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Policy Debate (policy + debate)
Kinds of Policy Debate Selected AbstractsUNITED STATES V. BOOKER AS A NATURAL EXPERIMENT: USING EMPIRICAL RESEARCH TO INFORM THE FEDERAL SENTENCING POLICY DEBATE,CRIMINOLOGY AND PUBLIC POLICY, Issue 3 2007PAUL J. HOFER Research Summary: In United States v. Booker, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the federal sentencing guidelines must be considered advisory, rather than mandatory, if they are to remain constitutional under the Sixth Amendment. Since the decision, the U.S. Sentencing Commission has provided policy makers with accurate and current data on changes and continuity in federal sentencing practices. Unlike previous changes in legal doctrine, Booker immediately increased the rates of upward and downward departures from the guideline range. Government-sponsored downward departures remain the leading category of outside,the-range sentences. The rate of within-range sentences, although lower than in the period immediately preceding Booker, remains near rates observed earlier in the guidelines era. Despite the increase in departures, average sentence lengths for the overall caseload remain stable, because of offsetting increases in the seriousness of the crimes being sentenced and in the severity of penalties for those crimes. Analyses of the reasons that judges reported for downward departures suggest that treatment of criminal history and offender characteristics are the two leading areas of dissatisfaction with the guidelines. Policy Implications: Assessment of changes in sentencing practices following Booker by different observers depends partly on competing institutional perspectives and on different degrees of trust in the judgment of judges, prosecutors, the Sentencing Commission, and Congress. No agreement on whether Booker has bettered or worsened the system can be achieved until agreement exists on priorities among the purposes of sentencing and the goals of sentencing reform. Both this lack of agreement and an absence of needed data make consensus on Booker's effects on important sentencing goals, such as reduction of unwarranted disparity, unlikely in the near future. Similarly, lack of baseline data before Booker on the effectiveness of federal sentencing at crime control makes before-after comparisons impossible. Despite these limitations, research provides a sounder framework for policy making than do anecdotes or speculation and sets valuable empirical parameters for the federal sentencing policy debate. [source] Reducing Complexity in the Industrial Policy DebateDEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 4 2007Hubert Schmitz A central concern of industrial policy is how to configure the relationship with the global economy. The manifold choices and pressures make this a difficult task for policy-makers. This article suggests a way of framing discussions between policy-makers, advisers and researchers, to help reduce complexity and find common ground. It demonstrates how different constellations of low/high challenge and support bring out the essence of different policy regimes, and how different constellations of narrow/wide technology and marketing gaps help identify the most plausible way forward. [source] Informing FDR: FBI Political Surveillance and the Isolationist-Interventionist Foreign Policy Debate, 1939,1945DIPLOMATIC HISTORY, Issue 2 2000Douglas M. Charles First page of article [source] Conclusions and Recommendations for Policies on Rural Aging in the First Decades of the 21st CenturyTHE JOURNAL OF RURAL HEALTH, Issue 4 2001Hana M. Hermanova M.D., Ph.D. ABSTRACT: The 2000 Forum on Rural Aging: Policy Debates was one of the main tracks of the first International Conference on Rural Aging held in Charleston, W.Va., in June 2000. The 2000 Forum was a follow-up to the Expert Group Meeting on Rural Aging, which met at Shepherdstown, W.Va., in May 1999. That group considered policy implications of the 1999 International Year of Older Persons for rural aging in four key areas: the situation of older people, multigenerational relationships, lifelong development, and the development and aging of rural populations. As a direct follow-up of the Shepherdstown Expert Group Meeting, the 2000 Forum on Rural Aging formulated the Conclusions and Recommendations for Policies on Rural Aging through a series of working groups. The Conclusions and Recommendations were endorsed by the Conference Plenary Session on June 11, 2000. The Draft Recommendations for Policies on Rural Aging were available for comments on the Internet in the remaining part of the year 2000. Many comments were received. Hana Hermanova and Sally Richardson incorporated the comments into the finalized version. [source] A Five-Country Comparative Review of Accommodation Support Policies for Older People With Intellectual DisabilityJOURNAL OF POLICY AND PRACTICE IN INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES, Issue 1 2010Christine Bigby Abstract International covenants and domestic social policies in most developed countries regard people with intellectual disability as citizens with equal rights, suggesting they should have the similar aspirations of a healthy and active old age as the general community, and an