Suchergebnisse

This book analyses the life histories of Jamaican men involved in the UK drugs trade, including wholesalers, street dealers, specialist cooks, cutters, and growers. Employing a life history approach, their autobiographical accounts are examined to provide an in-depth and unique insight of their journeys into drugs and crime.

Since 1985, Australia has adopted a 'harm minimisation' approach to drug policy. Stated broadly, this approach involves adopting policies aimed at reducing the harm associated with the use of and traffic in illicit drugs. However, harm minimisation eludes neat definition: it may mean different things to different people. Notwithstanding the official position, the current administration appears distinctly antagonistic towards drugs and drug-users. This both reflects and adds to the antipathy manifest within some sectors of the community. Talking about drugs throws up personal and emotional responses. Participants in the drug policy debate often seem more concerned with playing upon deep-seated prejudices in order to achieve political gain than they are with addressing the social, medical and economic cost of drug use. There is an urgent need for apolitical, credible and rational voices to be heard. The Australian Parliamentary Group on Drug Law Reform was founded in 1993. Its membership consists of more than 100 state and federal parliamentarians and exparliamentarians, who are committed to a harm minimisation approach to drug law reform. As a multi-partisan organisation, the Group is well placed to break down the political divides which beleaguer the current debate, and to counter sensational rhetoric with a more lucid approach. The Group enjoyed initial success in achieving its goals. By informing law-makers it helped to pave the way for a more informed law-making process. More recently however, the Group has suffered something of a decline. Membership numbers are strong, and enthusiasm remains high, but it is not being translated into action. The situation is now somewhat critical. The Group has produced little or no public material in several years, and has fallen entirely off the public radar. The Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation- set up to provide support for the Group- may be deregistered unless it resumes business activities, and is not currently in a position to perform the administrative support role which the Group urgently requires. If the Group is to play a significant role in the drug law debate, there will need to be changes made. Its current condition of stasis is due to several factors, most notably: )> The fact that most Group members do not have sufficient free time to be actively involved; )> The incapacity of Group leaders to perform administrative management tasks absent any secretarial support from the Foundation; )> The difficulty of asking parliamentarians to speak up about drugs in a hostile political climate; and )> The difficulty of performing basic administrative tasks without secretarial staff or the funding with which to employ them.In order to overcome these challenges, both short and long term changes are in order. Initially, there needs to be a burst of activity in order to generate enthusiasm and restore the public and political conception of the Group as a going concern. This has so far entailed: );;>- Updating membership lists and re-establishing contact with current members; );;>- Recruiting new members; and );;>- Conducting a national meeting. Although crucial, these preliminary activities are not enough to ensure long-term success. If momentum is to be maintained and further interest generated, newsletters, publications and other events must follow closely on from the national meeting. The vast majority of the Group's members are only willing or able to take part relatively passively. Their involvement in the Group is contingent upon its capacity to provide relevant and topical material on drug-related matters. Should it cease to do so, it will be all but impossible to remain viable. Someone has to take responsibility for coordinating these activities. Ideally, this person would keep abreast of the national situation, signal issues requiring attention, ensure that state and national meetings were convened, collect information on developments from regional leaders and see that information was constantly transmitted to Group members via a newsletter and r~gularly updated website. This is therefore a crucial appointment. There are very few members in a position to take on an active role in the Group's leadership, particularly since doing so currently involves a considerable administrative workload. However, by securing administrative assistance, the workload of a central convenor would be considerably lessened. The convenor would also be supported by a number of part-time convenors able to travel to attend all Group meetings, as well as state leaders and Foundation office bearers, most notably the Treasurer. The success of this organisational structure does, however, seem contingent upon the appointment of an administrative assistant. It seems unlikely that the Group find sufficient funds to employ someone in this capacity. Nonetheless, there is a strong possibility that the Group obtain assistance from a volunteer. The discussion here is largely procedural, and turns upon the organisational changes that must be made to ensure longevity per se. There has been little analysis of the future role of the Group in the drug law debate. Likewise, aside from an informationsharing function, there has been little consideration given to the substance of its future activities. Structural or organisational problems- arising out of paucity of time or absence of leadership for example- can be rectified relatively simply. The complex web of political pressures operating in the current climate poses a much greater challenge. The Group's effectiveness will always be limited by the capacity and willingness of its members to take action. It may be that its time as a force for change has passed: equally, the current climate may mean that it assumes even greater significance as a voice of reason. Only time will tell.

Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Contents -- Foreword -- Introduction: The Tragedy of Addiction -- Chapter 1: Drug Abuse in the United States -- Chapter 2: The Effects of Drug Use -- Chapter 3: Societal Impact -- Chapter 4: Drug Trafficking and Legislation -- Chapter 5: The Legalization Debate -- Notes -- Discussion Questions -- Organizations to Contact -- For More Information -- Index -- Picture Credits -- About the Author -- Back Cover

Abstract China's outstanding growth performance of recent years, the ongoing liberalisation of its capital market, and its deepening integration into the world economy provide ample motivation for a deeper understanding of the country's economic policy-making. This dissertation is an attempt to better understand monetary policy operations and transmission in this rapidly evolving situation. Monetary policy in China is unique compared to any other country in terms of both the available policy instruments and the policy environment. The policy regime is transitioning to a more market-orientated one, and presently the central bank uses a mixture of quantity-based and price-based instruments. These special features are addressed in this dissertation. The dissertation is comprised of four independent but related essays that empirically evaluate monetary policy implementation and the policy environment in China. The first essay examines the relevance of a quantity-based McCallum-type policy rule in achieving price stability. The findings are that deviations in money supply from the rule help to forecast price developments and thus underline the relation between money supply and prices in China. The second essay considers a wider selection of possible policy rules and examines the monetary policy implementation and instruments used by the central bank. Money supply and interest rate instruments are found to react differently to price and output developments. The interest rate instrument is gaining weight over time, which highlights China's transition to a more market-based policy setting. The third essay utilises bank-level data to study monetary policy transmission and the existence of the bank lending channel in China. Changes in the reserve requirement ratio are found to affect bank lending in China in a similar manner as changes in interest rates. Different types of banks (by ownership) react differently to these changes, but no robust evidence of a bank lending channel is found. The fourth essay compares the economic dynamics in a DSGE modelling framework under the assumption that China can successfully rebalance its economy and achieve a lower savings rate and higher level of domestic consumption. The rebalancing does not notably affect the transmission of monetary policy shocks, but it does render the economy more resilient to technology shocks. ; Tiivistelmä Kiinan nopea talouskasvu, pääomamarkkinoiden avaaminen ja maan tiiviimpi kytkeytyminen maailmantalouteen ovat johtaneet siihen, että Kiinan talouspolitiikan ymmärtäminen on aiempaa tärkeämpää. Tämän väitöskirjan tavoitteena on perehtyä Kiinan rahapolitiikkatoimiin ja politiikan välittymiseen nopeasti muuttuvassa ympäristössä. Rahapolitiikka Kiinassa eroaa muiden maiden rahapolitiikasta niin käytössä olevien instrumenttien kuin politiikkaympäristönkin kannalta. Kiina on siirtymävaiheessa kohti markkinaperusteisempaa rahapolitiikkaa, ja tällä hetkellä maan keskuspankki käyttää sekä hinta- että määräperusteisia instrumentteja. Näitä erityispiirteitä tarkastellaan tähän väitöskirjaan sisältyvissä tutkimuksissa. Väitöskirja koostuu neljästä yksittäisestä mutta toisiinsa liittyvästä esseestä, joissa tarkastellaan empiirisesti rahapolitiikan toteutusta sekä politiikkaympäristöä Kiinassa. Ensimmäisessä esseessä käsitellään määräperusteisen McCallum-rahapolitiikkasäännön käyttökelpoisuutta hintavakaustavoitteen saavuttamisessa. Havaitut poikkeamat säännön suosittelemasta rahamäärän kasvusta parantavat inflaatioennusteita, mikä korostaa rahan tarjonnan ja hintakehityksen välistä suhdetta. Toisessa esseessä hyödynnetään useampia mahdollisia rahapolitiikkasääntöjä ja tarkastellaan rahapolitiikan toteutusta ja keskuspankin käyttämiä politiikkainstrumentteja. Rahan tarjonnan ja korkoinstrumentin havaitaan reagoivan eri tavoin hintakehitykseen ja tuotannon kasvuun. Korkoinstrumentin painoarvo kasvaa ajan kuluessa, mikä osoittaa Kiinan olevan siirtymässä kohti markkinaperusteisempaa politiikkaa. Kolmannessa esseessä hyödynnetään pankkikohtaista aineistoa ja tarkastellaan rahapolitiikan välittymistä ja pankkilainakanavan olemassaoloa. Keskuspankin varantovaatimusmuutosten havaitaan vaikuttavan pankkien lainanantoon samalla tavoin korkomuutosten kanssa. Omistustyypin mukaan jaoteltuna erilaiset pankit reagoivat eri tavoin rahapolitiikan muutoksiin. Tutkimuksessa ei kuitenkaan löydy vankkaa tukea pankkilainakanavan olemassaololle. Neljännessä esseessä tarkastellaan talouden dynamiikkaa DSGE-mallikehikossa olettaen, että Kiina onnistuu tasapainottamaan talouttaan niin, että säästämisaste laskee ja kotimaisen kulutuksen osuus taloudessa kasvaa. Tasapainottaminen ei merkittävästi vaikuta rahapolitiikkasokkien välittymiseen, mutta tekee taloudesta vähemmän herkän teknologiasokeille.

