Essays on Intergovernmental Lobbying in America

What determines a subnational government’s participation in lobbying the federal government? Why do some subnational governments invest more resources in lobbying the federal government than others? Given a multi-level federalist government structure in the United States, how do the lobbying decisions of local governments affect the lobbying decisions of state governments? Extant research in social science has widely discussed the dynamics of lobbying in the private sector. However, governments lobby governments, too. In the United States, intergovernmental lobbying is an important strategy for subnational governments to obtain resources from and influence policies in a higher-level government. Hundreds of subnational governments directly lobby the federal government and thousands of local governments choose to lobby their state governments each year. Yet, extant research offers little theoretical leverage and even less systematic empirical evidence on what happens when governments lobby governments. The major research goal of this dissertation is to identify and systematically test the determinants of subnational decisions regarding lobbying the federal government on the supply side of public goods. The dissertation mainly consists of three quantitative essays that focus on the formal lobbying activities of subnational governments. The first essay, “Executive Institutions and Formal Lobbying Activities of American City Governments,” points out that, compared to city governments with political executives, city governments with professional executives are more likely to participate in and spend on hiring professional lobbyists to lobby the federal government. The second essay, “Legislative Professionalism and State Formal Lobbying Activities,” provides evidence that legislative professionalism contributes to state lobbying activities. The third essay, “Bottom-Up Federalism of Formal Lobbying Spending,” borrows the theory of bottom-up federalism in policy diffusion literature and shows when local governments within a state increase their investments in formally lobbying the federal government, the state government increases its investment in formally lobbying the federal government, too. This dissertation contributes to public administration, public policy, and political science literature by offering theoretical and empirical insights into the supply-side factors that influence subnational policymaking, intergovernmental relations, and democratic representation

Essays on Intergovernmental Lobbying in America

What determines a subnational government’s participation in lobbying the federal government? Why do some subnational governments invest more resources in lobbying the federal government than others? Given a multi-level federalist government structure in the United States, how do the lobbying decisions of local governments affect the lobbying decisions of state governments? Extant research in social science has widely discussed the dynamics of lobbying in the private sector. However, governments lobby governments, too. In the United States, intergovernmental lobbying is an important strategy for subnational governments to obtain resources from and influence policies in a higher-level government. Hundreds of subnational governments directly lobby the federal government and thousands of local governments choose to lobby their state governments each year. Yet, extant research offers little theoretical leverage and even less systematic empirical evidence on what happens when governments lobby governments. The major research goal of this dissertation is to identify and systematically test the determinants of subnational decisions regarding lobbying the federal government on the supply side of public goods. The dissertation mainly consists of three quantitative essays that focus on the formal lobbying activities of subnational governments. The first essay, “Executive Institutions and Formal Lobbying Activities of American City Governments,” points out that, compared to city governments with political executives, city governments with professional executives are more likely to participate in and spend on hiring professional lobbyists to lobby the federal government. The second essay, “Legislative Professionalism and State Formal Lobbying Activities,” provides evidence that legislative professionalism contributes to state lobbying activities. The third essay, “Bottom-Up Federalism of Formal Lobbying Spending,” borrows the theory of bottom-up federalism in policy diffusion literature and shows when local governments within a state increase their investments in formally lobbying the federal government, the state government increases its investment in formally lobbying the federal government, too. This dissertation contributes to public administration, public policy, and political science literature by offering theoretical and empirical insights into the supply-side factors that influence subnational policymaking, intergovernmental relations, and democratic representation

The motivations for the adoption of management innovation by local governments and its performance effects

This article analyses the economic, political and institutional antecedents and performance effects of the adoption of shared Senior Management Teams (SMTs) – a management innovation (MI) that occurs when a team of senior managers oversees two or more public organizations. Findings from statistical analysis of 201 English local governments and interviews with organizational leaders reveal that shared SMTs are adopted to develop organisational capacity in resource‐challenged, politically risk‐averse governments, and in response to coercive and mimetic institutional pressures. Importantly, sharing SMTs may reduce rather than enhance efficiency and effectiveness due to redundancy costs and the political transaction costs associated with diverting resources away from a high‐performing partner to support their lower‐performing counterpart

Examining the influence of government initiatives on individuals' willingness to paparticipate in waste sorting: The role of administrative burdens

This study employs a conjoint experiment to examine the impact of government initiatives on individuals' willingness to participate in waste sorting, while also investigating the role of administrative burdens

Nonprofit and government collaboration project

The experiments investigate the effects of different forms of government support to nonprofit on individual charitable giving

Extrachromosomal circular DNA: a new potential role in cancer progression

Abstract Extrachromosomal circular DNA (eccDNA) is considered a circular DNA molecule that exists widely in nature and is independent of conventional chromosomes. eccDNA can be divided into small polydispersed circular DNA (spcDNA), telomeric circles (t-circles), microDNA, and extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA) according to its size and sequence. Multiple studies have shown that eccDNA is the product of genomic instability, has rich and important biological functions, and is involved in the occurrence of many diseases, including cancer. In this review, we focus on the discovery history, formation process, characteristics, and physiological functions of eccDNAs; the potential functions of various eccDNAs in human cancer; and the research methods employed to study eccDNA

Research on Power Knowledge Model Based on Group Wisdom

This study described the plan of knowledge management and crowd innovation for Jiangsu electric company based on literature analysis on crowd innovation research and investigation of the company’s innovation state as well as its electric service. A knowledge management system was designed for all the experts in electric field, all the workers and the customers in order to achieve crowd innovation. This system was designed based on the consideration of innovation process, evaluation and motivation, and it is implemented with the Web 2.0 technology

Research on Power Knowledge Model Based on Group Wisdom

This study described the plan of knowledge management and crowd innovation for Jiangsu electric company based on literature analysis on crowd innovation research and investigation of the company’s innovation state as well as its electric service. A knowledge management system was designed for all the experts in electric field, all the workers and the customers in order to achieve crowd innovation. This system was designed based on the consideration of innovation process, evaluation and motivation, and it is implemented with the Web 2.0 technology