Showing papers on "Public policy published in 1980"

Self-Interest vs. Symbolic Politics in Policy Attitudes and Presidential Voting

Abstract: This article contrasts short-term self-interest and longstanding symbolic attitudes as determinants of (1) voters' attitudes toward government policy on four controversial issues (unemployment, national health insurance, busing, and law and order), and (2) issue voting concerning those policy areas. In general, we found the various self-interest measures to have very little effect in determining either policy preferences or voting behavior. In contrast, symbolic attitudes (liberal or conservative ideology, party identification, and racial prejudice) had major effects. Nor did self-interest play much of a role in creating “issue publics” that were particularly attentive to, informed about, or constrained in their attitudes about these specific policy issues. Conditions that might facilitate more self-interested political attitudes, specifically having privatistic (rather than public-regarding) personal values, perceiving the policy area as a major national problem, being high in political sophistication, perceiving the government as responsive, or having a sense of political efficacy, were also explored, but had no effect. The possibility that some long-term self-interest might be reflected in either group membership or in symbolic attitudes themselves is examined. While such possibilities cannot be definitively rejected, problems with interpreting standard demographic findings as self-interest effects are discussed.

Business and society : corporate strategy, public policy, ethics

Abstract: Part 1 The corporation in society: the corporation, its stakeholders and the 21st century, discussion case - Inland National Bank corporate social responsibility, discussion case - Cummins Engine Company socially responsive management, discussion case - Stride Rite Corporation (new). Part 2 The corporation and ethical issues: ethical dilemmas in business, discussion case - it's a short life, so go ahead, light up! ethical reasoning and corporate programmes, discussion case - organizing for ethical reform. Part 3 The corporation in a global society: managing in diverse social systems, discussion case - what is Hong Kong's future? (new) global challenges to corporate responsibility, discussion case - General Electric in Hungary (new). Part 4 The corporation and public policy. (Part contents).

If Dissemination Is the Solution, What Is the Problem ?

Abstract: and request the study. Another is the computerized retrieval system; only the user’s request for information will initiate the exchange of information; without that request the computer slumbers, and dissemination does not occur. The passive information exchange is an access-oriented system designed to place what is known at the disposal of policy-makers. Its primary objective is to reduce the cost of obtaining information, a cost which Rose has noted is not insignificant: The cost of obtaining information ... can be nil if it is part of the free stream of information available to anyone ... Information will be costly to obtain if it requires scarce resources. Money is one of these scarce resources. Skilled manpower to collect and analyze information another. Time is also ... a constraint, in that many of the needs of politicians are immediate ... The resource cost of collecting information is also nontrivial [Rose, 1972: 124]. Juxtaposed to passive exchanges are active ones in which the disseminator initiates the search for and transmission of information. An active information exchange transfers information to needy policymakers. To accomplish this, active information exchanges try to reduce both the cost of obtaining and of consuming information; the former is reduced because the disseminator initiates the exchange and anticipates policy-makers’ needs; the latter, because the information is presented in clear, understandable language, and in limited quantities. Option 2: Moving People Diffusion fails when interaction between and among policy-makers and policy-researchers does not take place because the underlying social relationships have broken down. The strategy of moving people to achieve dissemination substitutes artificial for natural interactions. What are the specific strategies for moving people? We can move the policy-makers who need knowledge; for example, incentives

The Impact of Federal Incentives on State Policy Innovation

Abstract: Using 57 state public policies as the basis for analysis, this paper assesses the impact of federal incentives on the diffusion rates of these policies throughout the American states. Our analysis revealed that policies with federal incentives do diffuse substantially faster than policies that are the preserve of the states, even when we controlled for the functional area of the policy. Speed of policy diffusion also appears to be related to the time of the policy "invention," although methodological considerations precluded a more systematic analysis of this factor.

