Don't look now, it's in the e-mail!! Thanks for responding to my unabashed plea to get free advise and tie up your time while I enjoy reruns of Green Acres and play gin rummy on my PC! I'm sending my brain child as a separate package, but first must make clear: 1. this is a work in progress!! 2. some non-ascii letters got substituted with pirate signs or completely left out, like my nice BETA symbol. 3. there seem to be a few extra lines thrown in courtesy of the e-mail postmaster or something. Take them out and send them back to said master. 4. I do not have data for 1983 (the only year I'm currently missing between 1970 and 1986). Thus, some Tables have * where they should have values. Also, some ** mean the value is missing for the same reason. 5. Chapter Six refers to a diagram which can't be sent via ASCII. The text might make things clear enough. Besides, by Chapter Six--if anybody even gets there!--anything will look right!! Although I bill this as a dissertation on public policy using chaos theory AND evolutionary models, you will see that I deliberately blur the distinction and eventually use one half to inform the other half. Damn cleaver of me, if I must say so! Stan Chaos Theory and Evolutionary Models for Economic Development Public Policy Chapter One Research Proposal CHAPTER ABSTRACT: Moving toward the goal of enhancing research on subnational policy-adjustment behavior, this chapter introduces three models drawn from complexity and chaos theory--deterministic, equilibrium, and dissipative. The different assumptions of each model are discussed with reference to past research on states' public policy adjustment. The goal is to introduce the possibility of using orientations drawn from complexity and chaos theory to further clarify and explain subnational policy- adjustment behavior in economic development. The overall target of the present inquiry aims at showing that a different analytical approach to public policy analyses can produce results which have eluded past research. Specifically, within the overall framework of chaos theory and complexity, two approaches are relevant: (1) assessments from physics of log-linear "noise" and (2) models from biology concerning evolution within a system. These two orientations generate models which can be applied to the record of policy adjustment by states. By testing the fit of each model to subnational behavior, results can help highlight the dynamics which influence policy- adjustment rates in states. FAILURE OF ANALYSES No clear explanation exists concerning the adoption, use, and spread of state-level public policies (see Chapter Two). This shortfall is not due to inattention in the professional literature. In fact, several aspects of state policy-adjustment behavior have received considerable attention and generated a lively debate. However, more inquiry has produced less agreement and more inquiry. After over thirty years of serious attempts to explain possible relations between state-level characteristics and the public policy record, a clear explanatory model remains elusive. So the question remains: What factors explain state policy- adjustment rates? One familiar means of answering this question has been to relate state-specific socio-economic and/or political characteristics to policy preferences. This approach has a logical appeal to it. Differences between states, for instance in apportionment or gubernatorial authority, would suggest different policy goals and histories. Nevertheless, statistical analyses have failed to verify hypotheses drawn on such thought experiments. Noting this failure, what else remains? To answer this question, a new approach is needed to study subnational behavior. This approach starts with Jantsch (1980) who describes three systems--deterministic, equilibrium, and dissipative. A deterministic system is based on a Newtonian vision of cause-effect as found mostly in physics. Systems exhibiting deterministic characteristics are predictable, linear, and controllable. Small stimuli cause small outcomes, and large stimuli, large outcomes. Events are ahistoric; past experiences do not change the outcome of stimuli. Equilibrium systems, in contrast, recognize that perturbations can move the system away from stability at least temporarily. However, equilibrium systems have coping mechanisms to restore stability after a shock. Also, in an equilibrium system, "primary emphasis is placed on the relations among separate components of the systems under analysis. In this way, a system is defined as a set of elements which interact with each other and the environment" (Leifer, 1989; see Von Bertalanffy, 1975). Last, dissipative systems are most dissimilar to deterministic systems while equilibrium systems are intermediate. Dissipative systems are recognized in complexity and chaos theory as important examples of systems involving complicated yet deterministic interaction between agents. Dissipative systems are open to environmental influences and undergo real change and restructuring based on inherent stabilites. Unlike an equilibrium system, when a dissipative system is perturbed, changes within the system will create a new equilibrium which is different from previous points in time. (Equilibrium systems, by contrast, will show momentary disequilibrium before settling back into its previous equilibrium.) Toffler (1984), writing in the introduction to Prigogine's and Stengers' ORDER OUT OF CHAOS, offers the following overview of how a dissipative system on the edge of chaos undergoes change. He writes: In Prigoginian terms, all systems contain subsystems, which are continually "fluctuating". At times, a single fluctuation or a combination of them may become so powerful, as a result of positive feedback, that it shatters the preexisting organization. At this revolutionary moment--the authors call it a "singular moment" or a "bifurcation point"--it is inherently impossible to determine in advance which direction change will take: whether the system will disintegrate into "chaos" or leap to a new, more differentiated, higher level of "order" or organization, which they call a "dissipative structure". .... One of the key controversies surrounding this concept has to do with Prigogine's insistence that order and organization can actually arise "spontaneously" out of disorder and chaos through a process of "self-organization". (p. xv) To show the differences between the deterministic, equilibrium, and dissipative analyses, consider the research approaches which study the history of state-level public policy. A survey of the literature shows two tracks: deterministic and equilibrium. The deterministic track monitors state-specific characteristics in terms of socio-economic, structural, or enclave-group variables. The equilibrium approach recognizes diffusion and intra-state (regional) influences. A more detailed discussion of these two approaches as explanatory models for subnational policy-adjustment behavior is reserved for Chapter Two. For the moment, LET IT BE NOTED THAT AN EXTENSIVE SEARCH OF THE LITERATURE REVEALED NO EVIDENCE THAT AN ANALYTICAL APPROACH OF THE STUDY OF SUBNATIONAL POLICY HISTORIES HAS UTILIZED A COMPLEXITY OR CHAOS THEORY APPROACH IN GENERAL NOR THE DISSIPATIVE MODEL IN SPECIFIC. Perhaps one reason for the absence of the dissipative model is that either the deterministic model or equilibrium model is successful in capturing the dynamics of the system. In fact, neither model very convincingly explains state policy-adjustment performances. In considering deterministic analyses, internal state characteristics which may influence policy adjustment records include a variety of factors such as the governor's electoral margin of victory, inter-party competitiveness, party turnover, length of a governor's mandate, and the point in the election cycle (see, as a sample, Lowi, 1963; Schlesinger, 1966; Hofferbert, 1964, 1966; and Walker, 1969). However, empirical work has failed to find convincing support for the supposed cause-effect relationship of the deterministic model. A special case of the deterministic model is Olson's (1982) attention to the outcome of special-interest groups. Here again no consensus has been reached on the "institutional sclerosis" thesis despite its frequent evaluation in the recent literature (see and note bibliographies in Gray and Lowery, 1988; Brace, 1991; Hendrick and Garand, 1991; Garand, 1992; and Brierly and Feiock, 1993). Further, Grady (1987) reported finding little evidence to support linkage of policy adjustment to high activity levels by interest group and lobbyists (see Harrison and Kanter, 1978; and Jacob, 1986). Overall, deterministic analyses have not built a convincing case for explaining the history of subnational policy adjustment. Turning to the equilibrium model, diffusion of innovation stresses the role of external stimuli on state behavior and recognizes that policy adjustment acts to re-establish equilibrium between the state and its environment (see Walker, 1969, 1973; Gray, 1973a, 1973b; and Plaut and Pluta, 1983). Empirical evidence is more supportive of the equilibrium model than the deterministic model. For example, in addition to testing two deterministic models, Grady (1987) analyzed state behavior using an arms-race (diffusion) model (thus following Peretz [1986]) to show influences on policy adjustment. Grady found that "...the data in general support the arms race hypothe- sis" and therefore "it appears that the arms race model comes closest [of the three models tested] to explaining the dynamics of the growth and spread of business incentives across the states" (Grady, 1987:92). Grady's support of the arms-race model is, however, less than enthusiastic. He wrote that the arms race model was only the best of the three models, the other two being deterministic models for which he failed to find any support. More on Grady's findings later.... No doubt both internal state characteristics and diffusion do help explain some aspects of subnational policy histories. For instance, if the level of a state's political competitiveness is sufficiently high, a minority-party governor will encounter resistance in passing legislation through a hostile legislative branch. Further, contiguous states cannot fail to be aware of what each other are doing. However, without denying the contribution these approaches make, THE FOCUS OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO EMPHASIZE THAT BOTH THE DETERMINISTIC AND EQUILIBRIUM MODELS FAIL TO CAPTURE MANY FUNDAMENTAL DYNAMICS OF SUBNATIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS. IT FOLLOWS THAT THESE MODELS CANNOT ADEQUATELY ANALYZE THE PHENOMENON. Noting the lack of success of deterministic and equilibrium studies, however, is a necessary but not sufficient condition for advocating research using the dissipative model. The next step is to suggest reasons why the dissipative system is a legitimate contender (without the assumption of its victory). Waldrop (1993) and Leifer (1989) show why dissipative systems might be important to the study of this phenomenon. Waldrop's discussion of complexity suggests a behavioral dynamic which might apply to state behavior. Viewing states as "agents", Waldrop (1993) explained: These agents might be molecules or neurons or species or consumers or even corporations. But whatever their nature, the agents were constantly organizing and reorganizing themselves into larger structures through the clash of mutual accommodation and mutual rivalry. Thus, molecules would form cells, neurons would form brains, species would form ecosystems, consumers and corporations would form economies, and so on. At each level, new emergent structures would form and engage in new emergent behaviors. Complexity, in other words, was really a science of emergence. (p. 88) The reference to molecules or neurons will be relevant later (see Chapters Three and Four) as will the reference to species (see Chapters Three and Five). For the present, note that the system of states might also display characteristics of complexity-- "mutual accommodation and mutual rivalry" along with "emergent structures"--just as do molecules, species, and corporations. The dissipative model is also suggested by learning from the failure of the two rival models--deterministic and equilibrium. Leifer (1989) suggested that the deterministic and equilibrium models are ill-equipped to internalize the dynamics of the phenomenon under study. Leifer (1989), by drawing on Tichy and Ulrich's (1984) work, points out that even an equilibrium system "does not describe the profound transformational, discontinuous change brought about by fundamental changes to the basic political and cultural systems of the organization...as a result of uncontrollable environmental turbulence". Rather, those changes within a dynamic environment such as state politics and global influences on states are best captured in a dissipative system. As noted, a thorough search of the literature reveals no analysis using a dissipative system to explain subnational policy adjustment. This lacuna may be due to the relatively recent recognition of dissipative system models in social science phenomena. WHATEVER THE REASON FOR THE ABSENCE IN THE LITERATURE A DISSIPATIVE-SYSTEM APPROACH TO UNDERSTANDING POLICY BEHAVIOR, THE PRESENT RESEARCH WILL EVALUATE SUBNATIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT POLICY-ADJUSTMENT RATES USING MODELS WHICH EMPHASIZE THE DYNAMICS OF A DISSIPATIVE SYSTEM WITHIN THE LARGER CONTEXT OF COMPLEXITY AND CHAOS THEORY. BUT WHY "NOISE" AND EVOLUTION?? Systems come in different types and display different dynamics. As for different types, systems can be random or they can be organized along an infinite variety of deterministic rules. Physics helps determine whether behavior is random or deterministic. To make this distinction it refers to "noise". "Noise" is defined as "small changes" or "fluctuations" in a variable. Of particular importance to the present discussion is "flicker noise". Consider the implications of flicker noise in light of the following observations. Bak, Tang, and Wiesenfeld (1988:34) wrote The same interdependence of species also makes the ecosystem very susceptible to small changes or "noise". However, the system cannot be too sensitive since then it could not have evolved into its present state in the first place. Owing to this balance we may say that such a system is "critical". We shall see that this qualitative concept of criticality can be put on a firm quantitative basis. Such critical system are abundant in nature. We shall see that the dynamics of a critical state has a specific temporal fingerprint, namely "flicker noise", in which the power spectrum S(f) scales as 1/f at low frequencies. Flicker noise is characterized by correlations extended over a wide range of time scales, a clear indication of some sort of cooperative effect. .... We shall argue that flicker noise is in fact not noise but reflects the intrinsic dynamics of self- organized critical systems. As a first step to researching the "intrinsic dynamics of self-organized critical systems" and thereby determining (even measuring) state influences on each other, distinguish noise with three colors: "white noise", "pink noise", and "brown noise". Notably, white noise and brown noise (a.k.a. Brownian noise and Weiner process) describe random movement. As Schroeder (1990:121) describes it the POWER SPECTRA..., often known as NOISES, seem addicted to simple, homogeneous power laws in the form f- as functions of frequency f. Prominent among these is WHITE NOISE, with a spectral exponent of =0. Thus, the power spectrum of white noise is independent of frequency. But white noise, that is, a noise with a constant flat power spectrum, is a convenient fiction-- a little white lie. .... If we integrate a white noise over time, we get a "brown" noise, such as the projection of a Brownian motion onto one spatial dimension. Brown noise has a power spectrum that is proportional to f-2 over an extended frequency range. (emphasis in original) Pink noise, in contrast, which has a power spectrum f- such that 0>-BETA>-2, has been described as self-organized criticality which shows deterministic behavior. Thus, a clear line is drawn between pink noise and white/brown noise: the former is deterministic in origin and the latter are random. It follows that IF DATA ON SUBNATIONAL POLICY ADJUSTMENTS REVEAL PINK NOISE (TO THE EXCLUSION OF WHITE AND BROWN NOISE), THE SYSTEM UNDER STUDY FUNCTIONS IN A NON-RANDOM MANNER. Further, it is incumbent on this research to provide a preliminary description of the non- random characteristics of the system. To pursue this research objective, two models--white and brown noise combined and considered separately from pink noise-- are borrowed from physics for their direct application to subnational policy-adoption rates. A more detailed analysis of each type of noise is reserved for later presentation (Chapters Three and Four); in the meantime it should be noted a limited number of technical articles have already appeared linking physics noise to a variety of social science phenomena. Musha and Higuchi (1977) related noise to traffic behavior. Sornette and Sornette (1989:202) foresaw that SOC would also be relevant for other problems such as the average seasonal temperature, annual amount of rainfall, rate of traffic flow, etc. In these systems, there is also a competition between an average incoming stationary flux with inhomogeneous boundary conditions which is released by sudden and sometimes catastrophic events. With the appropriate translation, the preceding discussion of the size-frequency relationship and on the return time of extreme events should apply. Determining which type of physics noise best explains actions by U. S. states is the first step in this research (results are presented in Chapter Four and discussed in Chapter Six). The second step is to determine what competitive dynamics characterize the states. To achieve this second objective, four models of evolutionary biology are used. At first blush evolutionary biology may seem an odd selection, in particular coming after physics. However, the study of physics noise has been linked to evolution of species in the above citation from Bak, Tang, and Wiesenfeld, as well as separately by Kauffman (1993) and Gingerich (1993). Kauffman's (1993) work has suggested that biological evolution may be attributable to interaction between species in the ecosystem. Gingerich (1993) applied logarithmetic analyses to the study of directional change or stasis in species. Furthermore, recall that evolution takes place in an (eco)system and involves agents (species) seeking their individual goals where resources may be finite. Don't states (species) also operate (at least sometimes) in the federal system and seek their individual goals where supply may be finite? Evolutionary models have been applied to additional social science phenomena, most notably by Axelrod in his "An Evolutionary Approach to Norms" (1986), THE EVOLUTION OF COOPERATION (1984, 1991) and other treatments of the iterated Prisoners' Dilemma situation (1980a, 1980b, 1987, 1988 [with Dion], 1981 [with Hamilton]). Additional work on evolution as it applies to norms is found in Hayek (1967) and Peyton Young (1991, 1992). Other systems where competition is believed to be present have been described by reference evolutionary models. Notable are McCain's (1992) A FRAMEWORK FOR COGNITIVE ECONOMICS and Meier and Haury's "A Cognitive-Evolutionary Theory of Economic Policy" (1990) for bring biological models in economics. Further, Alchian's 1950 article "Uncertainty, Evolution and Economic Theory" and its 1953 sequel "Comment: Biological Anologies in the Theory of the Firm" sparked discussion of evolutionary forces in firm behavior (Enke, 1951, 1953; Penrose, 1952, 1953, 1959; Winter, 1964, 1971, 1975, 1987; Nelson, 1974, 1977; Nelson and Winter, 1973, 1982; Nelson, Winter and Schuette, 1976; Schuette, 1980; Schuette and Winter, 1975, Iwai, 1981a, 1981b; and Winter and Rothblum, 1982). Thus, as further explained by Chattoe (1994): Although Alchian does not provide a formal model, he explicitly attempts to specify a complete analogy between biological and economic evolution in the context of the behaviour of firms. The 'genes' of each firm are the strategies it uses in order to reach decisions or conclusions, for example deciding to implement marginal cost pricing or 'cost-plus' pricing. These genes are 'exchanged' when firm imitate the observed strategies of others and 'mutated' by trial- and-error innovation. Selection pressure is exerted by the need to make positive profits in order to remain in business. Chattoe (1994) also discusses many other applications of evolutionary models in social science, including the stock market, innovation and technological progress, use of money as a medium for exchange, the existence of self-fulfilling prophecies, speculative bubbles, and technological lock-ins. And, of course, the numerous reference to "social darwinism" fall into this category. OBJECTIVES AND RESEARCH STRUCTURE This chapter opened by referencing a question which deserves an answer: What factors explain state policy-adjustment rates? The answer to this question has been the goal (grail?) of distinguished researchers and numerous publications; however, the goal has not been reached. But failure is not defeat. A clear opportunity for new inquiry exists for learning both how subnational behavior relates to economic development policy adjustment, and how it relates to other features of states in a federal structure. This opportunity has emerged due to the recent attention to complexity and chaos theory and their applications to the social sciences. The chapters which follow draw on complexity and chaos theory by utilizing economic development as a case study of subnational policy-adjustment behavior. It is expected that this analysis will open a third source of inquiry into state behavior, adding the dissipative model to the deterministic and equilibrium models. To achieve this goal, six chapters are presented. In writing a dissertation entitled "Log-Linear 'Noise' and Models of Evolutionary Biology in Public Policy Research: An Application to Subnational Policy-Adjustment Behavior in Economic Development", Chapter One (Research Proposal) identifies the lacuna in the study of state behavior and justifies the approach used in the present research. Chapter Two (Literature Review) and Chapter Three (Models, Hypotheses, and Data) present the orientations and means of analysis for carrying out the objectives of the inquiry. Chapter Two identifies the bodies of literature which are relevant to the discussion. Chapter Three provides an overview of the six models, how each can be tested, and the source of data. The next two Chapters--Chapter Four (The Physics of "Noise") and Chapter Five (Biological Models of an Evolutionary System)-- put the data to the test. Chapter Four identifies whether U. S. states behave as described in a self-organized system or according to Brownian movement. Chapter Five tests four biological models of competition: Red Queen Hypothesis, Punctuated Equilibrium, Stationary Model, and Turnover-Pulse Hypothesis. Chapter Six (Conclusions) presents the conclusions of this research. Work is summarized, implications identified, and potential for future work recognized. The next chapter reviews the literature of state policy- adoption behavior. The discussion is divided according to the models used: deterministic or equilibrium. No inquiry has yet used a dissipative analysis. Also, a brief introduction of complexity and chaos theory, as well as their application to the social sciences, is provided. Chapter Two Literature Review CHAPTER ABSTRACT: This chapter presents an overview (select bibliography and discussion) of past research into state policy-adjustment behavior as well as complexity and chaos theory. The joint emphasis is placed on understanding research opportunities and restraints which result from the theoretical orientations used. A unique division is observed in the presentation of past work: analyses which stress the deterministic model are presented separately from analyses using equilibrium models (to the extent possible given some treatments deal with both). Thus, the discussion of past research on state policy-adjustment behavior presents two discussions on deterministic models (Olson's thesis and all others) and one on equilibrium models. The chapter closes with a look at the theoretical orientations of complexity and chaos theory and their role in social science inquiry. POINT OF DEPARTURE Writing a dissertation on the application of a dissipative system to a public policy issue has had three interesting aspects. First, to explore this field requires consulting journals such as EVOLUTIONARY THEORY, JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, and PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS as well as the more familiar JOURNAL OF POLITICS and AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW. Journal articles carry the pulse of the inquiry; however, even journals do not appear quickly enough. Perhaps indicative of the times, some of the information needed for preparing this dissertation has been gathered via e-mail and Internet through direct contact with researchers and lists such as NLIN-SYS (non-linear systems) and EMSS (evolutionary models in the social sciences). If ever there is a case to be made for spontaneous order out of chaos, Internet lists will have to be cited. Will all dissertations in the future ride the superhighway? The second aspect of work on complexity and chaos theory is also evident from scanning the bibliography: it can be noted that 50% of the sources cited (excluding the literature review) were not even in print at the time I took my qualifying exams in 1988. Indeed, one essential model--systematic testing of self-organized criticality in sandpiles--appeared in the literature only in 1990. Third, research in the public-policy application of complexity theory has returned me to my intellectual roots. As an undergraduate I majored in Human Evolution. In that pursuit I encountered many of the concepts in evolutionary biology which I've rediscovered and used in the present research (although I must admit the physics has been a new experience). It has been fun (and more than a slight case of dj vu) to consider once again the nuances of phenotypes, speciation, and natural selection. Also, the literature of evolutionary biology has recalled to mind the intellectual accomplishment of a personal hero--Charles Robert Darwin. Again seeing his influence, strong after so many years, informing contemporary, cutting-edge thought has reaffirmed my own conviction concerning his personal and intellectual triumphs. SUBNATIONAL POLICY-ADJUSTMENT BEHAVIOR Dawson and Robinson (1963) clarified the rationale and approach to research on the history of public policy adoption. They stated We begin with the assumption that public policy is the major dependent variable which political science seeks to explain. The task of political science, then, is to find and explain the independent and intervening variables which account for policy differences [between states]. (p. 266) This admirable goal--that of explaining part of the policy process--has not been realized, even given the thirty-year interval. More sophisticated empirical tests have refined the work. Also, the phenomenon has been further sorted into policy topologies and outcome expectations. However, a consensus has not emerged. Following observations made in Chapter One, the present discussion of subnational behavior separates this discussion according to the deterministic or equilibrium approach used for analysis. Further, to facilitate presentation, the deterministic model is divided into (first) an examination of Olson's (1982) thesis as stated in THE RISE AND DECLINE OF NATIONS and (second) other deterministic explanations. SUBNATIONAL BEHAVIOR - DETERMINISTIC MODEL PRIMARY SOURCES Dawson and Robinson, 1963; Schubert and Press, 1964; Hofferbert, 1964, 1966; Sharkansky, 1967; Fry and Winters, 1970; Jennings, 1979; Dye, 1980, 1984; Olson, 1982; Mueller (ed.), 1983; Grady, 1987; Gray and Lowery, 1988, 1989; Ambrosius, 1985, 1989; Brace and Cohen, 1989; Brace, 1985, 1988, 1991; Garand, 1992; and Brierly and Feiock, 1993. OLSON'S (1982) THESIS Studying the "mysterious decline or collapse of great empires or civilizations" (p. 1), Mancur Olson (1982) identified nine factors which account for this outcome. Part of Olson's thesis rests on the behavior of enclave groups and special interests in a larger system. As such, Olson's Points Two, Three, and Four are relevant to state economic development. Olson noted (p. 74) 2. Stable societies with unchanged boundaries tend to accumulate more collusion and organizations for collective action over time. 3. Members of "small" groups have disproportionate organizational power for collective action, and this disproportion diminishes but does not disappear over time in stable societies. 