Suchergebnisse

Der Autor stellt in seinem Beitrag die Frage, was in den 70er Jahren von den angewandten Sozialwissenschaften geleistet wurde, wobei unter Leistung das Verhältnis der Wirkungen zu den Kosten verstanden wird und unter Wirkung die Anzahl der beeinflußten Menschen sowie die Art der Beeinflussung ihrer Lebensweise, aber auch die Auswirkungen auf Quantität und Qualität staatlicher Maßnahmen. Zur Beantwortung dieser Fragen werden Forschungsprojekte aus den USA beschrieben, die auf die Erprobung von Reformvorschlägen zielten, und zwar zu den Bereichen Bildungspolitik, Wohnungspolitik, Beschäftigungspolitik, Gesundheitswesen und zur Umweltschutzgesetzgebung. Die Untersuchungen zeigen insgesamt, daß es zu einer Verbesserung der wissenschaftlichen Arbeitsmethoden und deren Qualität gekommen ist. Weitere Ausführungen des Autors betreffen die Kritik, die an die angewandte Sozialforschung herangetragen wird, so wie die Perspektiven, die sich für letztere ergeben. Dazu zählt für die 80er Jahre ein Übergang von der Untersuchung der Minderheitenproblematik hin zur Untersuchung der Mehrheitenprobleme. Für die USA zeichnet sich ab, daß dort verstärkt Effizienzuntersuchungen von staatlichen Maßnahmen zu erwarten sind, während für die BRD künftig mehr Fragen der sozialen Gerechtigkeit das Forschungsinteresse beanspruchen dürften. (NG)

Regulation of the health care system to achieve appropriate containment of overall costs is characterized by Professor Havighurst as requiring public officials to engage, directly or indirectly, in the rationing of medical services. This rationing function is seen by the author as peculiarly difficult for political institutions to perform, given the public's expectations and the symbolic importance of health care. An effort on the part of regulators to shift the rationing burden to providers is detected, as is a trend toward increasingly arbitrary regulation, designed to minimize regulators' confrontations with sensitive issues. Irrationality and ignorance are found to plague regulatory decision making on health-related issues, even though it is the consumer who is usually thought to suffer most from these disabilities. The author argues that consumer choice under some cost constraints is a preferable mechanism for allocating resources because it better reflects individuals' subjective preferences, has a greater capacity for facing trade-offs realistically, and can better content with professional dominance of the resource allocation process. In view of the unlikelihood of regulation that is both sensitive and effective in containing costs, the author proposes that we rely primarily on consumer incentives to reform the system. A simple change in the tax treatment of health insurance or other health plan premiums, to strengthen consumers' interest in cost containment while also subsidizing needy consumers, is advocated. Steps to improve opportunities for innovation in cost containment by health insurers, HMOs, and other actors are outlined briefly.

The relationship between PO & foreign policy decisions is explored. It is stated that nat'l decision-makers need to know more about both domestic & foreign PO. Nat'l strategists must become increasingly concerned with the soc-psychol'al effects of their policies on both enemies & allies. PO surveys in this context must focus on 3 major points: (1) the pol'al feasibility of a specific military strategy; (2) its pol'al results; & (3) otherwise unanticipated possibilities, eg, sudden reversal of opinion & the revelation of underlying trends & imminent changes or instabilities. Predominant US strategic security issues are examined & specific res designs are suggested for specific topics. A hyp'al model for an exploratory survey to determine the relative pol'al feasibility for US decision-makers of 2 alternate military responses to limited aggression is established: (a) limited strategic retaliation, & (b) tactical local defense. A table illustrates survey indicators, estimated weighting factors, & costs for the US. The figures are explained & analyzed Various approaches to such a survey are discussed, & the importance of measuring the pacifist opinion as to number, distribution, intensity & sources is pointed out. Several major problems were encountered in sketching out illustrative survey designs. They include: (i) making policy alternatives intelligible to mass publics; (ii) the `uncertainty principle' in which observation changes what is being observed; (iii) the choice of identifying military strategies by their `normal' costs or by their most unpleasant possible results; (iv) finding reliable definitions for such concepts as `pacifism,' & distinguishing between interpersonal influence & the impact of events as factors changing the intensity & distribution of public att's toward military alternatives. M. Maxfield.

The period between 1860 and the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 saw the pound sterling moving into even the most isolated corners of the world, seeking, amoeba-like, to reproduce itself with a minimum of effort. Among other areas to feel its impact and to reap its benefits was the American West, particularly the mineral frontier. Records of the Board of Trade indicate that during these forty-one years at least 518 British joint-stock companies were incorporated, with a total nominal capitalization of not less than £77,705,751, to engage in mining and milling activities in the intermountain West, exclusive of the Pacific Coast.

Dozens of countries have decentralized at least part of their natural resource policies over the last two decades. Despite the length of time that these policy experiments have been in force, there is little agreement about their effectiveness. We argue that part of this ambivalence stems from three limitations of extant studies, suggesting that future studies of decentralized natural resource governance should consider a combination of 1) variation in the local institutional context, 2) the fit between the reform & other public policies, & 3) more adequate outcome measures for decentralized resource governance. After developing such an approach, we posit that varying forest conditions depend on the moderating effects that local institutions have on the socioeconomic & biophysical drivers of environmental change. Analyzing data from interviews & remotely sensed images from 30 municipalities in the Bolivian lowlands, we find that the local institutional performance affects unauthorized deforestation directly & indirectly, but detect no effects on either permitted or total deforestation. Tables, Figures, References. [Copyright 2006 John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.]