Willingness to Pay for Health Protection: Inadequate Sensitivity to Probability?

Efficient investments in health protection require valid estimates of the public's willingness to forgo consumption for diminished probabilities of death, injury, and disease. Stated valuations of risk reduction are not valid measures of economic preference if the valuations are insensitive to probability variation. This article reviews the existing literature on CV studies of reductions in health risk and finds that most studies are poorly designed to assess the sensitivity of stated valuations to changes in risk magnitude. Replication of a recent study published in this journal by Johannesson et al. (1997) demonstrates how serious the problem of insensitivity can be, even for a study that reports plausible results. New empirical results are presented from telephone surveys designed to provide internal and external tests of how WTP responds to size of risk reduction. The effect of variations in instrument design on estimated sensitivity to magnitude is examined. Overall, estimated WTP for risk reduction is inadequately sensitive to the difference in probability, that is, the magnitude of the difference in WTP for different reductions in risk is typically smaller than suggested by standard economic theory. Additional research to improve methods for communicating changes in risk is needed, and future studies of stated WTP to reduce risk should include rigorous validity checks.     

Sterilization: Whose Right to Choose?

As there is presently no safe, freely available and fully effective mode of contraception, voluntary sterilization remains a matter of importance in this sphere. The legal right to such a choice has slowly evolved and it now seems clear that there is no legal barrier to such a choice by a competent adult. Yet, at a practical level, it seems that hospitals and medical practitioners will not readily accede to a request by an individual for such an operation and usually insist on the consent of the spouse if the person is married. The disparity between the law and existing practice is examined. It is argued that an adult individual should basically have a right to determine what shall be done with his own body, and that the onus is heavily on those who exceptionally seek to justify intervention.     

Care Leavers in Israel: What Contributes to Better Adjustment to Life After Care?

ABSTRACT

The present study examines the adjustment of youth leaving residential treatment in Israel in three core areas: military service, accommodation, and financial status. A sample of 277 adolescents (aged 17–18 years old) in educational and welfare residential placements were interviewed a few months before leaving care, and 236 of them were interviewed 1 year after. It was hypothesized that optimism, higher perceived sense of readiness to leave care, and higher social support of family, friends, and staff are associated with better outcomes in adjustment to military service, accommodations, and economic status. Findings show that 70% of care leavers were drafted to the (compulsory) military service, a sign of good adjustment in Israel. Yet, they have significant difficulties in the areas of accommodations and financial status. Optimism and perceived readiness for independent living while still in care were positively correlated with adjustment to the military service. Mother's support was positively correlated with care leavers’ economic status and stability in accommodations. These findings highlight the importance of designing programs that include specific attention to needs and challenges while youth are in care and immediately after they leave. Follow-up and longitudinal studies are suggested.     

Weak Industrialization: the Economic Barrier to China's Urbanization Development

Industrialization lays the foundation for urbanization. The economic premises of urbanization include four factors: continuous rise of industrialization level, progressive upgrading of industrial structure, devel-     

“I Hear You”: Using Focus Groups to Give Voice to Adolescent Girls' Experiences with Violence

Focus groups are used in social science to understand social problems. This article presents focus groups for adolescent girls in a school setting, by two social work researchers, on the subjects of girl fighting and dating violence. The article discusses planning (agency collaboration and decisions about the structure of the group and recruitment of participants), using group work skills to create a safe environment that encourages discussion of diverse opinions, and disseminating relevant findings to school personnel that will prevent or intervene in the problem.     

Signaling probabilities in ambiguity: who reacts to vague news?

Theory and Decision - Ambiguity affects decisions of people who exhibit a distaste of and require a premium for dealing with it. Do ambiguity-neutral subjects completely disregard ambiguity and...     