4. On balance, special-interest organizations and collusion reduce efficiency and aggregate income in the societies in which they operate and make political life more divisive. Dubbed "institutional sclerosis" by Dye (1980), the thesis stated that older organizations, as found in stable democracies, develop special-interest subgroups which act to protect and promote themselves at the expense of the larger group. The more active the older and better-positioned subgroups, the slower the growth rate for the group as a whole. As this may apply to states seeking economic development, a special-interest group may succeed in securing legislation which benefits itself but which results in a loss of greater benefits for the state as a whole. Early work supported Olson's thesis, even before THE RISE AND DECLINE OF NATIONS appeared in print. At a December, 1978, conference in College Park, Maryland, support for Olson's thesis was marshalled through a variety of theoretical and empirical lines of evidence using a wide range of countries (although all Western) for support. In all, thirteen articles appear in Dennis C. Mueller's (1983) anthology of research articles from the conference. Other empirical work on Olson's thesis has been offered. According to Gray and Lowery (1988), Olson's thesis was empirically examined on separate occasions by Choi (1979), Brace (1985), and Brace and Dudley (1985). However, these studies, given as conference papers, have not appeared in print. Also not in print are analyses by Ambrosius (1985) and Brace (1988). Nevertheless, when taken together, these numerous sources seemed to provide a strong testing of institutional sclerosis. Dye (1980), working from a preliminary draft of Olson's longer work, considered the age of a state in his analysis of policy adjustment. (State age began with admission to the Union or, for the Southern states, at the end of the Civil War.) Dye found that "age...turned out to be a very influential determinant of economic growth in every problem in which it was entered" (p. 1100). He concluded that "'older' states cannot maintain the economic growth rates of 'younger' states, independent of any other characteristic of younger or older states. Age itself appears to be a barrier to economic growth" (pp. 1100-1101). Gray and Lowery (1988) reviewed the above studies and were not convinced, however. They concluded that "when better measures are employed [than in earlier studies] and the key linkages are specified, the supportive evidence for Olson in the case of the U. S. states largely evaporates" (pp. 128-129). However, what goes around, comes around: Brace and Cohen (1989) were not convinced with Gray and Lowery's analysis. Brace and Cohen point to two weaknesses in Gray and Lowery's research. First, they incorrectly quantified the power of groups. Second, they mishandled numerous specification problems. According to the argument, Gray and Lowery failed to adequately handle exogenous variables. As such, Brace and Cohen wrote "we want to suggest that more of an effect should be made to IDENTIFY MAJOR EXOGENOUS VARIABLES AND TO CONTROL FOR THEM in the empirical analysis of the impact of endogenous factors on the economic performance of states" (p. 1301; emphasis added). Accompanying Brace and Cohen's critique was a reply by Gray and Lowery (1989). They acknowledged some aspects of the challenge while rejecting others. Overall they point to a general failure by past studies to support Olson's thesis and cited the inability to adequately test it empirically given the availability of data and the problems with the thesis itself. Work on a different approach to Olson's thesis by Grady (1987) has already been mentioned (Chapter One). Testing for the impact of special-interest groups on state policy adjustment records, Grady is unable to confirm Olson's thesis that states with more active groups would adopt greater numbers of policies. Empirical work by Ambrosius (1989) took a larger sweep at Olson's thesis. Ambrosius linked Lindbloom's attention to political influences to Olson's logic. Thus, "if the focus shifts, from Olson's discussion of coalition activity in creating ECONOMIC obstructions, to the POLITICAL influence of occupational interests, whether through group activity or through Lindbloom's state of 'privilege', then a sequence of hypothesized effects can be examined" (p. 55; emphasis in original). Using this approach to study states for a fourteen-year period, Ambrosius concluded that "the impact of the occupational interest strength variable was consistently positive for all categories of economic development policies" (p. 64). The data thus confirmed that high occupational interests at the state level correlate to higher levels of adjustment of economic development policies. Recent work by Garand (1992) sought to "explore the degree to which the relationship between state age and economic growth is time-dependent" (p. 471). He used data from 1946 to 1984. His first step was to determine whether the states demonstrated stability in levels of their economic growth over time, thus fulfilling the assumption of cross-sectional test on Olson's thesis. Garand reports that the data "suggest substantial instability in economic growth rates for the American states over time" (p. 474). Next, Garand looked at the influence of age on economic performance. He was clear in his hypothesis and findings. He wrote: the hypothesis underlying this model, one would expect older states (i.e., those presumably dominated by organized interests) to exhibit lower relative levels of economic growth than younger states (i.e., those with less-developed organized interests). For the single-year models, one finds wide variability in both the direction and magnitude of the state age coefficients. Of the 39 coefficients, 25 are in the expected negative direction (19 of which are significant at the .10 level), while 14 are positive (with two significant). (pp. 475-476) Interestingly, the period which best supports Olson's thesis falls between 1968 and 1982, the years used by Olson (1982), Dye (1980), and Choi (1979) when they found support for the thesis. Thus, Garand continued, "when one moves beyond the period from 1968 to 1982, one finds much less support for the expected relationship between state age and economic growth" (p. 478). Garand concluded against Olson's thesis while nuancing his statement. He summarized: State economic growth is not highly stable in the post- World War II era, with some states exhibiting high economic growth during some years, and others enjoying high economic growth during other years. Most importantly [sic.], however, is the finding that the relationship between state age and economic growth is unstable and highly time-dependent, with the inferences drawn from cross-sectional tests of Olson's thesis shown to be a function of the years utilized in one's analysis. All of this calls into serious question the degree to which cross-sectional methods are adequate to test Olson's thesis, as well as the degree to which one can accept findings of support for Olson's thesis in the first place. (p. 480) The latest research in the literature again found support for Olson's thesis. Brierly and Feiock (1993) operationalized economic growth in states as the change in total personal income for each state over three six-year periods (1970-1975, 1975-1980, and 1980-1985). They summarized their findings as follows: State economic growth appears to be driven by capital and organizational changes. As expected, change in capital was positively related to income growth. The negative organizational relationship is consistent with the Olson thesis and previous results for the 1970-1985 time period (Garand, 1992). The period dummy variable estimates further illustrate the significant slowdown in income growth from 1975 to 1985. Controlling for the influence of capital, these results provide modest support for the Olson contention that the slowdown in growth during this period is attributable to organization. (p. 664) In summary, despite attention in the literature to Olson's thesis, the debate has not culminated in a strong case in favor or in opposition to it. Indeed, some of the further work which must be done on the thesis is providing a clearer statement about the thesis itself and how its variables can be measured, tested, and conclusions drawn (see Gray and Lowery, 1989). OTHER DETERMINISTIC ANALYSES Dawson and Robinson (1963) reminded scholars that "political science is concerned with how various formal and informal institutions, economic, social, philosophical and geographical conditions influence the adjustment and implementation of policy" (p. 265). They pointed to a list of other research on the topic, including David Easton's THE POLITICAL SYSTEM (1953) and Harold Lasswell's (1951) "The Policy Orientation". Additional stand-out works include V. O. Key's SOUTHERN POLITICS IN STATE AND NATION (1951) and Thomas Dye's POLITICS, ECONOMICS, AND THE PUBLIC (1966). In their own research, Dawson and Robinson set out "to investigate the relation between political process and the policies adopted by political systems" (p. 265). Specifically, they posited that "the greater the degree of inter-party competition within a political system[,] the more extensive or 'liberal' the social welfare policies a political system will adopt" (p. 281). They concluded that their "findings seem to fit the relations hypothesized in the theoretical scheme" (p. 287). However, they added that the system variables are held constant. Not all deterministic analyses were so successful. As evidenced in what follows, factors which THEORETICALLY influence policy adjustment are many. Verifying the influence using data, however, has been no easy task. For instance, using Schubert and Press' (1964) data, can malapportionment levels be correlated to policy adjustment preferences? In fact, the Spearman's Rank Correlation value ( , rho) is 0.074, or almost entirely unrelated. Using economic development records, results were generated for Hofferbert's (1964) inter-party competitiveness scale with a rho =0.055 and rho =0.038 for his welfare orientation (Hofferbert, 1966). Some factors, in contrast, have been shown to be correlated to state behavior. For Hofferbert (1966), however, only environmental factors are relevant. According to him, The thesis advanced here is that differences in policy, at least in certain substantive areas, are more readily explained in terms of differences in the socio-economic environments of the states than by an examination of structural variables. (p. 73) Thus he found results in keeping with his expectations. Notably, he wrote: Thus far, the limited evidence presented indicates there is no significant relationship between apportionment and public policy, apportionment and partisan competition, apportionment and divided control, divided control and public policy, and between the party in power and public policy. (p. 81) Far from becoming the last word on the topic, Hofferbert's conclusions did not keep Jennings from different findings concerning inter-party competition. Jennings (1979) wrote: The weight of the evidence produced by this analysis provides strong support for the thesis that the nature of partisan alignments and partisan control of government under conditions of class-based politics influence welfare policy outcomes. Class-based and non-class-based political competition produce quite different sets of welfare policy outcomes in the eight states included in this analysis. Control of government appears to be important when parties or factions divide the electorate along lines of economic cleavage. (p. 427) Even more notable is Fry and Winters' (1970) rebuttal to Hofferbert's emphasis on socio-economic variables. They concluded: We have been able to develop a statistical model that accounts for more than half the variance in redistribution among the 48 states [excluding Alaska and Hawaii] included in the analysis and more than two- thirds of the variance in non-Southern states. Second, and more significantly, we have found that the political variables employed in the model are considerably more powerful than the socio-economic variables in explaining interstate variations in redistributive patterns. Thus, our data not only support the assertion that politics makes a difference, they suggest that politics plays a dominant role in the allocation of the burdens and benefits of public policies. (p. 522) Better results linking state characteristics to its behavior have been shown by analyzing single factors rather than large categories. Thus, Dye (1980) sought to explain effects which state taxing and spending policies have on rates of economic development. He performed a time-lagged analysis to show possible influences on state economic growth. He found "little association between tax policy and economic growth" (p. 1098). In contrast, "spending policies of states in the late 1960s are indeed associated with economic growth rates in the 1970s" (p. 1098). In particular, highway spending emerged as the strongest correlate of economic growth of all the variables he studied. Dye tested fifteen other variables under the rubrics of taxing (six), spending (four), redistribution (two), and size and development (three). His findings were generally consistent: Aside from highway spending, there were no policy variables which independently affected growth rates. Right to work laws did not help or hinder economic growth. None of our taxing measures--total tax burden, sales tax burden, income tax burden, corporate tax rate, or "worker" or "executive" income tax liability-- were INDEPENDENTLY associated with economic growth. Spending for education, welfare, and health were not INDEPENDENTLY related to the economic growth. Our hypothesis that educational spending in the 1960s might contribute to economic growth in the 1970s did not stand up under controls for age [i.e., age of the state] and highway spending. Indeed, the only discernable effect of educational spending on economic growth, controlling for other variables, is a negative one. (p. 1101; emphasis in original) Findings by Grady (1987) apply here as well. He tested a correlation between state policy adjustment behavior and unemployment levels. His analysis rejected the association, showing that policy adjustment rate were not related to unemployment. Brace (1991) started with the premise that "the influence of states on their economies is not constant but changing and that this influence is conditioned by many forces beyond state control" (p. 298). The discussion of this second premise is reserved for treatment later (under equilibrium models). As for Brace's analysis, he divided his data into three panels: 1968- 1973, 1974-1979, and 1980-1985. He concludes that "for the majority of the period studied, states had no statistically discernible impact on their economies" (p. 312). However, increasing economic activism is reflected in more recent years. Overall, the definitive link between state characteristics and policy preferences remains elusive. Two sources of error in these analysis might be present. First, it could be that the phenomena under study--welfare orientation, malapportionment, competitiveness--are too complex or not easily quantifiable for the uses made of them. Sharkansky (1967), in his analysis of state government expenditures, properly noted that "it is apparent that changes in expenditures respond to a large number of stimuli that vary in their composition from state to state" (p. 184). Not surprisingly, Sharkansky was unable to find a strong relationship between expenditure changes and any of his independent variables. The same problem could be at hand with the studies cited above. A second explanation for failed results might be the methodology used to test the hypotheses. In fact, of the issues raised in this literature, methodological disputes rank high (Cnudde and McCrone, 1969; Brace and Cohen, 1989; Gray and Lowery, 1989; and others). Indeed, Cnudde and McCrone made the case clear with they wrote: Our analysis leads us to several major conclusions. First, our examination of the methodology utilized in previous research into the effects of political variables on state expenditure policies convinces us that the spurious model now predominant in state politics literature rests on shaky empirical foundations. Reliance on correlational analysis can lead to unwarranted causal inferences. (p. 865) Significantly, there is some awareness in the deterministic assessments that the system of states influences individual state behavior and preferences (see citations above from Brace and Cohen, 1989, and Brace, 1991). While there is no assumption that this influence is similarly perceived or acted upon across the fifty states, the role of the system of subnational agents must be acknowledged if state behavior is to become clearer. In addition to deterministic models of subnational behavior, inquiry has proceeded using equilibrium models. The next section of this discussion treats this second focus of inquiry. SUBNATIONAL BEHAVIOR - EQUILIBRIUM MODEL PRIMARY SOURCES: Walker, 1969, 1973; Gray, 1973a, 1973b; Plaut and Pluta, 1983; Grady, 1987; Jones, 1990; Brace, 1991; and Hendrick and Garand, 1991. EQUILIBRIUM ANALYSES The equilibrium approach to understanding subnational behavior recognizes the systemic (regional and/or national) influences on member agents. Given an equilibrium system, movement by one agent will result in new influences exerted on other subnational agents. The degree to which one state's behavior influences other states, and the resulting behavior by other states, is expected to vary over time and distance. Coping mechanisms within the system will result in subnational behavior which restores the systemic steady state. How subnational agents interact--either through learning, diffusion, cooperation, competition, or combat--is a necessary aspect of this research. To begin the review, recall Walker's (1969) discussion of the diffusion of innovations among U. S. states. He was responding to deterministic studies (cited above) and attempted to show the role of diffusion in "one of the most fundamental policy decisions of all: whether to initiate a program in the first place" (p. 880). At the end of his analysis he produced composite innovation scores for the states. These scores were based on how quickly a state adopted an innovation relative to other states' adjustment (or non-adjustment) behavior. The score ranged from New York (the high with 0.656) to Mississippi (the low with 0.298). With the maximum at 1.000 and minimum at 0.000, the range was 0.358. Walker's score was based on the adjustment record of 88 policies. He selected "six to eight different pieces of legislation in each of these areas: welfare, health, education, conservation, planning, administrative organization, highways, civil rights, corrections and police, labor, taxes, and professional regulation" (p. 882). Thus, the score combined "beauticians licensing" with "fair housing--urban renewal areas" and "probation law". Walker's paper prompted a challenged (Gray, 1973a), defense (Walker, 1973), and truce (Gray, 1973b). As this dialogue relates here, Gray discussed Roger's (1962) expectation of an S- shape curve. Thus, innovators and laggards account for the extremes in a normal distribution of policy adjustment. Elaborating, Gray pointed out: Actually, the normality or non-normality of the adopter distributions is independent of the theoretical assumption that ideas spread because adopters somehow influence nonadopters. OTHER CURVES, PARTICULARLY THE LOGISTIC CURVE OF POPULATION GROWTH, have been widely used to fit the same kind of data (innovations) with the same goodness of fit. (p. 1176; emphasis added) Finding non-linear logistic curves is important since (in keeping with complexity and chaos theory, discussed below) it suggests a different, non-linear system dynamic from one which produces normal distribution curves. Further, Gray challenged the use of such a broad list of policies to arrive at an index of innovativeness for the states. She preferred that the policies be segregated into policy domains before analysis (an opinion shared in the present research). Only such an approach to the data would reveal differences between policy adjustment based on characteristics of the policy domain itself. Walker (1973), in his response to Gray, repeated his point of departure. He stated: My research specifically was designed to show that the American states are NOT a completely intermixed population, but rather are organized into a complex system of pioneers, regional leaders and laggards. I identified some important developments that were creating pressures for national uniformity, such as the growing cosmopolitan communities of public officials and policy experts, and made some rather oblique efforts to measure these trends, but my conclusion was that regional differences were remarkably persistent and unlikely soon to disappear. (p. 1187; emphasis in original) Walker's reference to "a complex system" is unaware of the use of that term in complexity and chaos theory. Nor is he aware (cited below) of the same significance of his remarks to "an immensely complicated social system" and "random occurrences and chance factors". Nevertheless, Walker does show, in the vocabulary of complexity and chaos theory, an emerging awareness of the presence of complexity in this field of inquiry. As such, Walker wrote: We are studying AN IMMENSELY COMPLICATED SOCIAL SYSTEM IN WHICH RANDOM OCCURRENCES AND CHANCE FACTORS are prominent ingredients, but regardless of these difficulties I am not prepared as yet to give up my emphasis on organization factors as keys to understand [diffusion of innovation]..." (p. 1190; emphasis added). Independent of Walker, Plaut and Pluta (1983) developed a disequilibrium-adjustment model to study how state characteristics might influence growth. Their model is based on the assumption that economic growth opportunities will go to states having the greatest number economic development policies. According to the model, economic growth accumulates in the states with more policies until other states adjust for the disparity by adopting policies to restore the equilibrium. Their model does not, however, explain why states would discontinue economic development polices. For their own findings, they showed that