R-3 Repository :: Browsing by Author "Stein, Robert M."

Browsing by Author "Stein, Robert M."

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Anger In Action: The Role of Emotions, Competition, and Threat on Mobilization
(2012-09-05) Phan, Ngoc; Wilson, Rick K.; Alford, John R.; Stein, Robert M.; George, Jennifer M.
Research Question: Anger is believed to be a powerful motivator of group mobilization. The objective of this dissertation is to examine the role of anger in assisting individuals to overcome the collective action problem. Theory: I utilize Intergroup Emotional Theory in order to build and test hypotheses on when and how anger will lead to mobilization. Methods: I test my hypotheses through four experiments. Experiment 1 examines how individual level anger impacts mobilization. In Experiment 2, I implement a test to induce anger towards an out-group. In Experiment 3, I then examine how anger towards an out-group impacts mobilization under the contexts of threat and competition. In Experiment 4, I look at different threatening contexts and how anger towards an out-group, limited information, and discrimination all work together to impact mobilization. Results: In Experiment 1, I found that when an angry subject is asked to take action in a task unrelated to that anger, the subject fails to mobilize. In Experiment 2, I built and tested two experimental manipulations of out-group anger and was successful in inducing anger directed towards an out-group. Having successfully induced out-group anger, Experiment 3 then demonstrated that out-group anger increases mobilization under competition, but not under threat. The mobilizing effects of out-group anger was limited under threat because subjects also felt angry towards their own in-group. Lastly, I reexamine different variations of threat on mobilization. I attempt to reduce increases in in-group anger by limiting information and discriminating against the angry group, but as I stack the deck against the angry group, they responded by mobilizing less. Conclusions: The potential for anger to mobilize may be contingent upon the level of out-group and in-group anger within a group. These findings collectively shed light on how out-group anger can either facilitate action or lead to inaction.
Cities and their suburbs: "Go along to get along"
(2002) Post, Stephanie Lee Shirley; Stein, Robert M.
This dissertation examines the economic and policy relationships between center cities and their suburbs. It makes several contributions to the existing urban literature. First, this dissertation confirms previous research finding that center cities and their suburbs are economically linked. It confirms that the economic link exists over time (1970 to 1990) and that it endures even after controlling for the impact of the state economy. Second, it confirms the traditional expectation that metropolitan area government structure influences the direction of center city/suburb income disparity---but not in the way predicted by previous literature. Using an alternative conceptualization of local government fragmentation---the total number of local governments per square mile---it finds that the geographic density of local governments within a metropolitan area influences center city/suburb income disparities. The analysis suggests that geographic density of metropolitan area governments should be considered when examining the influence of fragmentation on local government policy decisions. Third, this dissertation finds mixed evidence regarding the impact of center city/suburb income disparity on metropolitan area economic health. Traditionally, it is thought that the center city is the regional economic engine, and that increasing income disparity favoring the suburbs undermines metropolitan area growth. Although this theory held true during the 1970s, the data unexpectedly reveals an opposite conclusion in the 1980s: increasing income disparity in favor of the suburbs was related to increasing metropolitan area economic health. If this finding proves stable using the 2000 Census data, it may signal a change in the nature of the metropolitan area economy that would be significant for future policy development. Finally, this dissertation examines the relationship between fragmentation and the incidence of local intergovernmental agreements. It finds that fragmented local governments can cooperate in the provision of certain goods and services. This cooperation is especially likely among geographically dense local governments providing capital-intensive goods and services that generate economies of scale. This finding reinforces the importance of density in future urban research and signals an opportunity to pursue new cooperative solutions that could achieve many of the benefits of consolidated government while preserving existing local governments.
Coercion and residence: Modeling coproduction and its impact on neighborhood safety evaluations
(1985) McKean, Mike (Michael L.); Stein, Robert M.; Wilson, Rick K.; Mieszkowski, Peter
Diseconomies of scale and other constraints make it difficult for urban governments to provide adequately some public goods and services. One such service is community safety. But citizen coproduction, through such activities as crime patrols, can enhance supply. Proponents of urban decentralization suggest coproduction at the neighborhood level can lead to more efficient AND more equitable service delivery. But successful coproduction requires coercion and/or selective incentives for individuals to overcome the free-rider problem. The determinants of coercive capacity can be distributed in a decidedly inequitable fashion. This paper examines the case of Houston-area neighborhood associations and concludes such associations CAN effectively improve neighborhood safety through coproduction, but at the price of equity. Socio-economic status, home ownership, and length of neighborhood residence influence an association's coercive capacity. This capacity, in conjunction with residential location, influences perceptions of neighborhood safety, an indirect measure of coproductive output.
