Showing papers on "Public policy published in 1987"

Landscapes of Despair: From Deinstitutionalization to Homelessness

Abstract: Part 1: Service-dependent populations in the city social construction of the service-dependent ghetto the social history of service dependency. Part 2: The rise and fall of the service-dependent ghetto the geography of haunted places anatomy of the service-dependent ghetto dismantling the community-based human-services system homelessness and the retreat to institutions. Part 3: Public policy for the city from homelessness to deinstitutionalization - closing the circle community politics and the planning of human services the view from the future.

Economic policy and technological performance: Some new standards for the economics of standardization in the information age

Abstract: Technological standards, business strategies and public policy Technological standards and product standardization today are subjects of active policy concern in business and government. Standards have a significant bearing upon both the development and the diffusion of new technologies and products, and the process of technological innovation obviously exerts a powerful force upon the structure of markets and the performance of industries. So it is not surprising that issues concerning ‘standards’, although once quite neglected, have emerged since the mid-1970s as a focus of analytical and empirical attention among economists, especially among those preoccupied with the economics of industrial organization and international competition (see Hemenway 1975, Kindleberger 1983, LeCraw 1984, and Farrell and Saloner 1985b for recent surveys). The direction of inventive activity itself has to be assigned some of the responsibility for this intellectual re-awakening. Modern advances in microelectronics and microwave, laser and fibre optics technology have given heightened prominence to economic and political issues posed by network externalities and system scale economies in the encoding, processing, and transmission of information. Compatibility and standard-setting have arisen lately as central questions in the development and marketing of computer operating systems and software, commercial data or ‘value added’ networks (e.g., TELENET and TYMNET), local area networks (LANs), cellular radio-telephones, and ‘smart cards’ for electronic funds transfer. While these are a source of new economic opportunities, they have also created new and difficult problems of strategy for corporate managers and public policy-makers alike.

Modes of regulation in advanced capitalism: Locating accountancy in four countries

Abstract: The paper presents a framework for examining how accounting practices are regulated within advanced capitalist societies. Through the critical use of Streeck & Schmitter's (Private Interest Government and Public Policy, Sage, London, 1985) exploration of models of social order, regulation is theorised as an expression of the combination of the organising principles of Market, State and Community. The analytical framework is then applied to compare modes of accounting regulation in the Federal Republic of Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden and the United States of America. The paper highlights the significance of contradictions within and between the organizing principles of advanced capitalism and seeks to display the regulation of accounting as a medium and outcome of the articulation of these contradictions.

Classics of Public Administration

Abstract: With this newly expanded sixth edition of CLASSICS OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Jay M. Shafritz and Albert C. Hyde aim to introduce you to the principles of public administration via the most significant scholarly writings on the topic. Straightforward and informative, this text starts you with Woodrow Wilson and takes you all the way to today's political scientists. This edition includes five new readings and helps you learn the key fields of public administration: bureaucracy, organization theory, human resources management, the budgetary process, public policy, implementation, evaluation, intergovernmental relations, and public service ethics.

Adult Development and Aging

Abstract: Department of Education 6-digit CIP for program & website: 19.0702 Adult Development and Aging U.S. Department of Labor’s Standard Classification of Occupation (SOC) Code and Occupational Profile O*Net Link: No SOC data available on U.S. Department of Education CIP to SOC Crosswalk. Program Length in Weeks: 32 On Time Graduation Rate for Program Seekers: No reportable data. The on-time completion rate is not reported for programs with fewer than 10 completers per United States Department of Education regulations. The on-time graduation rate may differ at Rio Salado College when compared to other institutions due to the multiple start dates available to students. Completion in standard time requires full-time enrollment. Some students attend part-time.

Policy analysis by design

Abstract: "Policy Analysis by Design" examines the approaches to public policy taken by those who try to teach it, write about it, and influence it through major analysis. Bobrow and Dryzek systematically compare the five major contending analytical frames of reference: welfare economics, public choice, social structure, information processing, and political philosophy. The workings of each frame are illustrated by means of a common, if imaginary, policy case - air pollution in the hypothetical Smoke Valley."

