bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
EMU, Investment and Growth: Some Unresolved Issues
Authors: Pain Nigel
Published: April 2009

At the heart of the evaluation of the economic costs and benefits of adopting the euro lies the question of whether living standards would be higher outside or inside the Euro Area. It is well established that there is a strong positive relationship between openness to international trade and investment and the performance of the UK economy. European integration is continuing to help raise the openness of the UK economy, as well as stimulating product market competition and making the UK a more attractive location for mobile investments. This provides an additional channel through which potential output in the UK is linked to the degree of integration with the rest of Europe. Adopting a common currency may bring modest further gains to productivity and living standards by stimulating trade as well as competition. Reducing exchange rate volatility may also raise the level of fixed capital investment in the UK, although the direct evidence for this is limited, and stimulate inward investment from outside Europe, but could reduce the level of foreign direct investment between the UK and the Euro Area. However it is far from clear how big the net benefits might be or how soon they might start to appear. If the UK were to enter monetary union at a significantly overvalued real exchange rate the gains might never materialise at all and there could easily be significant net losses.
Equity Markets, Block Realignments and the UK Exchange Rate
Authors: Barrell Ray
Published: April 2009

In recent weeks, equity markets have been very weak and the euro exchange rate has risen by more than 10 per cent against the dollar. The UK's effective exchange rate has also depreciated, removing some, but not all, of the overvaluation we identified in the April Review. We report on recent movements in table 1, and their implications are discussed in the UK and World forecast chapters in this Review. To an extent the movements in the US stock markets and the exchange rate are linked, but there does seem to be some ‘excess strength’ in the euro, which will in turn contribute to the weakness of Euro Area equity prices.
The UK Economy
Authors: Pain Nigel , Weale Martin
Published: April 2009

After a pronounced slowdown at the turn of the year, economic growth has recovered during the course of 2002. Revised estimates now suggest that GDP rose by 0.6 per cent in the second quarter and, based on our monthly GDP projections, we estimate that growth was 0.5 per cent in the third quarter, marginally below trend rates. It now appears increasingly unlikely that the Budget forecast of 2-2½ per cent growth in 2002 can be attained, and we expect to see growth of 1.4 per cent for the year as a whole.
Dating the Business Cycle in Britain
Authors: Artis Michael
Published: April 2009

The NIESR's monthly GDP series is an innovative feature; most GDP estimates are published at an annual, or quarterly frequency at best. For purposes of dating the business cycle the availability of this series is an asset, unexploited until this paper. The paper applies a version of the standard business (or ‘classical’) cycle dating algorithm to the data, after light smoothing to remove outliers. Three classical cycles are detected in the period between the early 1970s and 2002, with turning points which are close to (but usually precede) classical cycle dating which does not benefit from the availability of monthly GDP, and instead relies on a ‘coincident’ indicator methodology. In addition the turning points of a deviation cycle are identified.
Commentary: The UK Economy
Authors: Weale Martin
Published: April 2009

The second quarter saw a marked acceleration in the economy's growth rate to 0.6 per cent per quarter and the first estimate for the third quarter suggests that this faster rate of growth has persisted. This has to be seen in the context of a situation where, for the last two years economic commentators have been talking about a “downturn” but where there is little evidence of one in the aggregate data. Since the start of the new century in 2001, output has not actually fallen in any quarter and quarterly growth at an annual rate has dropped below 1 per cent per annum only once, in the first quarter of 2003. The industrial sector has been very weak; indeed its experience has been very similar to that of the last recession, but strong service sector growth has meant that the economy as a whole has not experienced a recession. It is of course too early to be sure that we have encountered a sustained period of average or above-average economic growth. The question can be answered definitively only ex post and after due time has been allowed for data revision, but it is certainly the implication of the recent data and our forecast taken together. For this reason, we are not concerned about the fall in industrial production shown in the industrial production index in August. While it obviously affects views of growth in the quarter we do not see it as the beginning of a new downturn.
Consumption and Housing Wealth in the UK
Authors: Barrell Ray , Choy Amanda , Riley Rebecca
Published: April 2009

Consumption behaviour in the UK is frequently seen as different from that in other countries. The relationship between the housing market and consumption is discussed at length in HM Treasury (2003). The housing market, which has been particularly cyclically volatile in the past 30 years, has contributed to cycles in consumption through its impact on housing wealth. Increased house prices increase the value of assets held, and impact on consumption, making the economy more cyclical. There is a clear relationship between the level of real financial plus housing net wealth as a proportion of income and the savings ratio (excluding adjustment for changes in net equity of households in pension funds), as can be seen from chart 1, where we plot the stock of total net assets over the flow of income to indicate just how much ‘cover’ the personal sector has on its current commitments. When wealth rises, for instance because real asset prices have risen, then individuals find themselves with more assets than they need and increase their consumption in order to return their assets to their equilibrium ratio to income. Clearly this process is not instantaneous, but cycles in wealth driven by house prices could have contributed to the cyclical nature of overall demand in the UK in the past 30 years.
Measuring the Macroeconomic Effects of Reducing Benefit Dependency
Authors: Barrell Ray , Kirby Simon , Riley Rebecca , van Welsum Desirée
Published: April 2009

