When, how, and why do policy makers and reformers use courts and legal procedures to achieve their policy ends? This project explores the relationship of courts to the process of policy reform in Texas. I predict that reformers within this context utilize judicial and quasi-judicial strategies in different ways than the current literature suggests, that is that courts and legislatures are used interdependently to advance a policy goal. This line of inquiry enhances our understanding of the relationship of courts to policy reform as it contemplates reformers utilizing court based reform strategies in ways other than a court ruling in their favor and producing the desired policy end. This study also contemplates courts in the policy making arena as more than just one static institution; rather, court based strategies can and do encompass other quasi-judicial institutions available to reformers to advance their policy objectives. Through an in-depth case study analysis of reform in the areas of the scope of practice battle between engineers and architects, transportation infrastructure funding, and voter ID, I find that reformers, constrained by the overall opportunity structures available, choose a set of strategies that utilize multiple venues in ways that strengthen each other, so that their strategies are not just alternative or sequential but interdependent. / text

We consider a partial equilibrium Cournot-oligopolistic model in which the domestic market of two differentiated goods is served by a number of identical domestic firms and exports by foreign firms. In chapter 1, we characterize the optimality conditions with an emission standard and lump-sum tax to target the distortions, and we find the optimal instrument that targets the emission or pollution most efficiently. Through our study we find out that the use of right mix of environmental and non-environmental policy instruments could decrease emissions and increase welfare of the economy at the same time, even when there is foreign competition. Next, we introduce cross-border pollution and model pollution content tariff imposed on the imports from foreign country as one of the instruments for the domestic country in chapter 2. We first characterize the optimal values of the policy instruments and then design multilateral piecemeal policy reforms that unambiguously improve the welfare of the countries involved and reduce emissions. In chapter 3, we compare the effectiveness of two policy instruments in reducing pollution: subsidies tied to R&D and tariffs as trade barriers. Our paper shows that multilateral piecemeal policy reforms could be designed where 'carrots' in the form of tied subsidies to R&D would prove to be more beneficial than 'sticks' in the form of tariffs, in reducing the pollution and increasing the welfare for the two countries.

Sugar has a long history of being a contentious commodity important in international trade. Initially, the global framework for sugar trade was based on sugarcane, a grass grown in the tropics with trade being dictated largely by the British. In the Napoleonic wars, commercialization of the beet sugar industry arose on the continent in response to and a direct challenge to British control over the industry. The advent of the temperate sugar beet as an alternative to tropical cane in sugar production opened up a north-south trading dynamic that exists to this day. The United States, although a late entry into sugar production, is now at the forefront of the debate on trade liberalization for sugar, which can be produced more economically and out of greater necessity in a battery of nations, many with developing economies. Between 2003 and 2007, the United States ranked 5th in production, averaging 5% of the world total, and 2nd in total imports averaging 4%. Sugar as a percentage of the total value of the crop in the US is relatively minor at roughly 2.5% of the total putting it well below crops like corn and cotton, on par with tobacco and rice and greater than peanuts. Currently, the US sugar program operates on a price support system which regulates imports from other countries and provides a price floor for sugar. However, the US Sugar sector is under pressure for reform both by other nations with a comparative advantage in sugar production and from within due to an impending NAFTA commitment that allows for free trade with Mexico in sugar beginning in 2008. With large amounts of Mexican sugar entering the United States, the market price will likely fall below the price floor established by the USDA and there will be large amounts of forfeitures to the Commodity Credit Corporation. This would be in direct violation of the government mandate to keep the US sugar program operating at no government cost. In this thesis, we lay out a matrix of possible alternative policy scenarios and potential exogenous shocks which could impact the US sugar sector. Using the USDA ERS Sugar and Sweeteners model, we illustrate the outcome of this matrix of policies and exogenous shocks to the biggest players in the North American sugar sector. Policies used in the model draw inspiration from the recent reforms to the sugar sector in the European Union and recent commodity program reforms in the US for peanuts and tobacco. Finally, the implications of various policy reform options are discussed in light of their ambition and likelihood. / Master of Science

