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Policy Decisions (policy + decision)
Kinds of Policy Decisions Terms modified by Policy Decisions Selected AbstractsHow Should Governments Make Risky Policy Decisions?AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 3 2009J. Brian Hardaker Public policy-making does not follow the long-established and well-recognised principles of rational decision analysis under risk. Public views of risk are often inconsistent and seemingly irrational, and a gulf exists between risk perceptions and attitudes of the public and those of ,experts'. On the other hand, experts often claim unjustifiably high levels of confidence in their predictions of policy choice outcomes, creating a lack of public faith in their recommendations. While risky policy choices deserve more systematic decision analysis, many challenges remain to effective implementation of such analyses. Among the suggestions for improvement that we offer is the need for more effective interaction between policy-makers, decision analysts and the public. [source] Tracing Foreign Policy Decisions: A Study of Citizens' Use of HeuristicsBRITISH JOURNAL OF POLITICS & INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, Issue 4 2009Robert Johns Public opinion researchers agree that citizens use simplifying heuristics to reach real, stable preferences. In domestic policy, the focus has been on citizens delegating judgement to opinion leaders, notably political parties. By contrast, citizens have been held to deduce foreign policy opinions from their own values or principles. Yet there is ample scope for delegation in the foreign policy sphere. In this exploratory study I use a ,process-tracing' method to test directly for delegation heuristic processing in university students' judgements on the Iranian nuclear issue. A substantial minority sought guidance on foreign policy decisions, either from parties, international actors or newspapers. This was not always simple delegation; some used such heuristics within more complex decision-making processes. However, others relied on simple delegation, raising questions about the ,effectiveness' of their processing. [source] Policy Drivers in UK Higher Education in Historical Perspective: ,Inside Out', ,Outside In' and the Contribution of ResearchHIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY, Issue 2 2006Michael Shattock Where have been the main policy drivers for the development of British higher education over the last 50 years? This article argues that while higher education policy was once driven from the inside outwards, from the late 1970s it has been driven exclusively from the outside inwards. Policy decisions under either regime were rarely driven by research findings especially from within the higher education community. The current imbalance between ,inside-out' and ,outside-in' policy formation is paradoxically most apparent when the higher education system has a more widely diversified funding base than at any time since the 1930s. The key policy challenge is now not what new policies are needed but what new framework should be developed for policy making. [source] Bias modelling in evidence synthesisJOURNAL OF THE ROYAL STATISTICAL SOCIETY: SERIES A (STATISTICS IN SOCIETY), Issue 1 2009Rebecca M. Turner Summary., Policy decisions often require synthesis of evidence from multiple sources, and the source studies typically vary in rigour and in relevance to the target question. We present simple methods of allowing for differences in rigour (or lack of internal bias) and relevance (or lack of external bias) in evidence synthesis. The methods are developed in the context of reanalysing a UK National Institute for Clinical Excellence technology appraisal in antenatal care, which includes eight comparative studies. Many were historically controlled, only one was a randomized trial and doses, populations and outcomes varied between studies and differed from the target UK setting. Using elicited opinion, we construct prior distributions to represent the biases in each study and perform a bias-adjusted meta-analysis. Adjustment had the effect of shifting the combined estimate away from the null by approximately 10%, and the variance of the combined estimate was almost tripled. Our generic bias modelling approach allows decisions to be based on all available evidence, with less rigorous or less relevant studies downweighted by using computationally simple methods. [source] Following START: Risk Acceptance and the 1991,1992 Presidential Nuclear InitiativesFOREIGN POLICY ANALYSIS, Issue 1 2008Matthew Fuhrmann In September 1991, U.S. President George H.W. Bush launched the Presidential Nuclear Initiatives (PNIs), which were unilateral measures that led to the largest reductions in the American and Soviet/Russian nuclear arsenals to date. Despite their eventual success, the United States took on significant risks in launching the PNIs. To uncover the best theoretical explanation for their onset, this article uses realism, neorealism, the bureaucratic politics model, expected utility theory, and prospect theory to generate ex ante predictions regarding nuclear arms control at the end of the Cold War. It then tests the theories' predictions against the empirical record. The results suggest that a focus on an individual decision maker,President Bush,is necessary to fully understand the PNIs and that an explanation rooted in prospect theory offers the most explanatory power. This study speaks to an important debate