bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
ECONOMIC ISSUES IN FORMULATING POLICY FOR EARTHQUAKE HAZARD MITIGATION
Authors: Milliman Jerome W. , Roberts R. Blaine
Published: June 2005

This paper analyzes three issues in the economics of earthquake hazard mitigation policy. First, the economic rationale for the public role in mitigation policy is advanced. Second, an efficient level of mitigation is specified. And third, the deficiencies of current measures of losses are examined. Proper measures of losses are identified and the need for a regional economic model is developed. Unless losses can be properly measured it will be impossible to develop an efficient mitigation program for earthquake hazards.
NATURAL HAZARD LOSSES IN THE UNITED STATES: A PUBLIC PROBLEM
Authors: Petak William J. , Atkisson Arthur A.
Published: June 2005

Using arisk analysis and evaluation approach, the authors estimate losses from nine major natural hazards in the United States. The data show that these probable losses exceed those of many other national social problems, including fire and crime. The article also examines geographic and social distributions of estimated losses. States in the upper quartile of hazard exposure are likely to account for 50 percent of the increase in dollar losses over the next 30 years. Consistent with prior research, the most dependent segments of the population (poor, elderly, non‐white) will proportionately suffer the most. While policy options pose inherently difficult choices, many promising avenues have yet to be fully explored.
THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF LIFE‐SAFETY: THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES AND “HAZARDOUS‐STRUCTURE ABATEMENT,” 1973–1981
Authors: Olson Richard Stuart
Published: June 2005

The life‐safety threat posed by earthquake‐vulnerable buildings is widely recognized. This paper outlines the long battle fought in the City of Los Angeles to enact an ordinance intended to abate the hazard. The author also offers a series of both necessary and sufficient factors explaining Los Angelesl ultimate success.
CONCLUSION: NATURAL HAZARD POLITICAL CONTEXTS AND ADOPTION STRATEGIES
Authors: Nilson Douglos
Published: June 2005

Natural hazard mitigation‐disaster preparedness involves low probability, high consequence politics. Timelplace indeterminacy of catastrophic events seldom allow them to be factored into public or private investment and risk management decisions. Public policies to alleviate impediments to the implementation of effective policy must acknowledge political cultural biases as well as fiscal limitations.
NEW ISSUES IN THE LOGIC OF POLICY ANALYSIS
Authors: Starling Grover
Published: June 2005

Case studies of social interventions need not exchange relevance for rigor, provided analysts keep three methodological issues in mind. First, certain critical tests can and should be performed to help establish causal relations even when empirical data are limited. Second, “causell is an explanatory category representing a moral judgment. Third, case studies should provide some systematic attempt to evaluate the program under scrutiny. The article entitled “Social‐Problem Solving in a Revolutionary Setting: Nicaragua's Pesticide Policy Reforms” by Douglas L. Murray (Policy Studies Review, November 1984) is used to illustrate these issues.
TRIVIOCRACY: SAYRE'S LAW REVISITED
Authors: Homer Frederic D. , Levine Charles H.
Published: June 2005

Triviocracy is a generalized organizational phenomenon; to the outsider or casual participant, the goals or issues which members of the organization pursue have little or no overt relationship to the well‐being of the organization; and once attained, these goals do not appear to help individuals in pursuit of their professional goals in any easily desirable way. In this paper will will explore the concept of triviocracy in some depth, describe the process that unfolds and examine the dynamics of triviocracy and its functions and dysfunctions.
PUBLIC ENTERPRISE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, AND THE IMPACT OF ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION: THE EXPERIENCE OF AMERICAN SEAPORTS ON THE PACIFIC RIM
Authors: Boschken Herman L.
Published: June 2005

Port authorities perceive their ideas as broadly supportive of regional economic development and are strongly associated with chambers of commerce, economic development agencies and growth oriented citizens groups. However, shifts in American foreign trade and the use of new technologies atid environmental regulation have dramatically changed the seaport industry over the last 15 years. As public enterprises, many ports responded to the new competitive markets by developing efficient but capital intensive container technologies. Environmental regulation also had a role in stimulating more efficient use of port lands. Although frequently viewed as a road block to all development plans, the intergovernmental review processes may have helped turn ports away from their traditional patterns of land expansion development and toward redevelopment of existing facilities. With the constraint of greatly reduced expansion opportunities. the enterprising ports figured out they could greatly increase cargo handling capacity without enacting the wrath of environmental quality interests. This paper examines this contention with both economic logic and inferential data.
TRENDS IN THE LOGIC OF POLICY INQUIRY: A COMPARISON OF APPROACHES AND A COMMENTARY
Authors: Kelly Rita Mae
Published: June 2005

This paper provides an overview of trends in the logic of policy inquiry. It compares Harold Lasswell's view of the policy sciences with the applied social science approach articulated by James Coleman and revised into multiplism by Thomas Cook. Alternative approaches presented by Trudi Miller (design science) and Yvonna Lincoln and Egon Cuba (naturalistic inquiry) are also examined. Commonalities existing among them are identified.
THE PROMISE AND PERFORMANCE OF PRIVATIZATION: THE KNOXVILLE EXPERIENCE
Authors: Fitzgerald Michael R.
Published: June 2005