tax effort, expenditures, and the "business climate" did not correlate to subnational growth. Further, they showed that employment growth was slowed by tax and "business climate" variables. This model was used, with some modification, by Jones (1990). He "added CONTROLS FOR REGIONAL DIFFERENCES AMONG STATES" (p. 222). He concluded that This analysis of state expenditures and economic growth during the period 1964-1984 using a disequilibrium- adjustment model indicates that overall expenditures do not cause economic stagnation. It may be the case that total public sector expenditures can interfere with economic vitality, but not within the range of existing variation among states. (p. 230) Grady (1987) also discussed diffusion of policies using the arm's race model of Peretz (1986). In comparing the arms race diffusion model to two others he tested (see above), Grady found that the arms race model best explained the phenomenon under study. However, his findings must be put in the context of his failure to find any verification at all in favor of enclave interest groups (Olson's thesis) and unemployment rates (deterministic model). When put in perspective, Grady's findings showed BETTER, but perhaps not ADEQUATE, results. Brace (1991), already discussed above, also treated states as agents in a federal system. Brace noted that states became the primary agents for action as "the national economy has been placed under greater pressure globally, and as the limits of federal policy have been reached domestically" (p. 312). To test his hypothesis, Brace used multiple variables, including 1) institutional capacity of governors and legislatures; 2) economic development policies; 3) state fiscal polices; 4) general influences of regional/national effects and period effects; and 5) specific influences of energy, unionization, and defense expenditures. The notable aspect of Brace's list of variables was that they included variables drawn from the state, regional and national levels. He explained: Most certainly national and regional forces exert influences on state economies that state level political actors cannot control. Regional indicator variables are employed to control for regional effects. The effect of the national economy is controlled by the inclusion of time point indicator variables that measure variation common to all states (i.e., national) in a given year. (p. 301) Thus he recognized that states exist as separate decision making entities but are within a system. Last, Hendrick and Garand (1991) were very concerned with separating state, regional, and national influences on states. They pointed out early in their analysis that "it is clear that state economies are (at least to some extent) interdependent, and that there exist national and regional economic factors that have relatively strong, uniform impacts on economic growth across states" (p. 1094). To test the degree of control a state has over its economic development, Hendrick and Garand used a variance components model similar to one used in assessing electoral nationalization (Stokes, 1965, 1967; Claggett, Flanigan, and Zingale, 1984; and Vertz, Frendreis, and Gibson, 1987). Personal income data were used to assess growth. Tests showed the relative influence of state, region, and nation. They wrote: the state component of variance in state economic growth dominates the national and regional components during the postwar era. For each indicator of economic growth, the state component represents at least 61% of the variance, with the national component representing between 25% and 33%, and the regional component taking up the remaining 5%-6%. HENCE, BETWEEN 31% AND 38% OF VARIANCE IN STATE ECONOMIC GROWTH IS EXOGENOUSLY DETERMINED, THAT IS, ATTRIBUTABLE TO NATIONAL AND REGIONAL EFFECTS GENERALLY OUTSIDE THE CONTROL OF THE STATE ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL SYSTEM. THE REMAINING 62% TO 69% IS THE COMPONENT OF THE VARIANCE THAT IS UNIQUE TO THE STATES AND PRESUMABLY WITHIN ITS CONTROL. (pp. 1101-1104; emphasis added). Hendrick and Garand pointed to three reasons for the role of the national influences: the active postwar role of the federal government; intergovernmental grants and policies of redistribution; and international competition with uniform impacts across regions. Overall, Hendrick and Garand presented a fitting summation of the work on deterministic and equilibrium approaches to state behavior. They noted The question of exogeneity in the determination of state economic growth is not a trivial one. Numerous scholars have attempted to assess the linkage between the political and economic systems within the American states, primarily in their attempts to test Olson's (1982) organized interest theory of economic growth. With only a few exceptions (Brace, 1989), these scholars have depicted this political-economic interaction as endogenous to the states, with virtually no impact on exogenous factors on state economic growth. Our results suggest that such an assumption is unrealistic, and that models of state economic change relying on state-level characteristics are underspecified. Clearly, based on our results, ATTEMPTS TO DEVELOP MODELS OF STATE ECONOMIC GROWTH MUST ALLOW FOR THE POSSIBILITY THAT THE DEPENDENT VARIABLE IS A FUNCTION OF EXOGENOUS FACTORS THAT SEEM TO EXERT SUBSTANTIAL INFLUENCE AND AFFECT THE VARIABLE DIRECTLY AND INTERACTIVELY WITH ENDOGENOUS FACTORS. (pp. 1107-1108; emphasis added) Although Hendrick and Garand had other goals in mind when making this statement, their conclusions are relevant to an analysis of subnational policy-adjustment rates using a dissipative model. COMPLEXITY AND CHAOS THEORY The review of literature now turns to complexity and chaos theory as they relate to the present research goals. Thus, a complete overview of complexity and chaos theory is postponed. Rather, the discussion shows general aspects of both, as well as their social science applications. COMPLEXITY AND CHAOS THEORY PRIMARY SOURCES: Jantsch, 1980; Prigogine, 1980; Mendelbrot, 1982; Prigogine and Stengers, 1984; Holden, 1986; Gleick, 1988; Glass and Mackey, 1988; Stewart, 1989; Nicolis and Prigogine, 1989; Krasner, 1990; Schroeder, 1991; Hall, 1991; Lewin, 1992; Peitgen et al., 1992; Gluck, 1992; Waldrop, 1992; Kaye, 1993; and Kellert, 1993. AN OVERVIEW Chaos theory was popularized by Gleick (1988) in CHAOS: THE BIRTH OF A NEW SCIENCE. However, as Loye and Eisler (1987) pointed out, chaos theory has a long if not well-recognized heritage. They stated: ..."chaos" theory is not a new or alien notion to social science. .... In modern times, "chaos" or "transformational" theoretical questions lie at the core of Hegel's philosophy of history as well as the multifaceted dialectical theory of Marx and Engels that initiated the formative dialogue for the development of modern sociology (Hughes, 1958). Moreover, Pregogine himself cites Auguste Comte, Emile Durkheim,, and Herbert Spencer as the forerunners of his concept of dissipative structures referring particularly to Durkheim's concept of moral density as a precondition of the division of labor (Boulding, 1978). Defining "complexity" and "chaos theory" can help establish their orientations and applications. Thus, Waldrop (1992) points to four aspects of systems which characterize complexity. First, "a great many independent agents are interacting with each other in a great many ways" (p. 11). Accordingly, complex systems function as do "chemically reacting proteins, lipids, and nuclei acids that make up a living cell, or the billions of interconnected neurons that make up a brain, or the millions of mutually interdependent individuals who make up a human society" (p. 11). Second, systemic interactions can lead the system to spontaneous self-organization. The familiar "hidden hand" or "ghost in the machine" are ways of expressing spontaneous self- organization. In fact, the concept of a free market or even grass-roots associations represents some manifestations of spontaneous self-organization. The third element of complexity comes from learning through feedback--adaptability. Complex systems "don't just passively respond to events " (p. 11). In terms applicable to the present research, "species evolve for better survival in a changing environment--and so do corporations and industries" (p. 11). The fourth and last aspect of complexity is its distinction from "complicated" and "unpredictable". Accompanying this is complexity's distinctively dynamic aspect. Waldrop explained best when he wrote: every one of these complex, self-organizing, adaptive systems possess a kind of dynamism that makes them qualitatively different from static objects such as computer chips and snowflakes, which are merely complicated. Complex systems are more spontaneous, more disorderly, more alive than that. At the same time, however, their peculiar dynamism is also a far cry from the weirdly unpredictable gyrations known as chaos. (pp. 11-12) The definition of "chaos theory" has been provided by Kellert (1993). He stated that "chaos theory is THE QUALITATIVE STUDY OF UNSTABLE APERIODIC BEHAVIOR IN DETERMINISTIC NONLINEAR DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS" (p. 2; emphasis in original). As is evident in the two definitions, some lines separating complexity from chaos theory are thicker than others. Following Waldrop's definition, complexity pertains to a system with specific characteristics. Chaos theory, by contrast, describes "BEHAVIOR in...systems" (emphasis changed). Thus, whereas it can be said that chaos theory may describe some kinds of complex systems, it is also occasionally hard to distinguish whether a specific inquiry falls more on one side or the other side of the line separating complexity and chaos theory. APPLICATIONS TO SOCIAL SCIENCE INQUIRY PRIMARY SOURCES: Metcalfe, 1974; Jantsch, 1975, 1980, 1981; Gemmill and Smith, 1985; Loye and Eisler, 1987; Savit, 1988; Leifer, 1989; Reisch, 1991; McCloskey, 1991; Hobbs, 1993; and Gregersen and Sailer, 1993. The social sciences can also benefit from complexity and chaos theory analyses. Economics in particular has come under the new scrutiny of chaos theory (Arthur, 1989, 1990). Other social science phenomena, such as the international monetary exchange rates (Eldridge, 1994), organizational change (Germmill and Smith, 1985; Leifer, 1989), and population size projections (May, 1974; Li, 1975) have proven ripe for reappraisal using complexity and chaos theory. More fields within the social sciences--international relations and international law in particular--are bound to follow. In exchange for further attention by social scientists, chaos theory can make a contribution to the field. Social science literature is already dotted with pioneering applications. Through these efforts, a clearer vision of the road ahead is emerging. For instance, Reisch (1991) and McCloskey (1991) independently applied chaos theory to the study of history. Reisch considered the future study of history. He favored a chaotic framework. He explained: ...what kind of science should history become? For in recent years there has been a bifurcation of sorts in the natural sciences, namely, the emergence of chaos theory--the science of physical systems governed by nonlinear dynamical laws. ....I will argue that any science of history should fall into this new branch of physical theory. For history, I will show, is chaotic. And, I will demonstrate, it is characteristic of events in chaotic systems that they just cannot be explained with covering laws and initial conditions as Hempel [1965] believed they could. (p. 2) Part of the chaotic, nonlinear dynamics of history can be captured in the linkage of "for want of a nail....the kingdom is lost". Thus Reisch puts this cascading feedback into a historical context. He wrote: Consider for example what the world might look like today if a person ONLY SLIGHTLY more combative than Khrushchev had been at the Soviet helm during the Cuban missile crisis--certainly VERY DIFFERENT if nuclear war had ensured. Pascal probably performed a parallel thought experiment when he mused that the course of history was shaped by Cleopatra's nose. And as for the history of science we can easily image "Darwin" not being an (almost) household name if circumstances had not led to his famous voyages [sic.]. (pp. 6-7; emphasis added; see also Squire et al. [1931]) In fact, Charles Darwin took only a single voyage. However, to show how tenuous events sometimes are, Darwin was not Captain FitzRoy's first choice. Darwin's father originally denied his son permission to go and only a chance conversation with Charles' uncle brought about his father's change of mind. FitzRoy, a scholar of phrenology, almost rejected Darwin because his nose suggested a lack of commitment. The start of the voyage was delayed repeatedly and on two occasions the BEAGLE had to return to port after starting out. Last, Darwin's participation in the voyage was justified as a means for him to prepare for a later career in the clergy, not as a natural historian (Desmond and Moore, 1992)! Of particular importance to this discussion on subnational policy-adjustment behavior is Reisch's assessment of history as a function of social and economic structures. His discussion of constraint and determination is particularly relevant for the discussion on deterministic models of state behavior. Reisch concluded: ...while there is an appealing simplicity and elegance to this notion that certain social and economic structures will hold sway over the details of historical situations, there are, I think, some falsehoods buried under some of its truth. There should be little doubt, for instance, that the course of historical events is constrained by social, economic, technological, and other factors. But the mistake structuralism makes in rejecting L'HISTOIRE VNEMENTIELLE is to confuse CONSTRAINT with DETERMINATION. As Braudel [1980] suggests, geographic, economic, social, ideological, and other sorts of structures surely limit historical and future possibilities for any given people. But within those "envelopes" of possibility all kinds of things happen. (p. 8; emphasis in original) Finally, history is a science which involves time--lots of time--making initial conditions critical. For this reason Reisch rejected a covering-law approach to history in favor of chaotic analyses. He elaborated: ...provided the laws which govern a chaotic system are known, the greater the temporal distance between initial (and intervening) conditions on the one hand and the event to be explained on the other, the greater the accuracy with which those conditions must be known. This predicament rests on the nonlinearity of the laws governing chaotic systems. But even when we do not know what the laws that govern the system might be, if that system exhibits extreme sensitivity to initial or prior conditions--as does history, I suggest--then we can be certain that those laws are nonlinear. Consequently, the temporal scale of the covering-law explanations we might wish to make must be diminished given the extreme accuracy with which initial and intervening conditions must be known. (p. 17) McCloskey (1991) also analyzed the role of chaos theory in history, with particular reference to the U. S. Civil War. He noted that small events have major implications as shown in Lincoln's election and the succession of the South. These events being far from inevitable at that point in history, McCloskey followed Fogel (1989) when he recalled that "like many historians before him he emphasizes the PRECARIOUS BALANCE of American politics in the 1850s, which could have been turned one way or the other by minor events" (p. 26; emphasis added). The term "precarious balance" in chaos theory would be rendered as "at the edge of instability" or "approaching a bifurcation point". History reveals that small events have large consequences. McCloskey exemplified this point: The point is not that great oaks from little acorns grow. They do.... The point here is rather that in some modeled worlds an acorn produces by itself a great tree in an instant. Such a world is unstable, as in the world of the United States in 1856-1965. The models need not be complicated. As students of chaos theory since Poincar have pointed out, simple models can generate astonishingly complicated patterns. The slightest perturbation can yield an entirely different history. (And in catastrophe theories, quickly.) Confederate states depended on recognition by Great Britain, which depended on...Confederate success. (p. 28) Finally, amplified, nonlinear feedback may account for behavior which otherwise seems senseless. McCloskey explained: Chaotic motion is to be distinguished from randomness. Big randomness in models of the economy leads to fatalism. Chaos--which is to say, very strong effects generated wholly within the model, but giving random- looking results--can lead to activism. The president hoping that his jawboning will end a depression is a nonlinear dynamist: he thinks that little actions of his own can overwhelm the natural randomness. (pp. 32- 33) History is not the only social science to receive a second look through complexity and chaos theory. They have also been directly related to issues in political science. In their research entitled "Chaos and Transformation: Implications of Nonequilibrium Theory for Social Science and Society", Loye and Eisler (1987) use chaos theory to examine (1) the realities of social breakdown and potential chaos in this late 20th-century world, which present the need for new action-oriented social theory; (2) the "breakthrough" nature of "chaos" theory in natural science; (3) the originating version of social science as a tool for social problem solving; (4) the gap between social science's formative hopes and contemporary performance; (5) the roots in modern social science of a social equivalent to natural scientific "chaos" theory; and (6) examples of current "chaos"/"transformational" theoretical works and works in progress. (p. 53) Loye and Eisler's objectives are far-reaching. Acknowledging "normative requirements" (p. 57), they offer four benefits which an application to chaos theory would make in social science. Thus, they identify: 1. benefits of improved forecasting; 2. benefits of improved interventional guides; 3. benefits of participatory rather than authoritarian problem solutions; and 4. benefits of providing a clearer sense of system goal states or prohuman images of the future. (p. 57) In a different vein, Gregersen and Sailer (1993) used chaos theory to argue "that the customary social science goals of 'prediction' and 'control' of systems behavior are sometimes, if not usually, unobtainable" (p. 777). Their article, entitled "Chaos Theory and Its Implications for Social Science Research", ends by enumerating "six familiar claims [=implications] about the study of social phenomena for which chaos theory provides new theoretical arguments". Their six implications were: Implication 1. So long as social sciences continue to rely on cross-sectional studies, it is unlikely that they will discover and model the chaotic nature of social systems. Implication 2. Poor analytical results (e.g., low R2 values and lack of statistical significance) are to be expected when analyzing chaotic systems with standard statistical methods. Implication 3. Use simulation techniques to study chaotic or complex social systems, but do not expect to be able to mimic any specific actual systems. Implication 4. Statistical technology will remain useful, but will play a different role in the analysis of chaotic systems. Implication 5. Qualitative methods will increase in importance when studying potentially chaotic social systems. Implication 6. Social science must develop a definition of "understanding" when analyzing chaotic systems. (pp 793-798, passim) These six implications are important for how they contrast current preferences in social science inquiry, public policy included. Implications One and Two, in particular, are relevant for research done on subnational policy-adjustment behavior as reviewed earlier in this chapter. Finally, Savit's (1988) treatment of chaos in stock market prices made two very important points for social science inquiry. First, concerning statistical methods and inquiry into the phenomenon, he wrote: it should be clear that there is a great deal of important information in the details of a chaotic sequence. This information will sometimes be critical for discerning the hidden order in the sequence, and for understanding the nature of the sequence and using it advantageously. Many of the common techniques of statistical analysis which were developed to deal with "noisy" data involve various methods of smoothing the data. Many such methods are not generally appropriate to the study of chaotic systems since too much useful information may be lost in the process of rendering the data smooth. Indeed, in some sense, the hallmark of chaos is precisely its jumpiness. (p. 289) Data which do not easily settle into linear models may be unfamiliar and unfriendly to researchers in the social sciences who are accustomed to assumptions of linearity and hence predictability. However, an even greater challenge to these assumptions was suggested by Hobbs (1993). Hobbs pointed out the need for ex post facto explanations. He stated that "if chaotic systems typically give rise to ex post facto explanations, then the ubiquity of chaotic systems in nature argues for the ubiquity of ex post facto explanations as an ordinary part of scientific practice" (p. 122). Thus, at the end of his analysis, he concluded: All of the above ex post facto explanations are nonproductive because they are based on theories whose initial conditions are subject to some sort of indeterminacy or time lag. Once it is known that a system is chaotic, virtually everything that happens to the system becomes causally relevant to its subsequent states, at least over periods of time less than the relaxation time, due to sensitivity to initial conditions. (p. 136) Methods of investigating chaotic phenomena is only half of Savit's contribution to the present research. He also reminded readers of a fundamental difference between using chaos theory to study social science and the study of natural sciences. Although the tools are converging, in the case of the social system "the study of the system disturbs the system itself" (p. 290). He continued, using examples from the stock market: Market prices in a nonlinear system can be very sensitive to small changes in the environment and it is not at all clear how much systems would respond to this additional kind of feedback. This interference by an observer on the phenomenon observed, while not usually important in macroscopic physical systems, is reminiscent of analogous considerations in quantum mechanics which governs the microscopic physical world. STUDYING THIS PROCESS IN A NONLINEAR MARKET IS CERTAIN TO YIELD REMARKABLE AND INTERESTING EFFECTS OF GREAT PRACTICAL SIGNIFICANCE. (p. 290; emphasis added) With the reivew of past research on policy-adjustment behavior and complexity and chaos theory in place, it is now possible to take the next step of this investigation--application of physics noise and biology to inquiry on subnational behavior. The next chapter describes these models as well as generates Hypotheses for empirical analyses. Chapter Three Models, Hypotheses, and Data CHAPTER ABSTRACT: As Chapter Two showed, past analyses have failed to build a convincing case using deterministic and equilibrium models. Also, Chapter One announced the point of departure for the present research: a dissipative system identified by physics models and described by biology models. The present chapter introduces the physics and biology models which will be used to test hypotheses concerning data on the record of subnational policy- adjustment behavior. First to be presented are the physics models. Thus, the concept of "noise" is introduced and three types of noise--white, pink, and brown--are distinguished and described. Physics tells what type of system is observed; biology describes what the system's agents are doing. Four contesting models--the Red Queen Hypothesis, Punctuated Equilibrium, Stationary Model, and Turnover- Pulse Model--can be tested to provide insights into the dynamics of the system. The data which will be used to test these models are identified and discussed. DISSIPATIVE MODELS - PHYSICS AND EVOLUTION Six models are used to either identify or characterize criticality in the subnational system. The first step is to determine if subnational policy-adjustment rates shows random behavior or evidence of a deterministic system. To achieve this goal, the "noise" of the system is analyzed with reference to determining its color. The next step elaborates on its predecessor by determining the dynamics of subnational interaction within the system. To achieve this second goal, four models which characterize competition within a system are used. Physics distinguishes three types of "noise", or points which do not seem to fit expected values ("signal"). Thus, "white noise" has a log-linear power spectrum slope of zero. (White noise is not discussed separately here since it is subsumed under brown noise as described in Chapter One.) Self- organized criticality, also referred to as "pink noise", has a log-linear power spectrum slope between zero and negative two. In contrast, "brown" noise (or "Brownian noise") has a log-linear power spectrum slope of negative two. WHITE, PINK, AND BROWN NOISE As discussed in Chapter One, white and brown noise are signals of random movement and can be treated jointly. In contrast is pink noise which shows deterministic behavior. The following discussion