We construct a framework for evaluating the macroeconomic impact on the UK economy of policies that are aimed at reducing the number of people receiving social security benefits by helping them into employment. By means of model simulation we evaluate the gains to the economy in terms of output, employment and improvements to the public finances of a policy that reduces the number of people claiming disability benefits or lone parents on Income Support by 5 per cent. These gains can be regarded as significant and have to be offset against the costs of the policy. We conclude that it is possible to evaluate the impact of policies to enable benefit claimants to find work using a macroeconomic model, and that such an evaluation should be included in each assessment of policy change.
Gender Equality in the Salvadoran Transition
Authors: Luciak Ilja A.
Published: April 2009

The construction of a true democracy entails the full realization of women['s rights] and their creative participation in all spheres of national life. This is a fundamental principle in the societal project for which the FMLN is fighting. We have a commitment: to win equal rights for women, [and] to overcome their marginalization and oppression in Salvadoran society.

—Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), Carta de principios y objetivos
Social Ecology, Genomics, and African American Health: A Nonlinear Dynamical Perspective
Authors: Madhere Serge , Harrell Jules , Royal Charmaine D. M.
Published: April 2009

This article offers a model that clarifies the degree of interdependence between social ecology and genomic processes. Drawing on principles from nonlinear dynamics, the model delineates major lines of bifurcation involving people's habitat, their family health history, and collective catastrophes experienced by their community. It shows how mechanisms of resource acquisition, depletion, and preservation can lead to disruptions in basic metabolism and in the activity of cytokines, neurotransmitters, and protein kinases, thus giving impetus to epigenetic changes. The hypotheses generated from the model are discussed throughout the article for their relevance to health problems among African Americans. Where appropriate, they are examined in light of data from the National Vital Statistics System. Multiple health outcomes are considered. For any one of them, the model makes clear the unique and converging contributions of multiple antecedent factors.
Development and Validation of Instruments to Assess Potential Religion-Health Mechanisms in an African American Population
Authors: Holt Cheryl L. , Clark Eddie M. , Roth David , Crowther Martha , Kohler Connie , Fouad Mona , Foushee Rusty , Lee Patricia A. , Southward Penny L.
Published: April 2009

The health disparities that negatively affect African Americans are well-documented; however, there are also many sociocultural factors that may play a protective role in health outcomes. Religious involvement is noted to be important in the African American community and to have a positive association with health outcomes. However, few studies have explained why this relationship exists. This article reports on the development and validation of instruments to assess two proposed mediators of the relationship between religiosity and health for an African American population: perceived religious influence on health behaviors and illness as punishment from a higher power . We used a systematic iterative process, including interviews and questionnaire data from African Americans who provided feedback on item wording. We also solicited input from African American pastors. In a sample of 55 African Americans, the instruments appeared to have strong internal reliability (α = .74 and .91, respectively) as well as test-retest reliability (r = .65, .84, respectively, p < .001). Evidence for construct validity is also discussed, as are recommendations for health disparities research using these instruments.
The Layers of the Apocalypse: An Integrative Approach to Revelation's Macrostructure
Authors: Bandy Alan S.
Published: April 2009

The structure of John's Apocalypse represents a perennial problem, drawing much attention while managing to elude a consensus around any one structural model. This article posits that the structure of the Apocalypse comprises a tripartite framework of individual layers woven together in a cohesive literary unity. The surface structure represents the first layer and provides the most accessible means for understanding the major and minor divisions. A second layer of intertextual parallels is evidenced by the way the Apocalypse apparently models portions of the Old Testament. A final layer consists of intratextual connections linking repetitive terms and phrases in a complex system of internal cross-references. By recognizing the surface structure, the intertextual layer and intratextual layer, interpreters can further explore how these individual layers influence the structure of the Apocalypse. This approach may also prove useful when investigating the meaning of the text through its structure.
Addressing Score Bias and Differential Item Functioning Due to Individual Differences in Response Style
Authors: Bolt Daniel M. , Johnson Timothy R.
Published: April 2009

