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Policy Officials (policy + official)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting	40%

Selected Abstracts

Aiming High for the U.S. Health System: A Context for Health Reform

THE JOURNAL OF LAW, MEDICINE & ETHICS, Issue 4 2008
Karen Davis
Policy officials often assert that the U.S. has the best health care system in the world, but a recent scorecard on U.S. health system performance finds that the U.S. achieves a score of only 65 out of a possible 100 points on key indicators of performance in five key domains: healthy lives, access, quality, equity, and efficiency, where 100 represents the best achieved performance in other countries or within the U.S. The U.S. should aim higher by adopting a set of policies that will extend affordable health insurance to all; align financial incentives for health care providers to enhance value and achieve savings; organize the health care system around the patient to ensure that care is accessible and coordinated; meet and raise benchmarks for high-quality, efficient care; and ensure accountable national leadership and public-private collaboration. The incoming president and Congress should aspire to have the best health system in the world , not just assert it , and can do so by learning from examples of excellence within the U.S. and abroad. [source]

The term structure of interest rates and the Mexican economy

CONTEMPORARY ECONOMIC POLICY, Issue 3 2000
JG. Gonzalez
Can the yield spread, which has been found to predict with surprising accuracy the movement of key macroeconomic variables of developed countries, also predict such variables for a developing country experiencing economic turmoil? This article presents empirical results that suggest significant forecasting ability for the yield spread for segments of the Mexican economy during the 1995,1997 period of economic volatility. The actual and predicted variable changes sometimes conflict with those experienced by developed countries in part because of the unusually close relationship between the Mexican Treasury and the Banco de México. Consequently, analysts and policy officials may exploit the forecast potential of the yield spread, but only in the context of evolving institutional considerations. [source]

Assessment Validation in the Context of High-Stakes Assessment

EDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT: ISSUES AND PRACTICE, Issue 1 2002
Katherine Ryan
Including the perspectives of stakeholder groups (e.g., teachers, parents) can improve the validity of high-stakes assessment interpretations and uses. How stakeholder groups view high-stakes assessments and their uses may differ significantly from state-level policy officials. The views of these stakeholders can contribute to identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the intended assessment interpretations and uses. This article proposes a process approach to validity that addresses assessment validation in the context of high-stakes assessment. The process approach includes a test evaluator or validator who considers the perspectives of five stakeholder groups at four different stages of assessment maturity in relationship to six aspects of construct validity. The tasks of the test evaluator and how stakeholders' views might be incorporated are illustrated at each stage of assessment maturity. How the test evaluator might make judgments about the merit of high-stakes assessment interpretations and uses is discussed. [source]

Teaching Foreign Policy with Memoirs

INTERNATIONAL STUDIES PERSPECTIVES, Issue 2 2002
Terry L. Deibel
Excerpts from the memoirs of high foreign policy officials, if carefully selected and structured, can be a valuable resource in the teaching of diplomatic history, American foreign policy, and international relations. Two decades of teaching a memoirs-only course to mid-career military officers and foreign affairs professionals in a seminar discussion format reveals many of their advantages. Memoirs are interesting reading that rarely fail to engage a reader's attention; they impart detailed knowledge of historical events; they provide a rich understanding of process and the neglected area of policy implementation; like case studies, they let students build vicarious experience in policymaking and execution; and they often provide what Alexander George called "policy-relevant generalizations." While lack of objectivity can be a serious drawback of first-person accounts, it provides its own lessons on the nature of history and can be offset by using multiple accounts of the same events and by combining memoirs with documents and historical works, or countering analytical studies. Although picking the most interesting and worthwhile excerpts, getting them in students' hands, and accommodating their length within the boundaries of a standard college course are additional challenges, professors who take them on should find that memoirs add a new level of excitement and realism to their courses. [source]

Financial Literacy Explicated: The Case for a Clearer Definition in an Increasingly Complex Economy

JOURNAL OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, Issue 2 2010
DAVID L. REMUND
This study explicates the concept of financial literacy, which has blossomed in use this century. Scholars, policy officials, financial experts and consumer advocates have used the phrase loosely to describe the knowledge, skills, confidence and motivation necessary to effectively manage money. As a result, financial literacy has varying conceptual definitions in existing research, as well as diverse operational definitions and values. This study dissects the differing financial literacy definitions and measures, urging researchers toward common ground. A clearer definition should improve future research, in turn helping consumers better understand and adapt to changing life events and an increasingly complex economy. [source]