describes the two possibities which open up for further analysis. PRIMARY SOURCES: Petersen, 1977; Dutta and Horn, 1981; Lawrence et al., 1987; McHardy and Czerny, 1987; Kagan and Knopoff, 1987; Bak, Tang, and Wiesenfeld, 1987, 1988; Tang and Bak, 1988a, 1988b; Carlson and Langer, 1989; Jaeger et al., 1989; Bak and Tang, 1989; Bak, Chen and Creutz, 1989; Kananoff et al., 1989; Hwa and Kardar, 1989; Dhar, 1990; Babcock and Westervelt, 1990; Held et al., 1990; Bhattacharya and Waymore, 1990; Schroeder, 1991; Bak and Chen, 1991; Pietgen et al., 1992; and Ross, 1993. SELF-ORGANIZED CRITICALITY Beginning a discussion of a dissipative phenomenon by referencing self-organized criticality (SOC) is appropriate. Bak et al. (1988), after discussing how dissipative dynamical systems evolve into a critical state, showed their enthusiasm for this topic when they wrote, "we believe that the concept of self- organized criticality can be taken much further and might be THE underlying concept for temporal and spacial scaling in dissipative nonequilibrium systems" (p. 373; emphasis in original). Indeed, SOC has a place in the discussion of subnational behavior; Bak and Chen (1991:46) showed this opportunity. They wrote: We propose the theory of self-organized criticality: many composite systems naturally evolve to a critical state in which a minor event starts a chain reaction that can affect any number of elements in the system. Although composite systems produce more minor events than catastrophes, chain reactions of all sizes are an integral part of the dynamics. According to the theory, the mechanism that leads to minor events is the same one that leads to major events. Furthermore, composite systems never reach equilibrium but instead evolve from one metastable state to the next. It is the point of departure in studying physics noise that the fifty states may form a "composite system" which behaves as described above. To clarify SOC behavior, note that two familiar phenomena exhibit SOC: earthquakes and avalanches (with the latter represented by the behavior of a sandpile). As early as 1956 Gutenberg and Richter recognized that earthquake frequencies could be described using a power-law formula. Additional work by Held et al. (1990) has confirmed computer models of a sandpile to show SOC. The interesting aspect of earthquakes is their self- similarity. That is to say, not only do a string of individual earthquake events within a system over time show SOC, but each earthquake event itself shows SOC. In reference to this latter feature, the seismographic analysis of the event "shows the energy distribution at the stationary critical state. The distribution fluctuation indeed fits a power law" (Bak and Tang, 1989:15,636) expected of SOC. What is power law? Consider the sandpile example: When adding sand at a single grain at a time to a flat circular disk, it is possible to monitor fluctuations in the weight of the sandpile. (A grain of sand weighs about 0.0006 gram.) Avalanches--or where sand slides off the side of the disk--are therefore able to be measured precisely. Data are collected over many trials of adding sand until the pile approaches the edge of instability. An additional gain will cause a perturbation in the system, creating an avalanche which is scale invariant (or "characterized by an infinite correlation length, and so occur on all length and time scales up to limits determined by the finite size of the system" [Held et al., 1990:1,120]). Repeated perturbations show that avalanches are not predictable in either individual sizes (weight) nor timing. The experiment also shows that a single grain of sand can cause avalanches ranging from extremely small to (in theory) the system's finite limit. An important conclusion holds that avalanches are predictable in displaying a long-run pattern. That is, although it is impossible to predetermine WHEN a system will reach instability and HOW MUCH the system will adjust itself before achieving stability (except on a short-term basis, see Kagan and Knopoff [1987]), it is possible to say that the overall profile of the avalanches will display a log-linear relationship. Log-linear relationships are easily described. The X- and Y-axes are expressed in logarithmic scale. Using avalanches as the example, the X-axis is defined as the size of each avalanche. The Y-axis is defined as the number of avalanches with the same X-axis value. The resulting graph of the ordered pairs will reveal a straight line. Thus, Gutenberg and Richter (1956), when working on earthquakes, found a straight line with a slope between -1.25 and -1.50, depending on the fault under study. Also, the Richter scale uses logarithmic values to calibrate earthquake power. The slope of the line is important in that it must be between zero and negative two. Thus, in addition to the graph of SOC showing log-linearity, the slope must be 0>-BETA>-2. Held et al. (1990) inserted one note of caution. They found that for larger sandpiles, the distribution of avalanches became sharply peaked and the scale invariance broke down. They conclude that "the presence or absence of self-organized criticality may therefore be related to a damping length scale which we do not fully understand" (p. 1122). Although their comments were written in 1990, this issue has not been pursued in the literature. Also, since SOC phenomena exhibit a range of slope values between zero and negative two, it may be the case that different slopes indicate different classes of SOC (Tang and Bak, 1988*). However, this point has not been demonstrated. Based on the preceding discussion of 1/f noise, Hypothesis One applies SOC to the behavior of subnational agents: Hypothesis One: Subnational policy-adjustment behavior exhibits features of self-organized criticality. Test for Hypothesis One: Subnational policy-adjustment behavior conforms with expectations of power-law linearity showing a slope BETA such that 0>-BETA >-2. Hypothesis One is tested in Chapter Four. BROWN NOISE Brownian noise (or Brownian motion) refers to a phenomenon observed by the botanist Robert Brown around 1827. Brown observed the movement of molecules. Movement is due to very light collisions with other molecules. As clarified by Bhattacharya and Waymire (1990:17) Perhaps the simplest way to introduce the continuous- parameter stochastic process known as BROWNIAN MOTION is to view it as the limiting form of an unrestricted random walk. To physically motivate the discussion, suppose a solute particle immersed in a liquid suffers, on the average, f collisions per second with the molecules of the surrounding liquid. Assume that a collision causes a small random displacement of the solute particle that is independent of its present position. For simplicity, consider displacements in one particular direction, say the vertical direction, and assume that each displacement is either + or - with probabilities p and q = 1-p, respectively. The particle then performs a one-dimensional random walk with step size . (emphasis in original) This movement (defined above as either + DELTA or - DELTA), when plotted along the same logarithmetic X- and Y-axes of SOC, shows log-linearity with a slope of negative two. Brown noise can be created by summing independent random numbers. It also exhibits a Gaussian distribution with means at zero. The random movement of the agent means it has a probability of 1.0 of returning to a point which it had earlier occupied. Although Brownian movement is random, random does not mean insignificant. For instance, it has been applied to "such areas as statistical testing of goodness of fit, analyzing the price levels of the stock market, and quantum mechanics" (Ross, 1993:458). Further, the presence of Brownian noise in diverse phenomena may suggest a dynamic similar to molecular movement. Specifically, other phenomena exhibiting Brownian motion may be influenced by actions from adjacent units. For instance, if states exhibit policy-adjustment rates which suggest Brownian movement, the behavior may be due to "collisions" with behavior in neighboring states. Brownian randomness can also create deterministic shapes. Thus, Peitgen et al. (1992:297-299) describe a process for creating a Sierpinski gasket via the random process of throwing a die. They explain We have just seen the generation of the Sierpinski gasket by a RANDOM PROCESS, which is amazing because the Sierpinski gasket has become A PARAGON OF STRUCTURE AND ORDER for us. In other words, we have seen how RANDOMNESS CAN CREATE A PERFECTLY DETERMINISTIC SHAPE. To put it still another way, if we follow the time process step by step, we cannot predict where the next game point will land because it is determined by a throwing die. But nevertheless, the pattern which all game points together leave behind is absolutely predictable. This demonstrates an interesting INTERPLAY BETWEEN RANDOMNESS AND DETERMINISTIC FRACTALS. (p. 299; emphasis added) Based on the preceding discussion, Hypothesis Two applies Brownian noise to the behavior of subnational agents: Hypothesis Two: Subnational policy-adjustment behavior exhibits features of Brownian noise. Test for Hypothesis Two: Subnational policy-adjustment behavior conforms with expectations of power-law linearity showing a slope -BETA equal to -2. Hypothesis Two is tested in Chapter Four. EVOLUTIONARY MODELS "It's a jungle out there", not only for species seeking to survive to the next generation, but also for states seeking self- maximization in an environment of limited economic development resources. Species and states compete for access to, and control over, limited resources of value to themselves and other species or states. However, to say that these agents COMPETE is to leave open the options of how competition takes place. For purposes of this research, "competition" is conceptualized as behavior falling between the extremes of "combat" and "cooperation". Competition includes selfish acts of self-maximization leading to a loss by other system agents. Such competitive behavior is close to combat. However, competition may also produce behavior which recognizes joint outcomes for system agents or helps other system agents as a means of helping one's own self in the process. This behavioral outcome of competition is closer to cooperation. It is expected that subnational agents exhibit the full range of competitive behavior with greater and lesser degrees of combat and cooperation. This full range has been described by Waldrop (quoted above) as showing concurrent "mutual accommodation and mutual rivalry". To advance the study of subnational behavior, four models of competition, each drawn from evolutionary biology, provide a means of comparing how agents compete within a system. These four models are: 1. Van Valen's RED QUEEN HYPOTHESIS; 2. Eldredge and Gould's PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIUM; 3. Stenseth and Maynard Smith's STATIONARY VIEW; and 4. Vrba's TURNOVER-PULSE. Using biological models in the present research is governed by their attention to the systemic level of analysis, a failure already noted in deterministic models traditionally used for analyzing subnational policy-adjustment behavior. Unlike models used in the studies cited in Chapter Two, evolutionary biology models assess the joint influences of agents and the environment as they act together within the system. First, agents are recognized in their capacity to create and react to stimuli, thus generating systemic feedback which can either escalate or diminish (both as non-linearities). Second, environmental perturbations are recognized in the biological models as important stimuli for change. In short, biological models of competition come the closest in recognizing and operationalizing a complex, dissipative system on the edge of chaos (Stanley, 1979, Conrad, 1983, Jantsch, 1986). At the outset of this discussion, it must be stressed that the differences between the four biological models can sometimes get lost in the similarities. Indeed, each author is careful to mark the distinguishing features and claim a unique fief. Nevertheless, Vrba (1993:442) showed how easily one model shifts into the next. She wrote: One might well ask whether the Red Queen could lead to punctuated equilibria. Perhaps the metaphorical lady is not running constantly without getting anywhere, but instead is an occasional sprinter to new places where she rests at length before the next sprint (which would of course not be Lewis Carroll's Red Queen). Or perhaps in between rare sprints she makes short runs hither and thither, in different directions in different populations of the same species without net directional gain. The latter is what Eldredge (personal communication) argues, and the former resembles Stenseth and Maynard Smith's (1984) stationary outcome in local ecosystems, although not necessarily across whole species.... The following discussion clarifies the contending interpretations of competition and sets up a case for using these models in the evaluation of states in a self-organized system. The goal is to find whether any of these four models capture fundamental dynamics of the subnational system. With this goal realized, further analysis can evaluate the reasons for the failure of some models and the success of others. PRIMARY SOURCES: Eldredge and Gould, 1972; Van Valen, 1973, 1974; Foin et al., 1975; Van Valen, 1975; Stanley, 1975; Hallam, 1976; Van Valen, 1976; Gould and Eldredge, 1977; Stanley, 1979; Mccune, 1982; Vrba, 1982; Hoffman and Kitchell, 1984; Stenseth and Maynard Smith, 1984; Vrba, 1985; Boyce, 1990; Vrba, 1993; Kauffman, 1993. THE RED QUEEN HYPOTHESIS Van Valen's controversial model of evolutionary biology has clear applications to business and public policy. His model--the Red Queen Hypothesis (RQH)--explains how species evolve primarily in reference to each other within the ecosystem. Van Valen explains the dynamics of species living in a system in the following manner: The amount of resources is fixed and can be thought of as an incompressible gel neutrally stable in configuration, supporting the peaks and ridges. If one peak is diminished there must be an equally total increase elsewhere, in one related peak or more uniformly. Similarly, increase in a peak results in an equal decrease elsewhere. Species occupy this landscape and can be thought of as trying to maximize their share of whatever resource is scarcest relative to its use and availability. This resource will take the role of the gel, and the MOMENTARY FITNESS of a species will be proportional to the amount of gel under its area (the amount of the limiting resource it controls). To a sufficiently close approximation this momentary fitness seems to be what natural selection maximizes. (Val Valen, 1973:19; emphasis in original) In simplest terms, RQH describes a zero-sum situation where one species' adaptive gain results in an equal loss distributed to all other species in the system. Thus, "the sum of absolute fitness in a community is constant" (p. 577). For instance, in an ecosystem of fifty species, one species may evolve by three units of advantage. However, each of the 49 remaining species will thereby be disadvantaged by 3/49 darwins such that the sum of the disadvantage will be three. The same mechanism applies whether a SINGLE species evolves between t1 and t2 time, or whether MULTIPLE species evolve in the time interval. RQH is a biotic model of evolution; that is, it attributes evolutionary stimuli on a species to the changes by other species in the system. Significantly, and in contrast to other models which follow, RQH does not attribute evolutionary stimuli to changes in the physical environment. "The Red Queen does not need changes in the physical environment, although she can accommodate them" (p. 19). Other models, Vrba's Turnover-Pulses in particular, see it differently (and depend on environmental changes to the exclusion of biotic stimuli). RQH also holds that evolution takes place as an incremental series of steps, without pauses and variations in the pace. RQH differs from other evolutionary models, in particular punctuated equilibrium, in seeing change as continuous. However, as indicated by the name, RQH also believes that the overall outcome of all species' change is a species' constant-level momentary fitness. Based on the preceding discussion, Hypothesis Three applies Van Valen's Red Queen Hypothesis to the behavior of subnational agents: Hypothesis Three: Subnational policy-adjustment behavior displays the coevolutionary characteristics of Van Valen's Red Queen Hypothesis. Test for Hypothesis Three: Subnational policy- adjustment behavior displays evidence of each state's momentary fitness which fluctuates in the short-term in reference to all other systemic agents but shows no net advancement over the long-term relative to other subnational agents. Hypothesis Three is tested in Chapter Five. PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIUM Unlike the RQH, punctuated equilibrium (PE) sees evolutionary change, in particular speciation, as a periodic and major event. PE sees changes in species as periodic in that evolution does not proceed incrementally (i.e., the accumulation of small steps over time). Rather, PE sees changes occurring in leaps, contrary to the Linnean maxim "natura non facit saltus" ("Nature doesn't make jumps"). Not only is it periodic, but evolution is also a major event according to PE. Changes constitute morphological discontinuities to the previously- existing conditions. Thus, to cite an example used by Eldredge and Gould, brain size in Homo sapiens did not increase incrementally through the ancestral stock. Instead, increased brain size came about as a major change at a single moment in the geologic/biologic time scale. According to Eldredge and Gould, the fossil evidence supports this view by the absence of intermediate forms (species stasis). Support coming from the absence of intermediate forms, as stated immediately above, is an essential difference between PE and other models of evolution. Eldredge and Gould point to the absence of intermediate forms as an accurate reflection of fossil ecosystems. This interpretation differs from earlier interpretations (including Darwin's) which saw the lack of intermediate forms as an inevitable bias in the fragmentary fossil record. According to Eldredge and Gould, STASIS (OR LACK OF EVIDENCED CHANGE) IS DATA. In fact, PE predicts stasis and lack of change as an important aspect of what happens in evolution. Inherent in the PE model of evolution, and a colorrary of stasis and rapid evolutionary activity, is the rejection of evolution which occurs by the accumulation of gradual, random steps. Rather, PE holds that evoltuion occurs as a non-random (directional) and non-incremental (sudden) process. Based on the preceding discussion, Hypothesis Four applies Eldredge and Gould's Punctuated Equilibrium model to the behavior of subnational agents: Hypothesis Four: Subnational policy-adjustment behavior displays features of Eldredge and Gould's model of punctuated equilibrium. Test for Hypothesis Four: Subnational policy-adjustment behavior exhibits stasis and abrupt evolutionary change, both at the state level. Subnational policy- adjustment behavior is not expected to exhibit incremental changes or meandering adaptation strategies. Hypothesis Four is tested in Chapter Five. STATIONARY VIEW Stenseth and Maynard Smith (1984) have proposed the third model of species competition which can be used for understanding subnational policy-adjustment behavior. Their point of departure is based on the interaction of populations of species in a community. In their analysis, Stenseth and Maynard Smith held that the only possible models for evolutionary competition are RQH and SV (thus rejecting PE and Turnover-Pulses, discussed below). They rejected the suggestion that their conceptualization is punctuated equilibrium in disguise. They summarized and distinguished the major differences: The Red Queen equilibrium is dominated by biotic interactions; that is, THE MAIN FEATURE OF THE ENVIRONMENT OF EACH SPECIES CONSISTS OF THE OTHER SPECIES IN THE COMMUNITY. In contrast, if the Stationary picture is correct, EVOLUTION IS DRIVEN BY PHYSICAL CHANGES. It is tempting to suggest that the two pictures correspond respectively to a gradualist and to a stasis plus punctuation interpretation of the fossil record (Eldredge and Gould, 1972; Gould and Eldredge, 1977; Stanley, 1979). We cannot support this interpretation strongly. (p. 877; emphasis added) Thus, species respond to other species' evolution in RQH. In contrast, for SV, species respond to changes in the physical environment. A further difference between RQH and SV is the latter's rejection of the zero-sum outcome of evolution. RQH is based on one species' evolutionary gain creating an equal amount of loss in other species. Fitness advantage is momentary and no species pulls ahead. In contrast, SV holds that the objective for each species is to reach its specific evolutionary maximum. The researchers introduced the idea of "evolutionary lag" to define the distance a species is from its maximum fitness. Evolutionary lag therefore defines how fit a species is in absolute terms, not in relative terms as done in RQH. Stenseth and Maynard Smith also reference the rate of evolution. Differences in evolutionary stimuli translate to expected differences in the rate of evolution. Rate in RQH, as already explained, is incremental and results in fluctuation of the species' fitness levels. As for SV, rate of evolution shows bursts of activity which is associated with "major changes in the physical environment" (p. 877). Rate of evolution would then slow until the physical environment is again disturbed. Based on the preceding discussion, Hypothesis Five applies Stenseth and Maynard Smith's Stationary View model to the behavior of subnational agents: Hypothesis Five: Subnational policy-adjustment behavior displays features of Stenseth and Maynard Smith's Stationary View model. Test for Hypothesis Five: Subnational policy-adjustment behavior shows evidence of bursts of evolutionary activity associated with perturbations to the physical environment followed by a slowing down of evolutionary change and eventual stasis until the system is again perturbed. Hypothesis Five is tested in Chapter Five. TURNOVER-PULSES Vrba's Turnover-Pulses (T-P) model provides the fourth and final variation on the relation between species and the environment, the system, and other species. Essential in T-P is the role of the environment. Vrba explained the relationship between changes in species and the environment. She wrote: Evolution is normally conservative at least in relation to speciation and extinction. Speciation does not occur unless forced by changes in the physical environment. Similarly, forcing by the physical environment is required to produce extinctions and most migration events. Thus, MOST LINEAGE TURNOVER IN THE HISTORY OF LIFE HAS OCCURRED IN PULSES, NEARLY SYNCHRONOUS ACROSS DIVERSE GROUPS OF ORGANISMS, AND IN PREDICTABLE SYNCHRONY WITH CHANGES IN THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT. (p. 428; emphasis added) Thus, unlike RQH which was a biotic model, T-P is a physical environmental model. For T-P, the ecosystem is of secondary importance (unlike RQH). Vrba wrote "the habitat requirements basically depend on physical environmental variables and not on the particular set of biotic characteristics in any one ecosystem" (p. 430). Thus, T-P is robust enough to occur in any variety of physical environments. According to T-P, all species in the ecosystem evolve in tandem, creating the pulse. To clarify the process and implications, Vrba wrote: The model does emphasize that, when lineages undergo turnover at all, they do so in concert with others. To use a metaphor, Turnover Pulse dictates to lineages: WHETHER you respond or not is none of my business, but IF you do then you must do it together. This environmental change has a deterministic role in that turnover would not occur without it. But other, internal factors contribute to the PROBABILITY of speciations and together with local biotic interactions must provide strong proximal causes of the NATURE of speciation change, and geographic factors determine the spatial distribution of turnover events during a pulse. (pp. 431-432; emphasis in original) The discussion will return to elaborate on Vrba's references to the "deterministic role" and "internal factors contribute to the PROBABILITY of speciations" (see Chapter Six). In the meantime, note that whereas the physical environment perturbs the system, the biotic environment influences how the system will evolve thereafter. Based on the preceding discussion, Hypothesis Six applies Vrba's Turnover-Pulse model to the behavior of subnational agents: Hypothesis Six: Subnational policy-adjustment behavior displays features of Vrba's turnover-pulse model. Test for Hypothesis Six: Subnational policy-adjustment behavior shows evidence of rapid evolutionary movement associated with initiating events originating from environmental perturbations. The system is otherwise conservative and cannot initiate change without an environmental stimulus. Hypothesis Six is tested in Chapter Five. DATA Data on subnational policy-adjustment behavior are available from the Conway publication INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. This publication was targeted to professionals involved in industrial site-location decisions. Realizing that the practitioner needed a clearer idea of differences between state policy packages, in 1966 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT started a systematic listing of economic development incentives and the states which offer