Students Publish 2011 Chicago Policy Review Issue

The University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy Studies released its 2011 issue of the Chicago Policy Review, its annual student-edited policy journal. The publication showcases the diverse policy perspectives of students and alumni at Chicago Harris and explores a broad range of policy issues using both qualitative and quantitative assessments.

This year’s issue features a collection of articles that include:

• “Local Effects of Soda Taxes in Chicago”
Looking at historical food prices, Andrew Litten, MPP’11, uses econometric analyses to determine what consequences, if any, a $0.01 per ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages would be on consumption, revenue, and welfare in the Chicago area.

• “Found in the USA"
In light of the debate over Arizona’s Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act, Juan Rocha, an assistant public defender from Tuscon, Arizona, looks to see if this sweeping anti-illegal immigration bill—signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer in April 2010—legally sanctions racial profiling in the state.

• “The Tea Party Effect: Analyzing the Impact of the Tea Party Movement of the 2010 Midterm Elections”
Second-year MPP student Stan Oklobdzija at the University of Southern California’s School of Policy, Planning, and Development examines the entry of the Tea Party movement into American political office during the 2010 midterm election through logistic regression analysis and controlled factors such as incumbency and the partisan tilt of the electorate.

• “The Battle for Clean Air: Assessing the Impact of a State-Wide Smoking Ban on Bar Revenues in Michigan”
Though previous studies found that Clean Indoor Air (CIA) policies have no substantial impacts on restaurant and bar employment rates or market outcomes, Nathan Calverley, MPP’11, analyzes the effect of the implementation of a CIA policy specifically for bar revenues in Michigan.

• “Transatlantic Burden Sharing and Out of Area Operations: Afghanistan in the Context of Historic Trends”
Major Jordan Becker, a US Army officer and second-year at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, looks at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and its involvement in Afghanistan, and whether that involvement and the disputes between members will threaten the continued existence of the intergovernmental organization.

For additional articles and journal news, visit the Chicago Policy Review.