Addendum to Cultures of the States

Cultures of the States:  A Handbook on the Effectiveness of State Governments (Lanham, MD and Oxford:  The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2003, 411 pp) was published in October 2003.  That book included more than 700 variables in its Appendix G, but we have continued to add tabular materials to our database and do various analyses related to state government since that time.

For example, we put together a monograph-type document (i.e., Violent Deaths on the Highways) that examines the relationship of death rates on the highways in the 50 states with hundreds of variables contained in the Cultures book.  Likewise, we studied the relationship of murder rates in various states with diverse variables.  Murder in America:  Correlates of Murder and Race as a Factor was published in March 2005 by AuthorHouse in Bloomington, Indiana.  And we have just produced another monograph, Education and the Bottom Line:  More Learning Means Living Longer and Living Better, which we hope to publish in the next few months.

Each of these monograph-type documents examine a specific problem area by separating the states into high and low groups on a given variable, then comparing those two groups of states on hundreds of other variables.  These are simple but powerful analyses, and the results highlight how the two groups of states differ.

Some persons are uncomfortable looking at "good states" and "bad states," as they describe these groups that we compare, but we think comparisons are important.  Organizations that consist of "member states," for example, are reluctant to do this kind of thing, and all they publish are "good" stories about states; what they think states are trying to do that represent innovative efforts to improve.  Such stories are fine, but we are convinced that acknowledging problems openly and working to alleviate those problems are steps that can lead to dramatic improvement efforts rather than "attention getting" news stories which suggest the state is making progress, when often it is simply dealing with minor difficulties rather than root problems that have persisted for years. The really "tough" problems never go away, unless they are addressed openly and directly and with good data.  Those are our thoughts, anyway.  "If you cannot say something nice, do not say anything at all" is good advice to children growing up.  It is not helpful in coming to grips with problems that have persisted for decades in states as political entities.

In that spirit, we continue to collect data on hundreds of variables that relate to decisions made by policymakers at state and local levels, thus our database will continue to grow.  There are 600 additional variables included here in this Addendum.