In 1986, Congress enacted a reform of the tax system touching almost every segment of society. Marginal tax rates were reduced, numerous deductions were limited or restricted and some activities were made subject to tax for the first time. Tax reform was designed to eliminate loopholes and...

This is a paper that covers a lot of ground very thinly and a very specific piece of ground in some detail. The general topic is optimal governance of regional infrastructure. The specific illustration of that topic is an examination of governance of infrastructure in the US as a whole and the...

Before you can analyze the benefits and costs of something, you need to know what it is you are analyzing. In the case of ITS (Intelligent Transportation Systems) this is harder than it might first appear. This paper briefly defines ITS; finding no standard definition, discusses the difficulty...

This is a draft study of affordable housing on Staten Island, New York prepared by the Center for the Study of Staten Island in 2008.This study: documents the extent of the problem — the lack of affordable housing and the changing nature of the housing stock — with some comparison to other...

Lyndon Johnson launched the Great Society programme in 1964. In the end, the ‘War on Poverty’ failed to live up to all of its promises. To explain these shortcomings this article will firstly analyse the choice of policy instruments; secondly, there will be some discussion of the political...

Over the past few years, a new policy movement has been sweeping the public sector. Often referred to as "Reinventing Government" or "Performance Management," this new movement seeks to make the public sector more accountable and efficient by better measuring and managing the resources that go...

This is a paper about two intertwined topics: federalism and infrastructure. It is also a paper about two intertwined subcontinents (in a political, economic and cultural sense at least): Europe and the United States of America. The basic question to be considered here is whether there is an...

Transportation policy has long been concerned with achieving direct outcomes such as maximum mobility, reduced unit travel times and increased access, and indirect outcomes such as regional economic development. More recently a distinct concern has arisen regarding equity and justice in...

Public–Private Partnerships (PPP) in transport are a growing phenomenon throughout the world. The developing world in particular has seen a veritable explosion of such arrangements. There can be, however, a significant difference between developing countries that are ‘low-income’ versus...