them. The list was updated annually with some options dropped from the original listing and others added. Other research has utilized the Conway data, notably Grady (1987), Ambrosius (1989), and Brace (1991). The Conway list can be used for empirical research after correcting some inconsistencies in its presentation. In order to assure accuracy in findings, a panel of clean data was prepared using only incentives which were carried from 1970 to 1986. In all, 46 incentives can be used (see Table 1). By using a consistent list over the years it is possible to accurately reflect state changes in policy adjustment. For 17 years, 16 yearly changes are given. Thus, 800 data observations are used to test the hypotheses. Table One List of Policies FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR INDUSTRY (16 policies) State sponsored industrial development authority Privately sponsored development credit corporation State authority or agency revenue bond financing State authority or agency general obligation bond financing City and/or county general obligation bond financing State loans for building construction State loans for equipment machinery City and/or county loans for building construction City and/or county loans for equipment and machinery State loan guarantees for building construction State loan guarantees for equipment and machinery City and/or county loan guarantees for equipment and machinery State financing aid for existing plant expansions State matching funds for city and/or county industrial financing programs State incentive for establishing industrial plants in areas of high unemployment City and/or county incentive for establishing industrial plants in areas of high unemployment SPECIAL SERVICES FOR INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT (12 policies) State financed speculative building City and/or county financed speculative building State provides free land for industry State-owned industrial park sites City and/or county-owned industrial park sites State funds for city and/or county development-related public works projects State funds for city and/or county master plans State funds for city and/or county recreational projects State funds for private recreational projects State program to promote research and development State supported training of "hard core" unemployed State science and/or technology advisory council TAX INCENTIVES FOR INDUSTRY, OTHER LAWS (18 policies) Corporate income tax exemption Personal income tax exemption Excise tax exemption Tax exemption or moratorium on land and capital improvements Tax exemption or moratorium on equipment and machinery Inventory tax exemption on goods in transit (freeport) Tax exemption on manufacturers' inventories Sales/use tax exemption on new equipment Tax exemption on raw materials used in manufacturing Tax credits for use of specified state products Tax stabilization agreements for specified industries Tax exemption to encourage research and development Accelerated depreciation of industrial equipment State right-to-work law State minimum wage law State fair employment practice code Statewide uniform property tax evaluation law Statewide industrial noise abatement law Chapter Four The Physics of "Noise" CHAPTER ABSTRACT: Following what has been said in Chapter Three, the opportunity exists to describe state policy-adjustment rates using quantitative measures. Chapters Four and Five explore this opportunity, here with physics noise and later with biology. As for now, two options--self-organized criticality (SOC) and Brownian motion--can be empirically tested. The distinguishing factor between them is the slope of the log-linear line. In this chapter, Hypothesis One (for SOC) and Hypothesis Two (for Brownian motion) are tested. Findings suggest confirming Hypothesis One. This implies that states behave in a manner which conforms to expectations of self-organized criticality. The implications of this finding are discussed. A QUESTION OF INFLUENCE This chapter poses a fundamental question: how greatly are states influenced by other states during the policy-adjustment process for economic development? As suggested by the latter half of the question, there is no assumption that states are influenced in the same manner for all policy domains (contra Walker, 1969, 1973). Indeed, policy domains vary greatly--taxes, education, transportation, welfare--and characteristics of each domain are expected to determine the nature and extent of inter-state influences. Thus, answers to the question about state influences concerning economic development policies cannot be applied to other policy domains without appropriate caution. HYPOTHESES AND TESTING Chapter Three introduced self-organized criticality (SOC) as evidenced in earthquakes and sandpiles. "By a change of language (and a little bit of imagination), one can transform the sandpile or the earthquake model into many situations." The words are from Bak and Chen (1991:52) and point to the possibility of using SOC to analyze U. S. subnational behavior (see also Levin, 1992:61). Just as a system of tectonic plates evolves, so states adopt policies over time. Every year roughly half the states adjust their economic development policy offerings. Adjusting policies assures the state neither looses revenues by needlessly offering too many incentives nor becomes uncompetitive by offering too few incentives to achieve its goal. To show the potential relationship between SOC and policy-adoption behavior, recall Bak and Tang's (1989:15,635) remarks: It is essential that the systems are dissipative (energy is released) and that they are spatially extended with an "infinity" of degrees of freedom. ENERGY IS FED INTO THE SYSTEM IN A UNIFORM WAY, either directly into the bulk or through the boundaries. The crust of the earth, subjected to the pressure from tectonic plate motion, may be viewed as a system of this kind. (emphasis added) Elaborating on the phrase "energy is fed into the system", individual subnational agents, acting in their own self-interest, create energy through policy adoption and this energy (pressure) accumulates against other states. Eventually--as more and more states adjust their policies--states both continuously respond to the earlier actions by other states while they continuously create future pressure on those same states. The system never reaches stasis nor returns to equilibrium; the individual states produce feedback and internal perturbations at the system level. The overall result is a legislative year for each of the fifty states showing how states adjust their policy package to varying degrees. When the tally of all states in a given year is assembled, it can be analyzed empirically. Have states evolved spontaneous organization as suggested in SOC? Or are states independent agents acting randomly as modeled by Brownian motion? Hypotheses One and Two ask these questions in a different form. To begin testing the Hypotheses, the criteria for empirical results must be stated. Thus, Test for Hypothesis One: Subnational policy- adjustment behavior conforms with expectations of power-law linearity showing a slope such that 0>-BETA>-2. Test for Hypothesis Two: Subnational policy- adjustment behavior conforms with expectations of power-law linearity showing a slope -BETA equal to -2. DATA AND ANALYSIS To test these Hypotheses, the Conway data are tallied on a yearly basis for each state. The number of policies offered in each state is compared to the previous year's policies for that state. Over the years studied, annual changes in the number of policies offered ranged from one to eleven. Thus the values one through eleven become the X-values in the ordered pairs. The Y-value is determined by how many times each X-value appeared in the tally of annual changes. With the data prepared as identified, the distribution of yearly changes, and their frequency, are noted in Table Two. A graph of these yearly data (not presented) shows a familiar Poisson curve. Indeed, if based solely on this observation, the data might be said to be random and in support of Hypothesis Two. However, such a conclusion would be hasty. Table Two Tallies of Annual Policy Adjustments, 1970-1986 Year 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 70-71 25 16 3 1 1 2 2 71-72 30 10 5 3 2 72-73 22 15 5 2 3 3 73-74 14 23 7 2 1 2 0 0 1 74-75 19 14 8 6 1 1 0 0 1 75-76 24 14 4 1 5 1 0 1 76-77 26 9 10 2 1 1 1 77-78 27 11 4 5 2 1 78-79 24 11 5 4 1 2 1 1 1 79-80 36 7 3 3 0 0 0 0 1 80-81 20 17 9 1 0 2 0 0 0 1 81-82 21 17 4 4 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 82-83 * 83-84 * 84-85 23 9 7 3 6 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 85-86 27 11 6 2 3 0 1 Testing the data must proceed further as suggested in observations from Glass and Mackey (1988) concerning the apparent similarities between graphs of random noise and graphs of chaos. In their Chapter Three ("Noise and Chaos"), the authors point out that the Poisson process is the simplest model for a random walk. However, random data have long been confused with chaotic data. Adding to he confusion is the fact that "random numbers" are generated from a deterministic logistic equation. To stress the difference, however, is to insist on the fact that although random data and chaotic data can appear similar, chaotic data are the result of deterministic output. This feature of chaotic data--earlier pointed out in Chapter Two--should be the deciding factor separating random and chaotic data. The apparent similarities between random and chaotic data have implications for testing between the two. In examining the processes of identifying random data from chaotic data, Glass and Mackey leave no doubt that "OBSERVATION OF EXPONENTIAL PROBABILITY DENSITIES IS NOT SUFFICIENT TO IDENTIFY A PROCESS AS A POISSON PROCESS" (emphasis in original). Some other test is needed which can successfully distinguish random data from chaotic data. As it works out, the slope of a log-linear power spectrum line distinguishes between random and chaotic data. To test Hypotheses One and Two using log-linear power spectrum slopes, the annual policy-adjustment record for all states from 1970 to 1986 is regressed with logarithmic values. The slope, R2, and Y-intercept data are shown in Table Three. The yearly data showing annual changes in all state's economic development policy packages conforms well to expectations for self-organized criticality (Hypothesis One). In each case the slope is within the range of zero to negative two (with a minimum slope of -0.90 and maximum of -1.60). In addition to slope values which cluster well within the anticipated range, the R2 values range from very high to middle confidence. The average R2 value is *0.79. How much confidence should these findings be given in terms of Hypotheses One and Two? Certainly the high R2 value suggests one source of confidence. However, results may be strengthened, refined, or questioned by reference to other tests. Table Three Power Law Regression 1970-1986 Year Slope R2 Y-intercept 70-71 -1.20 .60 0.95 71-72 -1.15 .99 1.01 72-73 -1.07 .76 1.07 73-74 -1.56 .86 1.24 74-75 -1.51 .82 1.22 75-76 -1.28 .65 1.03 76-77 -1.51 .82 1.09 77-78 -1.32 .84 1.07 78-79 -1.24 .87 1.04 79-80 -0.90 .96 0.82 80-81 -1.60 .69 1.21 81-82 -1.50 .82 1.17 82-83 * 83-84 * 84-85 -1.04 .56 1.04 85-86 -1.28 .89 1.07 The literature does not identify an alternative test for self-organized criticality. However, random behavior has several tests. Thus, although Hypothesis One cannot further be tested, Hypothesis Two can be further explored. First, brown noise should show a Gaussian distribution with a mean value of zero. These conditions are not observed (see Table Four); the distribution shows a 14% occurrence of downward adjustments (from -9 to -1) and a 38% occurrence of upward adjustments (from 1 to 11). Further, the values in Table Four translate to a loss of 166 policies and a gain of 600 policies, or a 3.61-fold gain over losses. These findings show a clear lack of symmetry in the distribution; rather, the distribution is skewed in a specific direction and this thus inconsistent with a random walk and Brownian motion. Given these observations, it is unlikely that a state would return to a previously-existing location in its policy package. By observation, Brownian motion and Hypotheses Two are not supported. DISCUSSION ON PHYSICS NOISE What influences operate on states considering policy adjustment for economic development objectives? The data suggest a process consistent with self- organized criticality. Further, results of tests presented in this chapter have closed out one important option for interpreting state behavior. The case against Brownian motion (random movement) suggests that some factors are indeed serving to guide behavior. Policy makers, like God, do not throw dice (Stewart, 1989); deterministic rules are used when adjusting a state's policies. Further, it appears that these deterministic rules are most relevant at the level of the system of subnational agents, not the agent in isolation. Table Four Distribution of Policy Adjustments (Additions and Deletions Noted) changes -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 frequency 1 0 0 1 2 1 12 changes -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 frequency 19 63 338 121 61 27 26 changes 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 frequency 16 4 2 4 0 0 2 With empirical findings in favor of SOC, it is necessary to return to the literature on this phenomenon to extract parts which will help us understand subnational policy-adjustment behavior. To begin, Held et al. (1990:1120) opened their analysis of sandpiles by observing Recent theoretical investigations have shown that when certain spatially extended nonequilibrium systems are driven, they naturally evolve into a critical state. This state is barely stable and...the occurrence of such critical states in nonequilibrium systems is spontaneous; it does not require, as in equilibrium systems, the tuning of experimentally adjustable parameters to particular values or critical points. The importance of this conclusion (reinforced throughout the literature on chaos theory and SOC) can be applied to states in the federal system. One undeniable fact about economic development policy in the 1970's and 1980's has been the lack of direction and rules for engagement at the federal level. Indeed, Eisinger (1988) pointed out that "the word 'national' almost never modifies 'economic development' in American politics" (p. 4). The flip side of this absence at the federal level is the predominant role of the states. It would be easy to explain agent organization and a system-level orientation as the result of federal coordination. However, finding evidence of SOC in an unstructured environment is indicative of expectations from chaos theory. Also consistent with the expectations from chaos theory is that the agents behave within a systemic context, aware of how their individual actions affect other agents in the system. The quote from Held et al. also calls attention to the stimulus-response relationship of such a "barely stable" system. Unlike deterministic models which have a proportionality of stimulus to response, the dissipative system--by definition being far from equilibrium, dynamic, and on the edge of chaos--needs only a slight perturbation to set off enormous results. Like the stock market crash of Black Monday, 1987, the system was SLIGHTLY perturbed but SUFFICIENTLY perturbed to set off a chain of events completely aproportional to the stimulus. This discussion--whether of tectonic plates, stock markets, or policy-adjustment rates--leads to a note of caution: "Warning! This system may explode at any time!" This potential hazard is absent in deterministic and equilibrium perspectives, and its absence there highlights a corollary: Analyzing dissipative subnational behavior in a deterministic or equilibrium perspective will understate the possible influence which one more perturbation can create. Truer to reality, the subnational system (like any dissipative system) may be like the proverbial camel's back--one more straw and, instead of binding under a little more weight, the back breaks entirely. Policy makers need to recognize this important feature of dissipative systems not only to avoid letting it cross into instability, but also to understand how to address matters should the system exceed the edge of chaos. Part of the policy makers' understanding of dissipative systems can be summed up in the unmathematical conclusion: the whole is greater than the parts. Along these lines, Bak and Chen (1991:46) pointed out the necessity of caution when they stress that large, interactive systems are not just scaled-up versions of small systems. They wrote: Traditionally investigators have analyzed large interactive systems in the same way they have small, orderly systems, mainly because the methods developed for simple systems have proved so successful. They believed they could predict the behavior of a large interactive system by studying its elements separately and by analyzing its microscopic mechanisms individually. For lack of a better theory, they assumed that the response of a large interactive system was proportional to the disturbance. It was believed that the dynamics of large interactive systems could be described in terms of an equilibrium state that is disturbed now and then by an external force. In fact, as Bak and Chen made clear, analyses should stress the differences between the deterministic, equilibrium, and dissipative systems, not their apparent similarities. One system is not a "poor man's version" of the other. One should not be "simplified" to the other, nor automatically labled as linear with extraneous noise. An additional point to emerge from this discussion is emphasized by Carlson and Langer (1989:2,635). Their work on slip-slide models (earthquakes) shows a potential hazard. They wrote Somewhat alarmingly, our results suggest that small events lead to smoothing on a larger scale, resulting in larger events later on. Examples which might explain "larger events later on" include sudden falls in the stock market which are out of equilibrium with rational expectations or routein events which suddenly get out of hand. However, this observation has other applications: what may appear as stable working systems may be hiding potential cataclysmic events. Such events could be more disruptive in a single event than would many smaller events over a longer period of time. It follows that government policies which seek to dampen needed adjustments in a dissipative system may be creating a situation where a larger and more disruptive single adjustment occurs in the system. In writing on organizational behavior, both Gemmill and Smith (1985) and Leifer (1989) call attention to this very important point. To quote Leifer (p. 905) an organization that chooses to use its natural tendencies to dampen change and restabilize equilibrium, will, in the long run, become increasingly misaligned with its environment. The greater the misalignment, the less the organization can depend on the environment for the resources and skills necessary to renew itself, leading eventually to a deterioration in coping mechanisms and eventually to substantial decline. Looking back at the discussion in this chapter, results of tests on data of subnational policy- adjustment behavior provides strong evidence for SOC and against random behavior. Also excluded as candidates for modeling subnational behavior are deterministic and equilibrium systems. It is not surprising, therefore, that the review of the literature presented in Chapter Two identified so many unsuccessful attempts to explain this aspect of policy behavior. Nor is it surprising that Grady (1987) found greater support for the equilibrium model over the deterministic models he tested. Recall that equilibrium models are closer to dissipative models than are deterministic models. Although conclusive in their own right, these observations are most relevant for the discussion which follows concerning biology models of competition (Chapter Five). Of the four models to be tested, none is based consciously on a dissipative approach. However, two models suggest movement (Red Queen and Turnover-Pulses) in contrast to the remaining two which emphasis stasis (Punctuated Equilibrium and Stationary View). Thus, it might be expected as a preliminary assessment that the models which stress movement would be more successful in explaining the dissipative subnational system than are equilibrium models stressing stasis. Chapter Five explores the relevance of biology to subnational behavior. In an environment of individual agents seeking their survival, which strategies and patterns of interaction prevail? Chapter Five Biological Models of an Evolutionary System CHAPTER ABSTRACT: The present chapter builds on work presented above. As shown in Chapter Four, state policy-adjustment behavior is consistent with self-organized criticality. Having identified a system, it is appropriate to inquire into the specific behavior which takes place within the system. Biological models of evolution--agents within an ecosystem--can help clarify subnational behavior. Empirical tests of four contending models (described in Chapter Three) help identify the dynamics which take place between subnational agents. MODELS OF COMPETITION How do states behave when adopting economic development polices? A partial answer has been provided in Chapter Four. However, this answer can be supplemented by reference to other models which recognize individual agents within a system. Candidates for inclusion at this juncture include analyses of cooperation, competition, avoidance, learning, and/or combat (to cite a partial list). While recognizing that many other models are legitimate contenders, the present research limits analysis to four models of competition. Discussed here are four models drawn from evolutionary biology which can give insight into the behavior driving subnational policy adjustment. Each model stresses a different aspect of how agents compete. Hence each model identifies a different fingerprint which is expected to appear in the data. The biological model which most closely matches subnational policy-adjustment behavior may also best capture its dynamics. Further, models which fail to explain subnational policy-adjustment behavior would seem to be the least similar to the phenomenon under discussion. In testing Hypotheses Three through Six, states are compared to species, the latter of which evolve through genetic mutations in the chromosomes (see discussion in Chapter One of Alchain's [1950, 1953] and others. States, however, evolve through policy adjustment. The competitive advantage which genetic mutation brings to species is comparable to the competitive advantage which state leaders hope will accrue to their state through policy adjustment. Each state seeks to use policy options to become a more fit competitor for its goal of obtaining economic development opportunities. Morphological characteristics in species reflect each individuals' phenotype. The same holds true for states; the "pro-business image" of the state (its morphological characteristics) is a direct reflection of that state's policy adjustment record (its phenotype). Given this linkage, comparison of species can be undertaken by shifting analyses from morphological characteristics to the genetic structure of the species. In fact, much work in biology has focused on this approach (see Ayala [1976] and its bibliography). This direct comparison of phenotypes also has its place in comparing states: the present research examines the "genetic" structure of the states by looking at the policy-adoptioon record of each state. The list of 46 policies (see Table One) tracked from 1970 to 1986 is the state's evolving chromosome. Mutation occurs with policy adjustment. Gingerich (1993) outlined his own approach to analyzing evolutionary rates. His comments, even if not his intent, show the place of complexity and chaos theory in this application. Gingerich wrote: Evolution is a gradual step-by-step process in which each generation inherits a developmental program that determines its form. The program is inherited from the preceding generation, and thus evolutionary sequences are appropriately studied as GENERATION-BY-GENERATION TIME SERIES. THIS APPROACH PROVIDES A MEANS FOR DISTINGUISHING SIGNIFICANT NON-RANDOM BEHAVIOR FROM STOCHASTIC RANDOM CHANGE. (p. 459; emphasis added) Thus Gingerich picks up on aspects of the preceding discussion through reference to distinguishing random from non-random behavior. Further, the biological "generation-by-generation" time series equates in public policy to yearly legislative adjustments in each state's public policy package. In the following four sections, each biological model is further described with reference to the Hypotheses which were developed in Chapter Three. The goal of this discussion is to determine which model(s) capture the dynamics of the subnational policy-adoption record. The Conway data are again used to match the expectations of the models and draw conclusions. TEST OF HYPOTHESIS THREE THE RED QUEEN HYPOTHESIS The RQH has its place in a dissipative systems approach as well as an application to subnational behavior. As for dissipative systems, consider Lewin's remarks: The Red Queen effect is particularly pertinent in biology, because it is a reminder that species do not lead isolated ives but instead are linked inextricably with others. The evolutionary success of one species may therefore be as much a function of what other species do as what the species itself does. Some biologists go so far as to argue that the Red Queen is THE driving force in