The promoters of privatization promise a lot, most especially cost savings. Upon what are these promises based and t o what degree is actual perfor mance consonant with them? This article investigates this question by first reviewing the privatization literature and specifying what is promised and the basis for these promises. We then proceed to examine the pri vatization of asingle service in Knoxville, Tennessee with regard to what basis promises were made and the innovation pursued. Finally we offer a preliminary analysis of the extent to which the privatization initiative lived up to its promises.
USING PRODUCER INCENTIVES TO ACHIEVE SOCIAL OBJECTIVES: AN ASSESSMENT OF THE MARKETPLACE AND PUBLIC POLICIES
Authors: Fasenfest David
Published: June 2005

The purpose of this paper is to recast the light in which we have come to evaluate public policy initiatives and open the door for a more careful examination o f the effects markets have on the course of public policies employing producer incentives to achieve policy goals. Specifically, the paper will review the past experience of urban renewal to show the relationship between policy objectives and outcomes when policy is designed to work through the marketplace. By arguing that market incentives cons train policy outcomes, it is maintained that policies which are judged to have failed in its goals may in reality have succeeded when viewed in terms of normal market operations.
THE BRITISH ECONOMY SINCE WORLD WAR II
Authors: Studior Donley T.
Published: June 2005

Alec Cairncross. Years of Recovery: British Economic Policy

Jim Tomlinson. British Macroeconomic Policy Since 1940. Dover
THE JUSTICE MOTIVE IN THE SOCIAL POLICY PROCESS: SEARCHING FOR NORMATIVE RULES OF DISTRIBUTION
Authors: Musheno Michael C.
Published: June 2005

Policy analysis in the United States relies heavily on the microeconomic assumption that the primary motive in individual and organizational behavior is self interest. After describing how the over‐reliance on self interest emerged, this paper provides evidence that participants in the social policy process relyon other motivations to structure their decision‐rules which are equally if not more important than self interest. The paper goes on to describe and explain how decision‐rules based on notions of distributive justice operate and to integrate this line of inquiry with an evolving paradigm for policy research which is sensitive to organizational context, supports adaptive administration, and encourages the analysis of the normative premises underlying social policy action.
IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF RESEARCH SYNTHESIS IN PROGRAM EVALUATION
Authors: Bryant Fred B.
Published: June 2005

Because research synthesis enables one to determine either the overall effectiveness of different types of treatments, it is becoming increasingly popular as a tool in program evaluation. Numerous methodological problems arise, however, when research synthesis is applied to studies conducted in field settings. The present paper categorlzes and discusses these problems as being threats to either the (1) internal validity (whether one can draw conclusions about cause and effect), (2) statistical conclusion validity (whether one's inferential statistics are capable of detecting cause‐and effect relationships, (3) construct validity (whether one's treatments and outcome measures are valid operationalizations of the independent and dependent variables of interest), or (4) external validity (whether one can generalize results to particular populations, settings, or time periods) of research synthesis (see Cook & Campbell, 1979). Specific recommendations are made for minimizing these threats to validity, In order to improve the quality of research synthesis in program evaluation. Finally, the validit framework is applied to an actual synthesis to identify strengths, weaknesses, and potential means of enhancing research quality.
THE FIRST TWO OIL SHOCKS: POLICY RESPONSE AND EFFECTIVENESS
Authors: Hughes Barry B.
Published: June 2005

A simultaneous, comparative review of the attempts by different countries and country groupings to react to the economic problems caused by the two oil shocks. of the 1970s can help us evaluate the relative success of those efforts. In general, the world has yet to recover from those shocks, with various combinations of slow growth, high unemployment, high inflation rates, and substantial governmental andlor international debt still facing countries everywhere. It appears that different combinations of traditional fiscal and monetary policy largely shifted the temporal impact of the shocks or altered the trade‐offs among problem categories. It also appears that energy policy may be a more powerful tool with which to approach the possibility of future shocks than any combination of economic policies.
AGENDA SETTING AND “NONDECISIONMAKING”: DECOMMISSIONING NUCLEAR GENERATING STATIONS
Authors: McClain Paula D. , Pijawka K. David
Published: June 2005

The final point in the nuclear fuel cycle has always been the eventual retirement, decommissioning, of the 81 commercial nuclear power reactors presently in existence. This eventual retirement has been thought to be an issue of the future, because the large plants, built in the 1960s and 1970s. were assumed to have an expected operating life of 30 to 40 years. However, the reality is that several commercial reactors already have been decommissioned, and numerous others will soon reach maturity. This article examines decommissioning of nuclear power plants from a public policy–rather than a technical–perspective. A number of questions are addressed concerning the policy implications associated with decommissioning. The findings of the study are based on survey data from the utilities, an examination of NRC documents, interviews with NRC staff scientists, and site visits to several decommissioned plants.
IMPLEMENTING COMPARABLE WORTH IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR: THEORY AND PRACTICE AT THE STATE AND LOCAL LEVEL
Authors: Kelly Rita Mae , Bayes Jane
Published: June 2005

