Mark Schneider

TOWARD A THEORY OF THE POLITICAL ENTREPRENEUR: EVIDENCE FROM LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Political scientists have been increasingly interested in entrepreneurs—individuals who change the direction and flow of politics. In this research note, we synthesize aspects of an economic approach to entrepreneurship with concepts used in political science. We then tie these theoretical observations to the emergence of entrepreneurs in local governments and test components of our theory using observations from a large set of suburban municipal governments. Empirically, we identify several conditions that affect the probability that an entrepreneur will emerge in a local government, especially slack budgetary resources that the political entrepreneur can reallocate. We also find that the probability with which an entrepreneur is found in local government is a function of the difficulty of overcoming collective action problems in a community.

ESTABLISHING THE MICRO FOUNDATIONS OF A MACRO THEORY: INFORMATION, MOVERS, AND THE COMPETITIVE LOCAL MARKET FOR PUBLIC GOODS

e Tiebout model of competition in the local market for public goods is an important and controversial theory. The current debate revolves around the apparent disparity between macro 5. X empirical studies that show greater efficiency in the supply of public goods in polycentric regions compared to consolidated ones and micro evidence of widespread citizen-consumer ignorance, which has been used to argue that individual actions cannot plausibly lead to efficiency-enhancing competition between local governments. We argue that competitive markets can be driven by a subset of informed consumers who shop around between alternate suppliers and produce pressure for competitive outcomes from which all consumers benefit. Using data from a survey of overfive hundred households, we analyze the role of these marginal citizen-consumers and incorporate the costs of information gathering and the strategic interests of local governments into the competitive market model.

Fiscal Implications of Class Segregation Inequalities in the Distribution of Public Goods and Services in Suburban Municipalities

Patterns of residential segregation by income are examined for a sample of incorporated suburban municipalities in 31 SMSAs. Using a variety of indicators of community fiscal wealth and government service levels, the observed patterns of residential segregation are linked to patterns of fiscal inequality. Evidence is presented documenting the extent of benefits of the present system of suburban fragmentation to the small number of the very richest communities and families in suburbs. The costs of this system are seen to fall more heavily on the poor and middle-income families.

Income Homogeneity and the Size of Suburban Government

In the contemporary political climate, there is widespread belief that government expenditures are too high and that government in general is too big. One productive line of research into the size of government has examined the role of conflicting interests as a force producing government expansion. A major conclusion of this research, derived mostly from the examination of national-level political phenomena, is that conflict and competition among different interests within the population lead to higher government expenditures. In this paper, the size of government at another level--suburban municipalities--is explored. Given the context in which decisions about suburban government service outputs are made, conflict may actually limit government expansion.

Blacks and Jobs: Never the Twain Shall Meet?.

A critical problem facing American society is the growing physical separation of racial minority groups from the jobs being created in suburbia. This separation has at least two dimensions. The first, and the one that has attracted the most attention, is the continued concentration of racial minority groups in central cities, where they are isolated from the growing number of jobs in suburbia. Although this city/suburban dichotomy has been recognized, the physical separation of jobs from minority groups that are located within suburbia itself is of increasing importance—but this phenomenon has not been widely studied. In this research note, the authors concentrate on the relationship between spatial patterns of suburban job growth and black suburbanization.

The Emerging Suburban Service Economy: Changing Patterns of Employment

The growing service economy has been documented at the national level and for central cities. We examine the expansion of service jobs among suburban municipalities. We compare absolute growth in jobs in the consumer service sector with the stagnation of the manufacturing sector. We then define four types of suburbs-booming, declining, transformation, and production-based- and using probit analyses, we identify the factors associated with the distribution of communities across these. Regional patterns of economic change dominate local factors in determining membership in each category. We conclude that suburban communities are influenced by economic change generated in national and international markets.

The flypaper effect and competition in the local market for public goods

In this paper, we explore how the ability of bureaucrats to extract resources from their community may be limited by competition in the local market for public goods.Specifically, we examine intergovernmental aid as a resource bureaucrats seek to control. Intergovernmental aid has been found to be more stimulative of local government expenditures than predicted by neo-classical economic theory. In this research, the ‘flypaper effect’ is used as an indicator of the ability of bureaucrats to control local resources in excess of local demand and preferences.We empirically relate variation in the flypaper effect to the extent of competition in the local market for public goods. Competition does not consistently limit the flypaper effect. The implications of this finding for theories of competition in the local market for public goods are then discussed.

Trifluoperazine Stimulates Acetylcholine Receptor Synthesis in Cultured Chick Myotubes

Abstract: Acetylcholine receptor appearance rate in the presence of the phenothiazines trifluoperazine and chlorpromazine was measured in cultured embryonic chick myotubes by means of 125I‐α‐bungarotoxin. At drug concentrations of 5 to 10 × 10−6M, receptor appearance rate was significantly enhanced while receptor half‐life, cellular protein, net protein synthesis rate, and acetyl‐cholinesterase levels were not similarly affected. The sulfoxide derivatives were without effect. At concentrations of 3 × 10−5M and above, both trifluoperazine and chlorpromazine caused myotube contracture and cell loss. Drug combination experiments revealed that receptor stimulation caused by phenothiazines is overcome by low concentrations of veratridine and ryanodine, but not by membrane depolarization with 20 mM KC1. These results lend support to the role of calcium as an intracellular messenger in acetylcholine receptor synthesis regulation, but are difficult to reconcile with the notion that cytosolic calmodulin serves as the calcium receptor in this signaling pathway. Since the trifluoperazine effect resembles that caused by the calcium antagonist D‐600, phenothiazines may stimulate receptor synthesis by blocking a voltage‐gated calcium channel.

Government Fragmentation and Suburban Services: The Equality of Consumer Choice

The predominant reform tradition of centralizing suburban government to deal with problems of inequality in the distribution of local services has been attacked recently by a new school of thought often labelled “New Political Economists”. This school believes that the existing structure of local government can maximize citizen choice by allowing citizens to “shop around” between the level and mix of public goods and services offered by alternate communities. The term “polycentricity” has been coined to describe this situation. Critics of polycentricity believe that the resulting “quasi-market” would be unfair to low and moderate income suburbanites. This paper examines the actual extent of choice in service levels available to different income groups located in the suburban ring of six metropolitan areas. The extent of inequality in choice between different income groups is measured and the implications of these findings for the conflict between polycentric and centralizing reformers is discussed.