A multidimensional item response theory model that accounts for response style factors is presented. The model, a multidimensional extension of Bock's nominal response model, is shown to allow for the study and control of response style effects in ordered rating scale data so as to reduce bias in measurement of the intended trait. In the current application, the model is also used to investigate response style as an underlying cause of differential item functioning. The approach is illustrated using the item responses of cigarette smokers to the Wisconsin Inventory of Smoking Dependence Motives, a self-report measure of tobacco dependence.
Bodies and eternity
Authors: Froese Katrin
Published: April 2009

In this article, I argue that Nietzsche collapses the rigid dichotomy between nature and culture, as well as body and mind, by insisting on their mutually constitutive nature. This forces him to reconceptualize the role of women, who had traditionally been considered to be wedded to both the natural realm and the body. Nietzsche hails women for their insight that culture can never capture nature, and for being attuned to the interplay between the two realms. He attributes an enormous power to the maternal figure who becomes a symbol for life as a whole. Her power arouses his own resentment, and he redoubles his efforts to exclude her, once again driving a wedge between nature and culture.
Lady Liberty’s allure
Authors: Krause Sharon
Published: April 2009

Conceiving political agency in terms of an interaction between the categories that Simone de Beauvoir called ‘immanence’ and ‘transcendence’ illuminates the role that attachments and desires play in supporting commitments to abstract principles of political right, and so clarifies the structure and sources of political agency. Communitarians and feminist theorists have shown in recent years that attachments to particular others can support a strong sense of individual efficacy. This analysis goes beyond those prior studies by showing the importance for political agency of partial attachments not to particular others but to abstract principles such as justice, liberty and equality. Motivating principled political action is a fundamental concern for constitutional liberal democracies such as the USA, in which citizens are to rule themselves on the basis of a constitutionally established set of abstract principles, rather than simply on the basis of attachments to particular persons or communities.
Two versions of continental holism
Authors: Borradori Giovanna
Published: April 2009

The difficulty to pin down the philosophical content of structuralism depends on the fact that it operates on an implicit metaphysics; such a metaphysics can be best unfolded by examining Jacques Derrida’s deconstructionist critique of it. The essay argues that both structuralism and Derrida’s critique rely on holistic premises. From an initial externalist definition of structure, structuralism’s metaphysics emerges as a kind of ‘immanent’ holism, similar to the one pursued, in the contemporary analytic panorama, by Donald Davidson. By contrast, Derrida’s deconstructionist critique appears engaged in a ‘quasi-transcendental’ version of holism, which the author analyzes in connection with Martin Heidegger’s notion of Verwindung, or twisted overcoming.
Adorno and extreme evil
Authors: Hammer Espen
Published: April 2009

By comparing Adorno's conception of evil with those of Kant and Levinas, it is argued that the commitment to a notion of materialist transcendence, which Adorno introduces as a philosophical response to Auschwitz, is compatible with an equally strong commitment to philosophical modernity and autonomy. Whereas Kant's moral theology, on the one hand, proceeds in a too immanent fashion, and Levinas's heterology, on the other, in seeking to explode ontology, denies the conditions of thought's rational responsiveness, Adorno succeeds in combining the quest for radical otherness with an idealist interpretation of modernity.
Liberalism, rights and recognition
Authors: Patrick Morag
Published: April 2009

The conviction that political recognition is accomplished through the extension and completion of the Enlightenment project of toleration is shared by some of the most influential political theorists of our time. John Rawls, Charles Taylor and Will Kymlicka all formulate the issue of recognition as if it were a corollary of the principle of toleration based in equal liberty or dignity. This raises important issues which political thought must confront and engage with. Above all, it means reconsidering the primacy of Enlightenment critique for our understanding of ourselves, our world and our encounter with others. In this article I examine the liberal conviction that tolerance (in the sense of a commitment to individual autonomy) best promotes recognition of cultural diversity. I argue that two weaknesses haunt the liberal project and undermine this belief. They prevail because of a failure adequately to address the question of recognition in its normative, ontological and symbolic aspects. In contrast, I argue that philosophical hermeneutics affords a critical perspective on democratic theory and practice that must be taken up and extended following the experience of identity politics.
Correlations, constellations and the Truth
Authors: Kaufmann David
Published: April 2009

The Anglo-American reception of Adorno has secularized his thought and thus missed its normative basis. In this article, the ‘constellation’, a central feature of Adorno's philosophy, is traced to Hermann Cohen's anti-immanentist notion of ‘Korrelation’ and to Benjamin's attempt to discover a radically Kantian and adamantly Jewish ontology and concept of the truth. Adorno's works are shown to limn a critical measure for being and for reason, based on a very un-Hegelian refusal of immanence and on a commitment to a regulative, if not constative, principle of redemption.
The return of the subject?
Authors: Stern David
Published: April 2009