This paper defines comparable worth as part of the pay equity movement, given an overview of the reasons for its development in the 1980s.and identifies objections to its implementation. It also articulates the political and implementation challenges comparable worth presents and specifies the purpose of this special symposium.
WOMEN, LABOR MARKETS. AND COMPARABLE WORTH
Authors: Bayes Jane
Published: June 2005

This article reviews various theories about labor markets in the United States and traces the arguments that accompany each theory concerning why women earn less than men. To test some of these arguments, the paper uses aggregate statistics on the sex composition of occupations and industries during the decade 1970–1980 t o identify trends. Findings show that the sex segregation of occupations decreased slightly while the sex segregation of industries increased. The earnings differential between men and women remained substantially the same. The paper offers an explanation using labor market theories for these empirical findings and, in light of this explanation, assesses the implications for the effectiveness of comparable worth policies.
EVALUATING TVA: THE CONTRIBUTION OF ECONOMIC. HISTORICAL. AND ADMINISTRATIVE ANALYSIS
Authors: Webber David J.
Published: June 2005

William U. Chandler. The Myth of TVA: Conservation and Development in the Tennessee Valley, 1933–1983

Robert F. Durant. When Government Regulates Itself: EPA, E V A, and Pollution Control in the 1970s

Erwin C. Hargrove and Paul K. Conkin, eds. TVA: Fifty Years of Grossroofs Bureaucracy
KNOWLEDGE AND ORGANIZATIONS
Authors: Dery David
Published: June 2005

This paper examines two interrelated questions: Knowledge utilization and organizational learning. Whereas most treatments o f these questions have in mind individuals, “decisionmakers,” who are supposedly the learning agents, or the potential users of social science knowledge and information, my attempt will be to regard knowledge utilization and learning as organizational phenomena. A s such, the question of knowledge utilization, of learning, of knowledge growth in organizations, calls for the notion of organizational epistemology which has been neglected due to the prevailing view of organizational learning a5 experimental learning. The notion of organizational epistemology, or theory of knowledge, is, in turn, helpful in freeing both organizations from the naive empiricism we have attributed to them, and utilization‐minded researchers from the frustration that accompanies the repeatedly documented phenomenon on nonutilization. To better appreciate the role of policy minded social science knowledge and information, my proposal will be to conceptualize learning behavior in terms of “contest” rather than experimentation and verification.
ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING; A CASE OF LEARNING THROUGH EVALUATION?
Authors: Craig Alison
Published: June 2005

The aim of environmental monitoring programs is to provide information useful in enforcing existing environmental statutes and helping to detect and prevent future problems. Despite the considerable number of monitoring programs being conducted, information on the quality of the nation's environment remains poor and of little use in supporting environmental policymaking. This paper examines the role evaluation has played in developing an effective nationwide environmental monitoring system. Background information on environmental monitoring programs is provided, followed by a discussion of the evaluations of past programs and recommendations made for improvement. One program in particular, the “Status and Trends” program administered by the National Oceanic and ATmospheric Administration, is examined to explore whether environmental monitoring demonstrates a case of learning through evaluation. “Status and Trends” is based on the experience gained during several of the previous monitoring programs and incorporates many of the recommendations spawned from earlier environmental programs. Whether the program demonstrates a case of learning through evaluation will depend on the ability of the program to evolve as we learn more about environmental quality and out ability to measure it.
ECONOMIC POLICY ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH BEACH RENOURISHMENT
Authors: Bell Frederick W.
Published: June 2005

Coastal beaches are a source of considerable recreational activity, but are also eroding at a rapid rate. Since beach resources are common property, there is no organized market to determine economic benefits from recreational use. Through a willingness to pay equation for beach use, this article demonstrates how proposed beach renourishment policy can be evaluated within a benefit‐cost analysis framework. Benefits are estimated as the incremental willingness to pay per day for a larger beach width which is translated into annualized benefits. Annualize cost of achieving maximum benefits are calculated from a cost function. Given the existing cost of beach renourishment, it was found that all beaches in Florida that are overcrowded (i.e., had less than 112 square feet per person/day) could be renourished at a benefit‐cost ratio greater than unity. In Florida, beach renourishment policy for overcrowded beaches yields more economic benefits than costs. However, this technique does not lend itself to policy analyses of uncrowded beaches that are undergoing considerable erosion.
SCIENTIFIC FACT AND VALUE IN U.S. OCEAN DUMPING POLICY
Authors: Spiller Judith , Rieser Alison
Published: June 2005