Economic Efficiency in Cooperatives

Abstract: HE cooperative form of business organization has deep historical roots in the economy. The cooperative dairy association movement began in New York in the mid-1800s as a response to the monopsony power of privately held milk-processing plants.1 It was perceived that a producer cooperative had the ability to produce processed cheese from its members' raw milk at a lower per-unit cost than would have been possible by contracting with a geographically isolated, private, for-profit firm. Modern refrigerated transportation has diminished monopsony power. In modern times, the cooperative form of business has been consciously nurtured as a matter of public policy. The tax laws of the United States exempt cooperatives that meet certain requirements from payment of income taxes.2 Certain other pecuniary advantages are available to agricultural cooperatives. Loans are available to cooperatives at a belowmarket rate of interest. The collective knowledge of the Department of

Public Opinion and Policy Liberalism in the American States

Abstract: This paper examines the effect of public opinion on public policy in the American states. We use a new measure of state public opinion, liberal-conservative ideological identification of state electorates, derived from aggregating CBS News/New York Times national opinion surveys. Regression and LISREL are used in the analysis to demonstrate that state opinion is a major determinant of state policy. Citizen preferences are markedly more important than state social and economic characteristics in accounting for patterns of policy liberalism in the states. These results constitute a major challenge to economic development as an explanation of state policy. Unless mass views have some place in the shaping of policy, all the talk about democracy is nonsense. -V. 0. Key (1961, p. 7) Popular control of public policy is a central tenet of democratic theory. Indeed, we often gauge the quality of democratic government by the responsiveness of public policymakers to the preferences of the mass public as well as by formal opportunities for, and the practice of, mass participation in political life. The potential mechanisms of democratic popular control can be stated briefly. In elections, citizens have the opportunity to choose from leaders who offer differing futures for government action. Once elected, political leaders have incentives to be responsive to public preferences. Elected politicians who offer policies that prove unpopular or unpleasant in their consequences can be replaced at the next election by other politicians who offer something different. Of course, this picture describes only the democratic ideal. A cynic would describe the electoral process quite differently: Election campaigns

Fighting Poverty: What Works and What Doesn't.

Abstract: Essays examine antipoverty policies of the last twenty years and discuss welfare, health care for the poor, job training, education programs, family structure, and civil rights.

Survey of expert opinion on intelligence and aptitude testing.

Abstract: Psychologists and educational specialists with expertise in areas related to intelligence testing responded to a questionnaire dealing with a wide variety of issues constituting the IQ controversy. Overall, experts hold positive attitudes about the validity and usefulness of intelligence and aptitude tests. Tests are seen as adequately measuring most important elements of intelligence, although the tests are believed to be somewhat racially and socioeconomically biased. There is overwhelming support for a significant within-group heritability for 1(2, and a majority of respondents feel that black-white and socioeconomic status 1(2 differences are also partially hereditary. Problems with intelligence tests are perceived in the influence of nonintellectual characteristics on test performance and in the frequent misinterpretation and overreliance on test scores in elementary and secondary schools. Despite these difficulties, experts favor the continued use of intelligence and aptitude tests at their present level. Variation in responding to substantive questions on testing is largely resistant to prediction by a host of demographic and background variables, including within-sample variation in expertise. Intelligence tests have been under attack practically since their inception (Cronbach, 1975; Haney, 1981). Critics have claimed, among other things, that intelligence and aptitude tests measure nothing but test-taking skills, have little predictive power, are biased against certain racial and economic groups, are used to stigmatize low scorers, and are tools developed and fostered by those in power in order to maintain the status quo (see Block & Dworkin, 1976, and Houts, 1977, for collections of such critiques). Though perhaps not as apparent as 10 (or 60) years ago, such criticisms remain prevalent (e.g., Gould, 1981; Lewontin, Rose, & Kamin, 1984; Owen, 1985). Moreover, critics of testing appear to have much influence in such organizations as the National Education Association, the news media, the New York State Legislature, and the courts (Bersoff, 1981; Herrnstein, 1982; Lerner, 1980). It is not surprising, of course, in light of the important role intelligence and aptitude tests play in the allocation of valued resources and opportunities, that testing has been a topic of concern in the popular press and in all three branches of government. What is surprising is that much of the public controversy seems to be uninformed. Those who must reach policy decisions about Harvard University Smith College testing often seem more influenced by political considerations than by the empirical literature. There is, of course, no shortage of appeal to expertise. Public opinion and policy are influenced by the perception of expert opinion: Witness the standard procedure in Congressional hearings and news media stories on technical issues. In public forums, the impression is often given by those who attack tests (e4;., CBS News, 1975; Larry P. v. Wilson Riles, 1979) that many of the longaccepted "facts" about intelligence tests are subjects of great dispute within the expert community or that most experts actually agree, for example, that tests are culturally biased, meaningless as anything but predictors of success in school, and unrelated to an individual's genetic endowment. These claims may very well be true, but they are rarely made with sufficient supporting evidence. It is important, therefore, to try to assess the veracity of assertions that there is substantial controversy about, and even animosity toward, testing among those most familiar with the empirical evidence. Surveys of opinion on intelligence testin~ and related issues, among any group, have been scarce since the advent of the most recent wave (post 1969) of testing criticism (see Brim, Glass, Neulinger, & F'trestone, 1969, for an earlier comprehensive survey of public opinion, and Lerner, 1981, for a review of more recent public opinion surveys). One group that has been particularly ill served by survey research is testing experts. Those who conduct research on the nature of intelligence and test use and those who design and validate tests, and who therefore are most qualified to evaluate criticisms of testingin the context of the body of psychometric and cognitive ability literature have rarely been asked their opinions about the most important issues of public contention surrounding intelligence tests. To date, there are no comprehemive polls of this sort. Such a survey is needed, but not because it will resolve any of the various controversies surrounding testing; issues of fact are not settled via consensus. A comprehensive survey of expert opinion about intelligence testing is necessary because the use of intelligence and epfitude testing represents an important public policy issue. A survey of expert opinion will not settle this issue, but it will allow a clearer picture of informed opinion to enter the public debate. In a way, it is a method of pooling "expert testimony" for the benefit of those charged with policy decisions. It should also allow anyone interested February 1987 9 American Psychologist ~ N t 1987 by the Amcxican P~chok~cal Amociation, Inc. 00034)66X/87/$00.75 o. 2, 137-144 137 in the IQ controversy to achieve a better understanding of the issues involved. Table 1 Composition of Survey Sample M e t h o d G ~ o ~ N

