Letter from the Co-Editors in Chief
The Michigan Journal of Public Affairs is committed to publishing innovative public policy related articles from graduate students, emerging scholars, and policy professionals. This year the Executive Staff made it a priority to increase the academic breadth and organizational presence of the journal. We are proud that this year’s journal captures the professionalism and hard work of our staff and authors with the final publication of eight articles dealing with a range of practical policy issues like the integration of micro-grids in national disaster relief efforts, public attitudes towards sex workers, and international censorship practices of social media sites.
A new initiative we launched to increase the topical diversity of the journal included putting out a special call for papers dealing with historically underrepresented topics, like environmental policy. Additionally, we established the first-ever Special Issue for articles pertaining to Constitutional Rights and Freedoms. Subsequently, this year’s publication showcases two special issue articles, one dealing with the legal and ideological underpinnings of gender inequality in Iran and the other discussing the sociopolitical effects of the Iraqi constitutional process in the early 2000s. We hope that future Special Issues will further our ability to publish a more holistic set of papers.
In addition, to increase the organizational presence of the journal we hosted the first annual MJPA Launch Party in the fall, showcasing articles on peacekeeping, migration, and education. We also co-sponsored events such as a policy talk with established Detroit journalist Nolan Finley in which students discussed divisive Detroit politics and learned about different policy initiatives happening at the state and local level. Furthermore, our ability to build upon the reputation and rigor of the journal this year stems from the long-standing support we receive from the Ford School administration. Since its inception, the Dean’s Office of the Gerald R. Ford School has greatly supported the student-led publication, committing three years of funding this year to ensure that MJPA continues to disseminate rigorous policy research. Moreover, this year Paula Lantz, Associate Dean for Research and Policy Engagement, became the journal’s faculty advisor, lending her editorial and academic expertise throughout the review and editing process.
Overall, this journal would not be possible without the commitment of our experienced editorial staff and talented authors. Authors collaborated with our editorial staff for five months to produce the most refined version of their research and findings. We are delighted to share this issue of the Michigan Journal of Public Affairs with you and hope that the journal’s reputation continues to grow in coming years.
Enjoy!
– Jennie Alfaro and Jacqueline Barocio
MJPA Co-Editors in Chief
Human Capital Theory and Practice: The Effect of Tuition Increases on College Major Selection
Rashid Malik and Austin Slaughter
Over the past decade, the price of college tuition has increased significantly. According to human capital theory, higher education is a rational choice only when the present value of newly acquired skills and knowledge exceeds tuition plus opportunity costs. Given that different majors produce different expected lifetime earnings, an increase in tuition may have a disproportionate impact on demand for certain college majors. Namely, we expect more students in financially insecure majors to “opt-out,” as there are likely more of them at the margin than students in financially secure majors.
Our analysis uses state-level panel data to estimate the relationship between the average price of tuition per student and the proportion of a state’s graduates who graduate in a financially secure major. We find that a $1,000 increase in tuition is associated with a .45 percentage point increase in the proportion of graduates who graduate in a financially secure major. Our finding is robust, yet statistically insignificant. Although our study was not designed to look at the relationship between the state unemployment rate and our dependent variable, we find an interesting and statistically significant relationship between the two. A one percentage point increase in the unemployment rate is associated with a 1.2 percentage point increase in the proportion of graduates who graduate in a financially secure major. We believe that our findings have important implications for both university administrators and state policymakers, who may want to influence the types of degrees students pursue in addition to increasing the number of degrees conferred.
Natural Disasters and the United States’ Electricity Grid: The Role of FEMA and the Value of Micro-Grids
Gilbert Michaud
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is the key federal agency that responds to natural disasters in the United States (U.S.), yet it has come under great scrutiny for several prolonged- and poorly-coordinated efforts in disaster response and recovery. The increasing frequency and severity of major natural disasters in the U.S. now presents new challenges for emergency preparedness and response teams. This has led to several cases where FEMA’s relief efforts were severely limited due to a lack of electricity during a disaster’s aftermath. To mitigate such circumstances, micro-grids offer value by disconnecting from the centralized electricity grid and operating autonomously, allowing hospitals, military bases, and other key emergency response related facilities to get back online quickly. This article examines how micro-grids can increase distributed generation (e.g., solar photovoltaics and wind), which, in turn, can improve grid resiliency and operations during disasters. Overall, if implemented correctly, the emergence of micro-grid technology could improve and expedite FEMA’s responsiveness to substantial disasters by keeping the power on, as well as allowing local communities to meet the unknown energy needs of the future.