Consolidation versus fragmentation: Testing optimum metropolitan government structure
(1997) Moore, Philip Dyer; Stein, Robert M.
The proportion of a unit of government's budget devoted to labor costs determines whether cost reductions at the metropolitan level are achieved through fragmentation or consolidation. Consolidating capital intense functions at higher levels of government is the optimal cost-reducing strategy. Fragmenting labor-intense functions to lower levels of government is the optimal cost-reducing strategy. This organizing principle explains the results of previous research and allows a cross sectional analysis of all units of government within US metropolitan statistical areas based on their labor ratio. The hypothesized optimum form of metropolitan government structure for cost efficiency, few capital intense units of government and many labor intense units of government, is correlated with a five year net change in private sector jobs. The hypothesized relationship between metropolitan government structure and economic development is rejected.
Effect of Election Day Vote Centers on Voter Participation
(2012) Stein, Robert M.; Vonnahme, Greg; Pew Charitable Trusts; Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
In this article we study the effects of Election Day vote centers on voter turnout. Specifically we examine Texas and Colorado’s experience with alternative arrangements for the number and location of Election Day voting places and its impact on voter turnout in the 2006 and 2008 elections. We test our hypotheses at both the aggregate (i.e., county) and individual levels. We find evidence that vote centers increase voter turnout in presidential and midterm elections, and particularly among infrequent voters in midterms.
Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy
(Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., 2015) Stein, Robert M.
What steps can and do local election officials take to prepare for and respond to natural disasters and emergencies that impede and disrupt the operation of scheduled elections? How efficacious are these actions and practices, and to what extent, if any, can these practices be generalized to the 3,000+jurisdictions charged with conducting elections? In this article I address these questions by examining the conduct of the 2012 presidential election in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. I find several correctives for the disruptive effect of emergencies and natural disasters on voter participation including state laws that afford voters opportunities to ballot before Election Day and the number and staffing of polling places. These correctives provide clear guidance for the conduct of elections outside of natural disasters and emergencies.
The Fiscal Impact of the U. S. Military Assistance Program, 1967-1976
(University of Utah, 1985-03) Stein, Robert M.; Ishimatsu, Mark; Stoll, Richard J.
The study of U.S. arms transfers and their impact on the fiscal decisions of aid recipients has been the subject of various interpretations and competing explanations. Absent in this literature has been a systematic testing of propositions derived from a general theory of aid impacts. A larger and somewhat related body of research has examined the political (Chaudhuri 1972; Hughes 1967; Gutteridge 1967) and general economic effects of domestic military spending (Deger and Smith 1983; Smith 1977, 1980; Benoit 1978; Kennedy 1974; Whynes 1979). These studies, however, have not examined the fiscal impact of foreign military assistance. To date only a few researchers have studied this issue in any systematic fashion (McGuire 1979, 1982; Wolf 1971). In this study we seek to fill this gap by applying grant economics theory (Pigou 1932; Oates 1972) to study the fiscal impact of U.S. military arms transfers on foreign nations. Drawing on the domestic aid literature (Oates 1972; Gramlich 1972), we identify a set of propositions concerning the expenditure decisions of domestic aid recipients, and test these propositions against the fiscal behavior of Military Assistance Program (MAP) recipients between 1967-1976. In addition to the substantive import of this question and its bearing on the implementation of U.S. foreign policy, this research provides a unique opportunity to test the applicability of domestic aid theory to the study of foreign aid policy.
Helping America vote? The institutional design of elections and recent reforms
(2008) Vonnahme, Greg William; Stein, Robert M.