The deconstruction of the subject associated with postmodernism cannot be said to have simply carried the day. Opponents and critics of postmodernism have held that we must return to the subject and to autonomy as a necessary condition of thinking about ethics, politics, agency and responsibility. Indeed, Peter Dews has recently argued that efforts to displace the subject repeat rather than dissolve the problems generated by subject-centered theories, a charge he takes to be devastating. The implications of this return to the subject, and the power of the critique which motivates it, will be my focus here. I consider especially Judith Butler's performative account of agency and her recent discussion of reflexivity, and argue that they afford us a means of obviating the critique while providing for the reflexive agency that proponents of the return to the subject think necessary.
Habermas and Kant
Authors: Finke Ståle R. S.
Published: April 2009

This article takes issue with the formalism problem arguably pertaining to Habermas's conception of communicative rationality and discursive justification. Beginning with the Hegelian premises of Habermas's theory of mutual understanding and communicative rationality, the article proceeds to make Kant's doctrine of reflective judgement fruitful for a critique of Habermas's restriction of reasons to discursively articulated endorsements, the ‘force of the better reasons’. The argument consists in showing that discursive justification must rely upon endorsements of particulars exhibited in rightjudgements, and that such endorsements must be expressed or articulated to yield public manifestations of discursive orientations and commitments, constituting what is referred to as ‘communicative experience’. On the account presented here, the rational significance of particulars is revealed in the expressive attitude that allows or admits non-discursive constraints to the conception of rational justification. The promise of such an account – as premised upon Kant's insights in his third Critique – consists in its capability to avoid the one-sided formalism of discursive rationality, incorporating ethical, expressive and aesthetic dimensions to our rational self-conception.
Socratic erotics and Foucault’s permanent revolution
Authors: Greenman Craig
Published: April 2009

In this paper, I argue that it is Foucault’s conception of Socratic erotics, presented in Volume 2 of the History of Sexuality series, which provides him with a theoretical ground in the history of philosophy for his notions of political activism, power and government. Once we understand this, it is possible to understand how Foucault, rather than using a mixture of demonstration and diplomacy to oppose the idealization of revolution that eventually leads to the ‘permanent revolution’ of Stalinism, opposes it instead with a philosophical mutation of it - that is, with a permanent revolution of his own: the ceaseless self-transgression of/by the citizen. It is a conception that is finally unsuccessful for grounding an effective theory of political activism.
The great health
Authors: Glenn Paul F.
Published: April 2009

Nietzsche’s harsh attacks on modernity suggest a problem: if the modern age is so diseased, can we overcome it and move on to something higher? Or is the disease too severe? I examine the question by studying Nietzsche’s view of spiritual health. Spiritual illness, even in the highest man, is nothing unusual or necessarily debilitating. Even the strongest have been infected since the earliest days of civilization. Indeed, infection with slave morality and bad conscience are requirements for spiritual elevation. And the disease serves life by giving the strong something to struggle against, as well as making possible the spiritual greatness required to revalue all values. The higher man, then, is a mixture of health and disease. The revaluation of values is extraordinarily dangerous, but not impossible.
Hannah Arendt on conscience and evil
Authors: Vetlesen Arne Johan
Published: April 2009

Though there exists a vast literature dealing with Hannah Arendt’s thoughts on evil in general and Adolf Eichmann in particular, few attempts have been made to assess Arendt’s position on evil by tracing its connection with her reflections on conscience. This essay examines the nature and significance of such a connection. Beginning with her doctoral dissertation on St Augustine and ending with her posthumously published studies in The Life of the Mind, Arendt’s oeuvre exhibits strong thematic continuity: the triad thinking–conscience–evil forms its most enduring core. A puzzling core, to be sure, considering the controversies triggered, especially regarding her notion of the ‘banality of evil’. By placing the role of conscience at the very center of Arendt’s lifelong reflections, this essay explores the – in many ways related – influence exerted by St Augustine and Heidegger. Heidegger’s conception of conscience in Sein und Zeit is identified as a crucial source for understanding – so the claim holds – why Arendt found Heidegger’s philosophy particularly wanting as regards the question of evil.
The metaphysics of eating
Authors: Mack Michael
Published: April 2009

