This article examines public attitudes about using for‐profit firms or nonprofit organizations to deliver public services in Michigan. Using survey data, it shows how the public reacts to the privatization of various state and local government services. It then considers some dimensions of attitudes toward privatization. Finally, it estimates models that predict support for privatization based upon a range of characteristics of respondents to our survey.

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This research examines whether business incubators produce a differential effect on the growth of firms. Given that there is no direct estimate for the counterfactual (simultaneously measuring the economic growth of a firm outside and inside of an incubator), the authors use a propensity score matching technique to control for the factors that are related to both firm growth and the probability that an incubator manager would accept that firm for incubation. The analysis indicates that incubators have a significant positive impact on firm job creation, and this impact is not reduced if a matched comparison group is used. Furthermore, this study finds that incubated firms receive five times as many business services (legal, financial, marketing, etc.) as their nonincubated cohort. This may account for the networking effect found in previous studies.

This study explores how the method of delivery for early intervention services impacts perceptions of empowerment among families. Analysis of data collected from 270 randomly sampled families participating in the State of Michigan's Early On (Part H of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) program suggests two paths by which empowerment is effected. Along one path, implementation of program components via a family-centered framework appears to help increase empowerment. An alternative path models how family-centered delivery may help to build a family's support network. This is related to reduced stress and increased empowerment. Findings support programs emphasizing family-centered methods of service delivery.

By truncating service, term limits create massive turnover in some state legislatures where they exist, bringing flocks of newcomers into office. With less time to get to know each other and to develop expertise and influence, how do legislators know who to consult and whose advice to rely on? We explore this and other questions about three relationships (influence, friendship, and policy consultation) with a longitudinal study of the Michigan House of Representatives, a highly professionalized body with stringent limits on legislative terms. We found that term limits lead to a more pronounced regional component of friendship, greater concentration of influence among caucus leaders, consulting networks with more prominent hubs that could control the flow of information, and a decline in relationships across party lines. We argue that these effects of term limits bode poorly for bipartisan negotiation and consensus-building among legislators representing diverse constituencies.Relationships among state legislators can have important policy and political effects. For example, friendship can be a precursor to influence on policy issues (Francis 1962), and it can reduce partisan conflict (Patterson 1959). Term limits may change these relationships by dramatically increasing turnover and truncating the time legislators spend serving together. Although these changes could parallel those resulting from electoral landslides (Caldeira, Clark, and Patterson 1993), turnover induced by term limits differs from that resulting from large electoral shifts. Term limits turnover is predictable, repetitive, and systematically truncates seniority for all-not just many-legislators. We explore the impact of term limits on three types of