evolutionary history, with environmental change playing only a minor part. The notion is clearly resonant with the dynamics for complex systems, an internal rather than an external engine for change for the species as a community. (p. 58; emphasis in original) The dynamics of the RQH can be applied to states in the federal system. In this application, states "evolve" (with the goal of becoming more fit competitors) by adopting economic development policies. The RQH suggests that individual goals may not be inconsistent with systemic goals. Chapter Three introduced the RQH. The Hypothesis which was generated from this discussion, and the Test for the Hypothesis, stated Hypothesis Three: Subnational policy- adjustment behavior displays the coevolutionary characteristics of Van Valen's Red Queen Hypothesis. Test for Hypothesis Three: Subnational policy-adjustment behavior displays evidence of each state's momentary fitness which fluctuates in the short-term in reference to all other systemic agents but shows no net advancement over the long-term relative to other subnational agents. Given that all states' fitness levels can be measured between 1970 and 1986, the RQH can easily be tested empirically for its application to economic development policy adjustment. As such, any state's fitness level (measured vis--vis all other states in the system) is expected to fluctuate over time as it both gains fitness (through its own policy adjustment) and looses fitness (through policy adjustment of all other states). Fluctuation over the years, however, will be articulated around a specific point of fitness (see Van Valen, 1974:299), the value of which is not relevant to the RQH. Van Valen (1973:18) noted the relationship between a series of momentary fitness levels. He wrote: Therefore the effects of these minor perturbations are not independent of each other over time. If they were, they should not be distributed about a constant mean. The rate of deterioration of the effective environment has what we can descriptively call the property of homeostasis. A large change in one interval is compensated for by a small one later, on the average, and vice versa; the mean itself does not undergo a random walk. With these observations, it is possible to show whether state momentary fitness levels fluctuate around a fixed point using a linear regression. For each state, a linear regression (where the X-axis signifies the years between 1970 and 1986 and the Y-axis shows the year's fitness level for each individual state) should produce a line with a slope equal to zero. Further, the R2 value will verify movement (fluctuation) in the system. (The Y-intercept values are unimportant for the RQH although they add important information to the discussion of state behavior as be discussed in Chapter Six.) Start with the Conway data such that the yearly difference in each state's policies can be shown. Sum the differences for the fifty states to give the total annual change (TAC). Observe also the value for each state's annual change (VS1, VS2,...VS50). Using the same formula for all years studied, each state's momentary fitness at any year is defined as VSN-[(TAC-VSN)/49]. The value VSN represents an unspecified state's individual and self-initiated change (if any) in its policy package for the one-year interval. This change is positive (i.e., it increases the state's momentary fitness) and must be added to the negative impact on the momentary fitness resulting from the actions of all other states. The value TAC-VSN shows the annual change of all states in the same year except the state whose fitness level is being determined. There being forty-nine other states, the value TAC-VSN is divided by forty-nine to show the level of disadvantage which the other forty-nine states have imposed on SN. Table Five shows the regression values for the slope, R2, and Y-axis intercept. Of interest to the Red Queen Hypothesis is the values of the slope. Graph One shows the distribution of slopes for all states. Before analyzing the results, two cautionary points must be made. First, the RQH itself predicts that all states, when analyzed as above, will not exhibit an OLS slope exactly at zero. The case could be that a state's momentary fitness is high or low at both the starting year and final year of analysis. This condition would result in a positive or negative slope which is more an artifact of the sample than a result of the phenomenon under study. Nevertheless, RQH predicts that states should show a zero-value slope outside of this condition. *Table Five Regression Data on State Fitness Levels* State Slope R2 Y-intercept Tennessee -0.23 0.22 1.34 Texas -0.19 0.10 0.94 New Jersey -0.18 0.11 1.87 Vermont -0.17 0.07 0.92 Massachusetts -0.15 0.19 1.29 Connecticut -0.15 0.15 1.29 Indiana -0.14 0.13 1.01 Minnesota -0.14 0.17 1.14 Hawaii -0.13 0.12 0.30 Washington -0.13 0.04 1.45 New Mexico -0.13 0.11 0.49 Georgia -0.12 0.14 0.55 New Hampshire -0.11 0.14 0.65 North Dakota -0.10 0.16 0.65 Nevada -0.10 0.15 0.34 Montana -0.08 0.05 0.65 Oregon -0.08 0.02 0.93 South Dakota -0.08 0.03 1.15 New York -0.07 0.08 0.00 Oklahoma -0.04 0.01 0.07 Virginia -0.03 0.01 0.07 Kansas -0.02 0.01 0.20 Wisconsin -0.02 0.01 -0.05 Idaho -0.02 0.01 -0.20 Delaware -0.02 0.00 1.03 West Virginia -0.01 0.00 0.41 North Carolina -0.00 0.00 -0.45 Michigan -0.00 0.00 0.69 Maine -0.00 0.00 0.32 Maryland 0.03 0.01 -0.04 Utah 0.04 0.05 -0.54 Wyoming 0.04 0.02 -1.03 Ohio 0.05 0.01 -0.35 Arizona 0.07 0.04 -0.78 Illinois 0.07 0.03 0.09 Alabama 0.07 0.06 -0.66 Pennsylvania 0.07 0.05 -1.12 Arkansas 0.09 0.11 -0.65 Rhode Island 0.09 0.11 -0.90 Florida 0.09 0.08 -0.62 Nebraska 0.12 0.11 -1.08 Alaska 0.13 0.08 -1.48 South Carolina 0.13 0.08 -1.05 Kentucky 0.15 0.22 -1.05 Mississippi 0.18 0.29 -1.23 Iowa 0.19 0.16 -0.85 Missouri 0.23 0.11 -1.22 California 0.24 0.16 -0.91 Colorado 0.26 0.43 -1.86 Louisiana 0.31 0.15 -1.24 *data ranked in ascending order based on slope Second, a high number of regression slopes at zero can reflect stability in the system rather than Red Queen dynamics. To eliminate the possibility of this condition, the regression slope must show a near-zero value in the presence of agent movement. As such, the R2 values reflect fluctuation. Graph One Distribution of Data from Table Five Slope R2 Y-intercept -0.25 0 0.00 0 -2.0 0 -0.20 1 0.03 16 -1.7 1 -0.15 3 0.06 6 -1.4 1 -0.10 10 0.09 5 -1.1 4 -0.05 5 0.12 8 -0.8 7 -0.00 10 0.15 4 -0.5 5 0.05 4 0.18 6 -0.2 4 0.10 7 0.21 1 0.1 5 0.15 4 0.24 2 0.4 4 0.20 2 0.27 0 0.7 7 0.25 2 0.30 1 1.0 3 0.30 1 0.33 0 1.3 6 0.35 1 0.36 0 1.6 2 0.40 0 0.39 0 1.9 1 0.42 0 0.45 1 To show a near-zero value of the slopes, refer to Table Five and Graph One. The slopes range from **** to **** with a variance of ****. Graph One also shows that the distribution peaks near the predicted zero- slope value. These findings are consistent with RQH expectations. To show a dynamic system, refer to the R2 values. Notice that the values do NOT show a good fit. This outcome is consistent with RQH and shows that the states are in movement. A good fit would suggest little movement; a poor fit suggests greater levels of movement. Because R2 is low and the slopes are near zero, the RQH is supported. The analysis of data is consistent with expectations of Van Valen's RQH. Although the subnational system exhibits fluctuations and movement (i.e., it is a dynamic system), individual agents' policy-adoption rates fluctuate around a constant mean value which is particular to the agent. To return to the Red Queen in Carroll's text, the agents are all running but staying together. No agent breaks from the pack. TEST OF HYPOTHESIS FOUR PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIUM Unlike RQH (which models continuous activity and species turnover even in the absence of perturbations), the remaining three models of evolution stress the role and importance of stasis as an essential characteristic of evolution. Nevertheless, none of these three models sees stasis in the same manner nor due to the same causes. PE is distinct from SV and T-P in seeing stasis at a species level. According to PE, species evolve in bursts and these bursts are separated by long periods of inactivity. In contrast, SV and T-P both evaluate stasis at the system level. The discussion of punctuated equilibrium in Chapter Three generated Hypothesis Four and Test for Hypothesis Four. They stated Hypothesis Four: Subnational policy- adjustment behavior displays features of Eldredge and Gould's model of punctuated equilibrium. Test for Hypothesis Four: Subnational policy- adjustment behavior exhibits stasis and abrupt evolutionary change, both at the state level. Subnational policy-adjustment behavior is not expected to exhibit incremental changes or meandering adaptation strategies. Hypothesis Four can be tested for stasis and abrupt evlutionary change through reference to the Conway data. As for stasis, Hypothesis Four expects to find evidence in the policy-adoption record that each state has made no change in its net economic development policy package. Thus, when comparing years in a time-series analysis, states should regularly show no difference. Table Six shows each state's stasis in terms of consecutive years without a net change in its policy package. In reference to these data, a case can be made that states exhibit periods of stasis. Policy- adjustment behavior is not observed in every yearly increment. In fact, for each single-year increment, **% of the states do not make policy adjustments. This percentage drops as the length of time increases: ******. In addition to showing stasis, states must exhibit abrupt evolutionary activity in a specific direction. Put differently, states are expected not to show incremental evolutionary changes or policy-adjustment patterns suggestive of a lack of a specific direction. Table Six Stasis in Subnational Policy-Adjustment Activity Number of Years/Frequency of Stasis State 1 2 3 4 5 6 total Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California ........................... Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming totals Data on this second aspect of state behavior are already in evidence from Tables Two and Four. It can be seen that rapid evolutionary changes are rare events. Further, the high number of policy retractions is contrary to expectations of policy-adjustment behavior following a specific direction. An additional expectation of PE--although by no means an essential expectation of the theory--refers to "living fossils", or species which have not evolved over millions of years (an extremely long stasis). Are there any "living fossils" in the subnational list? In fact, all states have been active in evolving as competitors for economic development opportunities. The greatest change from 1970 to 1986 was *** and the least ***. Thus, another expectation of PE is not observed in the subnational record. In sum, inspection of the policy-adoption records for each state suggests the presence of stasis at the state level but fails to find abrupt evolutionary activity to the exclusion of incremental and undirectional adjustments. It is therefore not possible to suggest that Hypothesis Four goes very far in capturing the dynamics of subnational behavior. The dynamics of PE do not adequately match the observed policy-adoption record of subnational agents to permit extrapolation of agents' behavior according to the PE model of competition. TEST OF HYPOTHESIS FIVE STATIONARY VIEW MODEL Stenseth and Maynard Smith have been the primary advocates in favor of the Stationary View (SV) model, a non-biotic variant on RQH. They agree that advances by one species lead to deteriorations in competitiveness by others. However, SV takes exception with the zero- sum assumption which is integral to RQH. This difference, as it works out, leads to a set of evolutionary possibilities which strongly contrast SV to other biological models of evolution. Stenseth and Maynard Smith (1984:870) recognize only RQH and SV as viable alternatives (although they acknowledge PE). As such, they wrote The main conclusion to emerge is that ecosystems are expected to approach one of two evolutionary modes. The first mode, corresponding to the Red Queen condition, is a steady state of change (even in a constant physical environment) characterized by continuing evolutionary change, extinction and speciation. The other is one of evolutionary stasis, which zero rate of evolution and no extinction or speciation; evolutionary change occurs only in response to changes in the physical environment. Chapter Three introduced the general aspects of SV. The Hypothesis which was generated from this discussion, and the Test for the Hypothesis, stated Hypothesis Five: Subnational policy- adjustment behavior displays features of Stenseth and Maynard Smith's Stationary View model. Test for Hypothesis Five: Subnational policy- adjustment behavior shows evidence of bursts of evolutionary activity associated with perturbations to the physical environment followed by a slowing down of evolutionary change and eventual stasis until the system is again perturbed. Stenseth and Maynard Smith base their analyses on an EVOLUTIONARY LAG analysis (Maynard Smith, 1976b). In a series of articles (Lawlor and Maynard Smith, 1976; Maynard Smith, 1976a, 1976b; and Stenseth and Maynard Smith, 1984), the theoretical arguments for SV were developed. This model expects certain physical evidence. As pointed out, on the Stationary view we would expect bursts of evolution, extinction and speciation associated with, and caused by, major changes in the physical environment. Following such bursts, there would be a slowing down of evolutionary change and species turnover, until a new physical catastrophe kicked the system into motion again. .... Species are expected to remain phenotypically fairly constant for extensive periods. (Stenseth and Maynard Smith, 1984:878) Importantly, SV has three characteristics: evolutionary bursts in conjunction with environmental perturbations; slowing evolutionary rates; and stasis at the system level. How best can the data be presented to test Hypothesis Five? The "Adjustments" column in Table Seven shows the following tallies marked by the letters shown: A. number of states deleting policies; B. number of policies deleted; C. number of states adding policies; D. number of policies added; E. number of states with no adjustment; F. annual gain/loss in policies (D-B); and G. annual activity (D+B). Although variable F references the possibility of gains or losses in policies, the yearly totals show only gains. SV projects an environmental perturbation which causes an evolutionary burst. For each variable tracked in Table Seven, an evolutionary burst shall be defined as follows: A. more than ten states; B. more than twenty policies; C. more than twenty states; D. more than fifty policies; E. fewer than fifteen states; F. greater than or equal to forty policies; and G. greater than sixty policies. Table Seven Policy-Adjustment Rates 1970-1986 Year Interval Adjustments Burst Criterion A, B; C, D; E; F, G 1970-1971 7,17; 6,34;25;17,51 1971-1972 4, 4;16,33;37;29,37 1972-1973 9,14;19,44;22;30,58 1973-1974 15,23;21,42;14;19,65 A,B,C,E,G 1974-1975 12,22;19,43;19;21,65 A,B,G 1975-1976 7, 8;19,49;24;41,57 F 1976-1977 6,12;12,38;26;26,50 1977-1978 4, 6;19,41;27;35,47 1978-1979 3, 3;23,65;24;62,68 C,D,F,G 1979-1980 4, 9;10,21;36;12,30 1980-1981 9,21;21,36;20;15,57 C 1981-1982 8,11,21,51;21;40,62 C,D,F,G 1982-1983 * 1983-1984 * 1984-1985 5,10;22,62;23;52,72 C,D,F,G 1985-1986 6, 6;17,41;27;35,47 rounded means: 7,11;17,41;25;31,55 Based on these variables and the accompanying definition of evolutionary burst, the strongest case for an evolutionary burst is found in 1973-1974, 1978- 1979, 1981-1982, and 1984-1985. SV predicts that high levels of activity will be attributed to an environmental stimulus. Referring to the four yearly intervals above, the OPEC oil embargo may account for activities in 1973-1974 and again in 1978-1979. Curiously, however, the states seem to have followed alternative strategies with each shock: in 1973-1973, states reduced policies more than in 1978. Nevertheless, SV doesn't ask how evolution is achieved; it looks for activity. Therefore SV may explain 1973- 1974 and 1978-1979 activity by referencing the influence of OPEC. Further, the 1974-1975 activity-- higher than average in three categories--may also be a result of OPEC. Under assumptions of SV, harder to explain using the SV model is the activity in 1981-1982 and 1984- 1985. SV requires an environmental perturbation; the system cannot initiate change sponte sua. However, what environmental shock can be identified for these years? In fact, the 1981-1982 and 1984-1985 evolutionary bursts are not problematic for a dissipative system. Although these two bursts seem uncorrelated to large external perturbations, a dissipative system on the edge of chaos can be purturbed by small events which may not be identifiable in an analysis of the external environment. Even accepting the influence of OPEC and some unidentified environmental perturbation in 1981-1982 and again in 1984-1985, an essential aspect of SV predicts a tapering off of evolutionary (policy- adjustment) rates and eventual stasis. It makes sense to indentify statis in reference to two variables: the number of states making no adjustment in their policy package as well as the number of total policy changes (variables E and G of Table Seven). "Stasis" at the system level is then defined as when 1) forty of more states make no policy changes in a year (given the average number at 25) and 2) the total policy change is less than 30 (given the average at 55). Given these variables and definitions, at no point does the subnational system suggest stasis as required by SV; policy-adjustment rates continue to be strong throughout the sixteen-year interval of data. The lowest adjustment rate--thirty adjustments in 1979- 1980--is immediately followed by high values of 57 and 62 policy adjustments. There is no definitive evidence between OPEC shocks nor after the 1978 shock to suggest an evolutionary trend toward stasis. Overall, the data suggest that subnational policy- adoption rates may be sensitive to external perturbations but that the system does not function under the assumptions essential to SV. In fact, the chief characteristic of the model--that the system will settle into stasis after a perturbation--is the most problematic aspect of Hypothesis Five to support. Indeed, the closest the system moved to stasis was in 1979-1980 when only fourteen states modified their policy package to delete nine policies and add twenty- one. Based on the data and analysis presented here, Hypothesis Five cannot be supported. Although it is possible to find evidence of environmental perturbations on the system, this aspect alone is not sufficient. Indeed, Vrba's Turnover-Pulse Hypothesis (considered in Hypothesis Six), as well as the RQH, can incorporate environmental shocks into the model without arriving at an stationary interpretation. In conclusion, the criterion of identifiable environmental perturbations is not applicable to a dissipative system. It therefore cannot be used to test the model's application to the subnational policy- adjustment record. However, the essential role of stasis serves as a decisive factor in evaluating SV. Stasis is not found and Hypothesis Five cannot be said to explain this example of subnational behavior. TEST OF HYPOTHESIS SIX TURNOVER-PULSE MODEL The final model to be tested against subnational policy-adoption records is Vrba's Turnover-Pulse model (1982, 1985). She originally suggested it as a variant of PE. However, in its 1993 version in AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE the model is different enough to merit individual attention. Like SV, T-P emphasizes environmental perturbations as the sole source of evolutionary events. "Evolution is normally conservative...," Vrba (1993:428) wrote, "Speciation does not occur unless forced by changes in the physical environment." Vrba described the expectations for this model such that most lineage turnover in the history of life has occurred in pulses, nearly synchronous across diverse groups of organisms, and in predictable synchrony with changes in the physical environment. MOST OF THESE TURNOVER-PULSES ARE SMALL PEAKS INVOLVING FEW LINEAGES AND/OR RESTRICTED GEOGRAPHIC AREAS. SOME OF THEM ARE MASSIVE AND OF GLOBAL EXTENT (Vrba, 1982, 1985). (p. 428; emphasis added) Notice the first half of this quote and how close this condition (also stated on page 432 of her 1993 article) is to the SV criterion for evolutionary bursts (Stenseth and Maynard Smith, 1984:878; cited above). Indeed, "evolutionary bursts" and "turnover-pulses" may reduce to the same phenomenon. However, turnover pulses cannot be predicted even given an environmental stimulus. Vrba states "WHETHER you [=the species] respond or not is none of my business, but IF you do then you must do it together" (1993:431-432; emphasis in original). Also similar between SV and T-P is stasis. Vrba showed this similarity between the two models when she wrote in a particular ecosystem all changes in species composition should be concentrated in pulses initiated by physical environmental changes, while ecosystem stasis, at least in species composition, should obtain between pulses (as predicted also by Stenseth and Maynard Smith's 1984, stationary hypothesis...." (p. 428) However, Vrba points out T-P "does not REQUIRE stasis" (p. 446; emphasis added). When present, each model attributes stasis to different factors: in SV it is attributable to reduced evolutionar y lag leading to reduced evolution; in T-P stasis results from evolutionary conservatism in the absence of physical perturbations. The importance of this discussion can be further seen in reference to a further dividing line between SV and T-P: Vrba's concept of INITIATING EVENTS, or causes which initiate evolutionary activity even if those same causes do not carry through the activity once begun. Vrba wrote all INITIATION of turnover is exclusively physical. It allows the possibilities of gradual microevolution, co-evolution, competition, and other proximal biotic interactions but reserves the INITIATION of turnover for physical changes. (p. 428; emphasis in original) Vrba also described the data-testing process for the theory: testing for prevalence of turnover-pulses depends on statistical analyses of whether or not a significant majority of turnover events in diverse groups of organisms is involved in pulses. (p. 432) Drawing on the discussion of T-P, Hypothesis Six and Test for Hypothesis Six stated Hypothesis Six: Subnational policy-adjustment behavior displays features of Vrba's turnover-pulse model. Test for Hypothesis Six: Subnational policy- adjustment behavior shows evidence of rapid evolutionary movement associated with initiating events originating from environmental perturbations. The system is otherwise conservative and cannot initiate change without an environmental stimulus. How well do the Conway data match expectations for T-P? Much of the information needed to analyze T-P has already been introduced in the discussion of SV. As such, it becomes a question of interpreting the same observations for T-P expectations. As already stated, the data show that subnational policy-adoption rates jumped during the OPEC shocks as well as on two later years. However, failure to find an apparent stimulus for the latter two pulses may be more a reflection of a dissipative system than the failure of the model to meet expectations. This feature of T-P (as with SV) cannot be used as a criterion to evaluate the model. However, the criterion of stasis can serve as a test for the model. As for stasis, unlike SV, T-P does not predict that evolutionary rates must go to stasis in the absence of perturbations. Recall Vrba states that T-P can accommidate stasis but stasis is not necessary (cited above). Therefore the primary problem with SV--the lack of stasis--does not disquality T-P. Further, the distribution of peaks (pulses) is consistent with Vrba's expectations. The subnational system shows "most...small peaks...