2008 Conference Program - Midwest Political Science Association

Thursday, April 3-10:00 am
49-2 ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
Room Honore on the Lobby Level, Thur at 10:00 am
Chair Christopher A. Simon, University of Nevada, Reno
casimon@unr.nevada.edu
Paper Renewable Energy Policy Innovation and Interdisciplinary
Education: A New Role for Cross-Discipline Instruction in
Engineering, Economics, and Political Science
The paper details a cross discipline education program in energy
policy, comparing student enrollees with the general student
population in terms of knowledge level and capacity to engage in
collaborative energy policy innovation.
Christopher A. Simon, University of Nevada
casimon@unr.nevada.edu
Christine Taylor, University of Nevada
taylo161@unr.nevada.edu
Theodore Batchman, University of Nevada, Reno
batch_t@unr.edu
Paper The Political Economy of Energy Consumption: The
Industrialized Countries
This paper presents the first systematic analysis of the political
determinants of energy consumption across the industrialized world.
We draw expectations from the political economy literature and test
them using an error correction model.
John Duffield, Georgia State University
poljsd@langate.gsu.edu
Charles R. Hankla, Georgia State University
chankla@gsu.edu
Sara Miller, Georgia State University
smiller27@student.gsu.edu
Paper A ‘Bundle of Rationales’ for Clean Energy Research
Single-rationale big technology programs (e.g., Manhattan Project,
Project Apollo) are no longer politically viable. Thus, a ‘bundle of
rationales’ is needed to expand the scope of debate and successfully
adopt a clean energy research program.
Thor Hogan, Illinois Institute of Technology
hogan@iit.edu
Paper Six State Case Studies Of the Renewable Portfolio Standard
The RPS is a policy that requires retail sellers of electricity to
include in their resource or generation portfolio a certain amount
of electricity generated from “new” renewable energy resources
(usually solar, wind, and biomass).
Louis A. Villaire, Mesa State College
lvillaire@yahoo.com
Disc. Christopher A. Simon, University of Nevada, Reno
casimon@unr.nevada.edu
50-1 FISCAL POLICY
Room UEH 411 on the 4th Floor, Thur at 10:00 am
Chair Karen Hult, Virginia Tech University
khult@vt.edu
Paper Community Development Districts: An Entrepreunerial Model
of Governance
Community Development Districts are often categorized as private
governments because of their financial, administrative and political
autonomy and because of their efficiency in delivering services.
Gina Scutelnicu, Florida International University
gscut001@fiu.edu
Paper Mayors' and City Managers' Spending Priorities: Comparison
and Explanation
This study examines the spending priorities of mayors and city
managers who have a tight budget and projects with different levels
of political salience and risk, answering whether mayors and city
managers have different types of incentives and why.
Kaifeng Yang, Florida State University
kyang@fsu.edu
Yahong Zhang, Rutgers University
yahongzh@andromeda.rutgers.edu
Paper
Paper
Paper
Disc.
Not all Budget Information is Equal: Explaining Budget
Transparency in County Governments
A sample of county governments are used to evaluate budget and
fiscal information provided to the public. An index of Budget
Transparency was created using key budgeting concepts. Variation
in transparency is explained by state and local factors.
Lee Bernick, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
lee.bernick@unlv.edu
Josephine Gatti, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
josephinegatti@hotmail.com
Decentralization and Fiscal Federalism in Brazil: The Role of
Transparency
The most recent approach of fiscal federalism includes the question
of incentives, thus we will show that the incentives can be build to
create more transparency and accountability.
Marcos Rios Nobrega, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco
Brazil
mnobrega@law.harvard.edu
Long-Term Financial Planning: The Next Wave of Budget
Reform
A description of the newest reform of local government budgeting,
long-term financial planning, and the challenges faced by
practitioners in implementing it.
Shayne Colin Kavanagh, Government Finance Officers
Association
skavanagh@gfoa.org
Michael New, University of Alabama
mnew@bama.ua.edu
54-2 ISSUES OF RACE/ETHNICITY IN THE STUDY OF
RELIGION
Room Salon 7 on the 3rd Floor, Thur at 10:00 am
Chair Carrie M. Nordlund, Lake Forest College
nordlund@lakeforest.edu
Paper African-American Evangelicals: Still a Part of the Democratic
Coalition
An examination of the voting behavior of African-American
evangelicals in presidential elections. What factors pull toward a
Democratic vote What factors pull toward a Republican vote
Also, there is an examination of political attitudes.
Brad Lockerbie, East Carolina University
lockerbieb@ecu.edu
Paper And Who is My Neighbor Religion and Attitudes Toward
Immigration Policy
This study seeks to analyze the effects of religion on public attitudes
toward immigration reform policy. Both the ethnoreligious and
religious restructuring perspective are examined as determinants of
attitudes toward immigration reform.
Benjamin Knoll, University of Iowa
benjamin-knoll@uiowa.edu
Paper Religion and Values in the Lives of Incarcerated African
American Males
Using data from a cross-national telephone study of voting-age
adults, this paper attempts to unravel the rather interesting paradox
of the centrality of religion among black men who were once
entangled in the criminal justice system.
Keith W. Reeves, Swarthmore College
kreeves1@swarthmore.edu
Ellen A. Donnelly, Swarthmore College
edonnel1@swarthmore.edu
Stephanie Appiah, Swarthmore College
sappiah1@swarthmore.edu
103