in discipline regarding the significance of individuals, while underscoring the value of exploring foreign policy decision making from multiple levels of analysis. It also advances the literatures on risk acceptance and prospect theory by shifting their applications away from militarized conflict and crises to diplomatic negotiations and cooperation. [source] Black gold to green gold: regional energy policy and the rehabilitation of coal in response to climate changeAREA, Issue 1 2009Frances Drake Energy production has come under increasing scrutiny as concerns about energy security and climate change have risen. In the UK changes in government structure and privatisation of the electricity industry have led to the emergence of multi-level governance. This means that decisions on how to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the electricity-generating sector should no longer be solely a national policy decision. Previous studies have sought to explore how renewable energy may develop under multi-level governance, but this paper pays attention to a traditional fossil fuel source, coal, which is still an important means of electricity generation. Coal is the most abundant fossil fuel and advocates argue that carbon capture and storage techniques could make coal ,clean', paving the way for a long-term, secure and low emission way to produce energy. This study focuses on the Yorkshire and Humber Region, which has had a long association with coal mining and looks at the implications of this as the region seeks to develop a climate change action plan and an energy strategy within the new regional governance structures. The paper argues that the regional networks developed to address climate change are influenced by existing social power structures and alliances. The region as a territorial structure becomes a useful device in promoting national priorities. [source] Design and Management Strategies for Mixed Public Private Transportation Networks: A Meta-Heuristic ApproachCOMPUTER-AIDED CIVIL AND INFRASTRUCTURE ENGINEERING, Issue 4 2009Avinash Unnikrishnan In this study, private companies are assumed to have a degree of control over highway sections on which they perform maintenance and rehabilitation and capacity expansion activities. The private investors recover the cost of construction by levying tolls. The public agency is assumed to maintain the rest of the network with the objective of minimizing total system generalized cost. The bi-directional impact of roadway utilization on deterioration and deterioration on utilization is modeled in this study. The model accounts for route choice of users and all users are assumed to choose routes that have equal and minimal experienced generalized cost. The nonconvex and discontinuous multi-objective mathematical program is solved using nondominant sorting genetic algorithm-II and the pareto-optimal trade-off surface between the profit of the private company and the total system cost is generated. Computational runs are conducted to demonstrate the suitability and flexibility of the developed framework in modeling various policy decisions such as the presence of noncompete clauses. [source] THE APPRENDI-BLAKELY CASES: SENTENCING REFORM COUNTER REVOLUTION?CRIMINOLOGY AND PUBLIC POLICY, Issue 3 2007RICHARD S. FRASE Recent Supreme Court decisions have extended jury trial rights and beyond-reasonable-doubt proof standards to certain sentence-enhancement facts. The first two cases, Apprendi v. New Jersey and Ring v. Arizona, were narrow in scope and relatively uncontroversial. But Blakely v. Washington marked a substantial expansion of the rationale and scope of Apprendi, and threatened to invalidate entire sentencing reform systems, both legally-binding guidelines of the type at issue in Blakely and it's sequel, Booker v. United States, and statutory determinate sentence systems like the one invalidated in Cunningham v. California. Each of these decisions has potential effects not only on sentencing severity and disparity in the cases controlled by that decision, but also on prosecutorial, legislative, and sentencing commission measures designed to comply with the decision, avoid it, and/or mitigate its impact. Field resistance and avoidance measures are likely to be stronger in jurisdictions where the existing sentencing system enjoyed broad support; in such jurisdictions, resistance may be particularly strong to the more controversial Blakely ruling. Impact assessments must therefore carefully distinguish the separate impacts of Apprendi and Blakely in each jurisdiction being studied, and the extent of support for the existing sentencing system. Such assessments should also examine pre-existing trends and other independent sources of change; leadership by sentencing commissions or other officials in crafting responsive measures; structural and other features of the sentencing system which render compliance more or less difficult; and second-stage effects, on sentencing, prosecutorial, or sentencing policy decisions, that reflect the prior compliance, avoidance, and mitigation measures adopted in that jurisdiction. The greatest long-term effects may be on prosecutorial, legislative, and commission decisions, rather than on sentencing outcomes. [source] Policy Space: What, for What, and Where?DEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 4 2009Jörg Mayer This article examines how developing countries can use, and enlarge, existing policy space, without opting out of international commitments. It