This semester, students graduating from our Master of Public Administration program are working with faculty member Dr. Casey Fleming to complete the program’s capstone project.

This project investigates the complex social and economic conditions driving some of the growing problems around housing affordability in many urban and suburban areas. Focusing on two North Carolina urban centers – Wake County/Raleigh and Cumberland County/Fayetteville – students are gathering primary and secondary data to produce a thick description of the current state of housing affordability; to identify and compare complementary and competing policy solutions that can increase the stock of and access to affordable housing for low- and moderate-income households; and to make evidence-based recommendations that take into consideration issues of equity, feasibility, and political acceptability.

Students presented and defended their projects for faculty and others on April 29.

“Blasting the critics of surging migrant detentions, President Joe Biden claimed Monday that it was unfair to attack his administration over borders that former President James K. Polk was responsible for creating. “It’s absurd, we just got here, and now we are being blamed for a lack of transparency around migrant detention even though we obviously inherited this border from Polk,” said Biden, who attacked his critics for ignoring the clear fact that border crossings started 172 years before he took office. “We have a delicate situation here, and we inherited a real mess from the incompetent Polk administration. They started this problem by pushing the border south to the Rio Grande. If you want to blame someone go talk to Winfield Scott and James Buchanan.

“…Biden was also dismissing criticism over the minimum wage fight by pointing to inherent flaws of representative democracy he inherited from the 509 B.C. Roman Assembly.”

From https://politics.theonion.com/biden-claims-it-s-unfair-to-attack-administration-over-1846528578

Dr. Baumgartner published a chapter that provides a comprehensive review of the research on how exposure to political humor affects political engagement. The chapter, titled “Political Humor,” was published in Thomas Ford and Madelijn Strick, eds., The Social Psychology of Humor (New York: Routledge, 2021, pp. 20-38).

Hugh M. Lee, “The False Claims Act and COVID-19: A Potential Avenue for Relief for Nursing Home-Acquired Infection and Injury?” 361 Elder Law Advisory 1 (April 2021).

This article is a follow up to one Prof. Lee did last year on state common law immunity from claims for COVID-19 infection and a subsequent presentation he did to the Alabama Bar in which he calls into question the governor’s use of authority under Alabama’s Public Health Emergency Act to grant immunity.

The article essentially addresses whether the Federal False Claims Act might provide a possible cause of action against nursing homes for COVID-19 infection and injury. Nursing homes have been granted broad immunity in most states from common negligence and malpractice claims under public health emergency statutes and state executive orders related to COVID. So the question many have been asking is whether these nursing homes, almost all of which receive federal funding, might be liable for failing to comply with rules and regulations related to Medicare and Medicaid under the False Claims Act.

Daniel Xu presented his recent research results on rural health policy and chaired two panels on health policy and public health at Midwest Political Science Association Conference, April 14-18, 2021. His research presentation titled “Rural Health Policy: Views from Service Providers and Program Administrators” surveyed the physicians in North Carolina and administrators of state rural health programs across the country on their views on several aspects of rural health and rural health services, including rural health challenges, obstacles to the access to rural health services, effectiveness of current rural health programs, and policy initiatives to improve rural access to care. His study identified key obstacles to rural health and rural health services, but also found that views diverged significantly on obstacles to rural health services and effectiveness of policy initiatives but not as much as on the effectiveness on the existing rural health policies and programs. For future rural health policies and programs to be more effective, policymakers and program administrators should take into consideration these obstacles as well as these divergent views.

“April 29 marks President Joe Biden’s 100th day in office, a milestone that is traditionally used to evaluate whether a president is keeping or deviating from their campaign promises. The Onion evaluates whether Biden kept his campaign promises.”

Stimulus Checks
Promise Kept: Americans received all $1,400 they were always promised.

Create A Cabinet That “Looks Like America”
Promise Broken: Not one cabinet member is shaped like Illinois.

Immigration
Working On It: Biden has completed nearly all the paperwork to become a U.S. citizen.

Kill Or Capture Osama bin Laden
Promise Kept: When making a checklist, it’s good to include something already in the bank.

Police Oversight Commission
Promise Broken: Some promises are made to be broken.

Stop Border Wall Construction
Promise Kept: Biden diverted all border wall materials into building much-needed border fencing.

To Be There
Promise Broken: The auditorium was packed for the dance recital, but Biden’s seat was empty.

Not Being Donald Trump
Promise Kept: His most popular campaign promise, pundits are debating whether this accomplishment alone can carry him through to a second term.

Remaining Alive
Working On It: Some close calls resulted in Kamala Harris being president for an afternoon here and there.

From https://www.theonion.com/biden-s-first-100-days-did-he-keep-his-campaign-promis-1846775428.

Congratulations all – we did it – made it through another semester. This is, of course, especially impressive, given the Covid restrictions (virtual learning, etc.).

Good luck to all during final exams… almost there! And we can all look forward to normal (face-to-face) classes in the fall!

Congratulations to Jacon Klug, who made his Senior Honors Project Presentation, “Effects of Chinese Foreign Direct Investment in Developing Countries,” on April 22, 2021.

Abstract: “As China continues to grow as a global power, its wealth and influence has expanded into developing countries through Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). These investments have been throughout developing countries in primary sectors and infrastructure such as the Belts and Road Initiative, spreading throughout the Middle East and Africa. Because of the question of stability in developing countries, civil conflicts can become volatile for a developing country and can be exacerbated with the presence of foreign investments. With this research, I hope to understand the effects Chinese intervention has on developing countries as it relates to civil conflicts. Because of China’s foreign policy of non-interference, history of avoiding acknowledgment of human rights violations, and noncompliance in international politics, I theorized that Chinese FDI in a developing country raises the probability of armed conflict occurrence and intensity in the target country. To test this, data were collected on foreign direct investments given to developing countries by major powers such as the United States, United Kingdom, France, and China to determine if Chinese investments are more volatile to developing countries compared to its western counterparts.”

Review of Dr. Kassab’s latest book (Corruption in the Americas, ed. by Jonathan D. Rosen and Hanna S. Kassab. Lexington Books, 2020), in Choice:

“This deceptively brief collection provides an overview of the impact of corruption in Latin America with essays on six different countries. After an introduction and a “conceptual review,” individual chapters consider the issue in Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil. Each chapter addresses the question from a different perspective. The introduction and first chapter consider public perception and review useful concepts for approaching the issue. The chapter on Mexico also centers survey data to examine links between corruption, weak institutions, and organized crime. The chapter on Guatemala addresses the issue with a narrative focused on the rise and fall of the International Commission against Impunity. That on Colombia has a similar structure, though it is less centered on a single institution, reflecting the fractured nature of political conflict and non-state actors involved. The examination of Peru, “A Tsunami of Scandals,” lays out that dizzying national history, followed by a chapter on Bolivia shaped by the author’s experience. The chapter on Brazil eschews discussion of the Odebrecht scandal and the Lava Jato investigation to examine questions of organized crime and the state. Without providing a synthetic overview, the collection demonstrates the complexity of studying and understanding corruption.

“Summing Up: Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty.”

Dr. Hannah Kassab, our newest faculty member, was nominated by two of his students for the ECU Honored Instructor Award. Congratulations – nice job Dr. Kassab!