Adding the “Symbolic” to Interactionist Practice: A Theoretical Elaboration of William Schwartz' Legacy to Group Workers

Symbolic interactionism is one of the premier theoretical perspectives on group life, but group work theorists have neglected it. This article provides metatheoretical reflections on the legacy of William Schwartz and the stalled project of theorizing about the communicative foundation of groups. Exemplars in the interactionist tradition are profiled, and their conceptual and practical contributions to a “symbolic” interactionist group theory are highlighted. The structure of interactionist theory is mapped, and a set of distinctive concepts and assumptions organized around the construct of symbolic practices is presented. The article concludes with a call to group workers to harvest the fruits of the interactionist theoretical and research program.     

Preventing Homelessness due to Domestic Violence: Providing a Safe Space or Closing the Door to New Possibilities?

Domestic violence has been recognized as a major contributory factor to homelessness in the UK and elsewhere, with women more likely to be affected. In the UK and other countries undergoing welfare reform, moves toward 'active citizenship' increase the complexity of the relationship between states and citizens and open up new strategies for both. However, analysts have noted some strategies can create new forms of inequality, including gender-based ones. This article considers the impact of prevention-centred homelessness policy responses to domestic violence, with specific reference to the 'Sanctuary' model. Sanctuary schemes support women facing homelessness due to domestic violence to remain in their current residence, protected against attack from outside the home. Drawing on analysis of the literature and empirical work, we compare the experiences of women who have used traditional forms of support and Sanctuary services. We argue that while the model has the potential to provide greater autonomy to some women in these circumstances, it is not appropriate for all. Increased emphasis on Sanctuary schemes could make it more difficult for women who might prefer to move. We conclude that more attention needs to be paid to addressing the origin of women's homelessness due to domestic violence.     

Immigration: an election issue that has yet to be addressed?

ABSTRACT

Amongst other things, election year 2017 will be remembered for record levels of permanent and long-term migration. Immigration featured regularly in the media, both as a topic in its own right, as well as a factor associated with a deepening housing crisis in Auckland, increasing congestion on the roads in Auckland and in major tourist towns, and much faster population growth than had been anticipated. Yet immigration was not a prominent issue in either the election or during the first six months of the Labour-led Coalition Government. In this paper we assess the impact of policy changes introduced by the National Government in October 2016 and July 2017. Our analysis draws on several data sets, some of which have been withdrawn from public access regrettably. Declining net migration gains and concerns over exploitation of people on study and short-term work visas has delayed major changes in immigration policy through to June 2018.     

Racial Disparities in Access to Mortgage Credit: Does Governance Matter?*

Objectives. This article examines the effect of community organizing on the likelihood that minority borrowers pursue home mortgage credit from regulated lenders. Methods. Governance perspectives suggest that community organizations exert significant influence on policy outcomes. We use logistic regression with interaction terms to test the effect of community organizing on the lending outcomes of minority borrowers. We use a matched control sample of cities, drawing on 2004 loan data from two midwestern cities similar in racial and economic composition but with different histories of organizing around the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). Results. We find differential effects based on an applicant's race or ethnicity. Overall, African‐American applicants are less likely to pursue mortgage credit for home ownership from regulated lenders than their white, non‐Hispanic counterparts. However, African Americans seeking mortgage credit in a city with a history of CRA organizing are more likely to apply to regulated lenders than their racial counterparts in a city without CRA organizing. However, while organizing reduces the disparities between white and African‐American applicants, a gap still remains. Conclusion. African‐American borrowers living in cities with a history of community organizing around CRA appear more likely to pursue mortgage credit from traditional, regulated lenders, suggesting that governance matters.     

Economic Theory in Russia: From Crisis to a New Paradigm?

Recognition of the crisis in our economic theory has now become not only a mandatory thesis but also "good form" among people who in former times were not ashamed to call themselves political economists and even Marxists. And there are fundamental reasons for this.     

Responses to affirmative action: Is there a question order affect?