This research is mainly focused on the time-inconsistency during policy making process. It contains three chapters as follows: Chapter One is to research into the time-inconsistency problem in policy making with extensive form games. The paper divides the game into four scenarios: one-stage independent game, one-stage forecasting game, finite stage forecasting game and infinite period game. The first two games show that neither government nor public want to be type 1 and government always has an incentive to deviate from announced policy. The last two games are mainly focused on the possibilities that both players want to randomize their strategies. The games are able to conclude that players only randomize under certain conditions. Chapter Two is to prove the existence of time-inconsistent monetary policy in the U.S. empirically by applying both non-parametric method and rolling estimation for time varying analyses along with the asymmetric policy preference model, this paper proposes that with almost every recession since 1960, the rolling method reaches a break point shortly before or right at the recession date and that the non-parametric method reaches a peak for every recession that is not caused by supply shock. In addition, this paper uses the chain-weighted PCE index to conclude that there exists time-inconsistent policy preference over different recession periods, and also to compare results with the chain-weighted GDP index. The study discovers that the PCE index in general will result higher targeted inflation rate than the GDP index, and policy preferences are different during pre- and post-recessions with both indexes. Chapter Three is extending the empirical analysis to different countries by studying the policy preferences of pre- and post-recession periods. Most countries depict their policy preferences as time-inconsistent. Moreover, by adjusting the non-stationarity problem in the data during the first-stage regression, the paper is able to capture the differences between both analyses. The ...

The number and type of services offered at substance abuse treatment (SAT) facilities are important aspects of the quality of care. Managed care (MC) is a growing presence in SAT and has been shown to affect the provision of treatment. We expand on earlier work and examine the impact of managed care on the number and type of services offered by methadone maintenance (MM) and drug-free (DF) outpatient treatment facilities. We use the econometric technique of instrumental variables to address the issue of endogeneity of MC and service offerings, thereby allowing a causal interpretation of results. Using data from the 2000 National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services, we find that MC significantly increases the total number of services offered in MM outpatient facilities by four, yet decreases the number by two in DF outpatient facilities. We also show how the impact on specific services differs by modality and provide explanations for our findings.