The new right

Abstract: The book presents an introductory survey of the New Right worldwide. It examines the varieties of the free-market and 'monetarist' economic thought and introduces the reader to the public choice critique of public policy.

Concepts of culture: Public policy and the cultural industries

Abstract: (1987). Concepts of culture: Public policy and the cultural industries. Cultural Studies: Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 23-37.

The Theory and Research Behind Neighborhood Watch: Is it a Sound Fear and Crime Reduction Strategy?

Abstract: This article takes a critical look at the theory and research behind the highly touted community crime prevention strategy known as Neighborhood Watch. While correlational studies of neighborhoods and citizen participation are numerous, there is a paucity of rigorous experimental evaluations that test the proposed “Implant Hypothesis,” that is, that collective citizen participation (and the social processes it allegedly activates) can be implanted in neighborhoods where it does not currently exist. However, there are both theoretical and empirical reasons to challenge some of the basic assumptions underlying the Neighborhood Watch approach to reducing crime, reducing fear of crime, and restoring a sense of community. The hypothesis that Watch programs increase fear of crime and may have other effects is examined. The implications of this assessment for theory development and public policy are explored.

The Possibility of Politics: A Study in the Political Economy of the Welfare State

Abstract: In this study of the welfare state the author asks whether it works and, depending on the answer, goes on to consider what this says about the success of political reform. The basic concepts of poverty and economic efficiency are considered in the light of political science, sociology and economics. The methodology of income redistribution research is restated and reconsidered, and approaches which are often regarded as alternatives are examined. The author provides a framework for the analysis of public policy within the theory of rational action and analyzes this under six headings: legitimacy, governability, poverty, equality, efficiency and activity.

Reconstructing American education

Abstract: One of the leading historians of education in the United States here develops a powerful interpretation of the uses of history in educational reform and of the relations among democracy, education, and the capitalist state. Michael Katz discusses the reshaping of American education from three perspectives. First is the perspective of history: How did American education take shape? The second is that of reform: What can a historian say about recent criticisms and proposals for improvement? The third is that of historiography: What drives the politics of educational history? Katz shows how the reconstruction of America's educational past can be used as a framework for thinking about current reform. Contemporary concepts such as public education, institutional structures such as the multiversity, and modern organizational forms such as bureaucracy all originated as solutions to problems of public policy. The petrifaction of these historical products-which are neither inevitable nor immutable-has become, Katz maintains, one of the mighty obstacles to change. The book's central questions are as much ethical and political as they are practical. How do we assess the relative importance of efficiency and responsiveness in educational institutions? Whom do we really want institutions to serve? Are we prepared to alter institutions and policies that contradict fundamental political principles? Why have some reform strategies consistently failed? On what models should institutions be based? Should schools and universities be further assimilated to the marketplace and the state? Katz's iconoclastic treatment of these issues, vividly and clearly written, will be of interest to both specialists and general readers. Like his earlier classic, The Irony of Early School Reform (1968), this book will set a fresh agenda for debate in the field.