This paper analyzes how ‘Jewishness’ functions as a scapegoat for the apparently unbridgeable gap between spirit and matter in Hegel’s social and aesthetic theory. If Hegel accuses ‘the Jews’ and ‘Judaism’ of inhabiting a radical divide between the empirical and the spiritual – a divide that coincides with the one between body and body politic – he follows the trajectory of Kant’s opposition between autonomy and heteronomy. Kant’s notion of freedom describes reason’s transcendence of the material world, but this state of autonomy paradoxically depends on the heteronomous force of legal power that enforces a ‘Mine and Yours’ ownership and property distinction. In Kant’s account ‘Jewishness’ embodies a social way of life founded on superstition ( Aberglaube) that enacts the opposite of autonomy and is heteronomously bound to objects of empirical reality, whereas the ‘Mine and Yours’ ownership and property distinction of a Kantian civil society teaches the foregoing of material goods, if contact with them violates positive law. Developing Kant’s idealism, Hegel accuses ‘the Jews’ of making immediate being absolute. By conflating ‘Jewishness’ and materialism, Hegel excludes ‘the Jews’ from his idealist conception of the body politic.
Passion and politics
Authors: Walzer Michael
Published: April 2009

Passion is a hidden issue behind or at the heart of, contemporary theoretical debates about nationalism, identity politics and religious fundamentalism. It is not that reason and passion cannot be conceptually distinguished. They are, however, always entangled in practice – and this entanglement itself requires a conceptual account. So it is my ambition to blur the line between reason and passion: to rationalize (some of) the passions and to impassion reason. Passionate intensity has a legitimate place in the social world. This extension of rational legitimacy to the political passions seems to me a useful revision of liberal theory which has been too pre-occupied in recent years with the construction of dispassionate deliberative procedures. It opens the way for better accounts of social connection and conflict and for more explicit and self-conscious answers to the unavoidable political questions: which side are you on?
Solidarity after identity politics: Hannah Arendt and the power of feminist theory
Authors: Allen Amy
Published: April 2009

This paper argues that Hannah Arendt’s political theory offers key insights into the power that binds together the feminist movement - the power of solidarity. Second-wave feminist notions of solidarity were grounded in notions of shared identity; in recent years, as such conceptions of shared identity have come under attack for being exclusionary and repressive, feminists have been urged to give up the idea of solidarity altogether. However, the choice between (repressive) identity and (fragmented) non-identity is a false opposition, and the Arendtian account of solidarity developed here allows us to move beyond this opposition. Thus, Arendt provides us with a model of solidarity that can stand a post-identity politics feminist theory in good stead.
'Hold the Being'
Authors: Visker Rudi
Published: April 2009

In this paper (which deliberately imitates Rorty's style), I take issue with the plea for liberalism advocated in his Contingency, Irony and Solidarity by turning a number of his own arguments against him. In particular, I show how Rorty's tendency to think of the 'liberal ironist' as the 'hero' of that book rhetorically obfuscates that the trust of his own argument would rather seem to point to a 'non-ironic non-liberal' indi vidual in the role of the hero. I suggest that what has prevented Rorty from coming to such a conclusion himself, is not just his predilection for 'liberal ism', but also a confusion between two notions of ethnocentrism - to which he pointed himself in later writings, without, however, drawing the necessary consequences.
The aesthetics of existence in the work of Michel Foucault
Authors: Huijer Marli
Published: April 2009

Foucault's analysis of an aesthetics of existence is presented as an instrument to practice ethical thought without the presupposition of an autonomous subject. The implications of Foucault's aesthetics of existence for ethical thought are traced to the work of Nietzsche. In Foucault's work, experiences of oneself are not a given, but are constituted in power relations and true-and-false games. In the interplay of truths and power relations, the individual constitutes a certain relationship to him- or herself. Foucault designated the relation to oneself and one's existence as the main area of ethical concern and the most important field where aesthetic values are to be applied. In his aesthetics of existence, he invited the individual to prob lematize the relationship with the self and by using 'self-techniques' to transform it into a work of art. The relation to intimate others, shaped as friendship, is crucial to this ethical-aesthetic approach.
The politics of memory and forgetting after Auschwitz and apartheid
Authors: Duvenage Pieter
Published: April 2009

This article focuses on the politics of memory and forgetting after Auschwitz and apartheid. In the first two sections Habermas’ critical contribution to the German Historikerstreit is discussed. Important in this regard is the moral dimension of our relation to the past. In the next two sections the emphasis shifts to South Africa and more specifically the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The article ends with a general discussion of the dilemma of historical ‘truth’ and representation in contemporary societies.
Charles Taylor
Authors: Kitchen Gary
Published: April 2009

This paper examines Taylor’s moral realism in the light of his criticisms of ‘our subjectivist civilization’. I argue that his work is valuable in its stress on the link between identity and moral judgement and its picture of human beings as ‘strong evaluators’, but I dispute that these considerations lead to moral realism if this is taken to include a claim to truth. Specifically, I argue that Taylor’s ‘Best Account’ principle may generate radical inconsistency and his depiction of practical reason does not lead to any hope of convergence. His own theism serves to illustrate these difficulties.
The marriage of time and identity
Authors: Chowers Eyal
Published: April 2009

