Suchergebnisse

Contents -- Tables -- Acknowledgments -- Part I. Two Countries, Two Responses -- Chapter 1. How Two Countries Respond to Children's Needs -- Chapter 2. Differences in Spending and Program Design -- Part II. French Programs Child Well-Being -- Chapter 3. Government Child-Care Programs in France -- Chapter 4. French Payments to Raise Children's Living Standards -- Chapter 5. Medical Services for Child Well-Being in France -- Part III. American Programs for Children, Past and Future -- Chapter 6. American Programs for Children: Keeping Millions Deprived

The institution of marriage has served to funnel economic resources from fathers to children. Its continued decline in the countries of the developed world threatens the adequacy of the economic support of human reproduction, now increasingly provided by women. Its decline is also probably implicated in the low birth rates now being registered. The rise of cohabitation has not prevented a rise in the proportion of lone parents, and their numbers are growing rapidly. The children of lone parents are relatively deprived, both in terms of income and adults' time for child care and housekeeping. Government-supported programs in the United States aimed at rescuing marriage have not been proven effective. Ways need to be explored to get a return of men's economic support for reproduction. But the most likely way of repairing at least some of the damage to children is a big increase in government provision to the entire population of goods and services that children need: health care, high-quality education, child care, decent housing, university education. This will require in most countries a big rise in taxes and government expenditure.

Of the measures for resolving work—family conflict proposed by Janet Gornick and Marcia Meyers, government programs that provide or pay for nonparental child care would advance gender equality. However, paid parental leaves of six months for both parents, and the encouragement of part-time work, would retard it, and possibly reverse some of the advances toward gender equality that have been made in the home and the workplace. Female jobholders would increase their time at home to a much greater extent than would male jobholders, increasing the share women do of child care, cleaning, cooking, and laundry. In the workplace, employers would become more reluctant to place women in nonroutine jobs, where substitution of one worker for another is difficult. Finally, recent studies of the effect on young children of nonparental care are reviewed. They can be interpreted in more than one way, and the lessons drawn from them depend crucially on the opinions of those doing the analysis.

The incompetence and cruelty of the Bush administration, currently on view in Iraq and New Orleans, may suffice to get the electorate to reduce Republican ascendancy in the Congress in 2006 and put a Democrat in the White House in 2008. But it would be sad for the country if the result was a reversion to the Clinton don't-do-much years. We on the left should be discussing and debating the general outlines of a program of government action to ensure a decent life for everybody. Such a program would clearly require higher government spending, financed by higher taxes, and a reduction in spending for unproductive programs. The predictable Republican chants of "tax and spend" would need to be answered by a campaign to point out to the public that there are some things worth taxing and spending for.

This article argues that the development of the welfare state deserves priority over the large cash grants suggested by Butler (2005) because it guarantees that certain important human needs will be met universally. The welfare state reduces inequality with greater efficiency because it takes account of inequalities caused by differences in need. In contrast, the provision of services called merit goods are suggested. A good or service is a merit good if society decides everyone in a position to utilize it should have access to it & when there are people who could not access it on their own in the absence of government support. The following merit goods are suggested: health care, schooling, child care, help with college expenses, decent housing, & social work services. A response by Butler follows the article. R. Prince

The study of the economy has not developed as have other sciences, in which direct observation and data collection by the scientists themselves play a large part. Rather than evidence, which is mostly scarce and indirect, it is political ideology that determines which side of any controversy any economist is likely to take. Two methodological habits of the economics profession have contributed to the poor state of development of economics as a science. One is theorizing based on simple made-up scenarios and assumptions about human cupidity and rationality. The other is the lack of a rigorous connection between the modeling of the macroeconomy and an empirically based description of the behavior of consumers, firms, banks, and individual markets. This article provides a brief discussion of the work of those economists doing systematic observation of economic actors and an assessment of whether their work will lead toward an economics that is empirically based.

The study of the economy has not developed as have other sciences, in which direct observation & data collection by the scientists themselves play a large part. Rather than evidence, which is mostly scarce & indirect, it is political ideology that determines which side of any controversy any economist is likely to take. Two methodological habits of the economics profession have contributed to the poor state of development of economics as a science. One is theorizing based on simple made-up scenarios & assumptions about human cupidity & rationality. The other is the lack of a rigorous connection between the modeling of the macroeconomy & an empirically based description of the behavior of consumers, firms, banks, & individual markets. This article provides a brief discussion of the work of those economists doing systematic observation of economic actors & an assessment of whether their work will lead toward an economics that is empirically based. 43 References. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright 2005 The American Academy of Political and Social Science.]