Middle Asia Digs Suggest a New View of the Dawn of Civilization

For decades, school children have learned that human civilization emerged about 5000 years ago along the Euphrates River in Mesopotamia, along the Nile, and along the Indus River in South Asia. But archaeologists working in a broad arc from the Russian steppes through Iran and onto the Arabian Peninsula are finding evidence that a complex network of cities may have thrived across the region in roughly the same era, suggesting a dramatic new view of the emergence of human civilization.

By AAAS,USA.

Misecellaneous Policy Resource.

Smart Growth " In the past few years, widespread frustration with sprawling development patterns has precipitated an explosion in innovative thinking and action across the United States. This new thinking ? generally labeled as ?smart growth? ? contends that the shape and quality of metropolitan growth in America are no longer desirable or sustainable. It argues that metropolitan areas could grow in radically different ways if major government policies on land use, infrastructure and taxation were overhauled. This essay discusses the current state of smart growth and metropolitan thinking in the United States. "Smart Growth: The Future of the American Metropolis?" by Bruce Katz is published by the Centre for the Analysis of Social Exclusion

By Centre for the Analysis of Social Exclusion, US.

Miscellaneous Policy Resource.

Politics and Public Policy" A rich array of institutional diversity makes the United States an excellent place to study the relationship between political institutions and public policy outcomes. Timothy Besley and Anne Case review existing empirical evidence on the relationship between institutional rules, political representation and policy outcomes. They aim to place the literature into a broader context of theoretical and empirical work in the field of political economy. "Political Institutions and Policy Choices: Evidence from the United States" also develops a parallel empirical analysis that updates studies in the literature and re-examines some of the claims made, in a setting unified both in terms of policy outcomes and the period under study. Published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

By Institute for Fiscal Studies, US.

Miscellaneous Policy Resource.

Trust in Government" The burst of support for the federal government that followed September 11 is over. In the aftermath of that tragedy, the long-term decline in Americans? trust of their government was sharply reversed. Measures of trust turned dramatically upward. Indicators of approval of political leaders and of government performance drove the spike in trust. But eight months later, some measures have fallen close to their pre-9/11 levels, and the long-term trends again prevail. "Opportunity Lost: The Rise and Fall of Trust and Confidence in Government After September 11" by G. Calvin Mackenzie and Judith M. Labiner is published by the Brookings Institution.

By Brookings Institution , US.

Miscellaneous Policy Resource.