expectation of the necessary supports to achieve this. This article compares the development and implementation of accommodation support policies for people aging with intellectual disabilities in five liberal welfare states. It describes the limited development of policies in this area and suggests possible reasons why this is the case. A review of the peer reviewed and grey or unpublished advocacy and policy literature on aging policies for people with intellectual disability was conducted which covered Australia, Canada, Ireland, the UK, and the U.S. Despite consistent identification of similar broad policy issues and overarching goals, little progress has been made in the development of more specific policies or implementation strategies to address issues associated with accommodation support as people age. Policy debates have conceptualized the problem as aging in place and the shared responsibility of the aged-care and disability sectors. This may have detracted from either sector leading the development of, or taking responsibility for, formulating, implementing, and resourcing a strong policy framework. [source] UNITED STATES V. BOOKER AS A NATURAL EXPERIMENT: USING EMPIRICAL RESEARCH TO INFORM THE FEDERAL SENTENCING POLICY DEBATE,CRIMINOLOGY AND PUBLIC POLICY, Issue 3 2007PAUL J. HOFER Research Summary: In United States v. Booker, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the federal sentencing guidelines must be considered advisory, rather than mandatory, if they are to remain constitutional under the Sixth Amendment. Since the decision, the U.S. Sentencing Commission has provided policy makers with accurate and current data on changes and continuity in federal sentencing practices. Unlike previous changes in legal doctrine, Booker immediately increased the rates of upward and downward departures from the guideline range. Government-sponsored downward departures remain the leading category of outside,the-range sentences. The rate of within-range sentences, although lower than in the period immediately preceding Booker, remains near rates observed earlier in the guidelines era. Despite the increase in departures, average sentence lengths for the overall caseload remain stable, because of offsetting increases in the seriousness of the crimes being sentenced and in the severity of penalties for those crimes. Analyses of the reasons that judges reported for downward departures suggest that treatment of criminal history and offender characteristics are the two leading areas of dissatisfaction with the guidelines. Policy Implications: Assessment of changes in sentencing practices following Booker by different observers depends partly on competing institutional perspectives and on different degrees of trust in the judgment of judges, prosecutors, the Sentencing Commission, and Congress. No agreement on whether Booker has bettered or worsened the system can be achieved until agreement exists on priorities among the purposes of sentencing and the goals of sentencing reform. Both this lack of agreement and an absence of needed data make consensus on Booker's effects on important sentencing goals, such as reduction of unwarranted disparity, unlikely in the near future. Similarly, lack of baseline data before Booker on the effectiveness of federal sentencing at crime control makes before-after comparisons impossible. Despite these limitations, research provides a sounder framework for policy making than do anecdotes or speculation and sets valuable empirical parameters for the federal sentencing policy debate. [source] REPRODUCTIVE TOURISM IN ARGENTINA: CLINIC ACCREDITATION AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR CONSUMERS, HEALTH PROFESSIONALS AND POLICY MAKERSDEVELOPING WORLD BIOETHICS, Issue 2 2010ELISE SMITH ABSTRACT A subcategory of medical tourism, reproductive tourism has been the subject of much public and policy debate in recent years. Specific concerns include: the exploitation of individuals and communities, access to needed health care services, fair allocation of limited resources, and the quality and safety of services provided by private clinics. To date, the focus of attention has been on the thriving medical and reproductive tourism sectors in Asia and Eastern Europe; there has been much less consideration given to more recent ,players' in Latin America, notably fertility clinics in Chile, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina. In this paper, we examine the context-specific ethical and policy implications of private Argentinean fertility clinics that market reproductive services via the internet. Whether or not one agrees that reproductive services should be made available as consumer goods, the fact is that they are provided as such by private clinics around the world. We argue that basic national regulatory mechanisms are required in countries such as Argentina that are marketing fertility services to local and international publics. Specifically, regular oversight of all fertility clinics is essential to ensure that consumer information is accurate and that marketed services are safe and effective. It is in the best interests of consumers, health professionals and policy makers that the reproductive tourism industry adopts safe and responsible medical