An analysis of the revenue policy -making process of the Texas Legislature

The purpose of this dissertation was to develop a conceptual framework which can be used to account for policy decisions made by the House Ways and Means Committee (HW&MC) of the Texas House of Representatives. This analysis will examine the actions of the committee over a ten-year period with the goal of explaining and predicting the success of failure of certain efforts to raise revenue.^ The basis framework for modelling the revenue decision-making process includes three major components--the decision alternatives, the external factors and two competing contingency theories. The decision alternatives encompass the particular options available to increase tax revenue. The options were classified as non-innovative or innovative. The non-innovative options included the sales, franchise, property and severance taxes. The innovative options were principally the personal and corporate income taxes.^ The external factors included political and economic constraints that affected the actions of the HW&MC. Several key political constraints on committee decision-making were addressed--including public attitudes, interest groups, political party strength and tradition and precedents. The economic constraints that affected revenue decisions included court mandates, federal mandates and the fiscal condition of the nation and the state.^ The third component of the revenue decision-making framework included two alternative contingency theories. The first alternative theory postulated that the committee structure, including the individual member roles and the overall committee style, resulted in distinctive revenue decisions. This theory will be favored if evidence points to the committee acting autonomously with less concern for the policies of the Speaker of the House. The Speaker assignment theory, postulated that the assignment of committee members shaped or changed the course of committee decision-making. This theory will be favored if there was evidence that the committee was strictly a vehicle for the Speaker to institute his preferred tax policies.^ The ultimate goal of this analysis is to develop an explanation for legislative decision-making about tax policy. This explanation will be based on the linkages across various tax options, political and economic constraints, member roles and committee style and the patterns of committee assignment. ^

Nitrogen isotopic and opal record of sediments in the Gulf of California

High-resolution records of the nitrogen isotopic composition of organic matter (d15Norg), opal content, and opal accumulation rates from the central Gulf of California reveal large and abrupt variations during deglaciation and gradual Holocene changes coincident with climatic changes recorded in the North Atlantic. Homogenous sediments with relatively low d15Norg values and low opal content were deposited at the end of the last glacial period, during the Younger-Dryas event, and during the middle to late Holocene. In contrast, laminated sediments deposited in the two deglacial stages are characterized by very high d15Norg values (>14 per mil) and opal accumulation rates (29-41 mg/cm**2/yr). Abrupt shifts in d15Norg were driven by widespread changes in the extent of suboxic subsurface waters supporting denitrification and were amplified in the central gulf record due to variations in upwelling, vertical mixing, and/or the latitudinal position of the Intertropical Convergence Zone.

Fauna composition of benthos communities in bottom sediments from the edge and the central part of the shelf in the California upwelling zone

Two shelf communities from the central part off the California Peninsula are described. The community of Amphiodia urtica - Nephtys ferruginea develops in the central part of the shelf within the depth range 95-105 m. The community of Nephtys ferruginea - Amphiura acrystata develops on the shelf edge at depth 110 m. Biomasses of both communities are very low (about 10 g/m**2). Species richness of the shelf community is high; more than 60 species occur in samples (43-51 species per a community). Various echinoderms and some other groups are abundant on the Californian shelf; these groups are absent in shelf areas of Peruvian and Benguela upwellings. Species structures of the communities were analyzed; the communities were shown to consist of coexisting, but not interacting guilds; this indicates that the communities are undersaturated with individuals. At the same time values of ABC-indices indicate that the communities are stable. We suggest that in this case adaptation to unfavorable but stable environment is observed (selection of species-stressolarents). An explanation seems to lie in the penetrating type of the upwelling in the Californian upwelling zone. Low biomass values seem to result from mass development of necto-benthic carnivorous crustaceans-galateids Pleuroncodes planiceps.

