THE AUTHOR DISCUSSES THE DIFFICULTY OF EVALUATING PROGRAMS OR POLICIES WHICH MUST BALANCE CONTRADICTORY OR COMPETING GOALS. THE CONFLICT BETWEEN REDUCING CHILD ABUSE AND MAINTAINING THE RIGHT OF PARENTS TO RAISE THEIR CHILDREN IS USED TO ILLUSTRATE THE PROBLEMS EVALUATION RESEARCHERS MUST CONFRONT.
SOCIAL SCIENTISTS TEND TO WORRY ABOUT RAINSING THIS LEVEL OF INTRISIC USEFULNESS OF SPCEIFIC STUDIES WHILE GOVERNMENT PEOPLE TEND TO FOCUS ON INCREASING POLITICAL USEFULNESS. BOTH GROUPS SEEM TO OVERLOOK THE NEGATIVE IMPACT THEIR REFORM MIGHT HAVE ON THE INTELLECTUAL USEFULNESS OF RESEARCH PROGRAMS.
Examines policy theories underlying school choice proposals, based on the premise that all public policies should be ground in theories that address the problem, desired outcome, & specific intervention. School choice proponents agree on a theory of the problem; ie, poor results are more likely when school officials experience little pressure to improve performance. However, the desired outcome of better schools varies depending on the meaning of "better" to both parents & school officials. Kenneth Godwin et al's & Mark Schneider et al's underlying theories (both, 1998) are examined to demonstrate how different types of causal analysis & divergent visions of a desired outcome affect policy proposals. Finding that parents have diverse opinions about what is important in schooling has important policy consequences & points a need for further research to compare assumptions about the behavior of key actors. Other gaps in the understanding of theories on which school choice is based are discussed. 20 References. Adapted from the source document.
AbstractThe conventional procedure in economic project appraisal is to assume constant relative prices. It is well known, however, that a central objective of structural adjustment programmes is to alter key relative prices, and in particular the real exchange rate. The paper explores some of the implications of this relative price shift for the estimation of shadow prices.
