Policymakers’ Perceptions of the Benefits of Citizen-Budgeting Activities

Citizen budgeting has become an increasingly common practice in municipalities across the United States. It offers an alternative to traditionally technocratic budgeting processes, and can connect and engage citizens in decisions about services and funding. Little research has been conducted on how local policymakers perceive citizen budgeting and outcomes. This study examined the benefits local policymakers identified following two successive years of a citizen-budgeting process in a mid-sized Midwestern city. Interviews with 23 local policymakers (a mayor, city council members, and city department heads) identified nine types of benefits produced by the citizen-budgeting process. The study demonstrates that identifying perceived benefits of citizen budgeting processes can shed light on the question of the extent to which such budgeting methods are citizen-driven, leader-driven, or a combination of both

Public Input for City Budgeting Using E-Input, Face-to-Face Discussions, and Random Sample Surveys: The Willingness of an American Community to Increase Taxes

Regular public input into a city\u27s budget is frequently associated with municipal budgeting in Brazilian cities, successes in public engagement that have been emulated around the world. American communities are adopting the practice to varying degrees. This paper will report on a five-year old public input program that is taking place in Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital city of a politically conservative state in the U.S. We discuss the processes we use to engage the public about the City\u27s budget. The process includes regular online input as well as face-to-face, deliberative discussions. On occasions, random sample surveys also have been used. The public\u27s input has been helpful to City Hall in budget prioritization, and has even resulted, pursuant to residents\u27 recommendations, in raising taxes to preserve programs rather than eliminating them to balance the City\u27s budget. In an era of concern that the American public will not endorse tax increases, the recommendation was surprising. Our work to date indicates the public welcomes the invitation to participate in governance and responds positively to the opportunity to provide input and is willing to endorse policy options that have been thought to be unpopular by a majority of Americans

EVALUATION OF RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN REPORTED RESILIENCE AND SOLDIER OUTCOMES, Report #2: Positive Performance Outcomes in Officers (Promotions, Selections, & Professions)

This technical report presents an analysis of reported resilience and psychological health among the U.S. Army’s Officer Corps. The focus of the current report is on linking resilience and psychological health (hereafter referred to as R/PH) to objective outcomes associated with high job performance. Specifically, this report examines the statistical relationships between officer R/PH - as measured by the Army’s Global Assessment Tool (GAT) - and promotions to Brigadier General, early (below zone) Field Grade Officer promotions, selections for command / key billet assignments, and officers who serve in career fields that require terminal professional degrees (e.g., medical doctors, dentists, lawyers, etc). Results show that officers who have been promoted to Brigadier General are more emotionally and socially fit than their peers who have not received a promotion to Brigadier General. These officers are more engaged with their work, have higher levels of organizational trust and friendship, report lower levels of loneliness, are more optimistic, and report higher levels of positive affect and lower levels of negative affect. Each of these findings is in line with our expectations regarding R/PH and job performance, and the findings comport with a substantial body of work in the academic literature. Additionally, analysis of R/PH for officers promoted early resulted in findings similar to above. In particular, those who have been promoted below zone report higher levels of work engagement, friendship, organizational trust, optimism, and coping abilities. In short, these officers score higher on the GAT dimensions of Emotional and Social Fitness than their peers who were not promoted early (“due course” officers). Similar results were found for officers selected for command for key billet assignments. They are also more emotionally and socially fit than their peers who were not selected for command (more engaged with their work, have higher levels of organizational trust and friendship, are less lonely, are more optimistic, and report higher levels of positive affect and lower levels of negative affect). There are no practical differences in R/PH between officers serving in career fields that require terminal professional degrees and other officers serving in “line” career fields (rank-matched analysis, Captain - Colonel). In light of academic literature on the subject, this finding is somewhat surprising as it suggests that advanced professional education / training alone may not influence (or be influenced by) R/PH. When taken together, the findings above strongly suggest there is a relationship between reported resilience and psychological health and outcomes associated with high job performance, but we are currently unable to determine causality. Stated differently, we do not know if the reported R/PH contributed to the performance outcomes, or if the high job performance outcomes contributed to the reported R/PH. Further data collection and analysis over the next 12-24 months will broaden our understanding of the relationships

Kansas State DMC Assessment

The Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Act charges states to institute multipronged strategies not only to prevent delinquency but to improve the juvenile justice system and assure equal treatment of all youth. To successfully address Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC), the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention recommends a five-phase process, whereby jurisdictions: 1) identify whether disproportionality exists and the extent to which it exists at all contact stages of the juvenile justice system; 2) assess the contributing factors; 3) provide an intervention plan; 4) evaluate the efficacy of efforts to reduce DMC; and 5) monitor and track DMC trends over time to identify emerging critical issues and to determine whether there has been progress. The goal of this assessment is to identify the factors that contribute to DMC in the State of Kansas so that Kansas’ juvenile justice system stakeholders can design appropriate intervention strategies. To do this, DMC was examined at three key decision points: arrest, secure detention and case management placements. Because data were made available regarding juvenile intake and assessment (which intersect with both law enforcement and secure detention) this data point was also examined. Like many assessments of this type, we were limited by the availability and quality of data. However, the report and recommendations that follow identify ways in which Kansas can explore data-driven approaches to addressing the overrepresentation of minority youth in the Kansas juvenile justice system

A longitudinal and experimental study of the impact of knowledge on the bases of institutional trust