argues that: (i) a meaningful context for policy space must extend beyond trade policy and include macroeconomic and exchange-rate policies that will achieve developmental goals more effectively; (ii) policy space depends not only on international rules but also on the impact of international market conditions and policy decisions taken in other countries on the effectiveness of national policy instruments; and (iii) international integration affects policy space through several factors that pull in opposite directions; whether it increases or reduces policy space differs by country and type of integration. [source] How ideology shapes the evidence and the policy: what do we know about cannabis use and what should we do?ADDICTION, Issue 8 2010John Macleod ABSTRACT In the United Kingdom, as in many places, cannabis use is considered substantially within a criminal justice rather than a public health paradigm with prevention policy embodied in the Misuse of Drugs Act. In 2002 the maximum custodial sentence tariff for cannabis possession under the Act was reduced from 5 to 2 years. Vigorous and vociferous public debate followed this decision, centred principally on the question of whether cannabis use caused schizophrenia. It was suggested that new and compelling evidence supporting this hypothesis had emerged since the re-classification decision was made, meaning that the decision should be reconsidered. The re-classification decision was reversed in 2008. We consider whether the strength of evidence on the psychological harms of cannabis has changed substantially and discuss the factors that may have influenced recent public discourse and policy decisions. We also consider evidence for other harms of cannabis use and public health implications of preventing cannabis use. We conclude that the strongest evidence of a possible causal relation between cannabis use and schizophrenia emerged more than 20 years ago and that the strength of more recent evidence may have been overstated,for a number of possible reasons. We also conclude that cannabis use is almost certainly harmful, mainly because of its intimate relation to tobacco use. The most rational policy on cannabis from a public health perspective would seem to be one able to achieve the benefit of reduced use in the population while minimizing social and other costs of the policy itself. Prohibition, whatever the sentence tariff associated with it, seems unlikely to fulfil these criteria. [source] Women as Policy Makers: Evidence from a Randomized Policy Experiment in IndiaECONOMETRICA, Issue 5 2004Raghabendra Chattopadhyay This paper uses political reservations for women in India to study the impact of women's leadership on policy decisions. Since the mid-1990's, one third of Village Council head positions in India have been randomly reserved for a woman: In these councils only women could be elected to the position of head. Village Councils are responsible for the provision of many local public goods in rural areas. Using a dataset we collected on 265 Village Councils in West Bengal and Rajasthan, we compare the type of public goods provided in reserved and unreserved Village Councils. We show that the reservation of a council seat affects the types of public goods provided. Specifically, leaders invest more in infrastructure that is directly relevant to the needs of their own genders. [source] Bad Politics Makes Bad Policy: The Case of Queensland's Asset Sales Programme,ECONOMIC PAPERS: A JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECONOMICS AND POLICY, Issue 1 2010John Quiggin L33 On 2 June 2009, the Queensland Government announced a programme of asset sales projected to realise $15 billion. In this article, the public case for privatisation put forward by the Queensland Government is shown to be wrong and, in important respects, deliberately misleading. It is argued that the presentation of a spurious case for privatisation has contributed to poor policy decisions regarding the choice of assets to be sold, the failure to restructure the rail industry to promote competition, and the adoption of inferior methods for sale. [source] The missing piece: Measuring portfolio salience in Western European parliamentary democraciesEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL RESEARCH, Issue 1 2005JAMES N. DRUCKMAN Portfolios constitute an important payoff, not just because they provide access to patronage, but because influence over policy decisions tends to go with control over the key government portfolios. It is easy to discover which and how many portfolios each party holds in any government, but what is missing is accurate measurement of the value or salience of these portfolios. Some attempts have been made to measure portfolio salience, but they have lacked one or more of the following properties: cross-national scope, country-specific measurement, coverage of the full set of postwar portfolios, measurement by multiple experts and measurement at the interval level. In this article, we present a new data contribution: a set of portfolio salience scores that possesses all of these properties for 14 Western European countries derived from an expert survey. We demonstrate the comprehensiveness and reliability of the ratings, and undertake some preliminary analyses that show what the ratings reveal about parliamentary government in Western Europe. [source] Global and Domestic Governance: Modes of Interdependence in Regulatory PolicymakingEUROPEAN LAW JOURNAL, Issue 4 2006David Lazer In