practices. [source] Africa, Tropical Commodity Policy and the WTO Doha RoundDEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 1 2007Peter Gibbon Despite their critical importance for Africa, and African efforts to the contrary, tropical commodity problems have been touched on only marginally in the WTO Doha Round. This article examines African proposals in the area, their reception in the WTO, and their relation to the current international policy debate. It goes on to provide an explanation, in political economy terms, for their relative success and failure, before concluding by discussing the prospects for finding any international forum where the issues raised by African countries could receive meaningful consideration. [source] AIChE offers technological insights to the public policy debate on global climate changeENVIRONMENTAL PROGRESS & SUSTAINABLE ENERGY, Issue 3 2000David E. Gushee Global climate change has been a major issue on the national political agenda since 1988. Several Committees on Capitol Hill conducted hearings concerning the heat waves then searing the nation. Testimony by several well-regarded scientists at those hearings that "we ain't seen nothing yet" led to impressive headlines in the national media. Since then, unusually high temperatures, a succession of forecasts of serious negative impacts from the projected continued warming, and well-publicized Congressional hearings led to the creation of the United Nation's Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) and its Kyoto Protocol. As a result, climate change is on just about every technology organization's agenda. In 1996, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers joined the list of organizations formally responding to the issue. The Government Relations Committee (GRC) formed a Task Force on Climate Change, made up of Institute members active in a number of aspects of the issue area. The charge to the Task Force: Look for opportunities for the Institute to contribute to the public policy debate on the issue and frame position papers accordingly. The first major conclusion of the Task Force was that AIChE is not in a position to state whether or not global climate change is a real public policy problem. However, to the extent that the public policy process treats climate change as an issue, the Institute is well positioned to comment on the technical merits of proposed policy responses. The Task Force recommended this posture to the GRC, which agreed. [source] The midterm review and the new challenges for EU agricultureEUROCHOICES, Issue 3 2002Tassos Haniotis Summary The Midterm Review and the New Challenges for EU Agriculture The Brussels Summit agreement of October 2002 on the financing of the CAP opens the way for a final agreement on enlargement and defines the level of the agricultural budget for the next financial perspective. Answering the how much question allows the debate to focus on the how question of support for EU agriculture. To these questions the Commission had responded with its Midterm Review of July 2002. Although proposals will have to be adapted in view of the new financial perspective, the fundamental issues addressed in the Midterm Review remain unchanged as these reflect the gradual shift from supply driven to demand driven orientations for the CAR The citizens of the EU seem to agree that EU agriculture should, at the same time, be competitive and promote the highest environmental, product quality and animal welfare standards. This apparent paradox implies, on the one hand, the need for lower prices and, on the other hand, higher production costs. To resolve this dilemma the underlying philosophy of the Midterm Review is to shift the policy debate onto the efficiency of the available policy instruments in meeting their stated objectives. Thus the need for safety-net market support, decoupled income support and strengthened rural development. La revue à mi parcours et les nouveaux défis de l'agriculture européenne Grâce à l'accord obtenu sur le financement de la PAC au sommet de Bruxelles d'octobre 2002, la voie est maintenant ouverte à un accord final sur l,élargissement et sur la définition du budget agricole pour les prochaines échéances. Répondre à la question "à quel niveau" permet au débat de se centrer sur le "comment" soutenir l'agriculture européenne. La commission a donné sa réponse à ces questions dans sa "revue à mi-parcours". Même si les propositions en question devront faire l'objet d'ajustements aux nouvelles perspectives budgétaires, les problèmes fondamentaux posés par la revue à mi-parcours demeurent, dans la mesure où elles reflètent le passage graduel d'un pilotage de PAC par l'offre à un pilotage par la demande. Les citoyens de l'UE semblent d'accord pour dire que l'agriculture doit être à la fois compétitive, et obtenir les plus hauts standards possibles en matière de qualité et de bien-être animal. Ce paradoxe apparent implique d'un côté, des prix plus bas, et de l'autre, des coûts de production plus élevés. Pour résoudre ce conflit, la philosophie sous-jacente à la "revue à mi-parcours" consiste à faire glisser le débat politique sur la question de l'efficacité des instruments disponibles et de leur aptitude à atteindre les objectifs ainsi fixés. D'où le besoin d'un filet de sécurité