In 2002, the Indian government initiated a broad range of programmes that proposed market-based reforms for water. Inspired by World Bank’s policy ideas, the processes have often led to conflicts in India. The conventional wisdom on water sector policies in developing countries insists that international structures constrain and determine state behavior in initiating policy change. However, I argue that changes in urban water policies in India is, primarily, not a case of sole dominance of international financial institutions and imposition of external preferences; rather they also reflect the new global realities of transformed ‘state interests and institutions’ emerging in India. My argument is, while external engagement in water sector continues, the developments of the federal state in an globalised era of political and economic interchanges has led to new equations in the central-local relations. Within the new governance structures emerging in the decentralized context, the sub-national units emerge as significant influences on the speed, pace, and extent of enactment and implementation of global water policies in India. The adoption of national and State water policies, since 2002, and implementation of 24/7 water supply programme illustrates my argument. To support my argument I draw on the policy transfer literature to explain global policy initiatives in water in India. I develop a framework based on theories of policy transfer and political economy of policy reform for a critical and systematic analysis on global policy transfer in the context of World Bank programmes in India. Using case study evidence of transfer to a single sub-national-state in India, and drawing out comparisons on design and implementation of two water supply projects, I provide critical insights on implementation of global policy ideas within local settings, undertaken by the sub-national political and policy elite in India. My findings highlight a coincidence of interests between sub-national policy elite and global actors in introducing market mechanisms in water, and thereby link global neoliberal restructuring of water to transformed state power and interests at domestic levels. The ‘political economy of policy transfer’ in water therefore contributes to the theoretical and empirical literature on water policy-making in an era of increased global exchanges.

Background: Regular access to dental services is a well-known factor in the oral health and development of children.1 As such, the United States federal government mandates each state to include dental services for children enrolled in Medicaid through the age of 21. Despite this mandate, the utilization rate of dental services among Medicaid enrolled children has remained remarkably low.2 In July 2005, Virginia implemented a sweeping Medicaid policy reform titled “Smiles for Children,” specifically aiming to increase Medicaid pediatric dental utilization rates. The purpose of this study aims to assess the effect of this 2005 policy reform on the utilization of dental services by children enrolled in Medicaid. Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of the 2005 Virginia Smiles for Children Medicaid policy reform on the utilization of dental services among Medicaid enrolled children. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of children (pre-reform n=559,820, post-reform n=690,538) enrolled in Virginia Medicaid from 2002 through 2008. Descriptive statistics and repeated measures multivariate logistic regressions were used to determine the relationship between enrollment (Pre- and Post-policy reform) and the utilization of dental services (1+ Dental Visits vs. No Dental Visits). Results: Descriptive analysis of the cohort found that 34% of pre-reform children had a dental visit while 44% of post-reform children. The logistic regression models revealed that children in the post reform period were 1.39 as likely to have had a dental visit. Stratifying for enrollment length reveals that as the length of exposure time to the post-reform policy increases, the odds of having a dental visit also increase as compared to the pre-reform period: for 31-36 months of enrollment the odds increase 1.54 times. Conclusions: Medicaid policy reform can significantly improve access to dental services for children and can therefore play an important role in promoting public health.

The purpose of this thesis is to ethnographically explore the social life of health reform policy. This thesis focuses on the Ponce Center, a safety net HIV clinic in Atlanta. The thesis engages with a fragmented healthcare world, and the inhabitants of these worlds who are charged with rectifying the fragmentation and make care possible. They are, in technical language, service providers, whether they are policy-makers, patients, or political activists. In order to make the healthcare and policy worlds functional, the AIDS community in Atlanta perceive their first task as attempting to connect aspects of the fragmented healthcare assemblage that are otherwise disparate. The core theme of this thesis is articulations, translations, and piecing together aspects of everyday life particularly with regard to various ways of contending with fragmentation. This thesis explores the relationship between the affective, ideological, physical and structural dynamics of inequality, poverty, vulnerability, identity, and a sense of community and belonging. This thesis is about the policy processes. It does not focus on policy-making, but policy interpretation, implementation, and enactment in Atlanta, Georgia. The thesis tracks the appropriation and contestation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as a site of interaction between the experience of HIV as a pre-existing condition, inequitable access to treatment through health insurance, and larger social policy and poverty discourses. Finally, it considers the processes by which major policy reforms draw in disparate actors, who are embedded in complex networks of power and resource relations - assemblages - and inevitably play a role in reshaping society.