Controversy among scientists over appropriate use of the ocean for waste disposal impedes U.S. policy in this area. The problem arises in part because scientific uncertainty over the fate and effects of wastes released into the ocean requires a large element of judgment, and hence value, when the uncertain science is applied to policy. Scientists often supply that judgment and so impose their values, though seldom explicitly, on policy. Further, science often determines policy because many perceive it as an objective basis for decisionmaking and so less subject to the debate that arises from weighing public preferences in policymaking. Thus, scientists' values rather than the public's come to set policy. The resulting policy may elevate one expert's values over another's. Then as values and so interpretation of science shift, policy changes. Or, as in the case now with arguments over the ocean's ability to assimilate many anthropogenic wastes, conflicting science, really conflicting values, results in an agreement and policy inertia. These problems are partially circumvented when scientists make the nonscientific factors behind their reasoning clear. These factors may then be evaluated by the public along with the supporting scientific evidence. Thus, weighing the welfare of society rather than resolving conflicts among scientists becomes the focus of policy.
THE POLICY IMPACT OF NO‐FAULT AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE
Authors: Meier Kenneth J. , La Follette Robert M.
Published: June 2005

This study examines the impact of four different types of no‐fault automobile insurance laws on the risk adjusted price of insurance. No‐fault insurance plans are in operation in 23 states. Using data from 1976 to 1984 for 49 states, the study found that no‐fault plans limiting litigation result in lower prices for automobile insurance. This relationship holds even under controls for several variables that also affect the price of automobile insurance.
PATTERNS AND PREDICTORS OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT POWER IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT: A POLICY PERSPECTIVE ON ISSUES IN ONE STATE
Authors: Stevens John M. , McGowan Robert P.
Published: June 2005

The purpose of this paper is to examine patterns and predictors of local government economic development in one state. The approach uses data from local governments and various statistical analyses to derive common dimensions of local government power and examine predictors of these dimensions. The results suggest that state policies on development strat‐egies have to be developed and effectively exercised to increase the power of the local government in the multiple constituent network.
INDUSTRY‐UNIVERSITY TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER IN MICROELECTRONICS
Authors: Larsen Judith K. , Wigand Rolf T.
Published: June 2005

Federal, state and local governments have encouraged university‐industry cooperation in recent years through a number of different policies and programs. Industry has increasingly been looking to universities for new ideas, closer collaboration and more timely access to research results. Various levels of government have become increasingly involved in joint funding with industry in new university‐industry research centers and institutes. State and local governments spend considerable effort to attract high‐technology industry, using university‐industry collaborative programs as one incentive. Yet despite the theoretical and policy importance of this topic, it has received little systematic research attention.

This contribution reports the results of a National Science Foundation‐funded study investigating technology transfer in microelectronics between Arizona State University located in the Phoenix metropolitan area and surrounding microelectronics firms. The results describe state and local initiatives influencing such technology transfer, how the initial technology transfer contact comes about, how research goals, topics and activities are decided upon, and how resources and funding support is secured. In addition satisfaction from, benefits and costs of, as well as attitudes bout technology transfer are reported.
ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY IN ENERGY POLICY
Authors: Rycroft Robert W.
Published: June 2005

Pietro S. Nivola. The Politics of Energy Conservation

John C. Sawhill and Richard Cotton (Eds.), Energy Conservation: Successes and Failures

Richard H. K. Victor, Energy Policy in America Since 1945: A Study of Business‐Government Relations
DOWN TO BUSINESS: THE COMMODIFICATION OF NONPROFIT SOCIAL SERVICES
Authors: Altheide David L.
Published: June 2005

Private nonprofit organizations play a major role in delivering a range of publicly funded social services. Aggregate data from a recent Urban Institute study reveal that recent federal cutbacks have affected the services, programs and clients of NPOs. An examination of specific agencies in Maricopa County (Phoenix) reveals that many service providers have adopted a business approach to their services and clients, treating them as commodities. In general, agencies serving clients with Resource Mobilization Potential‐youth and elderly‐have fared better than those dealing primarily with poor adults.
OPINION CONGRUENCE AND THE FORMULATION OF SEISMIC SAFETY POLICIES
Authors: Mushkatel Alvin H. , Nigg Joanne M.
Published: June 2005

This article examines key actors’and citizens’perceptions on several issues involving various actions designed to lessen the effects of a damaging earthquake as well as the degree of concern these groups have over the occurrence of such an event. The relationship discovered between key actors’and the public's attitudes on these issues indicates that several other studies of earthquake policy adoption which suggest that a lack of citizen awareness and support for earthquake policy are the major barriers to adoption may be in error. In fact, it is discovered that in the Central states, it is the public which is concerned and supportive of such policy and the key actors who are more reluctant to endorse such policies.
THE NEXT DECADE: THE ECONOMIC, POLITICAL, AND SOCIAL CONTEXT OF EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING POLICIES
Authors: Palmer John L.
Published: June 2005