The paper explores the role played by concepts of temporality in shaping the self’s identity and its moral responsibility. This theme is examined in both Kant and Benjamin, two theorists who view the modern self as an essentially historical being. For Kant, teleological and uniform time shoulders the heightening of the self’s universal attributes and the constant expansion of a moral community. The desired end is the establishment of an integrated and homogeneous human space, a cosmopolitan stage wherein history is finally redeemed. This progressive notion of time is seen as dangerous by Benjamin, since it generates forgetfulness and inner impoverishment of the self. Instead, Benjamin advances a fragmented conception of time, one allowing conversation between distant moments and grounding identity in concrete images. While the poetic recovery of memory leads to the distinct and exclusive, Benjamin follows Kant in demanding universal moral responsibility of the self. However, Benjamin’s strategy, so to speak, is the integration of our temporal - not spatial - experience.
Addressing Self-Selection Bias in Quasi-Experimental Evaluations of Whole-School Reform
Authors: Bifulco Robert
Published: April 2009

This article discusses potential sources of self-selection bias in quasi-experimental evaluations of whole-school reform models and considers how individual student-level data might be used to provide valid impact estimates. Although repeated pretreatment and posttreatment measures of student performance can provide unbiased estimates under relatively weak assumptions, such data are difficult to obtain. The article develops an instrumental variable strategy that can be used to improve on common value-added estimators when only posttreatment measures of performance are available. Using data from New York City, the author shows that the instrumental variable strategy can provide estimates of model impacts similar to those provided by a difference-in-differences estimator provided that appropriate instruments are used.
An Application of Theory-Driven Evaluation to a Drop-In Youth Center
Authors: Mercier Céline , Piat Myra , Peladeau Normand , Dagenais Christian
Published: April 2009

This article reports on the theory-driven evaluation of a drop-in center for youth that incorporated a literature search, concept mapping with staff, and focus groups with youth. Findings revealed strong agreement among the three sources of data around specific elements identified as critical components of a program theory of global prevention in after-school-hours initiatives, such as drop-in centers. These results are used to illustrate how a theory-driven approach was relevant for the context and objectives of this evaluation, as well as how it was used to develop knowledge useful for action, social intervention theory, and further research.
Policy Evaluation Research
Authors: Lafond Colette , Toomey Traci L. , Rothstein Catherine , Manning Willard , Wagenaar Alexander C.
Published: April 2009

The purpose of this article is to evaluate the accuracy of three methods used to obtain policy data: (a) government agency surveys, (b) secondary sources, and (c) historical legal research. Changes in laws were identified for all 48 contiguous states for the period 1968 to 1994. Legal research is most accurate for well-established laws that have consistent legal descriptions across nearly all states. Laws that are recently enacted, adopted by only a few states, and treated in a legally inconsistent manner across states require a multistage data collection method to identify accurate policy change information.
Evaluating WIC
Authors: Besharov Douglas J. , Germanis Peter
Published: April 2009

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) has enjoyed extraordinary bipartisan support stemming from the widespread belief that research studies have proven that WIC “works.” Although some studies suggest real dietary and health improvements, the greatest benefits only apply to WIC's prenatal program (just a small part of the total program). Even here, weaknesses in the research render the findings highly uncertain. The three most significant weaknesses are (1)selection bias, (2) simultaneity bias, and (3) lack of generalizeability. The resulting uncertainty places WIC's possible impacts on infant mortality, prematurity, and birthweight on a range from zero to substantial. For infants, children, and postpartum and breastfeeding mothers, the only impacts seem to be small to modest effects on anemia and nutrient intake. This paper does not argue that WIC's weaknesses justify abandoning or even cutting the program. On the contrary, there should be a sustained effort to make the program more effective. This effort should start with a policy debate about WIC's role and impacts, coupled with a grant of greater flexibility to state and local WIC agencies to open the program to innovation and experimentation. To increase WIC's positive impacts, we propose a series of possible reforms, each to be thoroughly evaluated.
The Fifth Cell
Authors: Wachter Kenneth W. , Freedman David A.
Published: April 2009

One form of error that can affect census adjustments is correlation bias, reflecting people who are doubly missing—from the census and from the adjusted counts as well. This article presents a method for estimating the total national number of doubly-missing people and their distribution by race and sex. Application to the 1990 U.S. census adjustment leads to an estimate of 3 million doubly-missing people. Correlation bias is likely to be a serious problem for census adjustment in 2000. The methods of this article are well suited for measuring its magnitude.
The Effect of the Weekly Reader on Children'S Knowledge of Current Events
Authors: Hofstetter Carolyn Huie , Hofstetter C. Richard , Lapp Diane , Flood James
Published: April 2009

