Search

Political campaigns involve, in the simplest case, two competing campaign groups which try to obtain a majority of votes. We propose a novel mathematical framework to study political campaign dynamics on social networks whose constituents are either political activists or persuadable individuals. Activists are convinced and do not change their opinion and they are able to move around in the social network to motivate persuadable individuals to vote according to their opinion. We describe the influence of the complex interplay between the number of activists, political clout, budgets, and campaign costs on the campaign result. We also identify situations where the choice of one campaign group to send a certain number of activists already pre-determines their victory. Moreover, we show that a candidate’s advantage in terms of political clout can overcome a substantial budget disadvantage or a lower number of activists, as illustrated by the US presidential election 2016. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information about effectiveness of county budgeting in Texas. The Uniform Budget Law applying to Texas counties was passed in 1931 and became effective on August 21 of the same year. The law requires that budgets be prepared approximately six months in advance of the calendar year to which they apply. Although the law has been subjected to considerable criticism, officials are generally agreed that it permits effective budgeting if and when a conscientious effort is made to secure good administration. In order to avoid placing too much reliance on the results of one year, schedules have been obtained on 26 of the 60 counties for the year 1939. In the case of these 26 counties the results of a five-year period are therefore revealed. In making this analysis it is desirable to use the fund accounts instead of the county-wide accounts for the use of county totals might conceal the amount available to finance expenditures during the year. In some instances funds which lived within resources already had a deficit which had been created in prior years.

The article discusses the limited financial budget for higher education, science, and research in Great Britain for the year 2012 to 2013 because of the experienced global recession. It compares the case of Great Britain to France in which the former is applying budget cuts in its universities to decrease its national debt while the latter is increasing its national debt in order to improve the fund of its universities. It mentions the budget allocation of U.S. Congress to the National Science Foundation which increased 6.7% of its previous budget for the year 2010. The author reminded the scientists that their funding comes from the tax paid by an increasing country's populace and they should consider whether they can provide a significant contribution to solve the world's problems.