Ban the Box: An Evaluation
Selamawit Misgano
Ban the Box refers to a set of policies that, at a minimum, remove the conviction question from job applications. In the last ten years more than 100 cities and 19 states have implemented some version of these policies. This note will explore the impact of Ban the Box policies on employment and recidivism rates among formerly incarcerated adults, as well as map out the path forward for Ban the Box advocates and policy-makers.
The Necessity of Taxation Justice for a More Profound Decolonization Process in Ecuador
Luis Salvador
This paper focuses on the necessity for new inheritance tax legislation in Ecuador, namely the Taxation Justice Law for the Redistribution of Wealth, as a way to effectively challenge and begin to transform the deeply rooted structures of socioeconomic power and dominance that date back to the colonial period. These structures affect various aspects of everyday life in Ecuadorian society and are a form of continuous violence against poor and historically oppressed populations. In the case of Ecuador, the majority of the population has been subjected to this ongoing violence and systematic exclusion, with more aggression towards indigenous and blacks. This paper analyzes the connections between the political debate and societal conflict that resulted from the legislative proposal in the context of Latin America’s colonial legacy. This legacy continues to play a key role in maintaining the rigidity of the structures that cause inequality and tilt the balance of forces in society towards an elite minority. I argue that the proposed progressive increase to inheritance taxes in Ecuador could set a precedent for transformative policies with active participation of ordinary citizens, and that it can be replicated in Latin American countries with similar structures as part of a more profound decolonization process.
Permission Denied: Sina Weibo Behind China’s Great Firewall
Xin Xu
With the rapid expansion of commercial web services available in China, social media websites such as Weibo (a Twitter-featured microblog) provide a new platform for Chinese netizens to pursue political activism. Sina Weibo has the most active user community of any microblog site in China. It has over 300 million users and about 100 million tweets posted daily. Like Twitter in other countries, Weibo plays an important role in the conversation surrounding current events in China. However, the Chinese government is intent on firmly controlling both the Chinese media system and online public opinion, evidenced in part by the government’s censoring of Weibo posts published by individuals. This paper examines 26,000 deleted Weibo posts collected from June 12 to July 2, 2013, uncovering their lifetimes, geographic distribution, and top keywords. Further content analysis reveals that posts with collective action potential, loyal dissent, disloyal dissent, and support of the Chinese Communist Party are all likely to be deleted, indicating the purpose of the censorship may be broader than previous studies suggest.
The Iraqi Constitutional Process
Ashley Connelly
This paper seeks to understand the Iraqi constitutional process and the resulting document’s role in the decade since its adoption in 2005. This paper argues that the constitution produced a weak federal system and failed to address divisive issues which translated into a vague and incomplete roadmap of Iraq’s future. Although the Iraqi Constitution is not solely responsible for Iraq’s sectarian, corrupt, and violent environment, this paper will highlight how the constitution’s inadequacies have served a foundational role in Iraq’s reconstruction.
Singapore’s Domestic Workers: Changing Public Attitudes
Chelsea Racelis
Opinion.
Analyzing the 2006 One Million Signatures Campaign: Toward a Critical understanding of Legally Enforced Gender Inequality in Iran
Shireen Smalley
In June of 2006, a peaceful protest was held in Haft-e Tir Square in Tehran, Iran to oppose discriminatory laws enshrined in Iran’s constitution, penal code, and civil code. From this gathering, the Campaign for the Collection of One Million Signatures to Reform Discriminatory Laws Against Women was born. This paper will critically analyze the discriminatory constitutional and legal principles opposed by the Campaign, and will argue that Iranian sovereignty is dependent upon androcentric legislation that marginalizes women. This paper locates the human rights lawyers, activists and professionals who led a grassroots Campaign to transgress a gendered constitutional framework in Iran. While the movement garnered domestic and international attention during its collection period, many leaders and allies of the Campaign were arrested or forced to flee the country. The One Million Signatures Campaign was violently suppressed by the state in 2009. This paper will outline how the Campaign succeeded in challenging the dominant framework of Iranian constitutional law.