Local and Regional Governments and Age-Friendly Communities: A Case Study of the San Francisco Bay Area

The purpose of this study was to assess the extent to which cities, county departments of adult and aging services, county transportation authorities, and public transit agencies in the San Francisco Bay Area have in place age-friendly policies, programs, and infrastructure in the areas of community design, housing, transportation, health care and supportive services, and opportunities for community engagement. The most common age-friendly features include those that target alternative forms of mobility (for example, incentives for mixed-use neighborhoods and changes to improve the accessibility of public transit), while the least common policies and programs are those that aim to help older adults continue driving, such as driver education programs, driver assessment programs, and slow-moving vehicle ordinances. The article concludes with policy and research implications of these findings.     

Detouring Nursing Home Entrants

Under the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Bill of 1981, states can apply for waivers to underwrite nonmedical home care services for Medicaid clients who would otherwise enter nursing homes. Ideally, subsidized home services should improve the quality of life for older people, relieve the demand on nursing homes, and reduce overall Medicaid expenditures; yet in Rhode Island the program has served few people. This discussion proposes reasons for the minor impact of "waiver channeling."     

Macroeconomic policy tools to finance gender equality

Feminist economists and heterodox macroeconomists have contributed substantively to the body of research that explores the distributional effects of macro policies. This work explicitly addresses the livelihood problems created by neoliberalism and, in addition, it provides a pathway for identifying financing mechanisms. Building on earlier work by Seguino and Grown (2006), this article synthesizes and elaborates the major contributions of this body of gender and macro research and, from this, extrapolates macro‐level policies and tools that support gender equality. Among the tools identified is targeted government spending on physical and social infrastructure, the latter a relatively new conceptual tool that is discussed in detail. A key argument is that financing for gender equality that raises economy‐wide productivity can be self‐sustaining. As a result, both physical and social infrastructure spending have the ability to create fiscal space. This possibility offers a financing framework for gender equality expenditures. A contribution of this article is to critique mainstream monetary policies and identify alternative approaches that expand the toolkit to achieve gender equality goals.     

Generalised and Particularistic Thinking in Policy Analysis and Practice: The Case of Governance Reform in South Africa

This article is concerned with the relationship between generalised and particularistic knowledge in the context of policy‐making and policy analysis. It argues that it is problematic to assume that a reform model will generate similar outcomes across a wide variety of contexts. It presents a conceptual framework, including the concepts of transaction domain and domain consensus, that enables context‐sensitive analyses. The argument is exemplified by South Africa's introduction in the 1990s of an Integrated Development Planning model, based on British reform experience and various international public‐management models. With a case study of such planning in Lukhanji Municipality in the Eastern Cape Province, it illustrates how the conceptual framework may be used in policy research and analysis.     

Dementia Policy Revisited

Abstract

Even though state governments assume public responsibility for persons with dementia, formal analysis of state laws concerning individuals with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia has been rare. We responded to this by collecting and evaluating state legislation targeted towards individuals with dementia. These laws were collected by searching online statutory archives and were defined by the type of action, year of passage, and legislative purpose. Our research revealed that the legislatures have targeted an average of slightly more than five actions towards persons with dementia. We also discovered that the earliest legislative act targeting individuals with dementia was passed by South Dakota in 1939, and by the end of the 1997 sessions, 49 state legislatures had enacted at least one targeted law. We sorted the variety of legislative actions into eight categories and illuminated how the purposes of these laws differed from one state legislature to the next. This research expands knowledge concerning state policies targeting people with dementia, introduces a reliable method of collecting state laws, and contributes to the advocacy effort made on behalf of persons with dementia.     

Shadow Welfare II

Abstract

Tax expenditures are any exemption, credit, deduction, or exclusion from the payment of taxes. At the state level, such expenditures often remain unaccounted for, create little economic development, and leave state and local governments with reduced resources for funding basic services such as fire, police, schools, and other general welfare spending. This paper illustrates methods state and local governments use to grant large tax breaks, the resulting financial problems legislators typically solve by raising individual taxes or cutting spending, and the implications for social welfare practitioners.     

政府旅游开发方式评析——以土耳其为例

提起旅游,人们脑海里首先浮现的必然是"阳光与海滩"。土耳其是地中海地区的一个主要国家,在历史、文化、自然风光、美食、民俗等方面都具有巨大潜力,并且土耳其人民也非常热情友善。土耳其拥有21世纪的游客所寻求的异国风情。为使土耳其的这种潜力在继续服务于旅游业的同时保持其延续性,就需要认真的自省与科学的研究和规划。旅游业对于一国的社会福利和经济发展有着举足轻重的影响,但也存在毁灭当地资源的可能。理性运用旅游资产、增加游客数量和提高旅游收入,这些都可以通过有效的旅游规划来实现。在此问题上,中央政府、地方政府和非政府组织在相互协作的框架下各司其职显得至关重要。本文通过揭示当前土耳其旅游业的现状,对中央和地方政府扮演的角色做出评析,希望从国家管理的风格和方式角度出发,使土耳其的旅游规划和政策取得实际效果。     

