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State budgeting processes and decision making have been the subject of numerous research efforts. Such studies have been based upon the premise that improved budget processes will improve budget decisions and resource allocations. Among the specific topics of such studies have been the nature and focus of state budgetary processes and innovations as well as inquiries into the training and background of state budgeting personnel. This study focused on the perceived contributions of budget theory, processes and concepts by state budget practitioners. The inquiry also analyzed the differences between state budget directors and their staffs regarding such "perceived" contributions. The results indicate a high degree on similarity of perceived values of the various budget theories, processes and concepts by both groups. Budget process and evaluation concepts were identified as valued concepts which enhanced their budget preparation and execution skills. Both groups indicated a high value for revenue and expenditure forecasting. Such high values probably result, in part, from the fiscal stress encountered by state governments over the past decade. Overall, the study further clarifies which budgeting concepts and processes are most highly valued by state budget practitioners. In addition, the results provide insights for the design of budgeting and financial management courses in public administration and professional development programs.

The 1990s witnessed unprecedented economic growth and state revenue growth. Many states used this strong growth to improve their financial position by building their “rainy day” funds and/or to cut taxes. This paper presents a case study of a state which experienced strong economic and revenue growth and was able to build its Budget Reserve Trust Fund, while also cutting taxes. This Case Study focuses on a Governor who understood that strong economic and revenue growth was not sustainable and that his state needed to ensure an elastic General Fund revenue base as protection against an economic downturn, thus proposing a revenue reform package that would increase taxes and enhance the adequacy of the state’s General Fund. This paper presents a historical development of the revenue reform package from the time it was submitted as part of the state budget through the end of the legislative session. This paper provides a series of “lessons learned” that can be helpful to public policy makers in other jurisdictions.

In this article we consider how cultural resources rooted in religion help to constitute and animate people working in industrialized societies across both religious and nonreligious domains. We argue that redemptive self-narratives figure prominently in the symbolic constructions people attach to their experiences across the many domains of human experience; such redemptive narratives not only can shape their identities and sense of life purpose, they inform their practices and choices and animate their capacity for action. To consider how redemptive self-narratives can provide a basis for agency in organizations, we analyze and compare the career narratives of a retired Episcopal Bishop and a celebrated CEO.

This chapter provides an alternative interpretation of the emergence of the “Ramsey-Cass-Koopmans” growth model, a framework which, alongside the overlapping generation model, is the dominant approach in today’s macroeconomics. By focusing on the role Paul Samuelson played through the works he developed in the turnpike literature, the author’s goal is to provide a more accurate history of growth theory of the 1940–1960s, one which started before Solow (1956) but never had him as a central reference. Inspired by John von Neumann’s famous 1945 article, Samuelson wrote his first turnpike paper by trying to conjecture an alternative optimal growth path (Samuelson, 1949 [1966]). In the 1960s, after reformulating the intertemporal utility model presented in Ramsey (1928), Samuelson began to propound it as a representative agent model. Through Samuelson’s interactions with colleagues and PhD students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and given his standing in the profession, he encouraged a broader use of that device in macroeconomics, particularly, in growth theory. With the publication of Samuelson (1965), Tjalling Koopmans and Lionel McKenzie rewrote their own articles in order to account for the new approach. This work complements a recently written account on growth theory by Assaf and Duarte (2018).

This study examines the relationship between spectator motivation and sports consumption behaviours in the context of an adaptive sport. Respondents were spectators from five matches held in the Midwest United States involving registered United States Quad Rugby Association teams. The Motivation Scale for Sport Consumption (MSSC; Trail & James, 2001) was adapted to measure spectator motivation and predict repatronage intentions and online media consumption among wheelchair rugby spectators. Results indicated that two spectator motivation factors, physical skill and knowledge, were related to repatronage intentions. In addition, knowledge and vicarious achievement were found to be related to online media consumption.

In this chapter we perform a Monte Carlo simulation study of the errors-in-variables model examined in Ramsey, Gallegati, Gallegati, and Semmler (2010) by using a wavelet multiresolution approximation approach. Differently from previous studies applying wavelets to errors-in-variables problem, we use a sequence of multiresolution approximations of the variable measured with error ranging from finer to coarser scales. Our results indicate that multiscale approximations to the variable observed with error based on the coarser scales provide an unbiased asymptotically efficient estimator that also possess good finite sample properties.

This paper seeks to explain the jury’s verdict of acquittal in the bizarre case of eccentric millionaire Robert Durst, who was charged with the murder of Morris Black after Black’s body parts were found floating in Galveston Bay off the coast of Texas. Though an analysis of a portion of the defense’ closing argument, this paper examines the Durst defense team’s strategy of directing the jury’s attention to a single event – the confrontation that resulted in Black’s death – in order to effect a shift in focus that allowed them to use “reasonable doubt” to leverage their argument that the prosecution had not met its burden of proof. This paper demonstrates how this strategy acted to construct the “unreasonable doubt” that resulted in the jury’s verdict.

GLASGOW was later by about one hundred and thirty years than some of the Scotch towns in establishing a printing press. Three hundred years ago, though Glasgow contained a University with men of great literary activity, including amongst others Zachary Boyd, there does not appear to have been sufficient printing work to induce anyone to establish a printing press. St. Andrews and Aberdeen were both notable for the books they produced, before Glasgow even attempted any printing.