Philadelphia\u27s 13th Street Passages: A Model for Urban Main Street Development

To a large extent, this thesis will investigate how 13th Street was successfully revitalized using a strategy similar to that of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Main Street Program, a broadly applied framework for the revitalization of historic commercial centers in downtown communities nationwide. The success of the Main Street program, as outlined in its Four-Point Approach to revitalization, relies on early and strong community organization and small business partnerships. However, because there was such little concern among business owners on 13th Street, and because the City of Philadelphia was unable to take a leading role in redevelopment, a different solution was needed. That solution was a public-private strategy – with an emphasis on private – led by a real estate development company that took an approach that in many ways followed Main Street ideas and principles. It is an uncommon strategy for a private-sector developer to take a large-scale and long-term interest in a historic neighborhood. This study will therefore have to answer the following questions: How did Goldman adapt a Main Street approach – which is traditionally used in the downtowns of small communities – to 13th Street, which is only one part of a much larger urban fabric? How did the developer balance physical improvements with the long-term need to attract businesses and promote this new (or recreated) place? The answers to these questions are grounded in historic preservation and urban policy, economics, and design

A Multi-Country Study of Inter-Generational Educational Mobility

This paper analyses intergenerational educational mobility using survey data for twenty countries. We find that a number of interesting patterns emerge. Estimating a measure of mobility as movement and an index of mobility as equality of opportunity we find that while these two measures are positively correlated, the correlation is far from perfect. Examining the link with educational inequality we find evidence which suggests an inverse relationship between mobility and inequality consistent with egalitarian theory. The relationship between mobility appears to be weak, high returns to education do not depress mobility, as some human capital theories would suggest. Mobility appears to be somewhat higher for men whereas equality is much the same for both sexes. There is evidence that mobility as equality of opportunity has risen consistent with modernization theory. There is no evidence that expansion of third level education has led to a fall in the penalty associated with having a low educated parent. Estimates of marginal mobility are quite different from average mobility.

Will the Supreme Court Still “Seldom Stray Very Far”?: Regime Politics in a Polarized America

This Article examines the concept of a “minority Justice,” meaning a Supreme Court Justice appointed by a President who had failed to win the popular vote and confirmed with the support of a majority of senators who had garnered fewer votes in their most recent elections than their colleagues in opposition. Specifically, Neil Gorsuch was the first “minority Justice,” receiving the support of senators who had collected nearly 20 million fewer votes than those in opposition (54,098,387 to 73,425,062). From there, the Article considers the significance this development, first by examining some of the foundational work of the regime politics literature, and then by exploring the historical linkages between the presidential popular vote from 1824 to 2016 and the Senate’s consideration of Supreme Court nominees during that same time period. It concludes with a discussion of the democratic legitimacy of a minority Justice, considering the constitutional mandate allocating each state two senators and requiring the “advice and consent” of the Senate for a nominee to become a Supreme Court Justice

Literacy and Education in Ireland

Recent media attention has focused on the low ranking of Ireland in a major international study on literacy. In this paper we examine the dataset used in these studies to consider the reason behind the low ranking. We find significant evidence that the underlying reason for this is the low level of formal schooling of older individuals, possibly due to the lack of free secondary schooling. Moreover we find that formal schooling in Ireland has a bigger effect on literacy outcomes than in either Northern Ireland or Great Britain.