Philanthropy and cultural imperialism : the foundations at home and abroad

Abstract: Philanthropy and Cultural Imperialism is intended as a source book on the origins, workings, and consequences of modern general-purpose foundations. The text encompasses the activities of foundations-prinicpally Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Ford-in the production of culture and the formation of public policy. Particular attention is given to the policies of the big foundations in the fields of education and social science research. The authors write from the perspectives of history, sociology, comparative education, and educational policy studies. Their chapters are based on original research. While the contributors do not share a uniform ideological framework, they do have in common a structural point of view-they examine foundations with regard to their functioning in society. They analyze the implications of foundations' organizational characteristics, modus operandi, and substantive decisions for social control or social change. A distinguishing feature of Philanthropy and Cultural Imperialism is its systematic, critical analysis of the sociopolitical consequences of these powerful institutions. A central thesis is that foundations like Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Ford have a corrosive influence on a democratic society; they represent relatively unregulated and unaccountable concentrations of power and wealth which buy talent, promote causes, and, in effect, establish an agenda of what merits society's attention.

Black Representation and Urban Policy

Abstract: Recent years have witnessed a dramatic growth in the number of black elected officials. Although blacks still constitute barely 1 percent of elected officeholders in the nation, their increasing political power cannot be denied. In "Black Representation and Urban Policy," Albert K. Karnig and Susan Welch focus on the election of blacks to mayoral and city council seats, using the most current data available on more than 250 cities. They address two major questions: What conditions promote blacks' chances of winning election to public office? Does the election of blacks to municipal office have an effect on urban policy? In exploring the factors that underlie the election of blacks to public office, the authors found that the resources of the black community itself the size as well as the education and income of the black population are the best predictors of blacks' winning political office. The authors' assessment of the impact of black elected officials on urban policy constitutes perhaps their most profoundly important finding. Cities with black mayors have had greater increases in social welfare expenditures than have similar communities without black mayors. The authors point out that election of blacks to mayoral posts, then, can have more than symbolic consequences for public policy."

Pseudo-Opinions on Public Affairs

Abstract: This article reports on the often suspected but rarely researched tendency of survey respondents to give opinions on topics to which they have given little or no thought. The findings, based on a question about a fictitious public affairs issue, do show that the magnitude of the problem is substantial. But the data also demonstrate that this phenomenon does not represent simple random error, reflecting instead basic social-psychological dispositions which can be elicited, unwittingly, in the context of the interview. George F. Bishop is a Senior Research Associate, Robert W. Oldendick is a Research Associate, and Alfred J. Tuchfarber is Director, Behavioral Sciences Laboratory at the University of Cincinnati. Stephen E. Bennett is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Cincinnati. The research reported here was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (SOC78-07407). The authors want to thank Howard Schuman and Stanley Presser for their comments on a presentation of a previous version of this paper at the annual conference of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, Buck Hill Falls, Pennsylvania, June 1979. Public Opinion Quarterly ? 1980 by The Trustees of Columbia University Published by Elsevier North Holland, Inc. 0033-362X/80/0044-198/$1.75 This content downloaded from 207.46.13.77 on Mon, 23 May 2016 05:43:50 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms PSEUDO-OPINIONS ON PUBLIC AFFAIRS 199 American public (cf. Converse, 1970). For they found that a sizable majority (63 percent) of their respondents were quite willing to volunteer "don't know" when asked their opinion of the not-so-wellknown military government in Portugal. But impressive as this figure might seem, it was based on a real subject that had been covered in varying degrees by the mass media. A more direct approach would be simply to ask people whether they have an opinion about an issue or topic that theoretically does not exist. This, in fact, is what we did as part of a larger set of experiments on the effects of opinion filtering (Bishop et al., 1979). In this report we will look first at how extensive the nonattitude or "pseudo-opinion" problem may be in U.S. surveys. We will then try to identify the principal social and psychological sources of this disposition, including a partial assessment of the extent to which it reflects deliberate falsification. And finally, we will explore the probable consequences of excluding respondents who express such tendencies from analysis of other items within the same survey.