sur les marchés, d'un soutien découplé pour les revenus et d'un renforcement du développement rural. Die Zwischenbewertung und die neuen Herausforderungen an die Landwirtschaft der EU Das Abkommen vom Brüsseler Gipfel im Oktober 2002 zur Finanzierung der GAP eröffnet die Möglichkeit einer endgültigen Einigung im Hinblick auf die Erweiterung und legt die Höhe des Agrarhaushalts für die kommende Finanzplanungsperiode fest. Durch die Festlegung kann sich die Debatte nun der Frage widmen, auf welche Art und Weise die Landwirtschaft der EU unterstützt werden soil. Diesen beiden Aspekten hatte die Kommission in der Zwischenbewertung vom Juli 2002 Rechnung getragen. Obwohl die Vorschläge angesichts der neuen Finanzplanungsperiode angepasst werden müssen, bleiben die grundlegenden, in der Zwischenbewertung angesprochenen Probleme bestehen, da diese den schrittweisen Übergang der GAP von der Angebotsorientierung hin zur Nachfrageorientierung widerspiegeln. Die EU-Bürger stimmen scheinbar darin überein, dass die Landwirtschaft der EU gleichermaßen wettbewerbsfähig sein und die höchsten Standards im Hinblick auf die Umwelt, die Produktqualität und den Tierschutz erreichen sollte. Dieser offenkundige Widerspruch erfordert einerseits niedrigere Preise und zieht andererseits höhere Produktionskosten nach sich. Zur Auflösung dieses Dilemmas sieht es der der Zwischenbewertung zugrunde liegende Ansatz vor, den Fokus der politischen Debatte darauf zu richten, wie effizient die verfügbaren Politikmaßnahmen zum Erreichen der Zielsetzung beitragen. Daraus ergibt sich die Notwendigkeit für eine Marktstützung als Sicherheitsnetz, für eine entkoppelte Einkommensstützung und für eine intensivere Entwicklung des ländlichen Raums. [source] Private Pension Arrangements and Retirement in Britain,FISCAL STUDIES, Issue 1 2005James Banks Abstract This paper looks at the policy debate surrounding private pensions and retirement patterns in the UK. Recent increases in longevity have led not only to increased pressures in public pensions but also to corresponding increases in the importance of private pensions in the UK and changes in the way in which they are structured. We consider the economic implications of these changes, and in particular the increased importance of defined contribution plans. In addition, we discuss the prospects for future trends in retirement ages. [source] Environmental Values and Water PolicyGEOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH, Issue 3 2003Jeff Bennett Abstract The emergence of water markets has heralded the prospect of increased efficiency in the use of the resource for extractive purposes. However, water markets have not encompassed all elements of demand for the resource. Notably, demands for the environmental public goods provided by river flows have not been revealed in markets. State Governments have instituted regulations requiring ,environmental flows' to be quarantined from the market allocation process. This policy has triggered negative responses from irrigators and conservationists. Lobby groups have found that the process of determining environmental flows is a prospective site for rent seeking. To avoid policy being driven by rent seeking, information on the costs and benefits of environmental flows is useful. Whereas the costs of environmental flows are readily assessed through reference to market data on irrigators' surpluses foregone, the benefits must be estimated through the use of non-market, stated preference valuation techniques. These techniques , including contingent valuation and choice modelling , remain controversial. Some argue that they should not be used on ethical grounds. Others argue that they cannot be used on technical grounds. These arguments are discussed in this paper, using the context of the water policy debate. The evidence is that stated preference techniques are being used, and applications have been performed in Australia in the context of riverine health. However their use remains restricted relative to the scale of the Australian natural resource management task. Some possible explanations for this limited up-take are provided along with some suggested ways forward. [source] Does Government Spending Crowd in Private Consumption?INTERNATIONAL FINANCE, Issue 3 2005Empirical Evidence for the Euro Area, Theory In this paper, we revisit the effects of government spending shocks on private consumption which have been at centre stage of the macroeconomic policy debate for quite a long time. We conduct our analysis in an estimated model of the euro area, which is representative of a new generation of dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models usable for quantitative policy analysis. We show that the inclusion of non-Ricardian households, which simply consume their current disposable income, is in general conducive to raising the level of consumption in response to government spending shocks when compared with a benchmark specification without non-Ricardian households. However, we find that there is only a fairly small chance that government spending shocks crowd in consumption, mainly because the estimated share of non-Ricardian households is relatively low, but also because of the large negative wealth effect induced by the highly persistent nature