The conservative challenge of the Reagan administration has not produced a full‐scale reversal of the liberal policies and social programs developed by earlier administrations and seems unlikely to do so now. Nevertheless, the continuities in American social and political history, the changed economic and fiscal circumstances of the current era, and growing public appreciation of the limits of federal action and of institutional capabilities are likely to effect a reduction in the level of federal spending for social programs in the foreseeable future and force the states to assume larger fiscal and programmatic roles. Implications for future employment and training policies include continued decentralization, a shift in focus away from training new entrants to retraining mid‐career workers, and greater emphasis on meeting cost‐effectiveness tests as program goals seek to promote economic efficiency rather than social objectives.
WELFARE TO WORK PROGRAMS: LESSONS ON RECENT STATE INITIATIVES
Authors: Gueron Judith M.
Published: June 2005

Since the federally supported public assistance program became law in 1935, many developments have challenged our perceptions about the employability of welfare mothers and the appropriate design of the AFDC program. A consensus has been building that the AFDC program should be redesigned with the view that employable women and men have a responsibility to work and support their families. The result has been proposals stressing some form of work requirement. Several years ago, the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC) began a five‐year social experiment examining current state efforts to restructure the relationship between welfare and work. The MDRC demonstration addresses four questions. First, is it feasible to impose work‐related obligations as a condition of reviewing welfare? Second, what do workfare‐type programs look like in practice and how do welfare recipients themselves judge the fairness of mandatory requirements? Third, do these initiatives make a difference? Fourth, how do program benefits compare to costs? Issues, findings, and conclusions are related to these questions.
SUPERFUND FINANCING ALTERNATIVES
Authors: McNiel Douglas W. , Foshee Andrew W.
Published: June 2005

In 1980 Congress created the Superfund to pay for the selective cleanup of hazardous waste disposal sites. The original Superfund program was financed by earmarked “feedstock” taxes on petroleum and 42 chemicals, and by a “waste‐end” tax on hazardous waste received a t disposal facilities. Budgetary authority for the program expired in September 1985. Over a year elapsed before Congress renewed budgetary authority for the program by expanding the feedstock taxes, suspending the waste‐end tax, and imposing a new broad‐base tax on corporate income. This paper examines the efficiency and equity effects of the current and several alternative Superfund tax policies. Special emphasis is given to the administrative and compliance costs associated with each tax, and the capacity of each to complement EPA regulation of hazardous waste externalities.
AFTER REAGAN'S DEREGULATION: STATE‐FEDERAL CONFLICT OVER ENERGY POLICY
Authors: Riposa Gerry
Published: June 2005

President Reagan's New Federalism has promised to redistribute the political power within the fcdcral system through a concerted program of deregulation and decentralization. Through such an approach, the Administration holds that intergovernmental policy making will reap the benefits of increased cooperation, efficiency, and effectiveness. This paper examines Reagan's New Federalism in energy policy, finding a continued presence of state‐federal conflict in intergovernmental implementation decisions. This conflict emerges as the President's priorities of deregula‐ tion and decentralization often combat one another. This analysis, then, suggests that New Federalism's emphasis on deregulation, rather than decentralization, carries the greatest weight in explaining the politics on intergovernmental energy policy implementation in the 1980s.
IMPACT ASSESSMENT FOR FEDERAL WILDLIFE POLICY
Authors: Mangun William R.
Published: June 2005

This article is one of the first efforts to describe and assess the environ‐ rricntal impact asscssmcnt process iri the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). The FWS environmental impact assessment process has evolved from a procedural requirement limited to biological concerns to a more c o m p r e 11 ensi ve pro ce ss i nvol vi n g soc i a 1 and economic consider at i ons. 7'h i s historical overview describes changes in agency actions. Recent FWS en‐ vironmental impact assessments are examined that concern translocation of the Southern Sea Otter in California; master planning efforts related to thc heavily‐visited Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge; use of steel shot for hunting fowl; antf comprehensive use plans for Alaskan national wildlife refuges.
AN IMPACT IDENTIFICATION METHOD FOR DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM EVALUATION
Authors: Dietz Thomas , Pfund Alicia
Published: June 2005

Evaluation is essential to planning and implementing effective develop‐ ment programs. The resource limitations, multidimensionality of develop‐ ment program impacts, cultural barriers between evaluators and those impacted, and the diversity of settings in which evaluations must be con‐ ducted arc serious constraints on the use of traditional research methods to evaluate development programs. Similar constraints are faced in con‐ ducting most social impact assessments. We suggest that a method of impact identification that makes use of experts, including the people ef‐ fected by a project, can be used in development project evaluation. The method, which is based on the noniinal group technique, is described, as are some of its applications in Latin America and the Caribbean. We conclude iiy considering directions for future development and the relationship be‐ tween planning, evaluation, and impact assessment.
ECONOMICS AND IMPACT ASSESSMENT: CETERIS PARIBUS OR MUTATIS MUTANDIS
Authors: Mason Thomas W.
Published: June 2005

