The innovation of environmental policies and their subsequent diffusion throughout the American states has been the subject of significant academic attention. Using an event history analysis, a traditional geographic model for policy diffusion is tested against a model where states learn from peer groups, defined by political culture. There is evidence for state learning within peer groups but less support for diffusion across state borders. Policy characteristics, environmental conditions, economic resources, and political constraints and opportunities are tested as drivers of differences in policy adoption. More than any other factor, politics and political culture explains the adoption of energy and climate-change policies. These results also suggest that restricted models that test geographical mechanisms of policy diffusion likely omit important characteristics that are correlated across states, leading to biased findings regarding the geographical state diffusion models in the extant literature.

This pilot study compares the professional values of public administration students and alumni with a similar group of social workers, business administrators, and lawyers. It reflects the belief that professional values and value patterns strongly influence the way that professionals define and resolve problems. The authors hypothesized that value differences would be found among the four groups surveyed and that the public administrators would hold a distinctive value pattern. They constructed a questionnaire containing value scales plus a small number of demographic items which were administered to the members of the four groups. A factor analysis of the Professional Value Scale was conducted. Examination of this analysis revealed significant differences between members of the four groups in their value preferences. On the basis of their study, the authors conclude that the value conflicts and ambiguities found suggest significant underlying differences in the decision premises of the professional groups surveyed.

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This article examines the effects of symbolic representation and strict disciplinary policy on how students and their parents perceive school discipline. We use data from the 2011-2012 New York City School Survey, combined with data on disciplinary actions from the Office of Civil Rights. Our results suggest that strict disciplinary actions send negative messages to students and their parents about school discipline. We find that as more strict disciplinary actions are administered within a school, students are less likely to perceive discipline as fair or legitimate. The negative effects of disciplinary actions, however, tend to be smaller in schools for which there is a closer racial match between students and teachers and, consequently, a greater likelihood of symbolic representation. We also find that passive representation influences parents' attitudes toward school discipline in their children's schools.