This project focuses on the effects of recent electoral reforms on voter participation. The project specifically examines three aspects of election administration, which are voter registration deadlines, early voting, and Election Day vote centers. The project builds from recent theoretical advances in the study of turnout to better understand the effects of the reforms and also suggests areas for future research. The project also analyzes aggregate and survey data using matching methods to test the effects of the reforms. The results suggest that registration deadlines and Election Day vote centers increase turnout, particularly for less politically engaged individuals, while early voting seems to negatively affect turnout.
How Risk Perceptions Influence Evacuations from Hurricanes
(2011) Stein, Robert M.; Dueñas-Osorio, Leonardo; Buzcu-Guven, Birnur; Subramanian, Devika; Kahle, David; James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
In this study, we present evidence supporting the view that people’s perceived risk to hurricane-related hazards can be reduced to a single score that spans different hurricane-induced risk types, and that evacuation behavior is strongly dependent on whether one perceives a high risk to any type of hurricane-related hazards regardless of the hazard type. Our analysis suggests that people are less sensitive to risk type than they are to the general seriousness of the risks. Using this single score, representing a composite risk measure, emergency managers can be informed about the severity of the public’s risk perceptions and might better craft their public directives in ways that minimize disruptive evacuations and achieve greater compliance with government directives.
Immigration Policy in the American States: Attitudes, Adoption, and Outcomes
(2017-04-06) Hedrick, James; Stein, Robert M.
Although typically thought of as a federal issue, states and municipalities have dominated immigration policymaking over the last decade. States alone passed over 2,700 immigration bills and resolutions between 2005 - 2015. The literature on immigration policy has not kept up with this increased activity among subnational governments. This dissertation examines three aspects of subnational immigration policy in the U.S. - immigration attitudes, immigration policy adoption, and the effects of subnational immigration policy. Public opinion surveys and research find almost universal opposition to increased immigration or increased immigrant integration. However, recent research has highlighted the importance of immigrant characteristics (Hanson 2007, Hainmueller 2010, Medina 2010) and native implicit attitudes (Perez 2010) on immigration policy preferences. Chapter 2 uses the Implicit Association Test (IAT) to analyze how implicit attitudes towards immigrants and their perceived skill level affect natives' policy preferences. The results indicate that natives do not make an implicit distinction based on immigrant characteristics. In studies of subnational immigration policy, the focus has typically been restrictive policy, such as Prop 187 in California. However, integrative immigration policies - such as in-state tuition - are at least as widespread as restrictive ones. Several different theories have been used to explain state-level immigration policy adoption but none have been wholly satisfactory. Chapter 3 attempts to reconcile two theoretical explanations in the literature - interest groups and public opinion - to explain how states develop immigration ``policy climates.'' The results indicate that the effect of public opinion on immigration policy outcomes is mediated by the political strength of immigrant-related interest groups. Finally, the effects of immigration policies on immigrants have been largely ignored in the literature. Twenty states now offer in-state resident tuition (IRT) to immigrant students, a policy particularly beneficial to undocumented immigrants (Waters 2016). Despite the widespread adoption of IRT policies, there is no agreement on how these policies affect immigrants' educational outcomes. Chapter 4 examines how different variations of IRT policies - including bans and financial aid - affect educational outcomes for immigrants. The results are ambiguous but suggest that the effect of IRT polices may be conditional on various economic and social variables.
The impact of general revenue sharing incentives on state tax effort
(1984) Zaricznyj, Andrea M.; Stein, Robert M.; Brady, David W.; Stoll, Richard J.
The State and Local Fiscal Assistance Act of 1972 authorized the distribution of general revenue sharing monies on the basis of formulas which provided incentives for states to increase their total tax effort and the progressivity of their tax structures. This examination of the impact of general revenue sharing on state and local government tax structures serves as a test of the federal government's ability to stimulate state tax reform through the distribution of federal aid. An interrupted time series analysis of various state taxes from 1965 to 1979 reveals a significant change in the tax structures of most states after 1972 but not in the expected direction. When other determinants of state tax structures are controlled for the data suggest that general revenue sharing funds were substituted for tax dollars in order to postpone tax increases. While the formula incentives generally helped maintain tax efforts, they were not strong enough to encourage state officials to adopt more progressive tax structures.
Influences of contextual information and social connectedness on political behavior
(2002) Johnson, Pressley Martin; Stein, Robert M.