Economic theory frequently uses ceteris paribus assumptions to hold complicating variables constant to analyze the effect of one variable on another. Policy‐makers must consider effects of policies with other things changing as they will (i.e., mutatis mutandis). Impact assessment can recon‐ cile the often narrow approach of economic analysis and the need for broad consideration of implications. The methods of impact assessment can pro‐ vide a proper place for economic analysis in policy assessment and help to assure that a broad range of impacts are included to determine the economic effects of events and decisions.
IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND DEMOCRATIC POLITICS
Authors: Baber Walter F.
Published: June 2005

The advent of impact assessment as a tool of policy is the latest chapter in our understanding of the relationship between science and politics. As such, it presents at least two challenges to democratic politics. Given its emphasis on appropriate procedural character of conteniporary democratic systems. And by raising the value of technical and scientific information in environmental disputes, impact assessment poses a challenge to existing concepts of popular sovereignty, based as they are on interest and preference rather than knowledge. These challenges, however, do not rep‐ resent irreconcilable differences. Although there may be an inherent ten‐ sion between impact assessment and democratic politics, there are also areas of affinity between the two. And we are destined to accept and adapt to this tension because, in fact, understanding is one of our principal defenses against tyranny.
DOES PERFORMANCE MATTER? A STUDY OF STATE BUDGETING
Authors: Connelly Michael , Tompkins Gary L.
Published: June 2005

This study examines the relationship between measures of expenditures and personnel on executive decision making on the budget in Missouri, FY 1979–1985. Specifically, it focuses on the interaction of “macro” and “micro” variables in the governor's budget recommendations, as demonstrated by revealing the conditions under which correlations between expenditures and personnel recommendations are weak and strong. The results indicate that attention to dollars is not enough to explain state policy decisions and that strong correlations are not automatic between the measures, which are influenced by internal as well as external constraints.
POLICY‐MAKING IN THE AMERICAN STATES: TYPOLOGY, PROCESS, AND INSTITUTIONS
Authors: Wong Kenneth K.
Published: June 2005

The three levels of government in the U.S. federal system maintain a different set of policy priorities because they operate under varying environmental constraints and resources. Efforts to categorize and specify the politics in terms of policy types have been particularly fruitful at both the federal (e.g., Lowi) and the local (e.g., Peterson) levels. At the state level, however, the typology perspective has yet to be more fully developed. This paper makes a preliminary effort to construct a typology framework in understanding state politics and policy. First, politics can be differentiated between growth and redistribution in the structural economic context. While redistributive politics are largely structured by class‐oriented issues, growth politics are predominantly shaped by territorial concerns that temper class and ideological differences. Equally important, the growth‐redistribution distinction can be supplemented by the politics of routine services, such as public education. The latter remains dominated by service‐provider groups. Moreover, based on an empirical analysis of hundreds of bills in one state legislature, these political differences are found to have contributed to variations in policy consensus among lawmakers as well as interest group representation in agenda setting and legitimation across policy arenas. Our findings also suggest limitations to the typology framework.
SYSTEM AND PROCESS IN CAPITAL‐INTENSIVE PRIVATIZATION: A COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY OF MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER TREATMENT WORKS
Authors: Heilman John G. , Johnson Gerald W.
Published: June 2005

Capital‐intensive privatization (CIP) is an option for infrastructure project development. Advocates claim that CIP generates cost savings through efficiencies inherent in the coordinated design, construction, and operation of facilities. The present paper assesses these claims in the field of municipal wastewater treatment facilities (WIWs). It presents case‐study results and aggregate data on seven of the first privatized WIWs, and on seven comparable grant‐funded facilities. The analysis relies on the concepts of system and process. It concludes that CIP changes the system of players and the processes through which they interact. In doing so, CIP generates efficiencies of time and cost in project design and construction. It also may change accountability mechanisms, trade efficiency off against accountability, and raise issues of compatibility with the nature of the state. These matters bear directly on the current debates over tax and budget policy generated by increased demands for services, limited resources, and deficit reduction mandates.
B: THE NORMATIVE/IDEOLOGICAL CONTEXT OF POLICY FORMATION FAMILY POLICY: HAS THE UNITED STATES LEARNED FROM EUROPE?
Authors: Kamerman Sheila B. , Kahn Alfred J.
Published: June 2005

“Family Policy” is a term that is used increasingly in the U.S. to describe policies affecting children and their families. In this article, the authors focus on whether societal learning has occurred across the Atlantic with regard to family policy and what, if anything, the U.S. has learned or borrowed from Europe. The authors conclude that there has been some borrowing, albeit modest; currently, some of that learning is reflected in an expanding child policy debate.
A FEMINIST CASE AGAINST NATIONAL FAMILY POLICY: VIEW TO THE FUTURE
Authors: Spakes Patricia
Published: June 2005

This paper examines the goals of current family policy proposals from a feminist perspective. It reveals the fundamental pronatalist values that are inherent in such proposals. It reviews recent research that raises questions regarding the actual impact of Scandinavian family policies (which are often used as a model), in terms of actually achieving the stated objective of enhancing equality between the sexes. It briefly explores the family policy that already exists in the United States, having been judicially enacted by the Supreme Court, and finally, it shows how most current family based policy proposals serve to maintain inequality rather than to promote equality, both in society and the home.