of government spending shocks. [source] Global Intellectual Hegemony and the International Development AgendaINTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCE JOURNAL, Issue 166 2000Branislav Gosovic The worldwide homogenisation of thinking, analysis, and prescription, coupled with the de-legitimisation of social critique, dissent, and alternative thinking in the 1990s, are characteristic of globalisation and of the current international system. The homogenisation is the outcome of global geopolitical changes and the end of the Cold War, with the ascendance of a victorious paradigm. The resulting global intellectual hegemony (GIH) is of special concernto developing countries and to the United Nations. It has undermined the goals and aspirations of the former and contributed to their intellectual disarmament and disempowerment; it has undermined the mandate and role of the latter. This essay discusses GIH in the context of international development cooperation, showing how it is nurtured in many different ways. It is argued that the mechanisms at work are well-known in national politics, in particular inundemocratic societies, and are now projected by new technologies and through the global domination by those with power, a task made easier by the lack of organised and credible opposition. It suggests the need for further study and policy debate of this global phenomenon which seems to have largely passed unnoticed in academic, policy, and public opinion circles. [source] Transnational Governance in Global Finance: The Principles for Stable Capital Flows and Fair Debt Restructuring in Emerging Markets1INTERNATIONAL STUDIES PERSPECTIVES, Issue 3 2010Raymond Ritter This paper analyzes and assesses the "Principles for Stable Capital Flows and Fair Debt Restructuring in Emerging Markets," which have emerged as an important instrument for crisis prevention and crisis resolution in the international financial system. The paper argues that, notwithstanding their low profile, the Principles which were jointly agreed between key sovereign debtors and their private creditors in 2004 have proved to be a useful instrument in spite of their voluntary and non-binding nature. Indeed, an increasing number of sovereign debtors and private creditors have adopted the Principles' recommendations on transparency and the timely flow of information, close dialogue, "good faith" actions, and fair treatment. The paper, taking a rational choice perspective, appraises the Principles as the product of a transnational public-private partnership as well as a soft mode of governance. Moreover, it shows how the Principles have moved somewhat along the continuum of soft law and hard law toward the latter. Finally, the paper makes the case that the Principles and their design features can provide some lessons for the current international policy debate on codes of conduct in global financial regulation. [source] Surge, Escalate, Withdraw and Shinseki: Forecasting and Retro-casting American Force Strategies and Insurgency in Iraq,INTERNATIONAL STUDIES PERSPECTIVES, Issue 3 2007Andrew J. Enterline Central to the contemporary American foreign policy debate is the issue of reducing insurgency and promoting stability in Iraq and the role of American military forces in achieving these outcomes. Military force,related proposals range from complete withdrawal to a moderate "surge" in troops to a massive escalation of the force commitment. Here, we draw upon an analysis of domestic political stability in 60 imposed political systems occurring during the period 1816,1994 to forecast the effectiveness of said force-related proposals. The analysis underscores, in part, that (i) a policy of surging American troops is unlikely to succeed, (ii) a policy of belated massive escalation reduces insurgency, but much less so than an initial policy of massive invasion coupled with massive occupation, a strategy that preempts the development of a robust insurgency. [source] Securitization or Securing Rights?JCMS: JOURNAL OF COMMON MARKET STUDIES, Issue 4 2005Exploring the Conceptual Foundations of Policies towards Minorities, Migrants in Europe Minority and migration issues tend to be framed either in terms of security and control or rights. Rather than lamenting the securitization of these issues in the academic and policy debate and advocating a focus on rights as an alternative, this article calls for the re-conceptualization in terms of a ,security-rights nexus'. It is argued here that minority and migration issues and their conceptual interlock have a clear security dimension, but that these concerns are best addressed through rights-based policies. Through an analysis of the policy approaches of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the EU, this article traces two related dimensions of the ,security-rights nexus', namely the increasing linkages between policies towards minorities and migrants and between security and rights. Both institutions' emphasis on ,integration' in minority and migration policies reflects the two interrelated dimensions of the ,security-rights' nexus. [source] Chile's Neoliberal Agrarian Transformation and the PeasantryJOURNAL OF AGRARIAN CHANGE, Issue 4 2002Cristóbal Kay In the mid,1970s, following the early shift to