Should people listen to their neighbors' political advice? Many models of social influence cast the people in an individual's social environment as monitoring their opinions and enforcing conformity. However, it is not necessarily clear that these neighbors have an incentive to bear costs associated with the coercion of political deviants. I suggest social influence may be the result of individual decisions to pursue benefits associated with following the advice of actors who have provided useful information in the past. I use original public opinion data, survey-based experiments, and social experiments conducted in a behavioral research laboratory to examine the effects of an individual's social interactions and observations of others, social connectedness resulting from these experiences, and their willingness to trust social sources of information.
Latino Descriptive Representation in Municipal Government: An Analysis of Latino Mayors
(2013-06-05) Cuellar, Carlos; Marschall, Melissa J.; Hamm, Keith E.; Stein, Robert M.; Emerson, Michael O.
Various questions regarding Latinos’ descriptive representation in the mayoralty are examined in this dissertation including: Where and why are Latino mayors elected? Why do Latino mayoral candidates emerge and win? And, is there is a link between Latino ethnicity and electoral outcomes in municipal elections? The empirical results of a cross-sectional analysis of U.S. cities from 1981-2006 suggest that institutions such as term limits and mayor-council governments influence the representation of Latinos in the mayoralty. These effects, however, are conditioned by Latinos’ numerical strength in a city – which suggests that Latino descriptive representation in the mayoralty is largely a function of population size. Despite the prominence of this factor, the results further reveal that Latinos need to swell the ranks of the city council to provide a steady supply of qualified Latino candidates to ultimately win the mayoralty. An analysis of 648 mayoral elections in 113 cities in the Southwest further tests theories of Latino candidate emergence and success based on city-level factors – that supply elections with Latino candidates – as well as strategic factors in elections – that influence Latino candidates’ cost-benefit decision calculus. The results reveal a combined effect of supply and strategy on candidate emergence and success. For example, in cities where Latinos are sizeable (+40 percent) and the electoral context is more competitive (i.e., where turnout is high, more candidates are on the ballot, and when incumbents are not vying for reelection), Latino candidates are more likely to emerge. A similar pattern occurs with regard to the success of Latino candidates except that the individual candidate’s previous political experience is particularly influential in improving their chances of winning. Given the theoretical expectation regarding the impact of ethnicity on electoral outcomes in municipal elections, I also examine whether Latino ethnicity shapes turnout rates and the margin of victory. Latino ethnicity is not statistically associated with these outcomes. However, other factors such as the election timing and the type of election (i.e., runoff election, open seat) seem to be more influential. In sum, the research here examines various aspects of Latino representation in the mayoralty that is the most comprehensive to date.
Mitigating the Turnout Effects of Bad Weather With Early Voting: 1948–2016
(Sage, 2023) Johnson, Martin; Stein, Robert M.
We identify in-person early voting and no-excuse mail voting as antidotes for the depressing effect inclement weather has on voter turnout and the Republican dividend that accompanies rain and snow on Election Day. We offer and test an explanation for how voters utilize early voting to anticipate and avoid the costs of voting in bad weather. Replicating and extending Gomez et al (2007) analysis through the 2016 election, we confirm the remedial effect in-person early voting and to a lesser degree no-excuse mail voting has on turnout and the Republican advantage when bad weather coincides with Election Day. Our work makes an important contribution to understanding how election laws effect voter participation. We discuss how taking seriously treatment effect heterogeneity both in theoretical and empirical analyses might contribute to our understanding of the effects of election laws on voter participation.
Participation in the City of Houston's Residential Energy Efficiency Program
(James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, 2010) Ernst, Alexandra; Jaffe, Rebecca; Levy, Noemie; O'Conner, Claire; Solnick, Rachel E.; Stein, Robert M.; Post, Stephanie; James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
Report on the Effects of Houston-Area Red Light Monitoring Cameras
(2011) Loftis, Matthew; Ksiazkiewicz, Aleksander; Stein, Robert M.; James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
This report tracks the impact of red light monitoring cameras on the frequency of traffic accidents in Houston, Texas. We use data collected over seven years to simulate the effects of camera installation and to estimate their impact. The results show that cameras are associated with a long-lasting reduction in the number of collisions at Houston intersections that averages almost 30 percent for single cameras. We find that intersections with one camera benefit from reduced collisions only on the approach with the camera, whereas intersections with two or more cameras see reduced collisions from all approaches. From September 2006 to December 2009, we estimate that camera-controlled intersections in Houston prevented about 792 collisions in total.