The paper attempts to raise issues that policymakers need to consider in order to establish a long range policy goals that will truly benefit women and their families.
FAMILY POLICIES, WOMEN, AND THE COLLECTIVE INTEREST IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA
Authors: Robinson Jean
Published: June 2005

This paper analyzes marriage and divorce reform and family planning policies in the People's Republic of China in the context of the state‐defined collective interest. A theoretical examination of the contradictions between women's liberation and the Marxist defined economic and political concerns of the state shows that liberation cannot be achieved until the state acknowledges the values of social reproduction and family nurturance. The empirical discussion of recent reforms in family policies in China points to the continuing manipulation of women's interests by the state. The tendency of the PRC government to make policy based on narrow economic considerations results in the maintenance of a system in which women's special interests are exclude from the collective interest and thus denied legitimacy.
INCREASING THE ECONOMIC WELL‐BEING OF SEPARATED, DIVORCED, AND WIDOWED WOMEN OVER AGE THIRTY
Authors: Bahrand Stephen J. , Ricks Shirley S.
Published: June 2005

Data from the Continuous Longitudinal Manpower Survey and the Current Population Survey were used to estimate the effects of CETA, a governmental jobs program, on the economic well‐being of separated, divorced, and widowed women over age thirty. After training, CETA participants had increases in earnings and tended to have higher earnings than comparable CPS respondents. Participants in on‐the‐job training and public service employment had greater increases than participants in the other CETA programs. CETA enrollees with a high school degree had greater increases in earnings than those who had not completed high school, while whites had greater increases in earnings than non‐whites.
TRANSLATING THE PROBLEMS OF THE ELDERLY INTO EFFECTIVE POLICIES: AN ANALYSIS OF FILIAL ATTITUDES
Authors: Dinkins Ford Doris E.
Published: June 2005

This paper examines the political implications of current decision making efforts that underpin recent cost‐cutting measures of federally supported programs serving the elderly. Current policy changes that favor the private sector (e.g., shifts of the cost of care to other levels of government and to elderly individuals and their families) have also generated a renewed interest in the policy of mandating family responsibility. The paper also examines attitudes concerning filial responsibility, such as multigenerational living. The inadequacy of current policy analysis that has encouraged the disestablishment of the current long‐term care system and the shifting of care costs to the private sector, especially to the individual and the family are also examined.
PROMISES, PROMISES: CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION IN THE 1980s
Authors: Rodwell Mary K. , Chambers Donald E.
Published: June 2005

The article reviews the history of the evolution of the definition of child abuse as a social problem, then analyzes the related legislative efforts to respond to the problem, giving special emphasis to child abuse prevention. Program outcomes of relevant primary prevention programs are discussed, as well as studies attempting to predict risk of child abuse. Specific conclusions related to the viability of primary prevention of violence to children are presented.
PRESIDENTIAL POLICY PREFERENCES AND SUPREME COURT APPOINTMENT SUCCESS
Authors: Gates John B. , Cohen Jeffrey E.
Published: June 2005

Presidential appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court are major constitutional events. Few studies assess whether this political process benefits presidents with appointment opportunities. This article estimates the policy success of presidents since Eisenhower in appointing favorable justices on the racial equality issues. Previous research uses the president's party affiliation as an indirect measure of presidential preferences. This research examines the president's policy stance more directly by using presidential public statements on racial equality issues. An issue specific measure of presidential preferences shows that presidents have been more successful in appointing like‐minded justices than reliance on presidential party would suggest. Regression estimates of the justices aggregate voting record on racial equality cases are robust even in light of other controls. The implications for democratic theory and future research are discussed.
WHAT DO YOU TEACH POLICY STUDIES EDUCATORS ABOUT COMPUTERS?
Authors: Connolly Frank W. , Bergin Thomas J.
Published: June 2005

Computers are no longer an idea of the future. They are, rather, a common and even expected tool of the public administrator. The authors assert that students of the discipline must have a practical knowledge of computer applications. While it is not necessary that advanced computer engineering be studied, students should nevertheless be made familiar with the uses of the computer in administration. Beyond learning how to operate a computer, the article states that students, especially adult learners, first have to be made not to fear this instrument of the age of information so that they will be comfortable when learning its applications.
FEDERAL‐STATE RELATIONS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SURFACE MINING POLICY
Authors: Harris Richard
Published: June 2005

The federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 not only established national performance standards and permitting procedures for the coal industry, but also provided for stateprimacy. The principle of state primary is both simple and intuitively appealing: Because states do not have adequate resources to develop effective regulatory programs, the federal government would set up comprehensive procedures and criteria to guide the states in preparing their own plans. The obvious advantage of state primacy is that i t provides for flexibility in implementation.

