Spring Edition 2008

Welcome to the 2008 edition of the Michigan Journal of Public Affairs! The Journal was created in 2003 by graduate students at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. Since the first issue, the Journal has served as a forum for presenting and discussing policy innovations and ideas.

The 2008 edition of the Michigan Journal of Public Affairs continues this tradition by presenting papers on a variety of timely topics, from Congressional oversight of the Iraq war and health care reform to municipal wireless initiatives and emissions control policies. These articles highlight important issues currently facing policymakers at the local, state and federal level.

The Michigan Journal of Public Affairs

In this issue...

• The Environmental Impact Adjustment Fee: Changing the Incentive Structure of Annual Registration Fees To Reduce Emissions of Traditional Pollution and Carbon Dioxide By Passenger Vehicles in California
  by Greg Spotts and Sherol Manavi
  
  As a means to reduce tailpipe emissions of greenhouse gases and traditional pollutants by passenger vehicles, the authors propose an Environmental Impact Adjustment to California's Vehicle License Fee. A plurality of California motorists would see no change to their annual registration cost, but owners of fuel-inefficient vehicles and older, high-polluting cars would pay from $20 to $135 more per year. Owners of highly fuel-efficient vehicles would enjoy a small reduction in their annual Vehicle License Fee.



• Armed and Not Dangerous: A Review of the Senate Armed Services Committee's Oversight of the Iraq Conflict Between 2002 and 2004
  by Matthew Singer
  
  While President George W. Bush receives most of the scrutiny, blame, and praise for the current Iraq conflict, Congress has had an important role in overseeing the planning and execution of the war. Referencing transcripts of Senate Armed Services Committee hearings between 2002 and 2004, this paper uses four major criteria -- attendance rates, quality and diversity of witnesses, evidence of partisanship, and assertions of institutional prerogatives -- to assess the committee's oversight of the Iraq conflict during that time period. This analysis concludes that the committee struggled to fulfill its duties in most of these categories.



• Exploring Government Partnerships to Improve Offender Reentry
  by Bridgette M. Bassford
  
  The failure in prisoner reentry comes at great expense to society not only in higher crime rates, but increased taxes and spending. In recent years, the government has recognized this dilemma and called upon the nonprofit community to partner with them in creating reentry programs aimed at reducing recidivism. The programs profiled here, the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency and the Maryland Reentry Partnership, offer a stimulating example of successful nonprofit/government collaborations.



• Book Review of Laurence J. Kotlikoff's The Health Care Fix: Universal Insurance for All Americans
  by David H. Johnson
  
  With the 2008 race for the White House in full swing and the economy in danger of sliding into recession, "change" is the watchword of nearly every candidate for the Oval Office. It has now been fourteen years since the last major discussion on universal health care took place in the halls of government -- a discussion that ended in abject failure.



• Core Labor Standards and the Multilateral Trading System: Do Poor Countries and their Workers Gain from a Linkage Between Labor Standards and the WTO?
  by Andreas Hatzigeorgiou
  
  This article investigates whether incorporating international labor standards into the multilateral trading system can effectively improve worker welfare in poor countries. The article concludes that stronger international enforcement of labor standards has the potential to improve worker welfare in certain cases. Nevertheless, linking this enforcement to the dispute settlement system of the World Trade Organization may harm workers in poor countries because it will likely result in rich countries' imposition of new protectionist trade policies.



• Sustainable Tourism Development in the Caribbean Island Nation-States
  by James Goodwin, JD
  
  For many developing nations, tourism is an important pathway for development. In recent years, however, tourism has become associated with a number of economic, environmental, and cultural challenges. This article examines how sustainable tourism development could be applied in the Caribbean. The unique economic, environmental, and cultural challenges associated with tourism in the Caribbean are discussed, with particular attention given to the cruise industry.



• IT as Public Policy: The Case of Municipal Wireless Initiatives
  by Jeffrey A. Stone and Elinor M. Madigan
  
  Municipalities across the nation are moving forward with wireless broadband initiatives designed to achieve a variety of social, political, and economic goals. At the same time, these municipalities are wrestling with criticism from private-sector providers that such initiatives do not involve critical public infrastructure and disrupt the market process. This paper performs a multi-faceted examination of the policy, administrative, and political issues involved with municipally-based wireless broadband initiatives.