Analyses of data drawn from 2,331 urban and suburban elementary students ages 8 to 12 in Chicago, Houston, Boston, and San Francisco suggest that children who have higher reading levels and greater exposure to current events through communication media (television, newspapers, newsmagazines, discussions) have more knowledge and greater understanding of current events within classrooms, as measured by a 29-item current events knowledge test. Children in lower elementary classrooms (Grades 2 and 3) with the Weekly Reader periodical present appeared to have higher levels of current events knowledge, even after controlling for key classroom variables. The effect of the Weekly Reader is less for children in upper elementary classrooms (Grades 4 through 6) because they tend to receive more current events information from other communication materials.
Effects of Incentive Size and Timing on Response Rates to a Follow-Up Wave of a Longitudinal Mailed Survey
Authors: Collins Rebecca L. , Ellickson Phyllis L. , Hays Ron D. , Mccaffrey Daniel F.
Published: April 2009

Young adults who had previously participated in a longitudinal survey of youth were sent a questionnaire. They were randomly assigned to receive a $20 prepayment, a $20 postpayment, or a $25 postpayment for participation in the latest survey. Those in the large incentive condition were 7 percentage points more likely to return a survey than those in the smaller, postpayment group. Prepayment had a smaller, less reliable effect. Effects of incentive magnitude and timing were consistent at each month of the study period; only better high school grades distinguished early responders from late responders. Nonresponders had characteristics suggestive of low social conformity and were more likely than responders to be African American and male and have low SES. The discussion centers on motivations for participating in research and differences in the incentives likely to promote continued response versus initial study enrollment.
The Significance of Definitions of Success in Program Evaluation
Authors: Poulin Mary E. , Harris Philip W. , Jones Peter R.
Published: April 2009

In program evaluation, determining whether a program is reaching its goals is key to evaluating program success. Having an understanding of the stated goals of each organization within a system rather than simply knowing the formal system goals can aid in program development and inform policy making. Evaluability assessments were used initially as a means of learning how Philadelphia delinquency prevention programs define success. Subsequent surveys of programs were conducted to ascertain whether any changes in definitions of success had occurred. Examination of programs' definitions of success over time has facilitated program development and policy making.
An Economic Analysis of Water and Wastewater Investments in Cairo, Egypt
Authors: Hoehn John P. , Krieger Douglas J.
Published: April 2009

Nonmarket valuation methods have proved useful in planning and evaluating investments in water and wastewater infrastructure in developing countries. This study used contingent referendum methods to estimate household willingness to pay for each of four types of service improvements stemming from water and wastewater investments in Cairo, Egypt. An analysis of the net economic benefits of the investments concluded that benefits exceeded costs for all projects. Cost recovery was not assured with a fixed tariff. Willingness to pay for some households was less than the per household cost necessary for cost recovery. Cost recovery was also sensitive to whether tariffs were set for individual services or charged for a combined package of services.
A Help or a Hindrance?
Authors: Leahey Erin
Published: April 2009

The objective of this study is to evaluate whether welfare-sponsored, government-funded job training helps participants improve their employment status. The negligible effects found in prior studies may be due to design limitations or inherent flaws in job training programs and therefore do not necessarily contradict human capital theory. The present study uses longitudinal and representative data, dynamic modeling techniques, an appropriate counterfactual, and important contextual variables to assess the likelihood of obtaining employment for job training participants and nonparticipants. It also describes the types of jobs women obtain by examining wages, industry, occupation, and labor union membership. Whereas some of the results support prior research, the focus is on the unique contributions of this study, which include a differential training effect for full- and part-time workers and a detailed analysis of macro-structural variables, which are rarely included in studies of labor supply.
Effectiveness of Continuing Care Interventions for Substance Abusers
Authors: McKay James R.
Published: April 2009

Substance-abusing patients are frequently urged to participate in lower intensity continuing care interventions, also known as “stepdown care” or “aftercare,” following an initial phase of treatment. Since 1988, 15 controlled studies of continuing care for alcohol or drug abuse have been published, with follow-up data on substance use presented in 14 of these studies. In the studies that featured an active control condition, only 1 of 7 yielded positive findings. In the studies that featured a minimal- or no-treatment control, 3 of 7 studies yielded positive findings. The relative paucity of continuing care studies, coupled with the lack of stronger evidence of clinical effectiveness, provides a convincing rationale for conducting evaluations of continuing interventions, as well as evaluations of combinations of various primary and continuing interventions. Methodological issues in the evaluation of continuing care and potential research questions that could be addressed in long-term follow-up studies are outlined and discussed.
Analytic Approaches for Assessing Long-Term Treatment Effects
Authors: Hser Yih-Ing , Shen Haikang , Chou Chih-Ping , Messer Stephen C. , Anglin M. Douglas
Published: April 2009