This paper analyzes the affect of question order on support for affirmative action. While the literature is replete with studies detailing the racial differences for support for affirmative action, there is a dearth of studies that analyze how probing, using open-ended questions, can influence individuals’ responses. Given this, we seek to analyze and explain how open-ended questions, related to affirmative action, might affect responses to close-ended questions as well as how their joint interaction help us to understand resonant attitudes. Using a split-ballot approach, we found that responses to the closedended question were significantly affected by the experimental design.     

Social Work Research and Its Relevance to Practice: “The Gap Between Research and Practice Continues to be Wide”

The social work profession requires a body of scientific evidence supporting the effectiveness of interventions; yet, the social work scientific community could benefit from strengthening its contribution to the profession's body of evidence. Through twenty qualitative interviews with social work professors who are employed at four-year academic institutions (referred to as “social work academics”), this study explored how academics define social work research and how they perceive research to inform practice. The data were analyzed along the six steps of thematic analysis, resulting in 13 themes and six sub-themes in relation to the definition of research activity and social work research, the extent to which research informs practice, and the barriers and facilitators to research informing practice. The findings revealed that social work continues to lack a clear definition of research and produces research that only minimally influences practice, often due to the pressure for social work academics to research and publish in support of their career trajectory within academia versus writing for practitioners. The social work profession should take action to address and further research the research-practice disconnect by establishing a clear definition and aims of social work research, and training academics in effective research-to-practice translational methods.     

Special Issue: Scientific Approach to Development and Social PolicyIntroduction: Restructuring China's Social Policy System: An Examination of the Impact of the Scientific Approach to Development on Social Policy Formation and Implementation

From the social policy perspective, the current Chinese situation is unique - China will never again emerge so dramatically from a period of economic underperformance and will never again so fundamentally revamp its entire social policy system. It therefore of-     

Special Issue: Impacts of China''''s Accession to the WTO on Its Economy

The main themes of the Chineseeconomy since the 1980s have beeninstitutional reform, structura readjustmentof industry, and resulting economic growth.With China's accession to the WTO thegovernment will not change the generaldirection of economic development in thenew century. China will instead go on withinstitutional reform and structuralreadjustment and try to maintain a high rateof economic growth along a clearer directionand in accordance with a tighter schedule.As China develops its economy in a newinstitutional environment, it will be of     

Song Linfei:The Flood of Migrant Job-Seekers to Urban Areas:Its Formation,Trends and Countermeasures

GiventhesizeofChina'sexistingarablelandandthelevelofeconomicdevelopment,thenationhasasurplusagriculturallaborforceof270million,or60%ofthetotalagriculturallaborforce.ofthese,120millionhavebeenabsorbedbyTVEs(townshipandvillageenterprises)andsecondaryandtert…     

From Consanguinity to Citizenship: Changing Clan Relations in Rural Anhui Since 1949

基于对安徽三个村庄的研究,我们认为农村宗族在共和国前期没有被革命政权打碎,在改革中遭遇了历史性瓦解。在合作社和人民公社以村落为基础的合作化政策下,传统的集体性宗族因与新制度发生组织性同构而得以延续,并在农民面对国家灾难性政策而向自身寻求保护资源时得到了增强。改革给予农民经济自主、乡村选举、进城劳动等现代权利,开始了农民的“公民化”进程,使宗族在大量年轻人口离乡后失去了后继力量,宗族与农民的血缘关系被国家与公民的社会契约取代。     

Qualitative Approaches to the Study of Thriving: What Can Be Learned?

Using the data from two ongoing studies of resilience and thriving, one of gay men growing up in heterosexist environments, the other of women living with AIDS, we review how qualitative approaches have enabled researchers to grapple with conceptual, methodological, and ethical dilemmas related to the study of resilience and thriving. We discuss the implications our values as researchers have on determining who is thriving; the powerful social, cultural, and political contexts that must be considered when investigating the effects of and resistance to adversity; and the implications of conceptualizing thriving as a process. Finally, we consider the opportunities opened up by qualitative analysis and suggest some avenues for future research.