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During recent years, the application of business concepts and practices to the federal government has grown in popularity. The trend has been fueled by national reinvention initiatives and has led to a demand for government agencies to become more accountable in their performance. As a result, many federal agencies are faced with a need for sound methods by which to measure results and demonstrate fiscal responsibility. One method shown to be effective at assessing the value of agency programs has been the return-on-investment (ROI) process. This article examines the basic issues of ROI and its applicability in government.

Focuses on politics in Western Australia during the last six months of 2001, noting electoral law changes, controversy over gay & lesbian rights, & elections.

Economic independence is an important indicator of the transition to adulthood. This article portrays the level of economic independence among young adults, ages eighteen to thirty-two, in seven industrialized countries. The cross-national variations the authors uncover help one understand how work, family, & comparative income packages affect economic self-sufficiency. In all countries, young women are less able than are young men to become economically independent through market work alone. The ability to support a family is affected more by government transfers than the ability to support oneself. The authors also find that family support through additional income, the provision of housing, & caring labor as well as decisions to have roommates are clearly important to the economic well-being of young adults. In closing, the authors suggest several avenues for future research. 9 Figures, 1 Appendix, 40 References. [Copyright 2002 Sage Publications, Inc.]

Examines politics in Western Australia, Jan-June 2002. Focus is on the parliament, budget & finance, political parties, education & health, local government & planning, environment, & justice.

Genetically modified (GM) foods represent a significant technical and commercial breakthrough, but they have also revealed a major weakness in product development and commercialization in the global agri-food system. Although the biotechnology industry has developed a number of new technologies and products and marketed them effectively to producers, the biotechnology industry has almost completely ignored the need to market these products to consumers. One facet of the marketing literature suggests that innovative products need to be proactively positioned in the market either as a replacement for what exists or as an addition. The literature suggests that innovations like GM foods must be placed in the market in such a way as to allow consumers to test and compare the new products against existing products. We suggest that although the biotechnology industry did this effectively with producers and for a few output-trait whole foods, it has relied on the concept of substantial equivalence embedded in regulatory regimes to justify ignoring the concerns of consumers for most of the GM foods currently in the market. The industry has been almost universally unwilling to proactively market input-trait GM foods to consumers. This has created a variety of consumer responses, ranging from indifference in much of North America to citizen demands for tighter government regulation and mandatory labeling, to consumer boycotts in the EU and other countries. This paper reviews the relevant marketing literature, examines the few cases where new GM foods have been proactively marketed, and draws the conclusion that it may be necessary to more clearly and fully market GM foods to consumers. This has implications for future introductions of other innovative food products. ; Includes bibliographical references

This article focuses on the Court government's development of a State Salinity Strategy during the 1990s which took nine years from the initial announcement to the final realease. Western Australia has 70 percent of the nation's dryland salinity, a figure widely regarded as representing a potential environmental disaster with significant flow‐on economic and social impacts. The paralysis that has surrounded decision‐making on this issue is examined as a case study in the lack of effectiveness of government policy‐making capacity on the environment. The shortcomings of the Salinity Strategy examined in the article include a lack of a leadership role for government, inadequate resourcing and weaknesses in the supporting institutional arrangements.