Editors' Notes

This issue of the Policy Studies Journal includes eight diverse and well-crafted articles, each of which will appeal to policy scholars. Furthermore, the timing of several of these articles is particularly appropriate given the larger policy-relevant events taking place as this issue of the PSJ goes to press. Such is the case for our lead article: Michael Alvarez (Caltech), Thad Hall (University of Utah), and Morgan Llewellyn (Caltech) study public preferences for election administration in the American states and find that less than 2 percent of voters and nonvoters prefer the dominant mode of election governance structure (a single, elected partisan official). The governance structure garnering greatest support is that of nonpartisan election boards, though citizens who have traditionally been least well informed (those who are younger, single, minority, and less well educated) tend to prefer partisan oversight of elections. The discussion of implications for the credibility of elections, and for voter turnout, is well worth the read. Maurice Mangum (Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville) focuses the reasons for African American opinions on affirmative action. Testing multiple hypotheses using survey data, this article finds that self-interest plays a role alongside “group consciousness” and concerns for social justice. Ethan Bernick (University of North Texas) and Nathan Myers (University of Nevada–Las Vegas) focus on whether state efforts to reduce the fraction of the population without health insurance have been successful. Two strategies are examined—a “conservative” approach relying on tax incentives, and a “liberal” one involving direct state coverage—and neither is found to reduce rates of the uninsured. Indeed, the article suggests that the tax incentive approach may well result in an increase in the uninsured population. Sung Deuk Hahm (Korea University) and Uk Heo (University of Wisconsin–Madison) evaluate whether the regional origin of foreign direct investment (FDI) has resulted in differential effects on economic development among East Asian countries (chiefly Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan). Prior research has suggested that American FDI was less effective in generating development than was Japanese FDI, presumably because Japanese investment was more attuned to East Asian economic needs and opportunities. But Hahm and Heo find no significant difference, indicating that FDI provides similar stimulus regardless of origin. Maureen Berner (UNC–Chapel Hill), Trina Ozer (UNC–Chapel Hill), and Sharon Paynter (North Carolina State University) provide an important case study focusing on the effects of employment among the poor on demand for assistance from food pantries. They find that the poor who are working are more likely—not less—to seek the food pantry's services. Jennifer Wallner (University of Toronto) focuses on the ingredients of policy success or failure: She argues that a lack of legitimacy can do as much damage to policy survival as can failure of the policy to perform effectively or efficiently. She argues that strategies employed to initiate a policy within a policy subsystem may actually undermine broader legitimacy and contribute to ultimate policy failure. Michael Rushton (Indiana) takes on one of the most common measures of racial diversity (the Blau index) and shows that it may badly misrepresent diversity in important cases. The key problem is that the index does not take into account the relative size of the specific racial groups in the larger population; hence, the racial diversity of a subpopulation dominated by Blacks or Hispanics may be deemed identical to that of a subpopulation dominated by Whites. Finally, Richard Feiock (Florida State University), António Tavares (University of Minho, Portugal), and Mark Lubell (University of California) analyze what accounts for variation in the selection of local land use and growth management policies. They find that government structure and election rules significantly predict land use practices—including the choice of urban service boundaries, incentive zoning, and programs to transfer development rights. The quality, range and diversity of articles in this issue are sure to be of broad use to our readers. To continue in this vein, we again urge you to submit your best scholarship to the Policy Studies Journal. We remain committed to a fair and rapid review process. We look forward to seeing your submission.

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