Resources & Learning

More and more each year, the City Ethics website has been the go-to place for local government ethics information. First a blog, then a Model Ethics Code, and then a huge resource book. Thousands of pages of useful information. What more could anyone ask for? How about clearing away some of the deb…

In memory of Albert O.Hirschman, an important economist and political scientist who died last month, I want to apply some of the ideas from his most famous book, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty (1970), to local government ethics (back in 2009, I pulled out a few thought-provoking passages from his 1983 bo…

This second of two posts on Michael Sandel's new book, What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets (Farrar Straus, 2012), includes a few fascinating takes on different aspects of government ethics, including preferential treatment, municipal marketing, skyboxes, and the sensitive topic of ina…

Harvard professor Michael Sandel's new book What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets (Farrar Straus, 2012) has a lot to say about the effect of commercial, market values on American culture, including on American government. Sandel's book focuses on "the expansion of markets, and of market…

This post looks at the final three essays in Corruption and American Politics, an essay collection edited by Michael A. Genovese and Victoria A. Farrar-Meyers (Cambria, 2011). Pay to Play in the Municipal Bond Market In "Influence Peddling and Voter Suppression," Thomas A. Hollihan looks at the mun…

The fifth essay in Corruption and American Politics, an essay collection edited by Michael A. Genovese and Victoria A. Farrar-Meyers (Cambria, 2011), is by editor Michael Genovese, a professor at Loyola Marymount University. An essay on presidential corruption would not appear to have much relevanc…

The fourth essay in Corruption and American Politics, an essay collection edited by Michael A. Genovese and Victoria A. Farrar-Meyers (Cambria, 2011), is by Wayne S. Le Cheminant. The title of the essay – "Bending the Frame to Corrupt the Lenses" – provides a good picture of his fascinating approac…

The third essay in Corruption and American Politics, a collection edited by Michael A. Genovese and Victoria A. Farrar-Meyers (Cambria, 2011), is by John M. Parrish, a professor at Loyola Marymount University. The essay, which has the intriguing title "Benevolent Skulduggery," starts out by asking …

The second essay in Corruption and American Politics, a collection edited by Michael A. Genovese and Victoria A. Farrar-Meyers (Cambria, 2011), is by Mark E. Warren, a professor at the University of British Columbia. It asks the question, Is low trust in democratic institutions a problem of corrupt…

Corruption and American Politics, an essay collection edited by Michael A. Genovese and Victoria A. Farrar-Myers (Cambria, 2011), has some excellent essays, especially those that deal with institutional corruption. The only serious criticism I have of the book is its price: $30 in both paperback an…