John F. Brennan

• University of North Carolina Wilmington

In this research, we sought to better understand important trends and developments in the teaching of quantitative and research methods courses in graduate public affairs programs. We were specifically interested in the following areas related to the teaching of quantitative and research methods: the impact of new technologies on curriculum deliver...

Much prior research explores the relationship between nonprofit location and various community and market characteristics to determine whether citizen demand drives nonprofit supply. As a widely used “policy tool” of government, nonprofits are expected to be responsive to the needs of the communities they serve. However, results are mixed and it re...

In this research, we sought to better understand important trends and developments in the teaching of quantitative and research methods courses in graduate public affairs programs. We were specifically interested in the following areas related to the teaching of quantitative and research methods: the impact of new technologies on curriculum deliver...

We argue that philosophical pragmatism explicitly influenced the founding of American public administration. We analyze the case of The New Republic magazine to support our contention. The New Republic was founded in 1914 and edited by two pragmatists—Herbert Croly and Walter Lippmann—and put forth a pragmatic editorial stance that supported admini...

This paper reports on activities undertaken by the National Municipal League (NML) and the Public Administration Service (PAS) during the 1950’s and 1960’s to counter libelous and slanderous actions taken by grass roots activists in opposition to efforts to reform metropolitan governance across the United States. I utilize records from the NML arch...

The authors examine major aspects of the connection between social capital and economic development in U.S. counties. They test the conclusions of Putnam, who saw associations as a force for positive development, and Olson, who concluded the opposite. The authors find that Putnam organizations have a negative effect on income, while Olson organizat...

In this paper, I build on previous historical studies that have analyzed the lending activities of the Homeowners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC), a New Deal agency established in 1933 to mitigate the national mortgage foreclosure crisis caused by the economic fallout of the Great Depression. I investigate whether discriminatory lending practices took pla...

This study seeks to quantify the impact of the nonprofit sector on economic development by more clearly defining the diverse roles that nonprofits may play in development – instrumental, expressive, and connective. We begin by summarizing existing research on nonprofit organizations and economic development. Using secondary data, we test our model...

The 1990s were heralded as a comeback decade for America's central cities, but it is now clear that their experiences varied widely during this purported renaissance. In this article, we first examine the competitive position of central cities in the market for jobs by reviewing the current literature on cities and work. We then analyze correlation...

This article presents a theoretically based method for identifying the clusters of industries in which a region has a competitive advantage. The method combines cluster analysis with discriminant analysis, using variables derived from economic base theory and measures of productivity, to identify the industries in which a region has its greatest co...

We test the null hypothesis that municipalities defined as central cities by the US Bureau of the Census in 1990 are homogeneous-a hypothesis we reject. Rather, we find that US central cities consist of 2 distinct subsets of municipalities that are aggregated from 13 cluster groupings. The article has two purposes. The first is methodological. We d...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Cleveland State University, 2006. Includes bibliographical references (p. 301-402). Photocopy. s