neoliberalism, the Chilean rural sector was restructured dramatically, becoming one of the most successful cases of non,traditional agricultural export (NTAE) growth. However, many analysts fail to discuss the problematic nature of Chile's integration into the global market. Underpinning this rapid growth of NTAEs is the exploitation of cheap peasant labour, especially seasonal female wage workers. This article examines the elements of continuity and change in agrarian policy since the transition to democracy in 1990. In particular, it presents the policy debate on the future of the peasantry: capitalization or proletarianization? The dilemma that policy makers face over maintaining high rates of NTAE growth while at the same time attempting to reduce poverty and income inequalities are also highlighted. The Chilean case can be considered as paradigmatic insofar as it exhibits key characteristics of the classical capitalist transformation of agriculture: the emergence of a new class of dynamic agricultural entrepreneurs, renewed proletarianization and land concentration, and intensification of social differentiation. [source] From temporary help jobs to permanent employment: what can we learn from matching estimators and their sensitivity?JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECONOMETRICS, Issue 3 2008Andrea Ichino The diffusion of temporary work agency (TWA) jobs has led to a harsh policy debate and ambiguous empirical evidence. Results for the USA, based on quasi-experimental evidence, suggest that a TWA assignment decreases the probability of finding a stable job, while results for Europe, based on the conditional independence assumption (CIA), typically reach opposite conclusions. Using data for two Italian regions, we rely on a matching estimator to show that TWA assignments can be an effective springboard to permanent employment. We also propose a simulation-based sensitivity analysis, which highlights that only for one of these two regions are our results robust to specific failures of the CIA. We conclude that European studies based on the CIA should not be automatically discarded, but should be put under the scrutiny of a sensitivity analysis like the one we propose. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] In Search of a Competition Policy in a Competitive Economy: The Case of Hong KongJOURNAL OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, Issue 1 2003SUK-CHING HO The authors propose an exploratory framework to study competition policy development in general and apply it in the context of Hong Kong. Competition policy (in the U.S., commonly referred to as antitrust policy) is defined here as concerned with the public policy prohibiting anticompetitive behavior and the abuse of dominant market power on the part of businesses. The framework identifies four core variables that are important in influencing the development and implementation of a competition policy. These variables are the consumer protection agenda, external pressure, the political landscape, and the size of the economy. It is proposed that the way government responded to these forces has been instrumental in shaping how and why the competition policy debate in Hong Kong evolved the way it did. It also underscores the importance of recognizing the indigenous nature in the development of competition policy in any economy. Future research directions to generalize the framework are also suggested. These include further development and expansion of the core variables, contextualization of the framework for cross-national comparisons, and undertaking longitudinal studies to examine the sensitivities of the competition policy to changes in the core forces over time. [source] What is Antidumping Policy Really About?JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SURVEYS, Issue 4 2000Gunnar Niels Dumping is whatever you can get the government to act against under the antidumping law. J. Michael Finger (1993, p.viii). Antidumping policy has become one of the most important instruments for protection in the international trade system, but at the same time it is the subject of an intense, though rather chaotic, debate. This paper provides an overview of the antidumping literature and the current issues. First it describes the origins of antidumping policy and provides some basic statistics on its current use drawn from several empirical studies. Next the paper discusses the economic foundations of antidumping law by examining the traditional and modern theories of dumping, as well as the industrial organization literature on price discrimination and predatory pricing. It is demonstrated that those economic foundations are weak. The paper also considers the fairness rationales for antidumping policy. Finally, it addresses the criticisms of antidumping laws, in particular in the context of the current antidumping versus competition policy debate, and discusses a variety of proposals for reform that have been made. The paper shows that the 1997 ,cease fire' agreement between Canada and Chile is a promising approach toward reform of antidumping policy. [source] Comparative Journal Ratings: A Survey ReportPOLITICAL STUDIES REVIEW, Issue 1 2009Iain McLean The expert survey and bibliometric methods of assessing the quality of work in