This study examines the process of state gender policy reform. It seeks to explain legal changes in gender issues in Venezuela across time. The study entails observations of state policy changes in gender issues during specific periods of the Punto Fijo era (1958-1998) characterized as those of democratic consolidation and deconsolidation, and during the transition towards a new type of democracy, the Chávez era (1999-2007). The policies considered are the ones addressing women’s equality at home and at work, reproductive rights, women’s economic rights and political participation. The analysis shows that gender policy reform by the state depends on the degree of opening of the institutions and on the combination of certain configurations of state institutions and elite interests. In addition, women’s groups’ capacity to influence state gender policy change depends on their organizational capacity as well as the institutional opportunities provided by changes in state structures, elite interests, and allies of the movement.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the causal relationship between the intensive farmers-government interaction in agricultural policy and the perverse and suboptimal outcomes in the view of taxpayers and consumers. This analysis focused on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the EU. Created with the signature of the Treaty of Rome in 1957 by the six founding countries (Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands and the Federal Republic of Germany), the CAP represented for many years the only common policy fully administered at the European level and the largest item in the EU budget. It is strongly rooted in the European integration project and it represents the cornerstone of EU agriculture. Although a model of policy integration at the supranational level, it has also been the source of much criticism about its cost and its perverse effects. Nevertheless, the latest reform of the CAP, approved in 2013, demonstrates that agricultural policy remains of utmost importance at the EU level. This research is based on two major assumptions: First, it was possible to maintain political support for the Common Agricultural Policy because it fulfilled social and economic purposes that justified its existence. Second, interest group activity is often perceived negatively and there is not much information on its positive role in the policy process. This thesis draws from the literature on European governance in order to analyze the role of interest groups in the policy process and their impact on policy outcomes. / Graduate / 0615 / 0503 / 0335 / elodie_texier@hotmail.com

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the causal relationship between the intensive farmers-government interaction in agricultural policy and the perverse and suboptimal outcomes in the view of taxpayers and consumers. This analysis focused on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the EU. Created with the signature of the Treaty of Rome in 1957 by the six founding countries (Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands and the Federal Republic of Germany), the CAP represented for many years the only common policy fully administered at the European level and the largest item in the EU budget. It is strongly rooted in the European integration project and it represents the cornerstone of EU agriculture. Although a model of policy integration at the supranational level, it has also been the source of much criticism about its cost and its perverse effects. Nevertheless, the latest reform of the CAP, approved in 2013, demonstrates that agricultural policy remains of utmost importance at the EU level. This research is based on two major assumptions: First, it was possible to maintain political support for the Common Agricultural Policy because it fulfilled social and economic purposes that justified its existence. Second, interest group activity is often perceived negatively and there is not much information on its positive role in the policy process. This thesis draws from the literature on European governance in order to analyze the role of interest groups in the policy process and their impact on policy outcomes. / Graduate / 0615 / 0503 / 0335 / elodie_texier@hotmail.com

National drug policy development is essential for effective drug policies, yet the process through which they emerge, the role of evidence and the theoretical basis for drug policy development are poorly understood. The present research adopted a cross-national analytical-descriptive approach to examine drug policy development between 1994 and 2006 in two nations: Portugal and Australia. Through contrasting atypical reforms - namely decriminalisation in Portugal and the Illicit Drug Diversion Initiative (IDDI) in Australia – with the preceding periods of typical reform, it provides a detailed examination of how atypical reforms are proposed, negotiated and adopted. Moreover, it critically analyses the application of three public policy theories – Multiple Streams, Advocacy Coalition and Punctuated Equilibrium – to identify common drivers and processes underpinning the developments. / Through a primarily qualitative approach involving interviews with 42 expert policy makers, supplemented with secondary sources and publicly available evaluations, this research demonstrates that the major drivers of atypical reform are policy advocates and their ability to convert opportunities into pragmatic responses. In Portugal policy entrepreneurs utilised the emergence of a problem opportunity, typified by a public health crisis in Casal Ventoso, to form an alliance between experts and politicians and adopt a paradigmatic change: decriminalisation. Policy entrepreneurs in Australia used the emergence of a highly politicised opportunity to convert what was initially a doctrinal solution of “zero tolerance” into a more humane response: drug diversion. / The research reveals that the process of policy formulation has critical impacts upon the mechanism, implementation and potential outcomes of reform, most notably whether there is evidence-based policy or policy-based evidence. It concludes by identifying practical and theoretical implications for more effective drug policy development, including the need for greater application of the theory of Punctuated Equilibrium. The current research asserts that policy makers must have realistic expectations over the role of evidence in policy making, but that the likelihood of pragmatic reform may be enhanced through expanding attention from “what works” to include alternative tools of persuasion. It further recommends that greater attention to the latter may increase the likelihood of effective reform. Due to the formation of an alliance between politicians and experts the Portuguese policy making process facilitated a more pragmatic reform. However, a paradigmatic change – and hence the potential for effective drug policy – would not have been possible without advocacy for a new vision of the drug user as a citizen.