particular, it identifies three modes of interdependence: competitive, coordinative, and informational. In the competitive mode the essential structure of interdependence is for countries to attempt to have distinctive policies that provide some advantage over other countries, but where the equilibrium set of policies is suboptimal for all. In the coordinative mode, there is an advantage for all countries to adopt the same policy, but exactly which policy is adopted may have significant distributional consequences. Lastly, in the informational mode, the choices and experiences of countries produce informational externalities, pointing the way for other countries to policy decisions. This article examines the logic underpinning each of these modes of interdependence, and draws out the governance implications of each mode. [source] Factors Influencing Dividend Policy Decisions of Nasdaq FirmsFINANCIAL REVIEW, Issue 3 2001H. Kent Baker G35 Abstract This study reports the results of a 1999 survey of Nasdaq-listed firms. Respondents provided information about the importance of 22 different factors that influence their dividend policy. Our results suggest that many managers of Nasdaq firms make dividend decisions consistent with Lintner's (1956) survey results and model. The results also show significant differences between the manager responses of financial and non-financial firms on nine of the 22 factors. This finding implies the presence of industry effects on dividend policy decisions. In general, the same factors that are important to Nasdaq firms are also important to NYSE firms. [source] Poliheuristic Theory, Bargaining, and Crisis Decision MakingFOREIGN POLICY ANALYSIS, Issue 4 2007Min Ye In the past decade, the application of the Poliheuristic (PH) theory to foreign policy decisions of various types, by numerous leaders, and in association with different research methods, has demonstrated its theoretical merit in integrating the divided rational choice and psychological/cognitive approaches. This article argues for a complementary relationship between PH and formal theory. On the one hand, PH can provide a framework in which abstract formal models can be connected with specific domestic as well as international circumstances. On the other hand, formal theory sharpens the rational analysis used in the second conceptual stage of PH. In this study, I formulate a revised Rubinstein bargaining model with war as an outside option and apply it to Chinese crisis decision making during the Second and Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis. In sum, this study makes three contributions to the literature on international crises and foreign policy analysis. First, it gives formal explanations on how PH can contribute to the game-theoretic approach in foreign policy analysis. Second, it presents what Bueno de Mesquita and Lalman (1992) called a "domestic politics version" of the canonical Rubinstein bargaining game, connecting international interactions with individual participants' domestic politics. Finally, it provides a way to test abstract game-theoretic models in particular domestic and international contexts of foreign policy making. [source] Ideas, Interests, and Institutions: Challenging the Property Rights Paradigm in BotswanaGOVERNANCE, Issue 4 2003Amy R. Poteete Recent work in international studies and comparative politics scrutinizes the relative importance of ideas, interests, and institutions as sources of policy change. A growing body of scholarship identifies ideas as the main causal factors, influencing perceived interests as well as perceived policy options. Others contend that policies can best be understood as products of institutions. Neither explanation can account for both policy choice by politicians and the implementation strategies of administrators. In Botswana, the use of professional criteria for hiring and advancement encourages adherence to international professional norms within the bureaucracy, but electoral competition gives politicians more reason to be attentive to local political concerns. The institutions that define relations of authority among actors with different motivations shape the outcomes of policy choice and implementation. Institutions influence the attentiveness of policy-makers to ideas when making decisions, the degree of attention particular policy-makers give to ideas from particular sources, and the degree of acceptance that ideas must achieve to affect policy. Better evaluations of political development can be achieved through attentiveness to the mix of actors involved in policy decisions, the diversity of institutions and ideas that affect their policy preferences, and the relations of authority that shape their relative influence over policy choice and implementation. [source] What should be given a priority , costly medications for relatively few people or inexpensive ones for many?HEALTH EXPECTATIONS, Issue 2 2008The Health Parliament public consultation initiative in Israel Abstract Background, In the past two decades, government and civic organizations have been implementing a wide range of deliberative public consultations on health care-related policy. Drawing on these experiences, a public consultation initiative in Israel called the Health Parliament was established. Goals, To implement a public consultation initiative that will engage members of the public in the discussion of four healthcare policy questions associated with equity in health services and on priorities for determining which