political science are complementary. This project builds on previous surveys of academic political science journals conducted among US political scientists. The current wave extends the survey to political scientists in Canada and the UK. Preliminary results suggest both similarities and differences across the three countries. These results matter for policy debate in any country that is considering channelling flows of funds to universities in proportion to the quality of their research, and in helping to supply objective evidence about the research quality of work submitted by candidates for academic appointments and promotions. [source] Ideas, bargaining and flexible policy communities: policy change and the case of the Oxford Transport StrategyPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 3 2003Geoffrey DudleyArticle first published online: 8 AUG 200 Critiques of policy networks have highlighted particularly the inability of concepts such as policy communities to explain policy change. The established construction of policy community places it chiefly as a metaphor for a relatively stable network within the policy process, which emphasizes the resource dependencies between key stakeholders. Typically, a process of bargaining brings about accommodation and a state of negotiated order. However, a key problem arises in explaining major policy change where an established policy community persists. One solution here is to appreciate that, over time, dominant ideas and associated policy meanings may shift appreciably within an otherwise durable policy community. Thus, even a seemingly insulated policy community, under certain conditions, may not be immune to idea mutation and new policy meanings. Given the central importance of policy communities, these shifts may induce significant policy change. A case study of this type is provided by the Oxford Transport Strategy (OTS), where a dual process of change took place. On one level of analysis, a challenge to the policy community produced a typical bargaining strategy, with an emphasis on negotiated order. On another level of analysis, however, the terms of the policy debate shifted markedly, and produced a new meaning for the key concept of integrated transport within the policy community. In turn, this process induced significant policy change. The article concludes that, ironically, the survival of a policy community depends on its ability to re-create itself by visualizing a new future. [source] Local Government Policy Evolution in New Zealand: Radical Reform and the Ex Post Emergence of Consensus or Rival Advocacy CoalitionsPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 3 2001Joe Wallis Between 1984 and 1993 New Zealand reformers followed a top-down strategy designed to minimize the opportunity for resistors to affect the reform process and preclude the ex post emergence of a stable alignment of rival advocacy coalitions. The evolution of the local government policy debate since the implementation of radical reform in 1989 suggests that these strategic goals may be more difficult to achieve than at first thought. The quest to make local government more efficient and democratic by making it more accountable has given way to a ,minimalist-activist' controversy over the comparative institutional advantage of local authorities and the role of trust in their relations with central government that has the potential to contribute to the eclipse of the post-reform consensus and the emergence of a ,advocacy coalition structure'. [source] What can we Learn from Generational Accounts for the United Kingdom?THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL, Issue 467 2000James Banks This paper considers the relevance of a set of generational accounts in informing policy debate in the UK. With regard to transparency, Generational Accounts can, under sensible assumptions, provide a useful summary statistic to supplement our analysis of government policy. Interpreting differences in the accounts across groups as measures of the incidence or redistributiveness of existing or proposed policies is more problematic. With respect to UK pension reform, within-cohort differences raise important issues. Finally we argue that past pension reforms have been characterised by inaccurate forecasts as opposed to a lack of understanding of the generational incidence of proposed policy. [source] THE ROLE OF DIFFERENTIATION STRATEGY IN LOCAL TELECOMMUNICATION ENTRY AND MARKET EVOLUTION: 1999,2002,THE JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ECONOMICS, Issue 3 2006SHANE GREENSTEIN We examine the role of differentiation among competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) in nearly 1,200 U.S. cities in 1999 and 2002, before and after a valuation crash affecting communications firms. We test and reject the null hypothesis of homogeneous competitors. We also find strong evidence that differentiated CLECs account for both potential market demand and the business strategies of competitors when making their entry decisions. Finally, product heterogeneity in markets in 1999 helps predict how the structure of markets evolved through 2002. We conclude that the policy debate for local telecommunications regulation should account for differentiated behavior. [source] Attitudes