Public Policy toward Bankruptcy: Me-First and Other Priority Rules

Abstract: This article analyzes the economic efficiency properties of bankruptcy liquidation rules, including both conventional legal rules and the me-first rule proposed by economists. It also examines the incentives of firms to undertake investment projects when bankruptcy is a possible outcome. The results show that none of the rules leads to private investment incentives which are socially efficient. Depending on circumstances, it may be privately profitable to liquidate firms which should be continued or to continue firms which should be liquidated. Investments in low productivity projects may be approved while worthwhile projects may be abandoned. Public policy implications are considered.

A Multivariate Model of Public Policy-Making

Abstract: Political scientists have explored policy-making from many perspectives, e.g., demographic characteristics, constituency preferences, decision-makers' attitudes, the influence of career bureaucrats, and the input of interested and affected citizens. While the empirical evidence marshalled around each is often rich, seldom have two or more of the perspectives been systematically integrated. Richard Hofferbert's recently developed multivariate (six-stage) model of the public-policy process provides the needed conceptual overview. In this study we apply Hofferbert's model to a specific policy area: environmental-protection and land-use regulation by the powerful Califomia Coastal Commissions. The results suggest the general usefulness of the model in guiding both conceptual thinking and data analysis. They also suggest several important areas where refinement and greater specificity of the model is needed.

Analysis of a time series of household expenditure surveys for India

Abstract: ECONOMETRIC studies of household expenditure occupy an important place in government policy formulation with estimates of expenditure and price elasticity proving useful in several planning models Although the empirical literature is large, relatively few studies have considered the simultaneous impact of total expenditure, price and family size on household demand using time series of budget data and within a framework that is consistent with economic theory Weisskoff (1971) and, more recently, Sener (1977) have tested and rejected the hypothesis of negligible price effects and established the need to incorporate price and size variables in any meaningful study of expenditure patterns in developing countries The limited literature on estimation of demand systems from budget data includes Tsujimura and Sato (1964) on Japan, Bhattacharya (1967) and Joseph (1968) on India and, recently, Muellbauer (1977) and Pollak and Wales (1978) on British data The present exercise differs from the above in investigating the impact on budget share, rather than quantities, and in using a variant of a recent model (AIDS)' that is consistent with economic theory without requiring additive separability of the utility function The model is introduced by Deaton and Muellbauer (1978) The principal objectives of our exercise include (a) extension of the AIDS model by including family size and applying it to Indian budget data to estimate expenditure, price and size elasticities, (b) testing the hypotheses of (i) no price effects, (ii) no economies of household size, (iii) no money illusion, and (c) comparison of the Indian expenditure pattern with those of other developing economies The AIDS in its micro version and its adaptation for use on the published data is discussed in section II, and the data are described in section III Section IV presents the results and we end with the concluding note of section V

The Impact of Financial Aid on Student Demand for Public/Private Higher Education.

Abstract: Providing for equality of choice between public and private postsecondary institutions is increasingly being considered a legitimate public policy objective of the federal government [16, 12]. Currently two alternatives to achieving this objective are being considered: increased student eligibility for financial aid and tax allowances in the form of direct tax credits. However, to make a selection between these two alternatives requires a better understanding of student public/private choice behavior [7]. Such understanding, in turn, is dependent upon (1) a knowledge of the actual college alternatives considered by students, and (2) more adequately specified models of the student's decision to matriculate at a particular institution. The purpose of this study is to model the variables that affect the decision to matriculate at a public or private institution of higher education. There are two unique aspects of this study. First, only those students who applied and were accepted by at least one public and one private institution will be considered. Second, the study will assess the impact of financial aid variables on the matriculation decision. Despite the obvious public policy implications of such information, no research has adequately addressed the impact of student financial aid on the matriculation decision [18].