Analytic approaches, including the structural equation model (autoregressive panel model), hierarchical linear model, latent growth curve model, survival/event history analysis, latent transition model, and time-series analysis (interrupted time series, multivariate time-series analysis) are discussed for their applicability to data of different structures and their utility in evaluating temporal effects of treatment. Methods are illustrated by presenting applications of the various approaches in previous studies examining temporal patterns of treatment effects. Recent advancements in these longitudinal modeling approaches and the accompanying computer software development offer tremendous flexibility in examining long-term treatment effects through longitudinal data with varying numbers and intervals of assessment and types of measures. A multimethod assessment will contribute to a more complete understanding of the complex phenomena of the long-term courses of substance use and its treatment.
Salt and Blood Pressure
Authors: Freedman David A. , Petitti Diana B.
Published: April 2009

The salt hypothesis is that higher levels of salt in the diet lead to higher levels of blood pressure, increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease. Intersalt, a cross-sectional study of salt levels and blood pressures in 52 populations, is often cited to support the salt hypothesis, but the data are somewhat contradictory. Four of the populations (Kenya, Papua, and 2 Indian tribes in Brazil) do have low levels of salt and blood pressure. Across the other 48 populations, however, blood pressures go down as salt levels go up, contradicting the hypothesis. Experimental evidence suggests that the effect of a large reduction in salt intake on blood pressure is modest, and health consequences remain to be determined. Funding agencies and medical journals have taken a stronger position favoring the salt hypothesis than is warranted, raising questions about the interaction between the policy process and science.
Tools for Evaluating Research Output
Authors: Sutter Matthias , Kocher Martin G.
Published: April 2009

Journal rankings are important for evaluating research output, for academic promotions, and for allocating funds. Examining the assignment of economics journals to different quartiles of citation-based rankings, the authors found that about 60% of journals remain in the same quartile and about 95% of journals remain in the same or move in a neighborhood quartile within 5- to 10-year intervals. Top journal rankings exhibit even more inertia, which is a desirable property for decisions on promotion, tenure, or institutional evaluation. A reexamination of journal assignment to different quality categories every 5 or 10 years, therefore, suffices for practical evaluation purposes.
Step to College
Authors: Maxwell Nan L.
Published: April 2009

This study addresses the question “Do school-to-work programs, as embodied by career academies, facilitate postsecondary education?” The author conceptualizes postsecondary education as a series of steps through the university and examines the high school career academy's influence on entrance into, route through, and outcomes from a 4-year university. Data are drawn from applicant and student records at a comprehensive, urban university for all individuals originating from a single district's high schools. The findings suggest that students from career academies have higher academic achievement upon leaving high school, less need for remediation in English at the university, and a 4-percentage-point increase in graduation from the university than students who are not from academies. These findings suggest that school-to-work programs could facilitate positive outcomes in postsecondary education. However, the continued high rates of remediation and the low rates of graduation, even for students from career academics, suggest that their influence might not be enough to ensure success in postsecondary education. This analysis therefore suggests that further research should identify program components that increase postsecondary education and determine how these components can be institutionalized and built on in subsequent reforms.
Measuring Risk and Protective Factors for Use, Delinquency, and Other Adolescent Problem Behaviors
Authors: Arthur Michael W. , Hawkins J. David , Pollard John A. , Catalano Richard F. , Baglioni A. J.
Published: April 2009

Risk and protective factors predictive of adolescent problem behaviors such as substance abuse and delinquency are promising targets for preventive intervention. Community planners should assess and target risk and protective factors when designing prevention programs. This study describes the development, reliability, and validity of a self-report survey instrument for adolescents ages 11 to 18 that measures an array of risk and protective factors across multiple ecological domains as well as adolescent problem behaviors. The instrument can be used to assess the epidemiology of risk and protection in youth populations and to prioritize specific risk and protective factors in specific populations as targets for preventive intervention.
A Method to Obtain a Randomized Control Group where it Seems Impossible
Authors: Zhu Shu-Hong
Published: April 2009

Randomization of program participants into control and experimental groups is often not feasible in field settings. The researcher's desire to evaluate a program with a rigorous experimental design is often incompatible with the objective of serving the expressed needs of the program participants. However, opportunities do arise when a randomized control group can be constructed without disregarding the participants'wish to be included in the treatment group. This article describes a method that uses the participants' compliance to program instructions as a means of classifying participants and, thereby, obtains a randomized control group for a subset of participants. A large smoking intervention project is used to illustrate two variations of this method.