of the Victorian oral health workforce to the employment and scope of practice of dental hygienistsAUSTRALIAN DENTAL JOURNAL, Issue 1 2008M Hopcraft Abstract Background: Increasing the number of dental hygienists and expanding their scope of practice are two policy directions that are currently being explored to increase the supply of dental services in the context of projected oral health workforce shortages in Australia. Understanding factors relating to the employment of hygienists and the attitudes of the oral health workforce to dental hygiene practice are important in this policy debate. Methods: A postal survey of a random sample of Victorian dentists, periodontists, orthodontists and hygienists was undertaken in 2006. Dentists and specialists were grouped into those whose practice employed or did not employ a hygienist. Data on the attitudes of dentists, specialists and hygienists towards various aspects of dental hygiene practice were explored. Results: A response rate of 65.3 per cent was achieved. Hygienists believed that their employment made dental care more affordable (53.7 per cent) and improved access to dental care (88.1 per cent), while few dentists believed hygienists made care more affordable. Most hygienists believed they were capable of diagnosing periodontal disease and dental caries and formulating a treatment plan, but there was less support from employers and non-employers. Dentists were strongly opposed to independent practice for dental hygienists, although there was qualified support from employers for increasing the scope of practice for hygienists. Conclusions: Dentists who worked with hygienists acknowledged their contribution to increasing practice profitability, efficiency and accessibility of dental services to patients. Hygienists and employers supported increasing the scope of dental hygiene practice, however the majority of non-employers opposed any expansion. [source] Competition in the food marketing chainAUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL & RESOURCE ECONOMICS, Issue 3 2000Garry Griffith Competition in the Australian food marketing chain is of continuing concern, but little evidence is available to guide policy debate. In a search for broad guidelines, the theoretical and empirical evidence is reviewed and the recent report of the Joint Select Committee on the Retailing Sector is examined. Then publicly available data on several food groups are used to test for evidence of persistent market power. The purchasing behaviour of the grains and oilseeds processing sector is found to warrant more detailed attention. A possible research agenda and a call for greater attention to data requirements complete the article. [source] Government Policies and Private Enterprise Development in China: 2003,2006CHINA AND WORLD ECONOMY, Issue 4 2009Shiyong Zhao D21; E58; E61; H11 Abstract The relationship between government policy and economic development has been along-standing topic of academic research and policy debate. The government of a transitional economy plays an important role in the process of economic development. Over the past three decades, the Chinese economy has been growing very rapidly, in particular because of the rapid development of the private sector. However, the performance of private enterprises is still affected by government policies. In the present paper, we examine the changes in large Chinese private enterprises' performance during 2003,2006 and test the determinants of such changes. We conclude that the Chinese Government's discriminating policies against private enterprises are the main cause of the private sector's downturn. [source] What are the policy lessons of National Alcohol Prohibition in the United States, 1920,1933?ADDICTION, Issue 7 2010Wayne Hall ABSTRACT National alcohol prohibition in the United States between 1920 and 1933 is believed widely to have been a misguided and failed social experiment that made alcohol problems worse by encouraging drinkers to switch to spirits and created a large black market for alcohol supplied by organized crime. The standard view of alcohol prohibition provides policy lessons that are invoked routinely in policy debates about alcohol and other drugs. The alcohol industry invokes it routinely when resisting proposals to reduce the availability of alcohol, increase its price or regulate alcohol advertising and promotion. Advocates of cannabis law reform invoke it frequently in support of their cause. This paper aims: (i) to provide an account of alcohol prohibition that is more accurate than the standard account because it is informed by historical and econometric analyses; (ii) to describe the policy debates in the 1920s and 1930s about the effectiveness of national prohibition; and (iii) to reflect on any relevance that the US experience with alcohol prohibition has for contemporary policies towards alcohol. It is incorrect to claim that the US experience of National Prohibition indicates that prohibition as a means of regulating alcohol is always doomed to failure. Subsequent experience shows that partial prohibitions can produce substantial public health benefits at an acceptable social cost, in the absence of substantial enforcement. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||