RISK-BASED DESIGN OF BRIDGES AND ASSOCIATED TRANSPORTATION NETWORKS UNDER NATURAL HAZARDS
(2014-04-25) Wang, Zhenghua; Padgett, Jamie E.; Duenas-Osorio, Leonardo; Nagarajaiah, Satish; Stein, Robert M.; Tobias, Daniel
The highway infrastructure system in the United States is deteriorating and facing an increased number of threats from natural and man-made hazards, including earthquakes, scour, hurricanes, and vehicle collisions. At the same time, the reliable functioning of the highway system plays an important role in emergency response and recovery processes after disaster strikes. However, there are several inadequacies in current codes and associated practice for the design of bridges, as well as funding restrictions for their upkeep. Although recent changes in the seismic design of bridges have adopted displacement-based design approaches to promote adequate performance under seismic loads, the current design philosophy hinges upon a uniform hazard perspective without explicit consideration of a homogeneous risk of damage or collapse. In addition, this approach does not reflect the influence of individual bridges on the transportation network behaviour, which is desirable to estimate the performance of a transportation infrastructure system and enhance its overall post-event operation. Moreover, current bridge design specifications deal with various extreme hazards independent of one another. The reliable performance of transportation infrastructure systems under natural hazards requires a new life-cycle risk-based design method, along with effective resource assignment and prioritization strategies. This thesis will address these noted gaps by putting forward a risk consistent design approach for bridges and associated transportation networks. To enable the proposed shift toward risk-based design of bridges and transportation networks, this thesis develops a framework to evaluate the life-cycle risk (LCR) and life-cycle cost (LCC) of structures based on the time-dependent hazard function approach. The resulting LCR formulation provides a basis for inverse risk analyses to determine the design parameters required to achieve an acceptable risk level. A key advantage of this formulation relative to most existing methods is that it captures the change in structural vulnerability throughout a structure’s lifetime due to structural deterioration as well as changes in loading, while most previous studies neglect this feature assuming that the annual failure probability of a structure or an infrastructure system is constant during the design life. This methodology is also amenable to future extensions that include benefits and impacts to society. To incorporate the transportation infrastructure system level performance into the design and retrofit of bridges in practice, this thesis proposes a new bridge ranking method based on graph theoretic metrics that quantifies network topology features while also incorporating individual bridge characteristics, such as bridge vulnerability and construction cost. This methodology is flexible enough to include in the future socio-demographic factors (e.g., population density, median household income, and vote margin) that affect policy and the distribution of funds to top ranking bridges. Based on the bridge ranking results, an inverse reliability method is used to quantitatively determine the individual bridge reliability levels required to achieve a target performance for entire transportation networks—a new result bound to inform engineering practice. This top-down bridge design approach is superior to current structure-specific design methods because highway bridges are integral parts of entire transportation networks, which means that the design of new bridges or prioritization of existing bridges for upgrade based solely on their structural behavior is not appropriate. Bridge design must account for the topology of the transportation network and the desired system-level performance. Based on the required individual bridge reliability levels for the transportation network, a new method for displacement-based uniform risk design of bridges under seismic hazards considering the effect of soil-structure interaction is also put forward. The method is desirable in practice to reduce the uncertainty in the performance of bridges across regions. Furthermore, no risk-based combination of extreme events for the design of bridges is currently available. This thesis investigates the feasibility of establishing a risk-based design framework to address multiple extreme hazards, particularly scour and earthquake, because they are the most common reason of collapse of bridges in the United States. This risk-consistent multi-hazard bridge design framework provides a basis for combinations of earthquake and scour loads that is also consistent with the load and resistance factor design (LRFD) methodology that is widely used in practice. In addition to providing an LCR framework to the risk-based design of highway bridges and associated transportation networks, modeling complexities typically simplified or neglected in the risk assessment and design of bridges are explored in this thesis. For example, the influence of vertical ground motions as well as soil-structure interaction and liquefaction, which tend to be ignored in current bridge design approaches, are accounted for within the uniform risk framework and illustrated through the seismic risk assessment of a coupled bridge-soil-foundation system. The integrated, uniform, and risk-based framework proposed in this thesis has the potential to directly improve the safety and reliability of transportation infrastructure systems under deteriorating conditions and in the presence of natural hazards and limited funds in the United States. The findings of this thesis will benefit the department of transportation (DOT), AASHTO committee, and other agencies, such as offices of emergency management. The risk-consistent framework is desirable in practice to reduce the uncertainty in the performance of highway transportation system across regions under multiple natural hazards.
