On constructing and implementing an extended goal variable for economic policy

Multidimensional objective concepts, such as ‘quality of working life’ (‘quality of environment’ etc.), have gained increased importance in politico-economic programs, but much less in practical economic policy. Conventionally, ‘hard’ quantities of market-related monetary success, such as national product, predominate. These are supposed to be developing parallel to all other life areas. A condition for becoming relevant to policy-making is that extended objective concepts can be defined exactly, operationalized, and measured. Hence, theoretical, methodological, and empirical work is required. A possible method for devising an index of quality of working life together with some empirical results are presented in this paper. By employing the results, the decision basis of labor market and employment policies could be improved.     

Perception of changes in the cost of living

A survey of 122 Christchurch residents revealed systematic underestimation of the extent to which costs in New Zealand have risen during the period 1967–1983. The extent of the underestimation was largely unaffected by demographic and attitudinal variables measured and was not reflected in or related to estimates of the inflation rate. The results are consistent with previous experimental work showing systematic misperception of exponential growth.     

A REVISIONIST RENDERING OF STRUCTURAL FAMILY THERAPY

The popular view of structural faimly therapy sees the structural diagnosis of faimiles and lying at the heart of this therapeutic approach. This article challenges that view. It argues that the practive of structural family therapy is driven not by structural diagnosis but by two fundamental assumptions about human and family functioning: the assumption of comptence and the assumption of uniqueness. Consequences of this revisionist view are explored in two areas: (a) the area of the dialogue within the family therapy field regarding the emerging tradition of second-order therapy and (b) the area of training in structural family therapy.