Autism as a Contingency-Shaped Disorder of Verbal Behavior: Evidence Obtained and Evidence Needed

The Analysis of Verbal Behavior - Drash and Tudor’s argument that autism is a contingency-shaped disorder of verbal behavior is logical and consistent with behavioral principles, but the...     

Commentary on Drash and Tudor: An Analysis of Autism as a Contingency-Shaped Disorder of Verbal Behavior

The Analysis of Verbal Behavior - A critique is presented of the etiological model for autism as presented by Drash and Tudor. The model is rejected based upon conceptual and methodological...     

Towards a Balanced Account of Autism Etiology

The Analysis of Verbal Behavior - Drash and Tudor describe six sets of reinforcement contingencies which may be present in the environments of some children eventually diagnosed with autism and...     

Disciplinary intersections of gender and ethnicity in populist radical right media in Romania

The present study examines how the desirable ideals of femininity for the ethno-nationalist project are framed in populist radical right media in contemporary Romania. The study examines the editorials of populist radical right party leader (Corneliu Vadim Tudor) published at election times between 2000 and 2012 in the weekly party publication. It explores the inventory of media frames, which provide the panopticon of femininity performances coming forth in Tudor’s editorials, and the disciplining endeavours these depictions enable. In the first step, the femininity performance of Romanian women seen as nationalist ideal of submission and childbearing is juxtaposed with the portrayal of women who forsake such expectations, and that of Roma women described as promiscuous and overly fertile. In the second step, the roles afforded to women in the public arena are evidenced, either as selfless heroines or their antithetic depiction, the power-hungry women.     

A Comment on Drash and Tudor’s (2004) Operant Theory of Autism

The Analysis of Verbal Behavior - The authors comment on Drash and Tudor’s operant theory of autism. Concerns with the theory’s face validity and empirical support are presented, along...     

Design by legislation: The ideological nature of house planning in the United Kingdom, 1918–1961

The official recommendations standards and legislation which have been related to the provision of houses in England have made explicit references to the spatial form and use of domestic facilities. For example, the serial of health and housing legislation during the last two centuries has had an influence upon the designs of houses built during that time, and particularly since the publication of the Tudor Walters Report in 1918. This paper studies the intentions of the series of recommendations and legislation from 1918 until the publication of the Parker Morris Report in 1961. The paper shows how the designs of houses in these official documents express specific ideas upheld by members of the architectural profession and civil servants which can be contrasted with public values about the meaning and use of domestic space.     

The strangers at work in sandwich: Native envy of an industrious minority 1561–1603

This article is not an analysis of the motives and character of the immigration of sixteenth‐century exiles from the Low Countries into Sandwich, but a study of the socio‐economic significance of their presence for the Cinque Port and its consequences for their relationship with the local authorities and townsmen. On an in‐troductionary note, we will first look at the interest of English historians in the subject of the sixteenth‐century immigrants during the last 20 years or so. Thereafter, we will discuss the Anglo‐Flemish trade relations in medieval and Tudor times and the economic role of Sandwich during that period. This is followed by an examination of the socio‐economic evolution of the Strangers from the time of their arrival until the end of the century within a local and national context, with the emphasis on the relationship with the native inhabitants. The article concludes with a discussion on the general traditions of both encouragement of the opposition to the Strangers and the attitude of the English authorities.     

Children of open marriages: Parental disclosure and perspectives

This study concerns parents in open relationships and their disclosures of information to their children. In this sampling of seventy-one adults, 50 percent had children and each of them responded to questions concerning their open relationships and their children's awareness and involvement in these open relationships. Seventy-five percent wanted their children to be aware of their lifestyle. However, only 21 percent fully informed their children as to their involvements.James Watson is a senior psychology student at Metropolitan State College. During his years as a student he has developed a particular interest in alternative lifestyles and children of these alternatives. Mary Ann Watson received her Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh in 1969. She is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Metropolitan State College in Denver, is a Psychologist in private practice, and is codirector of Open Learning Associates, a private organization providing professional and lay workshops. She is coauthor ofBreaking The Bonds: The Realities Of Sexually Open Relationships (Tudor Press, Denver, CO).     