Saturday run-off elections
(2013) Stein, Robert M.; Mufti, Altumash; James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
Tax Policy Analysis in a Flexible Computable General Equilibrium Model: Applications to Energy and Gross Receipts Taxation
(2014-04-18) Barbe', Andre' Jean-Curtis; Zodrow, George R.; Medlock, Kenneth B., III; Sickles, Robin; Stein, Robert M.
In this paper, I construct a new general equilibrium model of the United States economy that is better able to analyze energy and gross receipts taxes than previous models. Existing models in the energy literature fall into two groups: general equilibrium models of the entire economy with exogenous energy resource supply and partial equilibrium models of the energy sector with endogenous resource supply. I combine the main advantages of these two strains of the literature by incorporating endogenous resource supply in a computable general equilibrium model with highly disaggregated and flexible industry cost and consumer expenditure functions. My new model is able to analyze all the major inefficiencies caused by energy taxation, i.e. those related to production, consumption, resource rents, and externalities. In addition to its application in energy, my model is also ideal for looking at gross receipts and retails sales taxes. Gross receipts and retail sales taxes are important revenues sources for most US states and share many of the same issues as energy taxes. Retail sales taxes are commonly viewed as more efficient than gross receipts taxes because the latter apply to intermediate goods and thus result in production and consumption inefficiencies. However, in reality the retail sales taxes used by the US states are not pure consumption taxes, but tax many intermediate inputs while exempting many consumption goods. My model determines whether retail sales taxes are still more efficient than gross receipts taxes when these realistic factors are included. As an application, I use the model to analyze two tax reforms for energy or gross receipts taxes. First, President Obama's 2014 budget proposes to reform energy taxation by eliminating fossil fuel tax preferences. I find that the budget's tax increases for fossil fuels increase household welfare if the social cost of carbon emissions is over $15 per ton but otherwise reduce welfare. Second, I also use the model to examine a tax reform that replaces a typical retail sales tax with a generic gross receipts tax. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, I find that the gross receipts tax is more efficient than the retail sales tax, with an efficiency cost that is 6.8 percent of revenues less than that of the retail sales tax. These results demonstrate that the predicted impacts of the tax reforms are significantly altered by the features included in my model: general equilibrium effects, flexible substitution, resource rents, and externalities.
The allocation of distributive program benefits and the maintenance of interest groups
(1997) Blair, LaVonna Jeanne; Stein, Robert M.
This thesis explores the relationship between federal program recipients and interest groups. It is argued here that interest groups attempt to claim credit for federal program benefits. Claiming credit efforts are the activities interest group leaders engage in that are designed to call attention to the group and generate program recipient support of the group. More directly, credit claiming for program benefits is offered as another means for an interest group to solve its collective action problem. Here, instead of interest group leaders having to produce and provide selective benefits, they are expected to take advantage of their involvement with particular federal programs to resolve their maintenance problems. It is further argued that effective credit claiming must have affective, evaluative, and behavioral impacts on program recipients. The credit claiming model is explored at both the macro-level and micro-levels. Interest group leaders were surveyed to determine whether they engaged in credit claiming for particular programs. Recipients of these same programs were also surveyed in order to determine their relationship with the groups that speak on behalf of their program(s). Key determinants of the relationship between interest groups and program recipients are found to be: the nature of the federal program benefit (particularistic versus collective); the presence of other interest groups; and the credit claiming activities of the interest group.

Browsing by Author "Stein, Robert M."

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