[and] some...massive and of global extent" (Vrba, 1993:428; cited above). In evaluating T-P against the data, it must be emphasized that the data fit the model only under the assumption of a dissipative system. Such an assumption is at odds with Vrba's fundamental interpretation of evolutionary systems as "normally conservative" and "forced" to change (see citations above). Consequently, although the four observed fluctuations (pulses) can be explained in a dissipative system, such an assumption is a contradiction to T-P. For this reason it follows that subnational behavior does not correspond well with the behavioral dynamics modeled in T-P. As for the four models which have been discussed, the Red Queen Hypothesis best captures the dynamics of the subnational system. This match, as it works out, is not simply the best of four possible tests; RQH shows a strong match between the empirical expectations of the model and data analyses. As a result of empirical testing, subnational policy-adjustment behavior can be said to be a dissipative system characterized by competition by agents which are engaged in a zero-sum strategy for resources. This is a non-trivial conclusion which can be supported for the first time by appeal to data, models, and testing against alternative explanations. The significance of this outcome is the topic of the last chapter, Chapter Six, "Conclusions". Chapter Six Conclusions CHAPTER ABSTRACT: The final chapter of this dissertation presents an overview of the research presented above. Spontaneous order and behavior are examined as means of describing the history of subnational economic development strategies. Having shown that a system exists (Hypothesis One), additional insight can be gained from economics, boids, and percolation analyses. Physics noise demonstrated the existence of a dissipative system. This step made, chaos theory also describes how a dissipative system changes. These principles are applied to Eisinger's (1988) study of state policy adoption. They are found to be consistent with the facts but at odds with his implicit assumption of a non-dissipative dynamic among decision makers. The alternatives of order mandated through rules (forced order) and order arising spontaneously though agent interaction (fractal order) are examined for strengths and weaknesses. The observations from biology are consistent with those from physics; of the four biology models tested, the Red Queen Hypothesis alone satisfies the evidence of the subnational data. Comments are made concerning resource abundance and its influence on the type of completion (see Rosenzweig et al., 1987). Further, it is shown that a dynamic dissipative system can perturb itself (contra Vrba's assumptions) and need not rely on external or environmental perturbations. Last, based on the findings presented in this dissertation, some topics for further research are identified for public policy and political science inquiry. SPONTANEOUS ORDER AND BEHAVIOR At the start of this research, a fundamental question was asked: What variables influence state policy-adjustment behavior? At the conclusion of this research, a clearer answer has emerged. In the preceding pages it has been suggested that the deterministic and equilibrium models are inappropriate for evaluating this public policy phenomenon. A deterministic system is based on linearities and proportional cause-effect. With such a model, prediction is possible well into the future. Equilibrium systems are characterized by coping mechanisms which restore the system to its original dynamic. Such systems do not undergo change to reach a new equilibrium. Dissipative systems, by contrast, exhibit features which better match the policy process by capturing the dynamics of routine discontinuity in government and the plurality of concerns resulting from conflicting policy preferences. The dissipative model defines itself by establishing spontaneous organization in the midst of rapidly changing conditions. Deterministic and equilibrium models fail to match the environment of public policy decisions. There are clear differences between the three systems described here, of which only the deterministic and equilibrium models are represented in the research on subnational behavior. The absence of the dissipative model may be due to the relatively-recent popularity of complexity and chaos theory as research orientations. Whatever the reason for its absence, this dissertation as provided the first analysis of the subnational policy process using an approach drawn from complexity and chaos theory and emphasizing dissipative systems. A review of the sources shows no dissertation (as of June, 1994) has been written linking chaos theory to public policy. Of course, the tools available through complexity and chaos theory are abundant and wide ranging. Therefore, no suggestion is made that the present inquiry has exhausted the research potential of this approach. Instead, the discussion focused on two options to explore the subnational system: physics answered the questions concerning what type of system, if any type at all, was represented by the subnational agents; also, biology answered questions about the dynamics of the system once identified. Using physics to describe subnational behavior has confirmed that the total output of all subnational economic development activity is not random. Rather, state activities--although undertaken on an individual basis and for self-maximizing purposes--continue to produce a collective output which is organized at the system level. Rejecting random behavior at the system level requires a critical and informed look at the data. What might seem to be a random distribution of state activities shows the classic confusion between "random" and "chaotic". Too often "random" and "chaotic" are used synonymously, and used to denote "non-linear" (Glass and Mackey, 1988; Savit, 1988, McCloskey, 1990). In fact, whereas both are non-linear, only chaotic data are the product of deterministic rules. Random data are not governed by deterministic rules. The data analysis of subnational policy strategies presented in Chapter Four shows the deterministic origin of a self- organized critical system. Such a system has specific behavior: because it is at the edge of chaos, small perturbations can trigger large, system-wide responses. Further, the size and frequency of system adjustments occur in a log-linear manner with a slope of the line falling between zero and negative two. Finding self-organized criticality in subnational behavior allows further insights into the organization of agents at a systemic level. However, least the most obvious benefit of analyzing physics noise go overlooked, note that the investigation into white, brown, and pink noise has shown that THERE IS A SYSTEM in the first place. What happens in one state is relevant beyond its borders. State leaders may be autonomous agents seeking their own best outcome (either for themselves or the state); still, they are also agents in a fifty-player system which functions according to set rules. What are these rules? There is no assertion here that state decision makers are even aware of the systemic significance of their actions. In fact, it would be precarious to argue that decision makers overcome cognitive limits and endure high costs of information to consider their actions in depth and the impact of those actions at the systemic level. Rather, the contention is that state decision makers scan their local environment-- contiguous states, national leaders, other idiosyncratic influences (Walker, 1969:883)--and act on information and motives which are decidedly not systemic. Surprisingly, the outcome of fifty local self-maximizers in an iterative process (such as annual adjustments) reaches beyond the agent, the yearly time increment, and the immediate goal. The outcomes of local behavior spread to influence the entire system. How can behavior which is regional shape a systemic outcome? In terms borrowed from economics, the description of individual state behavior is similar to the behavior of individual consumers and the formation of a market. The outcome in both examples is one of a self-organized system of agents. Consider, however, the assumption of the consumers' "perfect knowledge" and the criticism of this assumption from work on cognitive limits (Waldrop, 1992; see also Chattoe [1994a] for references to Baumol and Benhabib, 1989; Futia, 1977; Tesfatsion, 1980a, 1980b). Increasingly, evidence is surfacing which suggests that perfect knowledge is unnecessary for the formation of a market. Rather, the desired outcome is produced through iterated purchases, SOME knowledge of product quality leading to purchasing differentials, and supply-side competition (Chattoe [1994a] cites Anderline [1990], Binmore and Samuelson [1990], Eaton and Slade [1989], Fudenberg and Maskin [1990], Hansen and Samuelson [1988], Kreps [1990], and Nachbar [1992]). For both policy adjustment and market formation, perfect knowledge is unnecessary and alternative behavior may lead to the same result. A second example might help show how else behavior which is regional can shape a systemic outcome. Consider Craig Reynolds's cellular automata experiments with "boids" (for bird-like, or "birdoid"). This experiment leads to understanding how only a few rules can create a powerful structure when agents iterate behavior. Reynolds (1987, 1992, in press) gave the boids three basic behavioral rules (as summarized by Waldrop): Rule 1. maintain a minimum distance from other objects in the environment, including other boids; Rule 2. try to match velocities with the boids in the neighborhood; and Rule 3. try to move toward the perceived center of mass of boids in the neighborhood. The behavioral outcome of these rules is significant. Reynolds observed that regardless of where the boids started, they always formed a flock (personal communication, 1994). Yet at no time were the boids told to form a flock! SYSTEMIC-LEVEL FLOCK FORMATION WAS A BY-PRODUCT OF SIMPLE, LOCALIZED RULES. The relation between boid behavioral rules and state decision making practices are close enough to invite comparison. Rule One: States evaluate their competitive position (distance) in reference to "other objects in the environment", such as contiguous states, national leaders, and other haphazard input. Due to cost restraints, availability of information, and cognitive limits, states do not evaluate the entire system. Nor did boids. Rule Two: States also seek to remain in the competition for economic development opportunities. Consider Jones's application of the disequilibrium-adjustment model as suggested by Plaut and Pluta (1983). Jones (1990:221) explains The model assumes that differences among states in the supply of public policies attract (or repel) economic growth. Economic growth will occur in the more attractive states until equilibrium is restored (through, for example, the diffusion of policy innovations made in the more attractive states to other states), or until basic economic circumstances change. The model is estimated by relating economic growth (i.e., change) to LEVELS of policies across states. (emphasis in original) The disequilibrium-adjustment process involves "matching [=adjusting] velocities with the boids [=states] in the neighborhood". It makes no difference whether "neighborhood" is defined in a strictly geographic sense, a function of cognitive impact, or a function of predominance in the field. Rather, it is significant that the decisions are not made on an evaluation of the entire system. Last, Rule Three: What of the behavior to "move toward the perceived center of the mass...in the neighborhood"? This rule for boid behavior may point to an aspect of state behavior which has heretofore gone under-noticed. Moving to the center means, by implication, not being located at the front or the rear of the flock. What significance would this have for states? To start, being located at the front could produce two negative outcomes. First, the state may be paying too much for economic development. Leading the states in economic development policies suggests a policy package with is too generous. States may want a SLIGHT ADVANTAGE over competitors; outright leadership may be a disadvantage on a cost basis. Second, consider the influence of a mobile workforce. Leaders in economic development may end up attracting the unemployed and underemployed out of other states. A reputation that "State X is doing everything it can--and doing it better than all the other states--to employ its citizens" may backfire by attracting greater number of job seekers. Obvious cost and effectiveness considerations exist for not assuming the leadership position. What of the laggards, or the states which adopt policies the last? Why are they drawn into the center? First, as Walker (1969:890) points out, In fact, once a program has been adopted by a large number of states it may become recognized as a legitimate state responsibility, something which all states ought to have. When this happens it becomes extremely difficult for state decision makers to resist even the weakest kinds of demands to institute the program for fear of arousing public suspicions about their good intentions; once a program has gained the stamp of legitimacy, it has a momentum all its own. Every state needs jobs for the voters; not offering incentives to business would be a disastrous strategy. Second, a state strategy which rejected offering competitive incentives to business would mean the state would lose industry, jobs, and taxes to other states. Policy makers would be voted out of office. The laggard position is inconsistent with contemporary economic development strategies and political realities. Analysis of potential hazards of leader and laggard roles in economic development policy-adoption records suggests that the middle ground may be the safe place to remain. By rejecting leader and laggard positions, states come to position themselves closer to the center of the pack of competitors, thereby maximizing themselves by avoiding negative outcomes although receiving fewer positive outcomes. Like Reynolds' cellular automata programs, computer models using lattice analyses of percolation hold another means of understanding state behavior. Percolation, like diffusion, calculates changes in cells based on events in the surrounding environment. Percolation is commonly represented by a forest- fire simulation. Albinet et al. (1986:1-2) describe the salient features of percolation simulation: The model is dynamic and its evolution can be observed as a function of time. The interaction between contaminated and non-contaminated sites (heat transfer in the case of a fire): a) depends on the nature of each site (type of "tree") b) is not limited to first neighbor interactions, c) takes into account latency (a "tree" will only ignite when it has received enough "heat"), d) allows for cooperative contamination (a "tree may be "heated" by several neighbours simultaneously), and, e) may be non-isotopic (effect of "wind" or "slope" for example). As was seen for boids, using the above rules for percolation in a forest fire is both a matter of SUBSTITUTING terms for forest fires to state diffusion and/or REWRITING THE PROGRAM to use deterministic rules which more accurately reflect those found in the subnational system. Percolation holds the promise of rewarding future work in understanding diffusion dynamics. As for a first step in interpreting results, Albert et al. observed three regions in a 200 X 200 forest. They wrote In region I, we are in a transitory state where the ignition of the whole of the first two rows gives a quick advance of the front (the system "remembers" the initial conditions). Region II is associated to a steady propagation where the scaling laws work: this is the interesting region for us. In zone III, the finite dimension of the system is the prevailing factor: the propagation is restricted by the border of the forest, giving a decrease of the speed of the mean position of the front. (p. 4) This suggests a dynamic which diffusion has been unable to fully capture and describe. Percolation analyses may provide important insights into the spread of policies. ANSWERING THE QUESTION: BUT WHY "NOISE" AND BIOLOGY?? Finalizing the research outline presented in Chapter One required a choice to use physics noise and biology models when analyzing subnational policy-adjustment behavior. The benefits of this approach can be seen both by their match to the empirical record as well as in their ability to bring insight into the subnational process beyond the testimony of the data. The Dissipative System There are lessons to be learned beyond the empirical discussion of physics noise described with reference to Hypotheses One and Two in Chapter Four. Having confirmed a dissipative system, what more is thereby known? To answer, Gemmill and Smith (1985) described CHANGE IN A DISSIPATIVE SYSTEM in terms of 1) disequilibrium; 2) symmetry breaking; 3) experimentation; and 4) reformation. Leifer's (1989) four- component change sequence is slightly different. He emphasized 1) the point of singularity; 2) transformation utilizing radical strategies; 3) inefficient acting and experimentation; and 4) resynthesis. These two sets of terms emphasized different aspects of the same change process. Ineffective and inefficient systems must change. How is this goal achieved? As a starting point, the system experiences disequilibrium. Rules for coping are ineffective. The system must divert increasing amounts of attention, energy, and capital to maintaining itself rather than achieving its production or service goals. Such a system is also fragile. Even a minor shock can cause it to experience inordinately high levels of instability. The more serious the disequilibrium, the less strong a disturbance it takes to send the system out of control. At a certain point the system will experience a perturbation from which it cannot recover. Such a perturbation is called a "point of singularity" and it triggers cascading, non-linear outcomes within a system. The point of singularity is comparable to "the straw that broke the camel's back" or the match which starts a vast forest fire. Both analogies show how even a small event can trigger a large outcome. Thus, what might have started as just another political rebellion or revolt could end up as a full- scale revolution. Experiencing the point of singularity is like crossing the Rubicon. Once it's occurred, there can be no turning back. For the organization, two changes can result: entropy or revitalization. Entropy leads to the demise of the system. By contrast, a dissipative system may revitalize itself and produce order out of chaos. Revitalized organizations have achieved a new equilibrium. Arriving at a new equilibrium is a difficult process. Systems must work toward a twin processes of jettisoning old rules and expectations while replacing them with new rules and expectations. Neither half is easy. The old rules which performed a disservice to the organization may be protected, deeply entrenched, psychologically safe, or simply too hard to break. Further, new rules are neither apparent nor assured. The period following the point of singularity is therefore filled with ineffective and inefficient experimentation, trial and error, individual initiatives, and unconventional problem-solving approaches. The system, in other words, is in chaos. Chaos rules. However, a fundamental tenet of chaos theory holds that order emerges spontaneously from chaos. When an organization is in chaos, some experimentation will be successful. What doesn't work is eliminated and other options are brought forth. Trial and error eventually shows what types of solutions the system prefers and what it rejects. The next round of solutions draws on the stability and learning of the first set of trials. Experimentation and unconventional problem- solving approaches continue. However, the levels of chaos diminish and the organization finds higher levels of order. Change within a dissipative system will eventually lead to order which is built on new rules, new coping mechanisms, and around a new equilibrium. Further, the emergence of order out of chaos "just happens" without design or intervention. Order also leads to organizational revitalization which is the final outcome of change in a dissipative system. The system is in tune with the environment. Of course, nothing lasts forever. The system may again experience growing levels of disequilibrium. Such a system, if it experiences a point of singularity, will again undergo the chaos-to-order sequence or it will experience entropy and terminate. History of Economic Development How can a dissipative system help us understand the behavior of American states in the economic development policy domain? Although no study has set out to answer this question, Eisinger's (1988) review of the history of state economic development efforts from 1930 to 1986 shows characteristics of chaos theory models. Even without his using the jargon or references found in the literature of chaos theory itself, Eisinger has described a dissipative system. As background to the study, Eisinger begins his survey of subnational economic development efforts by noting that policies can be either supply-side oriented or demand-side oriented. Without entering into the full scale of Eisinger's argument, note that he holds that the supply-side orientation is generally ineffective and inefficient whereas the demand-side constitutes an improvement to subnational economic development efforts. As for the point of singularity which ushers in chaos, the initial stimulus came when Mississippi adopted the Balance Agriculture With Industry (BAWI) program in the 1930's. It was the match in the forest, or, put differently, it "lifted the curtain on an era of more competitive subsidization and broader state and local involvement in industrial development efforts" (Cobb, 1982:5; cited in Eisinger, p. 32). Whatever the analogy, Mississippi's innovation became every state's invitation to follow its lead. According to the dissipative model, this point of singularity is followed by chaos in the form of trial and error, local initiatives, and unconventional decision making. Again Eisinger provides evidence to show the presence of this "complex and simultaneous interaction" (Gemmill and Smith, 1985). Consider the following citations (emphases added): (1) ...economic development is an increasingly important government activity.... THERE ARE NO ESTABLISHED FRAMEWORKS. THE FIELD LACKS AN ANALYTICAL SYNTHESIS AND A CRITICAL INTERPRETATION. (p. 4) (2) the putative value of these INDUCEMENTS, WHOSE EFFICACY ECONOMISTS HAVE DOUBTED FROM THE BEGINNING, have diminished as more and more states have offered them. (p. 11) (3) MUCH PROGRAM DESIGN IS FRANKLY EXPERIMENTAL, AS STATES TRY ALTERNATIVE WAYS OF WIELDING LEVERAGE in the economy. (p. 24) (4) State and local officials still devote SUBSTANTIAL ENERGIES AND RESOURCES to the competition for footloose firms, DESPITE INDICATIONS...THAT SUCH BUSINESSES DO NOT CONSTITUTE THE MAIN SOURCE OF EMPLOYMENT GROWTH IN A STATE'S ECONOMY. (p. 25) (5) To the extent that states have relied on RANDOM INQUIRIES from out-of-state firms and saturation prospecting trips, THE PURSUIT OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT HAS BEEN AN ESSENTIALLY UNPLANNED ACTIVITY. (p. 26) (6) A number of communities and states also produce lists of development activities and goals IN MORE OR LESS RANDOM FASHION that they label "economic development plans". (p. 26) (7) MOST OF THE HISTORY OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IS NOTABLE FOR THE ABSENCE OF PLANNING. (p. 29) (8) From an economic point of view IT IS SIMPLE, THEREFORE, TO MAKE THE ARGUMENT THAT LOCATION INCENTIVES ARE INEFFECTIVE as devices for the generation of new investment and new jobs. (p. 337) To summarize evidence for a dissipative system in economic development, the argument can further cite Eisinger who speaks of a "lack of a strong consensus about what works and what does not" (p. 24) and a "continual search for whatever appears to work" (p. 31). The final component of a dissipative system is revitalization, or the emergence of order out of chaos. Revitalization is also suggested by Eisinger's observations. First, consider the following quote (emphasis added): The thesis of this book is that subnational economic development policy has undergone A RECENT SHIFT from an almost exclusive reliance on supply-side location incentives to stimulate investments to an approach that increasingly emphasizes demand factors in the market as a guide to the design or invention of policy. (p. 10) Second, as if to underscore revitalization in this policy domain, Eisinger starts his Chapter One by noting the high levels of "consensus and expectation" for economic development. According to Eisinger, this consensus emerged "sometime after the mid-1970's", or forty years after Mississippi's adoption of the BAWI policy. Thus Eisinger distinguishes between the first forty years of subnational policy adoption aimed at economic development (from 1930 to 1970) and the years that follow. His description of the latter's "ineffective", "random", and "experimental" policy initiatives is replaced by references to the former's "design" and "consensus" approach. As pointed out in the discussion of dissipative systems, order must arise from chaos spontaneously; in a dissipative system, order cannot be imposed. Eisinger suggested that the revitalization in subnational economic development policy preferences was spontaneous rather than a result of federal intervention. As pointed out earlier, Eisinger stated briefly that "the word 'national' almost never modifies 'economic development'" (p. 4). He elaborated, noting that The invention and implementation of economic development policies are the responsibilities chiefly of numerous state and local governments.... Most of these actors operate independently of one another. There is no federal department of economic development to offer guidance, nor is there a national development plan or coordinating body. Federal programs do exist, but their exploitation and implementation are left mainly to state and local officials and citizens' groups. (p. 23) Do subnational economic development efforts from 1930 to 1986 (and possibly beyond) show the expected four components of a dissipative model? Based on the evidence presented, the answer is in the affirmative. Discussion If there is one point where Eisinger parted company with the discussion of a dissipative system, it is when he identified stimuli which may have brought about the change from supply-side policies to demand-side policies in the '70's. According to Eisinger, the change was due to "shifts in the distribution of people and jobs across the landscape, changes in the federal political arrangement, and deep transformations in the nature of the American economy" (p. 10). Perhaps Eisinger was responding to a felt need to find a causal stimulus for switching from supply-side policies to demand-side policies. Indeed, in non- chaotic analyses, it is natural to think in terms of cause- effect: if a change occurs, something must have caused it; and big changes require big causes. Chaos