still deviates from the ideal value and with this, might induce the need for a rule change again in the future.
Leviathan, Taxation, and Public Goods
Authors: Mcguire Martin C.
Published: February 2019

In the context of the rationale and structure of group formation, Mancur Olson drew attention to the fact that despite problems of inefficiency in public- goods provision, and irregularity in pricing and burden sharing, individuals voluntarily form groups to provide themselves with public goods. This preoccupation with the economic incentives in groups that led him to imagine the origin of the state as an economic group with beginnings in anarchy distinguished by and plagued by roving banditry, with its random disorder and erratic tax theft. The roving bandit who had settled down to become a king or stationary bandit would become the next stage, succeeding anarchy and improving upon life for both bandit and subjects. This chapter recounts the main elements in the stationary bandit theory, together with a view of the economic structure of governance and its reciprocal relations with the social economy, and suggests routes for further application.
Fiscal Powers Revisited
Authors: Brennan Geoffrey , Kliemt Hartmut
Published: February 2019

This chapter restates the basic logic of constitutional restrictions on the government’s power to tax. It then examines an important proviso to that basic logic—namely, that if, as seems plausible, regulations are a substitute for fiscal measures as a mechanism for pursuing government objectives, then restrictions on the power to tax may give rise to worse interventions than taxes represent. Moreover, the discipline on foolish regulations seems likely to be more effective the higher the aggregate tax take.
Are There Types of Dictatorship?
Authors: Wintrobe Ronald
Published: February 2019

The idea of different kinds of dictatorships can be traced back to Aristotle. In contemporary thinking, three classifications are common: tinpot vs. totalitarian, personal/military/single-party or civilian/military/monarchy, and short vs. long time horizon. This chapter argues that classification is useful if it can be theoretically grounded, the types can be distinguished empirically, and especially if they behave differently. It concludes with an analysis of seemingly “unclassifiable” regimes such as Chinese totalitarian capitalism, Putin’s Russia, and North Korea.
The Significance of Political Parties
Authors: Munger Michael
Published: February 2019

Political parties have been conceived variously as teams of candidates, of ideological activists, or of groups of voters. Their goals range range from winning office or controlling government to implementing a shared vision of policy. But candidates, activists, and voters often have conflicting goals, and a desire to control government may conflict with a particular conception of “good” policy. This chapter considers how these conflicts play out in parties as organizations. Parties are the means by which democracies present, simplify, and differentiate competing visions of governance. They also may be the most fundamental informal institutions in democracies. Public choice conceives of individuals as pursuing goals, with plans and institutions used to the extent that individual goals are advanced; this is the “parties as effective” argument. Politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum, so organized interests focus their power on the policy process.
Challenges in Estimating the Effects of Constitutional Design on Public Policy
Authors: Voigt Stefan , Gutmann Jerg
Published: February 2019

Empirical constitutional economics has made great progress since the beginning of the millennium. Numerous important insights into the effects of constitutions have been uncovered. Rather than just summarizing the state of the art, this chapter identifies some of the most important challenges and pressing questions to be addressed by constitutional economics scholars. It further discusses the possible role of different empirical methods in this field of research. In spite of the progress that has been achieved, much work is left to be done and some of the early empirical findings might easily be overturned based on new and more reliable empirical evidence.
The Political Economy of Taxation
Authors: Winer Stanley L.
Published: February 2019

This chapter provides an overview of the political economy of taxation in democratic states by considering the three most important issues in the field: (1) the evolution of the power to tax in (what are now) the mature constitutional democracies; (2) the nature and determinants of modern tax structures; and (3) redistribution in heterogeneous societies over various horizons and in the face of economic shocks. The discussion considers the ideas and models that have arisen as scholars have grappled with these related issues, and points to some of the outstanding problems that may be worth pursuing in future research.
Rational Ignorance and Public Choice
Authors: Somin Ilya
Published: February 2019

Rational ignorance is a ubiquitous aspect of our lives. In many situations, it is completely unproblematic, or even beneficial. But public-choice theory shows how it can often cause serious harm in the world of politics. The first part of this chapter briefly explains the logic of rational ignorance and why many people may deliberately choose to remain ignorant about political issues. In the second part, I survey evidence and research supporting the theory of rational ignorance in politics, including the related problem of “rational irrationality.” The third part outlines the potential dangers of rational ignorance and irrationality, especially how it can contribute to the enactment of flawed government policies. It also summarizes the literature arguing that widespread political ignorance is not a major problem. The final part briefly discusses potential strategies for mitigating the dangers of rational ignorance.
Divided Government
Authors: Tridimas George
Published: February 2019

