Search

This study examines public opinion toward the policy responsibilities of the national, state, and local governments. We use new data from a national survey to analyze citizens’ attitudes toward the general and policy-specific activities of the respective governmental levels. We find that people want all levels of government to do more. But, they also differentiate among national, state, and local responsibilities for particular policy areas. In fact, public opinion corresponds quite closely to actual policy efforts manifested at different governmental levels. Moreover, citizens’ preferences for specific programmatic activities are guided by a combination of general beliefs about governmental responsibilities and assessments of economic capacities. These findings have important theoretical and practical implications for understanding the American intergovernmental system. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Discusses the impact of welfare reform on Medicaid. Medicaid as a major mechanism for financing health and long-term care for the poor in the United States; Contemporary pressures for welfare reform; Medicaid policy and welfare reform; Impact of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996.

Focuses on developments in state Medicaid programs in the United States. Range of innovative health care service delivery; Reconfiguration by the states of the Medicaid systems; Role of states in the American health-care policy process.

This article examines intergovernmental performance during natural disasters. The United States has an ongoing response system which requires the cooperation of national, state, and local governments. This system was severely tested during the fall of 1989 by four major crises: Hurricane Hugo in the Caribbean, South Carolina, and North Carolina, and the Loma Prieta earthquake in San Francisco. The intergovernmental response functioned very differently in the four situations. Three patterns emerge to describe the intergovernmental dynamics of disaster relief. The article discusses the causes and consequences of these different patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]