This study examined a knowledge-centered theory of institutional trust development. In the context of trust in water regulatory institutions, the moderating impact of knowledge was tested to determine if there were longitudinal changes in the bases of institutional trust as a function of increases in knowledge about a target institution. We hypothesized that as people learn about an institution with which they were previously unfamiliar, they begin to form more nuanced perceptions, distinguishing the new institution from other institutions and relying less upon their generalized trust to estimate their trust in that institution. Prior to having specific, differential information about a new institution, we expected institutional trust to be a function of generalized trust variables such as dispositional trust and trust in government. The longitudinal experiment involved 185 college students randomly assigned to one of three information conditions. Every 3 months for 15 months, participants read information about water regulatory institutions or a control institution. At each time point, participants reported their trust in and perceptions of the trust- and distrust-worthiness of the water regulatory institutions. Participants also completed measures of knowledge of water regulatory institutions, dispositional trust, and governmental trust. Our manipulation check indicated that, as expected, those in the experimental group increased in subjective knowledge of water regulatory institutions to a greater extent than those in the control condition. Consistent with our hypotheses, there was some evidence that, compared to the control group, the experimental group relied less on their general trust in government as a basis for their trust in water regulatory institutions. However, contrary to our hypotheses, there was no evidence the experimental group relied less on dispositional trust as a basis for institutional trust. There also was some evidence the experimental group\u27s trust in water regulatory institutions was less affected by fluctuations of trustworthiness (but not distrustworthiness) perceptions over time. This suggests that knowledge results in the development of more stable institutional trust attitudes, but that trustworthiness and distrustworthiness perceptions may operate somewhat differently when impacting trust in specific institutions

A longitudinal and experimental study of the impact of knowledge on the bases of institutional trust

This study examined a knowledge-centered theory of institutional trust development. In the context of trust in water regulatory institutions, the moderating impact of knowledge was tested to determine if there were longitudinal changes in the bases of institutional trust as a function of increases in knowledge about a target institution. We hypothesized that as people learn about an institution with which they were previously unfamiliar, they begin to form more nuanced perceptions, distinguishing the new institution from other institutions and relying less upon their generalized trust to estimate their trust in that institution. Prior to having specific, differential information about a new institution, we expected institutional trust to be a function of generalized trust variables such as dispositional trust and trust in government. The longitudinal experiment involved 185 college students randomly assigned to one of three information conditions. Every 3 months for 15 months, participants read information about water regulatory institutions or a control institution. At each time point, participants reported their trust in and perceptions of the trust- and distrust-worthiness of the water regulatory institutions. Participants also completed measures of knowledge of water regulatory institutions, dispositional trust, and governmental trust. Our manipulation check indicated that, as expected, those in the experimental group increased in subjective knowledge of water regulatory institutions to a greater extent than those in the control condition. Consistent with our hypotheses, there was some evidence that, compared to the control group, the experimental group relied less on their general trust in government as a basis for their trust in water regulatory institutions. However, contrary to our hypotheses, there was no evidence the experimental group relied less on dispositional trust as a basis for institutional trust. There also was some evidence the experimental group\u27s trust in water regulatory institutions was less affected by fluctuations of trustworthiness (but not distrustworthiness) perceptions over time. This suggests that knowledge results in the development of more stable institutional trust attitudes, but that trustworthiness and distrustworthiness perceptions may operate somewhat differently when impacting trust in specific institutions

Taking Blockchain Seriously

In the present techno-political moment it is clear that ignoring or dismissing the hype surrounding blockchain is unwise, and certainly for regulatory authorities and governments who must keep a grip on the technology and those promoting it, in order to ensure democratic accountability and regulatory legitimacy within the blockchain ecosystem and beyond. Blockchain is telling (and showing) us something very important about the evolution of capital and neoliberal economic reason, and the likely impact in the near future on forms and patterns of work, social organization, and, crucially, on communities and individuals who lack influence over the technologies and data that increasingly shape and control their lives. In this short essay I introduce some of the problems in the regulation of blockchain and offer counter-narratives aimed at cutting through the hype fuelling the ascendency of this most contemporary of technologies

High probability of comorbidities in bronchial asthma in Germany

Clinical experience has shown that allergic and non-allergic respiratory, metabolic, mental, and cardiovascular disorders sometimes coexist with bronchial asthma. However, no study has been carried out that calculates the chance of manifestation of these disorders with bronchial asthma in Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Using ICD10 diagnoses from health care institutions, the present study systematically analyzed the co-prevalence and odds ratios of comorbidities in the asthma population in Germany. The odds ratios were adjusted for age and sex for all comorbidities for patients with asthma vs. without asthma. Bronchial asthma was strongly associated with allergic and with a lesser extent to non-allergic comorbidities: OR 7.02 (95% CI:6.83–7.22) for allergic rhinitis; OR 4.98 (95%CI:4.67–5.32) allergic conjunctivitis; OR 2.41 (95%CI:2.33–2.52) atopic dermatitis; OR 2.47 (95%CI:2.16–2.82) food allergy, and OR 1.69 (95%CI:1.61–1.78) drug allergy. Interestingly, increased ORs were found for respiratory diseases: 2.06 (95%CI:1.64–2.58) vocal dysfunction; 1.83 (95%CI:1.74–1.92) pneumonia; 1.78 (95%CI:1.73–1.84) sinusitis; 1.71 (95%CI:1.65–1.78) rhinopharyngitis; 2.55 (95%CI:2.03–3.19) obstructive sleep apnea; 1.42 (95%CI:1.25–1.61) pulmonary embolism, and 3.75 (95%CI:1.64–8.53) bronchopulmonary aspergillosis. Asthmatics also suffer from psychiatric, metabolic, cardiac or other comorbidities. Myocardial infarction (OR 0.86, 95%CI:0.79–0.94) did not coexist with asthma. Based on the calculated chances of manifestation for these comorbidities, especially allergic and respiratory, to a lesser extent also metabolic, cardiovascular, and mental disorders should be taken into consideration in the diagnostic and treatment strategy of bronchial asthma