THE CONCEPT OF PUBLIC MANAGEMENT AND THE AUSTRALIAN STATE IN THE 1980s

Abstract: The adoption of the discourse of management by Australian public services in the 1980s can be seen as a cultural revolution. Results-oriented management, subordinated to economic considerations, is the dominant approach. The upper levels of the public services have been remodelled in the form of a technically-oriented elite recruited on merit, defined in terms of higher education credentials, drawing a technical intelligentsia, or “new class”, into public employment. Although “people and process” approaches, espoused in particular by women, find a place in the new culture, they are subordinated to the demands of scientific management. While the technical intelligentsia is resistant to traditional forms of bureaucratic authority and open to rational debate and new ideas, its members are not well equipped to take account of the substantive concerns of public policy and service provision. The distinctiveness of public management is submerged by inappropriate private sector models, and issues tend to be reduced to economic ones. The paradox that this culture has risen to prominence under Labor governments is explored and the developments are placed in the context of contemporary demands placed on the Australian state by private capital.

Regions: The Economics and Politics of Territory

Abstract: Ann Markusen, one of the foremost theoreticians of regional development, has produced a book destined to become a classic in its field. Regions is a penetrating and innovative study of the political and economic aspects of American regionalism. Using historical materialism as a methodological foundation, the author analyzes the historical developments and contemporary issues of American regionalism. She contends that territorial differentiation and conflicts have emerged as major determinants in the spatial transformation of American regions. The book is rich in historical facts and case studies that are used to illuminate the theoretical dimensions of the contemporary public policy debates on regionalism.

Business and Politics in Britain

Abstract: Introduction - The Power of Capital - Government and Business - Banks and the Financial Sector - Large Firms and the Political Process - The CBI and Other Business Associations - Business and Party Politics - Business Associations and Public Policy - Representation of Business Interests at the EC Level - Conclusion

Making healthy public policy; developing the science by learning the art: an ecological framework for policy studies

Abstract: During the 1980s increasing attention has been given to the view that a vast array of public policies have great potential for health promotion and that this potential ought to be developed. After briefly discussing the basis for this concept and its policy implications, this article turns to a major corequisite for making healthy public policy a political reality: learning how to do it. Where healthy public policy exists, how did it happen? This is a question that calls for a new generation of policy studies, one that is relevant to advocates of healthy public policy within and outside governments. An ecological framework of policy-making is proposed for such studies, delineating the social climate, key players, and strategic action. From it, operational indicators and study methods are suggested, in order to learn some general principles, within a real-world context, of how to develop public policies that are healthful.

Industrial organization and international trade

Abstract: This paper reviews recent work on the relationship between industrial organization and international trade Five strands in the theoretical literature are discussed First is the role of economies of scale as a cause of intra-industry trade, modelled using monopolistic competition Second is the effect of tariffs and quotas on domestic market power Third is the analysis of dumping as international price discrimination Fourth is the potential strategy role of government policy as an aid to domestic firms in oligopolistic competition Finally, the paper discusses recent work that may provide a new argument for protectionism A concluding section discusses recent efforts at quantification of new trade theory

Contracting for Social Services: Process Management and Resource Dependencies

Abstract: A new interorganizational environment has emerged as nongovernmental organizations have increasingly been used to implement public policy in the social services. As yet, there is a paucity of appropriate concepts, models, and data to describe the organizational consequences of separating governmental funding from service delivery as found in purchase of service contracting. Drawing mainly on three recent studies of contracting in the San Francisco Bay Area, this paper employs a political economy model to analyze the choices and constraints faced by local governmental agencies and nonprofit service providers as they move through the five stages of the contract management process. The strategies used by provider agencies to cope with their dependencies on government for funds and clients are then described. A series of questions is identified for policymakers interested in improving the contracting process.

Risk assessment in environmental policy-making

Abstract: Environmental policy-making has become more dependent on formal, quantitative risk assessment because of increasing attention to the prevention of human health damage from toxic chemicals. Risk assessment helps set priorities for regulation of the very large numbers of chemicals that are of potential concern and helps direct limited social and government resources against the most significant risks. Although the scientific basis for risk assessment is often uncertain and the public and its representatives have often been confused by its use in regulatory decisions, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency currently uses a variety of risk assessment techniques to set priorities, tailor regulations, and make decisions at particular sites. The Environmental Protection Agency also attempts to make the practice of risk assessment more consistent throughout the agency and to improve public understanding of the meaning of risk assessment and risk management.