The impact of ideology on regulation: The case of board and care homes

Debates about regulatory efforts to monitor the delivery of health and long-term care have become commonplace in health policy. Efforts to examine the key assumptions underlying the current regulatory strategies have been limited, however. Using the board and care industry as an example, this article examines how ideology influences the regulatory strategy developed. Three ideological perspectives-a free-market approach, a market correction strategy, and a critical policy framework-are reviewed in the context of efforts to regulate board and care homes in the United States. Differences in approaches to regulating board and care are presented for each of the major perspectives.     

Bayesian analysis of outlier problems using divergence measures

A Bayesian approach is presented for detecting influential observations using general divergence measures on the posterior distributions. A sampling-based approach using a Gibbs or Metropolis-within-Gibbs method is used to compute the posterior divergence measures. Four specific measures are proposed, which convey the effects of a single observation or covariate on the posterior. The technique is applied to a generalized linear model with binary response data, an overdispersed model and a nonlinear model. An asymptotic approximation using Laplace method to obtain the posterior divergence is also briefly discussed.     

Who Gets What From Government? Distributional Consequences of Child‐Care Assistance Policies

Given the fragmented structure of child‐care assistance in the United States, it has been difficult to obtain accurate estimates of which families are assisted, through which mechanisms, and at what level. Making use of survey data from New York City, we analyze the distribution of several forms of public child‐care assistance. Results suggest that about 40% of all families with young children receive some form of child‐care assistance. Considering all forms of assistance, the distribution of child‐care help is targeted in both expected and some unexpected ways. Implications of these results are discussed in the context of U.S. child‐care policies governing access and benefit levels.     

Rural/Urban Residence,Migration, HIV/AIDS,and Safe Sex Practices among Men in Zimbabwe*

Abstract The AIDS epidemic was initially thought to be primarily an urban phenomenon. However, migration between rural and urban areas has resulted in the spread of the virus to all segments of the population. Prevention efforts continue to focus on the ABCs of AIDS, namely, abstinence among young adults, being faithful within a monogamous relationship, and/or using condoms at each sexual encounter. We examine the effects of residence, migration status, and selected social and demographic variables on the use of these three practices among men in Zimbabwe, a nation experiencing one of the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rates in the world. Both residence and migration status were found to be significantly related to safe sex practices. Knowledge of a source with easy access to condoms was the strongest predictor of this behavior. Knowledge of prevention methods and experience with persons with AIDS also exerted significant effects, although not always in the manner hypothesized. Possible reasons for the findings and implications for policy are discussed.     

The role of family help in the housing decisions of young people

Recent debates about flows of help within the family have indicated considerable diversity according to the type of help (money, services), and ages and gender of those involved, and have shown that values are only a partial guide to the scale of such flows. This paper focuses on a particular occasion for help, young people's housing, and a particular region, South-East England, where one would expect family financial help to be high given the capacity to help of older generations (due to higher average incomes and wealth) and the affordability problems faced by young people. It is shown that contrary to hypothesis only 12% of a sample of young people had received financial help for housing purposes since they had left home, less than found in previous studies with different samples. The amounts involved were less than young people believed their parents could afford. The role of inheritance was also found to be minor. The results from the different studies are explained as due to changes in the housing market, changing values regarding financial help and differences among the samples. Intensive re-interviews with three households from very different backgrounds are used to show the different ways in which family help operates.     

International Humanitarian Law and Combat Casualties

The purpose of the article is to provide an overview of the law regulating combat in order to assist in determining whether casualties inflicted in combat should be classified as victims of war or victims of war crimes. The boundaries and the content of International Humanitarian Law are indicated. A brief statement of the law regulating combat is given. The concepts of military objective and of proportionality are analyzed. The scope of an unlawful attack is addressed as is the relationship between unlawful attack offences and other offences in International Humanitarian Law. The article concludes with a discussion of when combat casualties are war crimes victims.     

追求新亚洲安全:文化视角中的地区合作

21世纪各个国家特别是亚洲各国进入了发展的新阶段。亚洲在经济发展中实现了建设性的双边伙伴关系。但是亚洲国家形成“与西方传统不同的亚洲国际关系模式”仍然任重道远。作者认为,亚洲共同的文化认同可以发挥重要作用,理应把亚洲国家特别是两个人口最多的国家中国和印度团结起来,全面实现“亚洲共同体”的战略目标。