城市基层治理的结构调适及其反思——以黄石市街道体制改革为样本

街道作为城市基层政府及行政管理的末端,街道体制改革实质是我国城市基层治理结构和治理能力建设问题。本文在梳理学界关于街道体制的争论及其有待澄清的地方的基础上,以湖北省黄石市街道体制的改革为例,讨论改革的源起与作为,发现其改革的效果并不乐观,但在后续的改革政策中,也在逐步调整。对街道体制改革进行思考,撤销街道办的改革应坚持推进大部门体制改革,逐步规范社区组织架构,完善社区治理结构等等。在城市基层治理体制改革的实践中,对于是否撤销街道办事处,更要探索适合本地实际的改革方法,真正做到因地渐进改革。     

Effects of Welfare Reform on Education Acquisition of Adult Women

Education beyond traditional ages for schooling is an important source of human capital acquisition among adult women. Welfare reform, which began in the early 1990s and culminated in the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act in 1996, promoted work rather than education acquisition for this group. Exploiting variation in welfare reform across states and over time and using relevant comparison groups, we undertake a comprehensive study of the effects of welfare reform on adult women’s education acquisition. We first estimate effects of welfare reform on high school drop-out of teenage girls, both to improve upon past research on this issue and to explore compositional changes that may be relevant for our primary analyses of the effects of welfare reform on education acquisition among adult women. We find that welfare reform significantly reduced the probability that teens from disadvantaged families dropped out of high school, by about 15%. We then estimate the effects of welfare reform on adult women's school enrollment and conduct numerous specification checks, investigate compositional selection and policy endogeneity, explore lagged effects, stratify by TANF work incentives and education policies, consider alternative comparison groups, and explore the mediating role of work. We find robust and convincing evidence that welfare reform significantly decreased the probability of college enrollment among adult women at risk of welfare receipt, by at least 20%. It also appears to have decreased the probability of high school enrollment among this group, on the same order of magnitude. Future research is needed to determine the extent to which this behavioral change translates to future economic outcomes.     

上海改革的顶层设计研究

上海改革顶层设计的关键是确立改革愿景的目标。上海顶层改革的愿景目标为：到2015年,基本建成与经济、社会文化与行政管理全面服务化相适应的体制与制度;到2020年,基本建成与“四个中心”和社会主义国际大都市相适应的体制与制度;到2050年,基本建成与有中国特色全球城市相适应的体制与制度。“十二五”期间,上海要推进经济体制改革,促进科学发展;推进社会文化体制改革,保障和改善民生;推进行政管理体制改革,建立服务型法治政府。重点在经济、社会文化与行政管理子系统的体制与制度上突破,突出制度创新,以加快经济结构调整、着力改善民生、加强社会建设、改进城市管理为关键环节,建立以市场竞争有序、资源配置合理、社会公平正义、政府高效廉洁、文化包容开放为特征的体制与制度。     

中国农民的公平观念:基于村委会选举调查的实证研究

改革开放以来,中国弥漫着一种以结果,特别是经济发展结果论是非定成败的倾向,民意调查也表明公众认为经济发展优先于政治改革。那么,在于己有利的结果、达到分配公平的结果与程序的公平之间,究竟何者对中国人的公平观更具解释力?本文通过对我们关于农村居民对村委会选举公平性的情景实验调查数据的分析来回答这个问题,发现程序特征和分配公平对公平观的影响力,数倍于于己有利的结果的影响力。这些发现表明,中国的基层政治民主化具有公民政治文化基础。     

Transforming the public sphere: the case of Moscow’s city libraries

ABSTRACT

This article aims to explore the link between civil society and the public sphere in present-day Russia by studying a recent library reform project in Moscow. In 2013, a comprehensive reconstruction of Moscow's network of 448 public libraries was initiated by a group of intellectuals, architects and urbanists. The project team aimed at modernizing Moscow's city libraries by making them more accessible and appealing to the public. The reconstruction gained support from the city administration that sought to strengthen the function of public libraries as cultural and educational institutions and, at the same time, improve the city's image in the eyes of its citizens. The article poses the question of whether this reform has been successful in making Moscow's city libraries more open, accessible and inviting for the public, and whether the reform has contributed to the development of a public sphere in the city by providing new spaces for participation and civic engagement. The article explores the reform process based on interviews with key informants and document analysis. It looks into the project objectives, its implementation process and its legacy. The analysis of the library reform project revealed contradictory results, as the reform did not develop beyond the pilot phase, but was stopped due to fading support from the city administration. Overall, the library reform thus remained an unfinished process. For developing the public sphere, the legacy of the reform project is ambivalent. On the one hand, the project has proved that creating new public spaces in Moscow is possible. On the other hand, it showed that the public sphere remains limited in today's Russia, as civic initiatives cannot develop beyond a cultural niche project. Due to a lack of political support for societal pluralism, a true autonomous public sphere remains beyond reach in present-day Russia.     

