Improving financial management

Financial Management for Nonprofit Human Service Organizations, 2nd ed., by Raymond Sanchez Mayers. Spring.eld, Ill.: Charles C Thomas, 2004. 354 pp., $79.95 cloth, $55.95 paper.     

Manpower and unemployment in the U.K.

The subject of the changing pattern and levels of unemployment in the United Kingdom is a matter which has been receiving much attention. This paper examines some of the underlying trends and the related factors which have been creating those trends. The author does not only concentrate on the economic factors but also on the educational and social factors which have led to changes in the supply of and demand for labour. Indeed, some of the more interesting aspects of the relationship between the public and the private sector and the relative patterns of demand and supply of labour, and the causes of that supply are also examined. The author places the study in an international context and, albeit rather gloomily, does show us that this is not a problem unique to the U.K. Finally, the paper examines some of the possible remedies to the situation and outlines the need for examining rather more clearly the balance between capital and labour and, perhaps more fundamentally, the growing problem of the concentration of British industry. This paper does not aim to answer all the questions created by a relative economic decline and the growing problems of unemployment, particularly amongst the under-25 age group, but it does set out the problem and some possible solutions.     

Parenting Practices of Resident Fathers: The Role of Marital and Biological Ties

This paper uses data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 2,098) to examine differences in the parenting practices of four types of resident fathers, defined by their biological relationship to a focal child and their marital status with regard to the focal child's mother. Regression results suggest that biological and social (i.e., stepfathers or mothers' cohabiting partners) fathers differ significantly, and in some unexpected ways, on most measures of parenting. However, a considerable portion of these differences can be explained by variation in the background characteristics of the individuals and families in each group. Additionally, difference-in-difference analyses reveal a stronger link between marriage and higher quality parenting practices among social fathers than among biological fathers.     

Subsidized Housing and Household Hardship Among Low‐Income Single‐Mother Households

We investigate associations of housing assistance with housing and food‐related hardship among low‐income single‐mother households using data from the National Survey of America’s Families (N = 5,396). Results from instrumental variables models suggest that receipt of unit‐based assistance, such as traditional public housing, is associated with a large decrease in rent burden and modest decreases in difficulty paying rent or utilities and residential crowding. Receipt of tenant‐based assistance, such as housing vouchers or certificates, is associated with a modest increase in housing stability but also with modest increases in rent burden and difficulty paying rent or utilities. We find no associations between either type of housing assistance and food related hardship.     

Betwixt and between the market and the state: Israeli students' welfare attitudes in comparative perspective

Analysing comparable samples of students from the Cross-Cultural Variations in Distributive Justice Perception (CVDJP) project, we explore the multidimensionality of attitudes towards the welfare state in Israel compared with countries from liberal and social-democratic welfare regimes (the USA, Canada-Ontario, Sweden, Norway and The Netherlands). We derive six different attitudinal dimensions that constitute two distinct sets of opposing welfare ideological frames. The first set, market-based ideology, entails three coexisting criteria: individualism, internal attribution of inequality, and work ethic. The second set, welfare-statist ideology, entails three additional coexisting criteria: egalitarian redistribution, external attribution of inequality, and broad scope of welfare. Along with structural similarities, we find considerable variation in levels of aggregate attitudes across the different types of welfare regimes. Israeli respondents stand out because of their strongly ambivalent welfare attitudes. While scoring higher than respondents from the liberal regimes on market-based measures, they paradoxically record similarly high scores (comparable to social-democratic regimes) on state-based measures. On one criterion – attribution of inequality to external causes – Israeli respondents even score higher than respondents from both liberal and social-democratic regimes. We consider potential explanations for this ambivalence and suggest possible directions for further research.