当前经济形势分析及相关政策建议

2014年中国经济增速将低于2013年,季度经济增速可能低于7%:经济依然处于下行周期中;全社会固定资产投资将结束年增长20%以上的历史;中国依然不会出现通货膨胀问题;地方政府债务泡沫、某些产能泡沫有可能破灭并引发短暂的阵痛,但这些小泡沫的破灭有利于经济长期发展、有利于大局。我国经济增速放慢是规律使然,是消化产能过剩的过程中必须经历的,是调整结构、转型升级的过程中必须经历的,是消化刺激政策后遗症的过程中必须经历的,也是深化改革的过程中必须经历的。     

The Old and the New Stability and Growth Pact along with the Main Proposals for Its Reform: An Assessment

In this paper I compare the old and new stability and growth pact along with the main proposals to reform it using the principal component analysis and cluster analysis. Two intuitive questions arise from the analysis. Does the new pact represent a worsening with respect to the old one? Could some reform proposals, timely adopted, have saved the old pact, i.e., could the original fiscal rules of the European Monetary Union have been maintained by reducing or correcting the pact's main flaws? I conclude that if my evaluation of the proposals is reliable, the answer regarding the comparison between the old and the new pact is somewhat complex, but, under a reasonable assumption, the new pact represents a backward step compared with the old one. Moreover, starting from 2001, when the first problems became evident, up to the adoption of the new pact in 2005, more than one hundred proposals have been formulated, and according to our results of a principal-component analysis, many of them were close to an ``ideal pact'', so we can suppose that the original fiscal rules of the European Monetary Union could have been saved by a timely reform.     

The Prevalence of Factors Influencing Decisions Among Elderly Women Concerning Household Possessions During Relocation

This study identified the prevalence of factors influencing elderly women's decisions concerning their living room items during relocation. The 36 participants lived alone in identical one-bedroom apartments and had relocated within one year prior to the time this study was initiated. A structured focused interview consisting of open-ended questions was used to collect the data. Responses to open-ended questions were tape-recorded, transcribed, and content-analyzed. The prevalence of factors influencing decisions to eliminate, retain, and acquire furniture, accessories, and decorative items pertained to the usefulness of items, spatial dimensions, building regulations, family attachments, gifts, and the decorative compatibility of items with the living room.     

The Social Construction of Moral Perceptions and Public Policies Concerning Organ Trafficking in Israel1,2

This article examines the sociocultural construction of the local moralities, practices, and public policies regarding the purchase, sale, and brokering of organs. Based on ethnographic study of the case of Israel, where the prevailing moral perceptions and public policies have been relatively tolerant toward the purchase and sale of organs, the article proposes a model of four main sources of justification underlying these perceptions and policies: (1) Deeply held religious views on ethics, social relations, and the body. (2) Philosophical approaches to moral dilemmas, particularly deontological versus utilitarian approaches. (3) The human rights discourse in its transnational, as well as localized, versions, and (4) socioeconomic worldviews such as liberalism, neoliberalism, and conceptions of individual autonomy. Each of these four discourses is weighted differently, depending on the context, and interacts with the other discourses. This process shapes the way in which international ethical norms are implemented, rejected, or adapted and translated into local meanings and institutions. The article offers a multi-faceted explication of why translation occurs, especially in the framework of international human rights norms related to health and medicine, which have not been adequately addressed in prior research. The findings contribute to explaining how “ethical variability” is formed in practice.     

The Right Turn in Economic Policy: Business Elites and the New Conservative Economics

Sociological Forum - What was the role of business elites in the development of the new conservative economic policies? Corporate elite and class fraction arguments have been invoked to explain...     

城市生态绿化项目的政府投资方式改革——基于绿地建设与房产开发商的利益互动关系研究

通过对公共产品的内涵分析表明,仅由政府提供公共产品经常会出现不经济现象;只要解决外部性问题,公共产品是可以由私人提供的。以上海公共绿地为例,在分析目前公共绿地政府投资方式的基础上,研究绿地建设与房产开发商的利益互动关系,探讨城市绿地外部效应内部化的投资方式改革,提出房产与绿地联合开发建议,以期减轻政府建设城市绿地的资金压力,为实现城市公共绿地的最优投资提供理论上的依据。     

Technology-Based Innovation for Independent Living: Policy and Innovation in the United Kingdom,Scandinavia, and the United States

Interest in utilizing technology to help older adults remain living at home is growing; however, uptake remains low. We present a conceptual framework for understanding independent living technology innovation within health and social services. Public policy and innovation in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Scandinavia are profiled as case studies. In all profiled countries, independent living technology is more rapidly advancing than associated state policy, regulation, and payment systems. The findings from this comparative analysis reveal areas for further exploration, including policy subsystem environments in which technologies and services are regulated, as well as trends and desires of older adults and their caregivers within particular cultural contexts.     