Sea surface reconstruction for sediments of the California continental margin

Organic matter in sediment samples from three ODP sites (Ocean Drilling Program Leg 167) that form a south-north transect was investigated to reconstruct the paleoclimatic and oceanographic conditions on the California continental margin during the last 160 kyr. Alkenone-derived paleosea surface temperatures (SST) are 3 to 6°C colder in glacial stages and reveal a clear relationship with global climate changes; the differences are greater in the north. Latitudinal SST comparison exhibits water mixing of the colder California Current with warmer waters from the south, particularly in the southern central California borderland area. Organic matter accumulation on the California continental margin indicates an interplay between climatic and atmospheric glacial-interglacial variations and spatially and temporally changing nutrient availability along the California coastline. Climatic and atmospheric dependent circulations apparently caused variations in the intensity of coastal upwelling along the southern central California margin and this suggests, due to the close connection of the California Current to the local wind patterns, that the California Current was weaker during glacial and stronger during interglacial periods.

Corg, CaCO3, bulk densities, accumulation rates and ages of ODP Leg 167 sites and three piston cores, California margin

Sediments from five Leg 167 drill sites and three piston cores were analyzed for Corg and CaCO3. Oxygen isotope stratigraphy on benthic foraminifers was used to assign age models to these sedimentary records. We find that the northern and central California margin is characterized by k.y.-scale events that can be found in both the CaCO3 and Corg time series. We show that the CaCO3 events are caused by changes in CaCO3 production by plankton, not by dissolution. We also show that these CaCO3 events occur in marine isotope Stages (MIS) 2, 3, and 4 during Dansgaard/Oeschger interstadials. They occur most strongly, however, on the MIS 5/4 glaciation and MIS 2/1 deglaciation. We believe that the link between the northeastern Pacific Ocean and North Atlantic is primarily transmitted by the atmosphere, not the ocean. Highest CaCO3 production and burial occurs when the surface ocean is somewhat cooler than the modern ocean, and the surface mixed layer is somewhat more stable.

El cooperativismo y la financiación agrícola en Baja California, México (1930-1950) : Una aproximación inicial

Para la teoría neoclásica convencional el funcionamiento de los mercados de crédito soporta dos dificultades básicas: la información imperfecta o asimétrica y la selección adversa del prestatario aunada al riesgo del no pago. En el otro extremo, más heterodoxo, el colectivismo, el capital social y la formación de redes informales y sociedades de crédito suelen reducir los costes de transacción ligados al problema de la financiación. Este tipo de organización facilita el desenvolvimiento del cooperativismo en la economía. En México, después de la Revolución y la conformación de un régimen político autoritario y vertical, el cooperativismo se constituyó en uno de los referentes de la organización campesina para conseguir crédito de la banca pública y privada. En el noroeste del país y la península de Baja California, la existencia de cooperativas pesqueras, ganaderas, agrícolas y de transporte significó un despunte de la actividad económica y uno de los canales del desarrollo de la región. El propósito del artículo es perfilar qué tipo de cooperativismo se articuló en el Distrito Norte de la península de Baja California y qué tipo de relación guardó con el movimiento cooperativista nacional entre 1930 y 1950

El cooperativismo y la financiación agrícola en Baja California, México (1930-1950) : Una aproximación inicial

Para la teoría neoclásica convencional el funcionamiento de los mercados de crédito soporta dos dificultades básicas: la información imperfecta o asimétrica y la selección adversa del prestatario aunada al riesgo del no pago. En el otro extremo, más heterodoxo, el colectivismo, el capital social y la formación de redes informales y sociedades de crédito suelen reducir los costes de transacción ligados al problema de la financiación. Este tipo de organización facilita el desenvolvimiento del cooperativismo en la economía. En México, después de la Revolución y la conformación de un régimen político autoritario y vertical, el cooperativismo se constituyó en uno de los referentes de la organización campesina para conseguir crédito de la banca pública y privada. En el noroeste del país y la península de Baja California, la existencia de cooperativas pesqueras, ganaderas, agrícolas y de transporte significó un despunte de la actividad económica y uno de los canales del desarrollo de la región. El propósito del artículo es perfilar qué tipo de cooperativismo se articuló en el Distrito Norte de la península de Baja California y qué tipo de relación guardó con el movimiento cooperativista nacional entre 1930 y 1950