Studying the implementation of public programs

Abstract: This report describes and critically assesses approaches that have been employed to study the implementation of public programs. Implementation is defined as the process by which new policies and/or practices are installed in organizations. The report was produced because of the increased interest among researchers and policy makers alike in the linkages between policy and outcome. The study of implementation has barely begun, and it was recognized that methodological issues of a particularly complex nature arise because of certain unique characteristics of the implementation processes: (1) they involve a series of decisions that occur over a long period of time, with no clear beginning or end points; (2) their outcomes have direct or indirect implications that are too complex for single-factor theories; (3) they involve a large number of participants; and (4) they involve situations that are rather unique in terms of agency context, historical moment in time, and other key elements. The approach employed in the report was to examine the methods that have been used in a number of exemplary studies of implementation. These studies are commonly cited in publications and informally in research circles. Descriptive material from each study was used to address three questions: (1) Howmore » is evidence collected in studies of implementation; (2) How is evidence analyzed; (3) What are the reasons for believing the conclusions from such studies. The report concludes with recomendations for the conduct of future studies of implementation.« less

Regulatory bureaucracy: The Federal Trade Commission and antitrust policy

Abstract: The debate over whether the FTC does too much or too little raises the fundamental question of how its caseload is determined--a question which is explored at length in this book.The volume, the sixth in the series MIT Studies in American Politics and Public Policy, reveals how the FTC's organizational arrangements affect the distribution of power among the participants in the case selection process, the manner in which information is gathered, the types of data collected, the kinds of policy issues discussed, the choices that are made, and the ways decisions are implemented.The material covered in the book is based on more than 100 interviews the author conducted with commissioners, agency lawyers, economists, the executive director, secretary, and other FTC staff, as well as with Capitol Hill staff, members of the private bar, and agency observers. The Freedom of Information Act was used when necessary to gain access to documents.The book gives particular attention to the FTC's shift of its resources toward the prosecution of "big" structural cases--cases that are designed to attack fundamental market imperfections on an industry-wide basis.

Public policy: no longer a spectator sport for business

Abstract: When government administrators begin to make more key business decisions than corporate managers do, the time has come to rethink—and reshape—the regulatory process. By seizing the initiative, business may find some unexpected new markets and opportunities.

Retirement System Characteristics and Compensating Wage Differentials in the Public Sector.

Abstract: This paper presents evidence that a trade-off exists between wages and certain characteristics of retirement systems in the public sector. Cross-section econometric estimates for uniformed municipal employees, based upon data from two national surveys of municipalities, suggest that, other things equal, an increase in the contribution made by uniformed employees to their retirement system leads to a compensating increase in their salaries, while retirement systems with more “generous” characteristics are associated to some extent with lower salaries. The estimates also indicate that the extent of retirement system underfunding is related to employers' and employees' perceptions of the probability that promised retirement benefits will not be fully paid and that these perceptions too are reflected in compensating wage differentials. The author concludes that pension reform legislation in the public sector will be likely to have an impact on public sector wages and, therefore, careful consideration should b...

Utopian and pragmatic rationalism: the political context of scientific advice.

Abstract: Towards the end of the 1970s, disillusionment with the power of scientific knowledge to transform and rationalise the decisions and actions of governments led to a more sober reassessment of the role of science in public life. This shift was accompanied by awareness of the preponderance of political considerations in the formulation and execution of public policies. The process of democratic politics consists of endless conflicts, negotiations and temporary compromises; legislatures and public bureaucracies which, unlike private firms, are typically insulated from marketlike external tests of performance, and are not under compelling pressure to integrate scientific knowledge and technical standards into their activities. Nevertheless, scientific knowledge and techniques do enter into political decisions and governmental programmes, where they have a variety of effects. These effects are, of course, often quite different from the effects expected from the use of knowledge to enhance the rationality and effectiveness of governmental actions. It is our task to understand how scientific knowledge does become woven into the political and bureaucratic formulation and execution of policies. Despite the various constraints, the integration of scientific knowledge remains a factor the weight of which varies in different contexts.