Author of Deportation Nation: Outsiders in American History argues that, since passage of harsh new deportation laws in 1996, the US has deported millions of non-citizens back to their countries of origin. Many are undocumented, but many others are long-term legal residents with US families. Once deportees have been expelled to places like Guatemala and El Salvador, many face severe isolation, persecution, and even death. Many may never be able to return. Kanstroom looks at the effects of deportation on individuals, families, US communities, and the countries that must process and repatriate deportees. Concludes that the US deportation system remains an anachronistic, ad hoc, legally dubious affair, and offers proposals for a more humane and rational system.

(DEPORTATION LAW: U.S.)

Lost in the Tea Party rhetoric is the fact that the federal government plays a central role in making our society function, and it always has. Explores the many ways government programs have improved the quality of life in America, covering education, communication, transportation, the arts and culture, housing, finance, and public health. Looks at how these programs originated and changed, and explains why many of them are important to preserve.

(QUALITY OF LIFE AND GOVERNMENT * GOVERNMENT * BIG GOVERNMENT DEFENDED)

The Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution requires that government respect he right of citizens to be “secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.” It is more important than ever, in an era of electronic surveillance, racial profiling, data-mining, airport body scans, drug testing, and aggressive police patrolling. “Privacy is under assault as never before—and we’re simply getting used to it. But the trend is threatening the pillars of democracy.” Today’s surveillance is of special concern for minorities, dissenters, and unorthodox thinkers.

(FOURTH AMENDMENT * SURVEILLANCE)

The Constitution should be treated as a badly flawed document deserving revision. Levinson explores the original assumptions underlying our institutions and shows that its fundamental procedures of governance – congressional bicameralism and the selection of the President by the Electoral College – contribute to the dysfunction of today’s American politics. The U.S. Constitution doesn’t uniquely exemplify the American constitutional tradition; the 50 state constitutions, often interestingly different – and perhaps better, have been updated by frequent amendments or by complete replacement by state constitutional conventions. Basic law often reaches a point where it becomes obsolete. The US Constitution merits its own updating. [Also see The Living Constitution by David A. Strauss (Oxford UP, May 2010, 144p), on how the US Constitution can sensibly evolve, The Constitution in 2020 edited by Jack Balkin and Reva Siegel (Oxford UP, June 2009), A More Perfect Constitution: 23 Proposals by Larry J. Sabato (Walker & Co, 2007), and A Bill of Rights for 21st Century America by Joseph F. Coates (Kanawha Institute, 2007).]

(CONSTITUTION UPDATING: U.S * GOVERNMENT)

Citizens around the world have become distrustful of politicians, skeptical about democratic institutions, and disillusioned about the capacity of democratic politics to resolve pressing social concerns. To cultivate a return to an engaged “politics of optimism,” Flinders reminds that democratic politics deliver far more than most members of the public seem to acknowledge and understand. Disappointment may be caused by high demands, failure to acknowledge the essence of democratic engagement, and ignorance of the complexities of governing in the 21st century. Thus we need to reject arguments in favor of more authoritarian, populist, or technocratic forms of governing.

(DEMOCRACY DEFENDED * GOVERNMENT)

Assesses the strength of the national legislature of every country in the world with a population of at least a half-million people. Looks at 1) the legislature's sway over the executive, 2) its institutional autonomy, 3) its authority in specific areas and 4) its institutional capacity. Data were gathered by means of a vast international survey of experts, extensive study of secondary sources and analysis of constitutions and other relevant documents. Individual country chapters provide answers to 32 survey questions, supplemented by expert commentary and relevant excerpts from constitutions.

(GOVERNMENT * LEGISLATURES: GLOBAL SURVEY)

Environment, health, and transport policies often reduce mortality risks substantially. But it is necessary to value such risk changes in monetary terms, in order to make comparative cost-benefit analyses. The idea of associating a monetary value with human life is challenging and can seem insensitive or harsh. Yet policy makers are regularly devising policies and regulations that affect people’s risk of death and that seek to protect lives in society; they require methodologies for comparing the costs of reducing risks with the expected benefits in terms of lives saved. Presents a major meta-analysis of “value of a statistical life” (VSL) estimates derived from surveys where people around the world have been asked about their willingness to pay for small reduction in mortality risks, and explains differences in the estimates across countries.

(HUMAN LIFE VALUATION * MORTALITY RISK VALUATION * GOVERNMENT * HEALTH)

The increasingly integrated nature of the global economy and the importance of multinational enterprises raises large and complex questions about transfer pricing. Business, tax advisers and tax administrations alike see transfer pricing as one of their biggest risks. Business fears double taxation when adjustments to their taxable profits have to be made following a price transfer inquiry. Tax administrators are concerned that multinational enterprises can choose how they allocate their global profits by the way they organize their affairs, and as a result they can allocate profits to low-tax jurisdictions without moving underlying economic activity. Addresses the practical administration of transfer pricing programs by tax administrations, focuses on experiences of a number of countries, and discusses how management of transfer pricing programs can be optimized. 

(TAXATION * BUSINESS * WORLD ECONOMY * GOVERNMENT * TRANSFER PRICING)

OECD countries are investing significant resources in regulatory policies and reforms. At the same time, governments are under increasing pressure to explain such reforms and their benefits to the public. Perception surveys are an increasingly integral component of a business- and citizen-centered approach to regulatory reform, as a means to assist governments with better results in an open, democratic system. In non-technical language, the guide clearly explains challenges in the design and use of business and citizen perception surveys – and ways to overcome them, overviews the ways OECD countries use perception surveys in the regulatory policy cycle, and identifies potential pitfalls in survey design.

(REGULATORY PERFORMANCE MEASURES * REGULATION * GOVERNMENT)

Sub-national governments in OECD countries carry out more than two-thirds of total investment, and have a key role in executing national stimulus packages during the global crisis. The effectiveness of recovery strategies based on public investment depends largely on the arrangements between levels of government to design and implement the investment mix. Highlights good practices in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, and the US.

(PUBLIC INVESTMENT * GOVERNANCE)