Ultimately, state primacy is an experiment in cooperative federalism, a sharing of authority and responsibility between the states and the federal government to insure both the general welfare and sensitivity to local conditions. The history of surface mining regulation is instructive because i t points out the pitfalls and promise of cooperative federalism as well as the critical role of the courts in making state primacy work.
FEDERAL COURT INVOLVEMENT IN THE APPLICATION OF SURFACE MINING LAW
Authors: Clinton Robert L.
Published: June 2005

This article surveys 122 federal cases reported in the Surface Mining Law Summary from the earliest legislation under SMCRA to the end of 1987. The analysis distinguished between cases in which all OSMRE regulations or applications of SMCRA were upheld by the federal courts, and those in which one or more regulations/applications were overturned. The analysis further classifies the cases according to whether the decisions were favorable to industry (or, conversely, to environmental/citizen groups), according to whether the issues involved were primarily of narrow private right (or, conversely, of broad public policy), and according to state‐of‐origin. Finally, separate examination of those cases in which OSMRE's discretion in the enforcement of SMCRA was restricted is provided. The author concludes t h a t both the federal courts and OSMRE have been reasonably even‐handed in their application of SMCRA, contrary to the earlier expectations of some proponents and opponents of surface coal mining regulation in the United States.
THE EXCLUSION OF ILLEGAL HISPANICS IN AGENDA‐SETTING: THE IMMIGRATION REFORM AND CONTROL ACT OF 1986
Authors: Arp William
Published: June 2005

In November of 1986, the Immigration Reform and Control Act, designed primarily to control illegal Hispanic residents was signed into law. The new policy as implemented failed to remove, via legalization, illegal residents residing within the United States. The perspectives of Hispanic organiza‐ tions and 594 illegal residents were collected and evaluated to ascertain those variables that may have served to negate this public policy. The utilization of a subsequent qualitative and discriminant analysis indicated that the exclusion and/or lack of consideration given the perspectives of policy targeted groups and individuals in agenda setting, adversely affected the efficacy of the policy‐making process, and thus, the laws it creates.
AGENDA‐SETTING BY STATE LEGISLATIVE BLACK CAUCUSES: POLICY PRIORITIES AND FACTORS OF SUCCESS
Authors: Miller Cheryl M.
Published: June 2005

As their representation in legislative chambers has increased, black state legislators have organized into caucuses to maximize their policy influence. These caucuses act as policy entrepreneurs in initiating and advancing minority policy goals. The North Carolina Legislative Black Caucus is il‐ lustrative of an emerging force in half the states in moving minority policy issues from the systemic to the formal legislative agenda. Using the 1987 North Carolina Legislative Black Caucus as the research setting, supple‐ mented with selective data on other state caucuses, this article offers insights into the types of policy initiatives state legislative black caucuses advance. Also, situational and political factors that may foster successful agenda‐setting are explored.
Appellate Court Adherence to Precedent
Authors: Cross Frank
Published: June 2005

Why do lower courts follow precedent, or any law? Traditional rational choice theories that rely on presumptions of ideological decision making have struggled to explain the power of judicial hierarchy. This article addresses the issue in three components. The first two sections examine the conventional positive political theory explanations for circuit court adherence to Supreme Court preferences based on a risk of reversal by the Court. These sections explain how these conventional theories cannot be theoretically sustained under prevailing resource constraints. The next two sections set forth an alternative explanation that considers the possibility of judges who possess both political and legal preferences. Using linguistic theory, these sections explain how the two types of preference could interact to produce partial adherence to precedent. The final section empirically examines circuit court decision making. This analysis shows that both political and traditional legal considerations have a significant effect on circuit court decision making, while contemporaneous Supreme Court preferences exert no discernible influence. The theoretical and empirical evidence support a conclusion that lower courts adhere to the law out of an affirmative judicial preference for such adherence rather than out of a fear of reversal by a higher court.
Atopic Dermatitis—More Than a Simple Skin Disorder
Authors: Anderson Miriam Lim
Published: June 2005

Purpose

To describe atopic dermatitis (AD) in relation to a case study, the diagnostic criteria, complications, prevalence, future implications, and management for the primary care provider.

Data sources

Extensive literature review on the condition, supplemented with an actual case study.

Conclusions

Although there are many scientific studies done on AD, the exact pathogenesis and cure for this condition are still to be discovered. It is usually chronic and has some fatal sequelae in those who have been exposed to viral infections. Asthma, allergic rhinitis (AR), and AD are considered the atopic triad. Further studies that may help improve medical providers’ understanding of AD are going on and offer hope to those afflicted by this disorder.

Implications for practice

Children over 5 years old may have outgrown their symptoms, so it is best to diagnose this condition at an early age to provide better management outcomes. Because it is part of an atopic triad, the nurse practitioner must think beyond the presenting skin condition to consider possible respiratory system conditions. AD may herald the onset of asthma and AR.