LABOR CONTRACTS AND FLEXIBILITY: EVIDENCE FROM A LABOR MARKET REFORM IN SPAIN

This paper evaluates the effects of a labor market reform in Spain that removed restrictions on fixed‐term or temporary contracts. Our empirical results are based on longitudinal firm‐level data that cover observations before and after the reform. We posit and estimate a dynamic labor demand model with indefinite and fixed‐term labor contracts, and a general structure of labor adjustment costs. Experiments using the estimated model show important positive effects of the reform on total employment (i.e., a 3.5% increase) and job turnover. There is a strong substitution of permanent by temporary workers (i.e., a 10% decline in permanent employment). The effects on labor productivity and the value of firms are very small. In contrast, a counterfactual reform that halved all firing costs would produce the same employment increase as the actual reform, but much larger improvements in productivity and in the value of firms. (JEL J23, J32, J41)     

THEORIES OF THE STATE: THE CASE OF LAND REFORM IN ITALY, 1944–1961

This article examines the case of land reform in Italy from 1944 to 1961 in relation to the role of the State in capitalism. Through an analysis of recent debate on the capitalist State, it offers an investigation of the generation and outcomes of the process of land reform. It is important to note that the social pressure exerted by landless peasants and farm workers for the redistribution of land and the dissolution of the dominant social bloc generated the conditions for a land reform that only partially satisfied the needs of the agricultural working class. Simultaneously, the mediation of the State enhanced the overall interests of the domestic bourgeoisie. In this context, land reform produced contradictory results that favored the processes of accumulation of capital and legitimation of social dissent.     

Towards “cognitively complex” problem‐solving: Six models of public service reform

This article proposes “cognitively complex problem‐solving” as a refinement of the recent problem‐solving approach to public service reform, and as an addition to existing political and institutional explanations for the frequent failure of reform. It substantiates the new problem‐solving model by identifying and selectively reviewing six models of reform that have been practised in developing countries over the past half‐century: public administration, decentralization, pay and employment reform, New Public Management, integrity and corruption reforms and “bottom‐up” reforms. A short case study of Myanmar is presented to illustrate the problem‐solving approach in practice.     

Political Ideology,Sociobiology, and teh U.S. Women's Rights Movement

An analysis of ideology in the United States reveals a major barrier to political and economic equality, where previously excluded groups are found to be characteristically different from historical and current participants in the area of political or economic access. This analysis is used to describe why sociobiological research threatens U.S. women's rights advocates (reform feminists) pursuing equality with men. It is argued, however, that by providing a contrast to the dominant ideological assumptions about human nature, and by providing supporting arguments for some reform feminist proposals, sociobiology merits the attention of reform feminists.     

The effects of separate taxation on labor participation of married couples. An empirical analysis using propensity score

Up to 1987 the Spanish Income Tax imposed compulsory joint filing for married couples. However, the 1988 reform allowed spouses to choose between joint and separate taxation, involving a reduction in tax rates for secondary earners. Our aim is to analyze this reform as a quasi-natural experiment, assessing the effects of tax changes on labor participation. To find out the causal effect we adopt the difference-in-differences technique. We use data from the ‘Spanish Income Tax Panel 1982–1998’. Our results show that, as a consequence of differential tax changes, married women in families more strongly affected by the fiscal reform increase their labor participation more than secondary earners from families less affected by the reform. The participation rate for secondary earners in the treatment group increases by 9.4 percentage points whereas the control group increases their participation rate by 7.8 percentage points. We define the treatment group as those secondary earners in relatively low-income families in year 1987 and the control group as those in middle-high income families, because the former experiences a stronger reduction in tax rates than the latter. As a result, we can attribute the 1.6-percentage-point-increase in participation rates to the 1988 income tax reform.     

Welfare Reform and Teenage Pregnancy,Childbirth, and School Dropout

This study estimates the effect of welfare reform on adolescent behaviors using a difference‐in‐differences approach. After defining the prereform and reform cohorts and considering the life course development of adolescent behavior by following each cohort from age 14 to age 16, we compare the welfare‐target and nontarget populations in the two cohorts. The difference‐in‐differences estimates are obtained using an event history model. Our analysis suggests that welfare reform has not reduced teenage fertility and school dropout. We find modest evidence that welfare reform is associated with higher risk of teenage births for girls in welfare families and higher risk of school dropout for girls in poor families. A combination of a difference‐in‐differences approach and a life course perspective can be a useful way to delineate the effect of societal‐level change on family phenomena.     

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY REFORM

An import competing industry hires lobbyists to obtain protection, where binding quotas may be utilized in the trade regime. Rent seekers compete with one another to obtain valuable import licenses. Rent seeking and lobbying are assumed to involve similar skills, so that a reform of the rent-seeking sector will have feedback effects on lobbying and vice versa. We show that the feedback effects from reform targeting the lobbying activity (primary reform) often tend to reinforce the original reform, while reforms targeting the rent-seeking sector (secondary reform) tend to have negative feedback effects on the reform process. ( JEL D72, F13)