Strengthening Senior Tax Credit Programs in Massachusetts

Summary

In the last decade, property taxes have increased, creating a financial burden on senior homeowners. In Massachusetts, senior property tax credit programs have arisen to address this problem, as well as to provide cost-effective volunteer assistance for municipal departments, offer seniors meaningful work that otherwise would not have been attempted, and foster involvement in municipal government among seniors. The success of the programs in retaining senior homeowners in the community remains to be evaluated. Program specifics are detailed, policy options are considered, and recommendations are made to strengthen existing programs and assist replication.     

Community-Based System,Reports, and Substantiated Cases of Elder Abuse: Disparities Between Municipalities and Relating Factors in Japan

This study examines (1) the staffing and financial characteristics of systems for elder abuse detection and intervention in the municipal governments of Japan and (2) the relationship among the development of detection and intervention systems, the reporting rates of suspected elder abuse cases, and substantiated abuse rates in 927 municipalities across Japan. Progressive systems for the detection and intervention of elder abuse were significantly associated with a larger number of public officers than in non-progressive systems. Furthermore, greater rates of both suspected and substantiated cases of abuse were associated with progressive systems for elder abuse detection and intervention. Per capita annual expenditures on the comprehensive support project and the community general support center's catchment under the Long-Term Care Insurance (LTCI) program showed no significant association with the development of systems, the rate of suspected cases, or the number of substantiated cases. National social policy makers should examine strategies that would help municipalities assign sufficient staff to elder abuse detection and intervention programs.     

DPR Debate: Growth Identification and Facilitation: The Role of the State in the Dynamics of Structural Change

This DPR Debate is based on the contribution by Justin Lin, Chief Economist at the World Bank, and his colleague Célestin Monga, on ‘Growth Identification and Facilitation: The Role of the State in the Dynamics of Structural Change’. The article under consideration is important and timely as it articulates a number of new policy implications from Justin Lin's earlier work on New Structural Economics, which was discussed in a previous DPR debate (Lin and Chang, 2009). This symposium contains the article and comments on it from five distinguished specialists, and closes with a rejoinder by Lin and Monga. This introduction discusses the article, the comments and the rejoinder. The historical record indicates that, in all successful economies, the state has always played an important role in facilitating structural change and helping the private sector sustain it across time. This article puts forward a new approach to help policy‐makers in developing countries identify those industries that may hold latent comparative advantage, and recommends ways of removing binding constraints to facilitate private firms' entry into those industries. Two types of government interventions are distinguished: first, policies that facilitate structural change by overcoming information, co‐ordination and externality issues, which are intrinsic to industrial upgrading and diversification; and second, policies aimed at protecting certain selected firms and industries that defy the comparative advantage determined by the existing endowment structure.     

中国老龄产业发展的现状、前景与政策支持体系

总体上看,目前我国老龄产业中的养老服务业、老年教育业和老年住宅业都呈现快速兴起的势头,但产业带动经济和就业局面尚未形成,产业发展城乡间、东中西部间失衡,政策扶持和规范缺位,福利色彩仍然浓厚,产品与服务促销和销售手段相对落后,市场研究与产品开发不足。新形势下人口、经济、政策宏观背景及家庭结构、代际关系和养老观念的微观变革为我国老龄产业发展提供了广阔的前景。同时,现阶段我国老龄产业的发展迫切需要一个完善有效的政策支持体系。     

Institutionalizing government public relations in Romania after 1989

Public relations are a new profession in Romania, an Eastern European former communist country which changed to a democratic regime in December 1989. It is generally considered to have emerged after 1990, although publicity and political propaganda preceded it (Rogojinaru in Sriramesh and Ver?i?, 2009, p. 553). Although the Romanian practice of public relations evolved and developed quickly aligning with the international practice, several campaigns and programs receiving awards during the last editions of IPRA Golden World Awards, SABRE Awards, Cannes Lions Awards or European Excellence Awards, there is still very little focus on research and theory. Thus, there is no major study on the history of public relations in Romania prior to 1989 to either confirm or challenge the conclusion of Grunig, Grunig and Ver?i? (2004) that there was no public relations in Eastern Europe before 1989 because the concept was not acceptable for socialism (p. 137). Even after 1989 while there is a growing body of literature on public relations in general published in Romanian, few studies addressed Romanian public relations which are more frequently described in practice than researched from the viewpoint of public relations theory. This exploratory research aims at identifying the characteristics of government public relations in Romania in 2011, the main stages in institutionalizing government public relations after 1989 and correlates them with the general evolution of public relations in Romania between 1989 and 2011.