medications and treatments should be included in the basket of national health services. Method, One hundred thirty-two participants from the general population recruited through a random sample were provided with background materials and met over several months in six regional sites. Dilemma activities were used and consultants were available for questions and clarifications. Participants presented their recommendations in a national assembly to the Minister of Health. Outcomes, Across the regional groups the recommendations were mostly compatible, in particular regarding considering the healthcare system's monetary state, even at the expense of equity, but for each policy question minority views were also expressed. A strong emphasis in the recommendations was pragmatism. Conclusion, Participants felt the experience was worthwhile; though the actual impact of their recommendations on policy making was indirect, they were willing to participate in future consultations. However, despite enthusiasm the initiative was not continued. Issues raised are whether consultation initiatives must have a direct impact on healthcare policy decisions or can be mainly a venue to involve citizens in the deliberation of healthcare policy issues. [source] Finnish Higher Education Expansion and Regional PolicyHIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY, Issue 4 2010Toni Saarivirta This paper concentrates on the expansion of Finnish higher education between the 1960s and 1970s, exposes its background in the light of the policy decisions that were made, compares the unique features of this expansion with those of certain other countries, discusses the impact of the controlled ,top down' governance of higher education policy, and describes the Finnish higher education system today. The paper argues that the driving forces behind universal mass higher education were, on the one hand, changes in the structure of society, and on the other hand, individual demand for education but also increased need for skills in production processes. This was the case in Finland as well but the Finnish higher education expansion was also characterised by regionalism. The actual location of universities in the era of expansion was a function of local political actors who were able to have an influence on ruling political parties. [source] The Re-Framing of Australian Higher EducationHIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2006David Pick The aim of this paper is to analyse the changes in Australian higher education policy over the past two decades. Using frame analysis, two shifts in higher education policy are identified. The first is in the late 1980s where the view of higher education as having a broad social, economic and cultural role was changed to one that emphasised expansion, marketisation and competition. The second is currently taking place in which universities are becoming seen as business competitors in a global higher education market, and as such, privatisation and deregulation are centrally important. This paper demonstrates the usefulness of frame analysis as a way of examining the systemic effects of policy decisions in a way that draws together and uncovers how the various and complex forces of government policies and broader social and economic events combine to create the difficult terrain through which universities must now plot a course. [source] Office-seeking politicians, interest groups and split contributions in a campaign finance modelINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC THEORY, Issue 4 2007Shino Takayama D72; D82; M37 The present paper investigates an extended version of Prat's campaign finance models. In this model, interest groups make contributions to politicians to influence policy decisions. Voters are assumed to judge candidates on two aspects: policy promises and nonpolicy personal qualities referred to as valence. There are two types of voters. Among these, uninformed voters only observe campaign contributions that take the role of a signaling medium. We solve the equilibrium of the game between politicians and interest groups. We then specify conditions under which a separating equilibrium exists and study the effect of split contributions on the welfare of the median voter. [source] Methodological challenges in assessing general population reactions in the immediate aftermath of a terrorist attackINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF METHODS IN PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH, Issue S2 2008G. James Rubin Abstract Assessing mental health needs following a disaster is important, particularly within high-risk groups such as first responders or individuals who found themselves directly caught up in the incident. Particularly following events involving widespread destruction, ingenuity and hard work are required to successfully study these issues. When considering responses among the general population following less devastating events such as a conventional terrorist attack, or following an event involving a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear agent, other variables may become more relevant for determining the population's overall psychosocial well-being. Trust, perceived risk, sense of safety, willingness to take prophylaxis and unnecessary attendance at medical facilities will all be important in determining the overall psychological, medical, economic and political impact of such attacks. Assessing these variables can help government agencies and non-governmental organizations to adjust their communication and outreach efforts. As there is often a need to provide these data quickly, telephone surveys using short time-windows for data collection or which use quota samples are often required. It is unclear whether slower, more conventional and more expensive survey methods with better response rates would produce results different enough to these quicker and cheaper methods to have a major impact on any resulting policy decisions. This empirical question would benefit from further study. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Repeat dispensing of prescriptions in community pharmacies: a systematic review of the UK literatureINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHARMACY PRACTICE, Issue 1 2006Charles W. Morecroft Research associate Objective To identify, review and evaluate the published literature that focused on the impact of repeat dispensing in community pharmacies in the United Kingdom. Method Electronic databases (e.g. Medline, Embase and CINAHL) were searched from 1992 to May 2005. This was supplemented by searching PJ-online, IJPP online conference abstracts and the bibliographies of retrieved articles. Analysis of the findings explored the quality of the assessed papers, stakeholders' perceptions of repeat dispensing, the impact on professional relationships and workload, quality of care and prescription cost savings. Key findings Four randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and one before-and-after study were identified; most studies also incorporated a qualitative component. The findings indicated that patients' satisfaction with repeat dispensing was high, mainly as the service was seen as more convenient and time saving. While pharmacists considered that their relationship with patients had improved, one study found that patients did not necessarily agree and considered that pharmacists still remained in their dispensaries. Quality of care was considered in two RCTs, which indicated that more adverse reactions and compliance issues were identified in the intervention group. However, no direct comparisons were reported in differences in rates between intervention and control groups. Likewise, it was not possible to determine if any of the reported cost savings were solely attributable to repeat dispensing, as direct comparisons between groups were not reported. Conclusions Definitive conclusions about the effectiveness and impact of repeat dispensing are difficult to draw given a lack of transparency and systematicity when reporting these studies. Nevertheless, the findings suggest that there are high levels of patient satisfaction with the service. Likewise, it was not possible to draw conclusions about the possible savings on the NHS drug budget. Important policy decisions are being made about the implementation of repeat dispensing; however they are currently been made in a vacuum of adequate information. [source] Old age protection in India: Problems and prognosisINTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SECURITY REVIEW, Issue 2 2002Ranadev Goswami This paper reviews the current state of the Indian pension system. The Indian experience could potentially influence policy decisions in other developing countries, especially those with similar reliance on the national provident fund system. Institutional features of various retirement benefit schemes are highlighted and their deficiencies are discussed. It is argued that low coverage level, underperformance of provident fund schemes due to investment restrictions, and financial difficulties in administering unfunded public pension programmes have rendered the current system ineffective and unsustainable. The failed experiments with ad hoc reform initiatives in the recent past further emphasize the need for a structural and lasting change. The paper concludes with some policy directions for reforming the Indian pension system. [source] Bono Made Jesse Helms Cry: Jubilee 2000, Debt Relief, and Moral Action in International PoliticsINTERNATIONAL STUDIES QUARTERLY, Issue 2 2007JOSHUA WILLIAM BUSBY Do states and decision-makers ever act for moral reasons? And if they do, is it only when it is convenient or relatively costless for them to do so? A number of advocacy movements,on developing country debt relief, climate change, landmines, and other issues,emerged in the 1990s to ask decision-makers to make foreign policy decisions on that basis. The primary advocates were motivated not by their own material interests but broader notions of right and wrong. What contributes to the domestic acceptance of these moral commitments? Why do some advocacy efforts succeed where others fail? Through a case study of the Jubilee 2000 campaign for developing country debt relief, this article offers an account of persuasion based on strategic framing by advocates to get the attention of decision-makers. Such strategic but not narrowly self-interested activity allows weak actors to leverage existing value and/or ideational traditions to build broader political coalitions. This article, through case studies of debt relief in the United States and Japan, also links the emerging literature on strategic framing to the domestic institutional context and the ways veto players or "policy gatekeepers" evaluate trade-offs between costs and values. [source] The ECB Governing Council in an Enlarged Euro Area,JCMS: JOURNAL OF COMMON MARKET STUDIES, Issue 1 2009AGNÈS BÉNASSY-QUÉRÉ We study the impact of rotating votes in the ECB Governing Council after EMU enlargement, based on national and euro-wide Taylor rules and on a convergence assumption. We find that the rotation system yields monetary policy decisions that are close both to full centralization and to a voting rule without rotations. [source] Ecology, politics and policyJOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY, Issue 3 2007JOHN H. LAWTON Summary 1,The British Ecological Society aims to promote the science of ecology through research and to use the findings of such research to educate the public and influence policy decisions which involve ecological matters.' Yet, how successful have we been in influencing UK and EU environmental policy? 