theory rejects both the need for a cause as well as the matched scale of cause-outcome. This rejection has interesting implications for Eisinger's conclusions. First, if the argument of this research is accurate--that is, if subnational economic development is best described as a dissipative system--it is not necessary to produce a cause-effect reason for the change from supply-side policies to demand-side policies. Chaos theory postulates that order emerges spontaneously out of chaos. Thus, unlike a deterministic argument where both the cause and effect must be identified, there is no reason in the dissipative study of subnational economic development to produce a cause for the new order. This spontaneous revitalization is sometimes hard to accept. Something out of nothing? Order out of chaos? It defies our traditional ways of thinking. Nevertheless spontaneous order is confirmed by observations of nature (see Nicolis and Prigogine, 1989) and organizations (see Gemmill and Smith, 1985; and Leifer, 1989). Thus, researchers must increase their comfort level with order emerging from chaos and learn to accept spontaneous revitalization without needing to search for agents of change. Second, Eisinger suggests that three stimuli--shifts in distribution of population and jobs, federal changes, and a transformation of the American national economy--led the states to RESTORE ORDER out of their inefficient acting and experimentation with supply-side policy adoption preferences. The alternative interpretation is that these three influences DESTROYED THE ORDER of the supply-side policy options which were out of equilibrium with the environment or, put differently, that the stimuli INITIATED CHAOS (the direct opposite of "restore order") in a system in disequilibrium. In other words, these three stimuli might have acted individually or collectively as points of singularity which ushered in experimentation leading to demand-side options. In fact, Eisinger himself suggested the point of singularity option when he stated that "the entrepreneur [or entrepreneurial state using demand-side policies] encounters resistance, however, for such activity has a DISEQUILIBRATING IMPACT..." (p. 8; emphasis added). There is a fine but important distinction to be made between looking at stimuli as either (1) producing order out of a system in disequilibrium or (2) producing chaos within the system which then develops spontaneous order. The first outcome is "forced order" and the second outcome is "fractal order". Diagram One shows the two alternative sequences. In Diagram One-A, the system in disequilibrium regains stability due to the stimulus acting on the system. Thus, the level of disequilibrium drops following the stimulus. In Diagram One-B, the system in disequilibrium experiences greater instability (chaos) due to the stimulus acting on the system. Thus, the level of disequilibrium rises following the stimulus. Eventually, the system finds greater levels of stability. Understanding this distinction between forced and fractal order must precede any assessment of a system's or an organization's return to order. On one hand, the forced order system shown in Graph One is clearly moving toward a better equilibrium following the stimulus. On the other hand, the fractal order system in Graph Two IS ALSO MOVING TO A BETTER EQUILIBRIUM although it must pass through a chaotic period. Decision makers, therefore, should be cautious to understand the presence and role of chaos in restoring order to systems. A leader who sees greater chaos following a stimulus must understand that order will eventually arise and that additional stimuli many be unnecessary and/or harmful to the emerging order. Nor should chaos be damped or "blamed" on organizational members. Comparing patterns of forced order to fractal order, it is noted that both systems eventually arrive at order. However, the differences are important here: for the forced order option, order is imposed, as through organizational mandates, laws, or authority, all with the explicit assumption of a deterministic or stable environment. In contrast, for the fractal order option, order arises naturally from the experimentation and innovation by the agents in the system. This difference in origin of order raises the question: which alternative route to order is better? Said differently, is it better to allow a system to experience naturally-occurring chaos and develop its own rules leading to an equilibrium (bottom up fractal order), or should rules and objectives be stipulated and the organizational members made to conform (top down forced order)? It would of course be na ve to suggest that one answer fits all options. In some instances, the system cannot experience high levels of chaos without incurring high costs to those involved. This is especially true for political organizations such as nations where the cost of chaos is citizen death or misery (starvation, riot, war, dislocation, etc). Conversely, even these examples may benefit from fractal order under the recognition that forced order is not a panacea. Forced order may fail to reflect the dynamics of the system and its members, thus perpetuating disequilibrium. Forced order may also fail to keep in tune with the changing time, thereby creating increasing obstacles to the organization's goals. Unfortunately, when deciding between fractal order and forced order, the issue may be determined for all the wrong reasons. Consider the time factor involved: arriving at order out of chaos may be a lengthy process. Some organizational objectives may not have the time to allow order to evolve. Private-sector organizations are in a highly competitive environment. Chaos could lead to stock-holder dissatisfaction and customer defection. Also, if the public sector is in disequilibrium, the politicians who waits for order to emerge spontaneously will be vulnerable at the next election. Thus, there is a tendency to mandate order so as to forestall possible criticism for indecisiveness, incompetency, or preference of the status quo. Action makes for good headlines, shows leadership, and increases personal levels of authority and power. One thing, however, is certain: No politician or organizational leader ever received credit for what happened spontaneously. Although no a priori logic can affirm whether forced order or chaos-derived fractal order is better, some broad statements about relative advantages can be made. As such, forced order tends to be less ambiguous. Organizational members have clear marching orders. Joined to clarity is the psychological lift that the problem will soon be better. Last, forced order is instantaneous and directives come from a well-defined source of authority. Fractal order, however, is a lengthy process, undirected, a joint undertaking, and may require greater sacrifices before arriving at the benefits. Personnel are psychologically ill-disposed to "wait out" the distant arrival of order (like waiting for Godot). The shifting equilibrium makes job performance difficult to define and evaluate. Personnel may experience difficulties with the high levels of uncertainty during the organization's search for order. In contrast, although chaos-derived fractal order is slower and uncertain, it may be absolutely necessary. Chaos-derived order recognizes that no one knows how to mandate solutions. The bounded rationality of the decision makers cannot foresee all the possibilities of organizational needs. Nobody has the necessary knowledge, analytic abilities, or imagination to solve vast and complicated problems. Further, top-down authority may alienate some of the organization's personnel. Chaos-derived order arises from the interplay of the organization's needs and objectives and it may better recognize the role of personnel as important elements in the organization. As for whether fractal order or forced order is better, consider the short-term versus long-term outcomes. If bringing an organization back to equilibrium in the short term means forcing it back through mandated rules or coercion, the objective may be realized but there is no reason to believe (as often seems the case) the results will be satisfactory in the long term. Imposed order may temporarily mask the problem without ever addressing the fundamental causes. The small advantage of quick order through mandates may mean a greater loss later. Nevertheless, the choice between either forced or fractal order need not be bipolar. Even if a business or political situation cannot wait for order to emerge out of chaos, leaders can note how the system moves spontaneously from chaos to order and formulate rules for returning to equilibrium based on the signs given by the system. The leader can thus facilitate or accelerate organizational change by watching where order emerges and by building around those loci of order in ways the organization seems to prefer. Further, it would be advisable that the alert leader also destroy order when such order may lead to future entrenched interests or sub-agenda behavior. In any event, no assumption should be made that "one size fits all" when it comes to organizational change. Conclusions The goal in this research has been to show that the history of economic development policy adoption from 1970 to 1986 can be described as a dissipative system. This goal has been greatly advanced: By giving a mixture of qualitative and quantitative evidence, it was possible to identify characteristics of a dissipative system. Further, this analytic approach supports Eisinger's conclusions concerning the relation between the states and Washington. Eisinger wrote: A...reason for this study is to suggest the importance of attending to subnational policy developers in the United States, for to overlook these generally in favor of a focus on Washington, particularly in the field of economic policy-making, is to come away with only a partial grasp of a nature of American political impulses and possibilities. (p. 5) This discussion also argues that models based on deterministic or equilibrium assumptions have had only limited success in explaining subnational economic development records because they are the wrong models. To replace these models, a dissipative system emphasizing "profound reformation of system parts [states] and a total alteration of forms, relationships, and/or the process of maintenance and growth" (Gemmill and Smith, 1985) is suggested. The discussion of the three models--deterministic, equilibrium, and dissipative--and their use for analyzing policy- adoption records suggest an important point: Linear models of analysis are inappropriate for describing and explaining non- linear events. When linear models are (mis)applied to non-linear phenomena, they produce incorrect results. Worse, these incorrect results have the appearance of credibility and authority due to the power of statistical testing methods and empirical analyses. Such an appearance of authority can be hard to dispel. Clearly, the right tool for the job is an absolute necessity. Additionally, this analysis has shown that research must look at phenomena at the macro-level. Seemingly in every field of science the object of research has been dissected into smaller and smaller pieces. Valid as such an approach is, it is not the only approach. In some cases, emphasizing the small components means losing sight of the system as a whole. Biology Models The analysis of physics noise affirms the existence of a system. It also opens up multiple questions about what the system does. There are many possible avenues of inquiry at this point, including those stressing cooperation among agents, competition, learning, diffusion, percolation, coevolution, and so forth. Again a limit is imposed on the research to focus only on competition within the system without suggesting that this choice is better than any others or that it is correct. Additional research can return to this juncture and follow different lines of inquiry. Understanding how systems evolve can bring insights into the origin, life, and fate of the system. Biology identifies four principle models of evolution, each placing an emphasis on different relations among agents in the system, which can answer this question. To the extent that the subnational system shows characteristics expected by one or another model, the subnational system may be influenced by the same factors as the biology models. Importantly, the present discussion does not analyze the validity of these models to biology; rather, the present research tests how expectations of each model are represented in the policy-adjustment history of states. Coronation of the Red Queen The Red Queen Hypothesis showed the best match between expectations and observations in the subnational system. Further, the match is not only the best when ranked against the other three models. The Red Queen Hypothesis shows an excellent match between expectations and the data from policy adjustment. What does the success of the Red Queen Hypothesis mean for public policy analyses? To answer, recall that Red Queen describes a dynamic system of zero-sum competition. No state pulls ahead despite constant policy adoption. At any time the states may exchange relative competitive positions due to fluctuations in adoption. However, the short-term pattern is not matched by the long-term outcome. In the long-term, the fluctuations of states' policy adoptions level out such that the long-term relative positions of states remain constant. Despite all the policy-adjustment activity in the states, no state in the long-term in better off in competing for economic development opportunities. The Red Queen Hypothesis is also a biotic model which can also facilitate external perturbations. Considering that it is a biotic model, changes in the system can originate from within the system itself. If this is correct, states are not solely driven by external factors as under a Turnover-Pulse or Stationary View model. For self-maximizing states, the biotic model holds an important possibility: states are at least in part masters of their own fates. Further, this feature of the subnational system suggests that the states determine both the PRESENT dynamic of the system as well as the FUTURE dynamic. States may be able to change the rules of engagement for system-wide economic development strategies. Solid findings in favor of the Red Queen Hypothesis are only possible if the fifty states form a system and if their collective behavior is not random. Although the other biology models make a similar requirement of the data, verification of the Red Queen Hypothesis points to a second means of verifying the conclusions of Hypothesis One. There is consistency between the self-organized criticality tested in Hypothesis One and the Red Queen Hypothesis tested in Hypothesis Three. The collective failure of Punctuated Equilibrium, Stationary View, and Turnover-Pulses suggests that the dynamics they tried to model were not present in the subnational system. Notably these models represent conservative systems showing stasis or equilibrium. However, the data of state policy adoption are clear in showing a yearly strategy which meanders (contra Punctuated Equilibrium) by both increasing and decreasing and/or altering the economic development policy package (see Table Four). Sudden bursts of changes followed by long-term stasis are inconsistent with subnational policy-adjustment records. The Stationary View also fails to meet the expectations of the data. All states compete by continuously enlarging their policy packages; the result is continuous movement, not stationary equilibrium. Further, the Turnover-Pulse model describes a system which is driven to change by exogenous influences; the population of agents does not itself initiate change. Such thinking is consistent with systems in equilibrium or stasis; however, the subnational data show that the system is not conservative. Further, the dissipative system demonstrated in Hypothesis One does not need an initiating cause to generate change. Implications of Findings The discussion of biology models is rich in potential for additional applications to subnational policy adjustment in a dissipative system. To demonstrate this potential, two research opportunities are examined: competitive strategies based on resource abundance, and the dynamics of systems which appear to be conservative but may be dissipative. Important insights from Rosenzweig, Brown, and Vincent (1987) suggest the dynamics which contrast Red Queen evolutionary patterns from the Stationary Model. Rosenzweig et al. observed that resource limits influence which evolutionary pattern the system will display. Thus, in the face of abundant resources-- incentives in this case--the system evolves according to Red Queen expectations. In contrast, limited resources lead to an equilibrium system consistent with Stenseth and Maynard Smith's Stationary View. This observation, distinguishing Red Queen and Stationary View origins, seems to fit the history of subnational economic development policy strategies. States have been described as "well-stocked candy stores" for industry. Further, the innovation, diffusion, and acceptance of a wide variety of state- sponsored policy incentives points to an abundant supply which would favor Red Queen evolution. However, the correlation between resource abundance and resulting competitive strategies leads to the conclusion that the Red Queen competitive model may not be a fixed aspect of collective subnational strategies. Said differently, states could alternatively compete without adopting the abundant list of policies. Such competition would recall an equilibrium system, not a self-organized critical system. If COMPETITION is the goal but the FORM OF COMPETITION is not fixed, which competitive strategy would better maximize outcome of policy adjustment? If the answer to this question is Red Queen, then the states have already found the best solution to meet their goals. However, if the answer is closer to the Stationary View, what might be done to alter the competitive field to be closer to the Stationary View? The above question addresses the option of transforming a Red Queen strategy to a Stationary View strategy. Might not this transformation come about spontaneously when otherwise-abundant resources are depleted or gradually become scarce? Does the competitive strategy within the system change as resources dwindle or enlarge? If so, how might the subnational system change? Again a question, and again further questions which solicit an answer. If the states agree to limit the resources they allocate to economic development, would competition switch from Red Queen to Stationary View? Would all states thereby capture as much economic development benefits for reduced costs? Would competition still drive states to innovate and strive for superior results? These are questions worth further analysis. Also worth a more detailed examination are Vrba's observations concerning evidence of the Turnover-Pulse model. One aspect of this model deserves special attention. Recall Vrba pointed out that "Most of these turnover-pulses are small peaks involving few lineages and/or restricted geographic areas. Some of them are massive and of global extent (Vrba, 1993:428)". This observation sounds very much like the empirical expectations of self-organized criticality. Compare the pattern shown in Table Two which produce a slope between zero and negative two on a log- linear graph. The self-organized pattern also shows the majority of events in the lowest range with few events in the highest range. Surprisingly, however, Vrba uses her observation in support of a conservative system which does not change except when forced to. In contrast, the same observation could be made about the data describing a dissipative system which is dynamic (not conservative) and which can change in large ways due to small perturbations (or far from being forced to). In the absence of further analysis, it is impossible to say whether Vrba's system is conservative or dissipative. The relative frequency of small perturbations to large perturbations may suggest a conservative system if emphasis is placed on the low frequency of large events. However, the small events should not be emphasized (and the large events declared exceptions); rather, the analysis of these events must show the relationship of all events within the system. Self-organized criticality incorporates all the data by showing that the log-linear line is formed by numerous small events and fewer larger events. The Turnover-Pulse model also falters under Vrba's assumption that the system (being conservative) cannot perturb itself. For some systemic dynamics--deterministic and equilibrium among them--such a conclusion is reasonable. Thus, Vrba is consistent in her analysis of the habitat as a conservative system when she concludes it cannot perturb itself. However, what if the system isn't conservative? What if it is dissipative (as suggested by the relative frequency of small and large events)? Under this assumption, the logic that the system cannot perturb itself is flawed. For a dissipative system, the stimulus which perturbs the system can arise from within the system itself. Reference to the predator-prey relationship and logistic population models helps make this point. In the predator-prey relationship, the predator and prey evolve so that over-predation is bad for both predator and prey. Over-predation leads to the extinction of the prey and the loss of resource for the predator. The logistic population curve of a prey shows that its population fluctuates in inverse proportion with a predator population. Ideally, the population of neither predator nor prey will decrease to zero although either may reach very small numbers. However, even under the normal, long-term predator-prey relationship, what if something happened to the prey when its numbers were at the low range? What if the species (or population) went extinct due to a random event? Clearly, the prey would be absent from the system. But its absence would have implications for the predator as well. The predator would have to adjust, possibly relying more heavily on other food sources previously used by other species. Whatever the outcome, the affects of the prey's absence and the resulting survival strategy of the predator will create a set of perturbations which may amplify through the entire food chain. Thus, a small event--the accidental extinction of a prey--creates feedback and adjustment which move throughout the entire system. The system, in short, has been perturbed not by an environmental modification but by a small internal event which produces large consequences. No doubt additional reflection will show how routine or otherwise-insignificant events in a dissipative ecosystem can create outcomes leading to the endogenous perturbation of the system (contra Vrba). Likewise, additional reflection will also show the relation of these comments about ecosystems to the dissipative subnational system. Can events which are otherwise routine eventually lead the subnational unstable system into chaos? At the very least, there is no reason to reject the possibility. For instance, suppose a state which is facing financial difficulties, cutbacks, and a hostile electorate (thus, on the edge of chaos) looses a primary source of employment to a rival state.... This scenario sounds like the formula for driving a state over the edge of chaos, thereby perturbing the system of states in a manner which could show amplifying iterations. As a first step, the state may adopt a high number of economic development policies which, in the manner described by Red Queen, would kick the entire system into a higher level of action. Synthesis of Models Having examined the physics models and biology models independently of each other, it is necessary to show how they complement each other. As for physics, self-organized criticality describes a dynamic system which never settles into a long-term stasis or equilibrium. The system is constantly reorganizing itself along new lines and according to deterministic laws. Of the four biology models, only the Red Queen describes dynamics which are consistent with a self-organized critical system. Consider the elimination of all others: Punctuated EQUILIBRIUM and STATIONARY View show by their very names the equilibrium and stasis which characterize these models. Further, although Turnover-Pulses stresses movement, it describes movement as special events occurring only when a conservative system is forced to respond. Only the Red Queen model comes close to capturing the dynamics of a dissipative system characteristic of self-organized criticality. Importantly, the empirical test for both models is different enough to avoid the suggestion that one model necessarily follows from the other. Recall that the test for self-organized criticality (Hypothesis One) looked at data at yearly intervals with all states aggregated. This approach is notably different from the test for the Red Queen Hypothesis (Hypothesis Three) where data were separated out by each individual state. In conclusion, the sum of the two models is greater than the parts. One model from physics and one model from biology have been shown to describe the history of subnational policy behavior with such satisfaction as to make these models acceptable bases for analyzing the subnational system. Further, the self- organized system of physics is consistent with the dynamics of the Red Queen competition. This consistency between the physics and biology models is also an important source of verification for applying these models to subnational policy-adoption behavior. 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