The chapter explains the meaning of divided government and introduces the king-and-council template of governance characterizing territorial governments where responsibilities for choosing the policies of an organization are divided between a single person (“the king”) and a committee (the “council”) of more or less equal members, who make important decisions by voting. The chapter analyzes the advantages of this system to resolve problems of information, power sharing, and succession. Next, it presents historical examples of the reallocation of power between the king and the council, including the emergence of modern democracy, and demonstrates the theoretical intuition behind those constitutional exchanges. The chapter also examines the ability to define political property rights and how constitutional courts assist in this respect, and shows why, contrary to doctrines of the separation of powers, control of policymaking is in practice shared among different branches of government.
The Politics of International Aid
Authors: Doucouliagos Hristos
Published: February 2019

This chapter surveys several aspects of the political economy of aid and the political economy of aid research. The first part reviews the politics of aid giving, with a specific focus on the use of aid to buy votes and aid allocated to recipients experiencing violent conflict. The survey then summarizes the literature on aid effectiveness on growth, capital accumulation, health, and education, and on institutions, and the links between aid and conflict. Finally, the survey explores the credibility of aid empirics, exploring issues of publication selection bias, heterogeneity, and statistical power. Direction for future research are outlined.
Is Democracy Exportable?
Authors: Salmon Pierre
Published: February 2019

Among many aspects to the question of whether democracy is exportable, this contribution focuses on the role of the people, understood not as a unitary actor but as a heterogeneous set: the citizens. The people matter, in a different way, both in the countries to which democracy might be exported and in the democratic countries in which the question is about promoting democracy elsewhere. The mechanisms or characteristics involved in the discussion include yardstick competition, differences among citizens in the intensity of their preferences, differences among autocracies regarding intrusion into private life, citizens’ assessments of future regime change, and responsiveness of elected incumbents to the views of minorities. The second part of the contribution explains why promotion of democracy is more likely to work through citizens’ concern with human rights abuses than with regime characteristics.
Voting at the U.S. Constitutional Convention
Authors: Dougherty Keith L.
Published: February 2019

This chapter describes how the public-choice perspective has provided new insights into the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787. It reviews articles on the impact of the rules of the Convention, attempts to infer delegate votes, and reviews how public choice has helped us understand the adoption of various clauses in the Constitution and studies of the Beard thesis.
Institutions for Amending Constitutions
Authors: Bucur Cristina , Rasch Bjørn Erik
Published: February 2019

This chapter focuses on the link between amendment institutions and formal constitutional changes. The authors’ survey of the extensive literature on constitutional amendment procedures and their consequences for constitutional adjustment highlights the lack of agreement about key mechanisms of constitutional change. Despite the increase in the availability of data on constitutions and the continuing sophistication of research methods and measures, there is still no consensus on the extent to which amendment procedures influence the pace of formal constitutional change. The authors argue that amendment institutions provide only a partial explanation of constitutional change, which also needs to take into account a number of additional political, economic, and social factors.
Precursors to Public Choice
Authors: McLean Iain
Published: February 2019

This chapter reviews the many appearances, disappearances, and reappearances of axiomatic thought about social choice and elections since the era of ancient Greek democracy. Social choice is linked to the wider public-choice movement because both are theories of agency. Thus, just as the first public-choice theorists include Hobbes, Hume, and Madison, so the first social-choice theorists include Pliny, Llull, and Cusanus. The social-choice theory of agency appears in many strands. The most important of these are binary vs. nonbinary choice; aggregation of judgement vs. aggregation of opinion; and selection of one person vs. selection of many people. The development of social choice required both a public-choice mindset and mathematical skill.
The Dimensionality of Parliamentary Voting
Authors: Poole Keith T.
Published: February 2019

The chapter discusses different ways to estimate the dimensionality of roll-call voting data. These methods use data from the U.S. House of Representatives, and the author shows that there were periods when a two-dimensional representation was necessary and others when a one-dimensional representation captures all but a relatively small percentage of the variance. The author then considers data from the UN General Assembly from before the fall of the Berlin Wall, finding a communist vs. anti-communist dimension and a pro- and anti-Israel dimension, as well as data from the French National Assembly early in the 5th Republic that finds a one-dimensional representation fits nearly perfectly. The author then considers some more technical issues about best methods, concluding that there is no foolproof way of determining the “true” dimensionality of a roll-call matrix, and no substitute for substantive understanding of the politics and policy shaping the roll calls.
Detection of Election Fraud
Authors: Shikano Susumu , Mack Verena
Published: February 2019

While election fraud is mostly detected and reported by real political actors like election observers, academic research can contribute through systematic analysis of previous information in determining when fraud has occurred and estimating how many votes were affected. This chapter presents social science research, based on the idea that election fraud is conceived as an intervention in random processes that generate fraud-free “normal votes.” The authors discuss two points: first, which fraudulent acts exist and how they intervene in fraud-free election processes; second, which assumptions enable random fraud-free election processes. They distinguish among several approaches in existing research: those that set up a fraud-free random process in a theory-guided way, which requires some predictors of normal votes; natural- or field-experimental approaches that exploit existing random processes; and models that capture the random process in a single election result.