2Many scientists hold to the ,deficit model' of turning science into policy, the view that if only politicians are told what the science reveals, ,correct' policies will automatically follow. Nothing could be further from the truth. Politicians have all kinds of reasons, some valid, some less valid, not to adopt what often seem to us to be common sense policies to protect the environment. 3Here, I explore some of the successes and failures of ecologists to influence UK and European environmental policy, using acid deposition, the collapse of global marine fisheries, GM crops and climate change, carbon dioxide and ocean acidification as examples. I briefly review the extensive literature (largely ignored by natural scientists) on what social scientists have to say about evidence-based policy-making (or the lack of it) and why it often appears to be so difficult to persuade politicians to adopt sound environmental policies. 4Synthesis and applications. Ecologists can, and do, influence government policy on the environment, but often via complex and iterative interactions that can be painfully slow, and may require fundamental changes in politicians' belief systems, values and norms. [source] Responding to society's needs: Prescription privileges for psychologistsJOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 6 2002Mary Ann Norfleet The health care revolution has contributed to the natural evolution of the role of psychologists. This has led to the necessity for future psychologists to have the authority to prescribe psychotropic medications in order to offer the best-available, comprehensive treatment to the public. Psychologists' training gives them a unique role in addressing the psychosocial aspects of medical problems, in collaboration with primary-care physicians. Prescribing psychologists are cost-effective, many practice in rural areas where people have no other access to mental health care, and they will be able to treat other underserved populations such as the poor, the elderly, the chronically mentally ill, children, and prisoners in the criminal justice system. Prescribing psychologists will have an increasingly prominent role in future health care policy decisions and practice. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol 58: 599,610, 2002. [source] Controlling Corruption in Hong Kong: From Colony to Special Administrative RegionJOURNAL OF CONTINGENCIES AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2001Jack M. K. Lo Corruption has been a perennial problem in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong of the post-war years represented what appeared to have become an intractable case of a society in which corruption was entrenched as part of political, economic and social life. This paper seeks to delineate the experience of Hong Kong's fight against corruption in the midst of a rapidly changing political and social environment. After describing the context in which the Hong Kong anti-corruption programme is set, this paper identifies the critical policy decisions that account for the programme's success and the lessons Hong Kong has learned from the campaign. It ends by highlighting some of the current issues and problems that arise from the changing circumstances of Hong Kong's development. [source] Does Private Money Buy Public Policy?JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS & MANAGEMENT STRATEGY, Issue 3 2007Campaign Contributions, Regulatory Outcomes in Telecommunications To what extent can market participants affect the outcomes of regulatory policy? In this paper, we study the effects of one potential source of influence,campaign contributions,from competing interests in the local telecommunications industry, on regulatory policy decisions of state public utility commissions. Our work is unique in that we test the effects of campaign contributions on measurable policy outcomes. This stands in stark relief against most of the existing literature, which examines potentially noisier measures of policy outcomes,such as the roll-call votes of legislators, to examine how private money may influence public policy. By moving to more direct measures of policy effects, and using a unique new dataset, we find, in contrast to much of the literature on campaign contributions, that there is a significant effect of private money on regulatory outcomes. This result is robust to numerous alternative model specifications. We also assess the extent of omitted variable bias that would have to exist to obviate the estimated result. We find that for our result to be spurious, omitted variables would have to explain more than five times the variation in the mix of private money as is explained by the variables included in our analysis. We consider this to be very unlikely. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||