Places for Place‐Based Policy

Place‐based policy is both ubiquitous and widely criticised. The conventional economic case against place‐targeted interventions is strong, relegating its application to a narrow range of cases of immobile labour resources, market imperfections and/or other externalities. However, both internationally and domestically, equity considerations lead to policies and programmes for disadvantaged regions and their populations. Budget constraints and accountability suggest a selection or ‘triage’ process targeting places with the highest returns in contributing to social welfare. Furthermore, the challenges facing rural areas may be fundamentally different in developed from developing countries. This article proposes a framework for assessing places appropriate for place‐based policies, using the examples of Canada, Chile and Peru.     

Co-2-plex polynomials

This paper offers a generalization of the independence polynomial, the co-k-plex polynomial. The resulting family of polynomials carries combinatorial information on a class of independence systems defined over the vertex set of a finite graph. Specifically, we offer a recursion formula and examples of the co-2-plex polynomial on certain graphs. In addition, we characterize the class of graphs whose co-2-plex polynomial will have all real roots.     

毛泽东若干思想的个人看法

毛泽东的科学观以及反对官僚主义的思想在文革中有极端化的发展。毛泽东的科学观区分了普遍真理和具体特殊的经验,党或者党的领袖掌握了将二者相联系的权威。这一科学观有民粹主义的暗示,肯定"劳动"的伦理涵义,并成为攻击知识分子的武器,但更应从贫穷国家的发展需要来理解这一实用主义的科学观。毛泽东认为在官僚机构中会产生独立的统治阶级,与私有制产生的特权阶级一样。毛泽东的这一观点在文革中走向极端,认为党和国家机构一样有官僚主义的弊病。他彻底地反对官僚主义并不等于无政府主义,因为他强调在国家社会的范围内应该有一个具有压倒性的决策权力的权威。他反对官僚主义的方式是教化掌权者,与毛的科学观相关的是掌权者必须"参加劳动",与群众相联系。     

A tainted trade? Moral ambivalence and legitimation work in the private security industry1

The private security industry is often represented - and typically represents itself - as an expanding business, confident of its place in the world and sure of its ability to meet a rising demand for security. But closer inspection of the ways in which industry players talk about its past, present and future suggests that this self-promotion is accompanied by unease about the industry's condition and legitimacy. In this paper, we analyse the self-understandings of those who sell security - as revealed in interviews conducted with key industry players and in a range of trade materials - in order to highlight and dissect the constitutive elements of this ambivalence. This analysis begins by describing the reputational problems that are currently thought to beset the industry and the underlying fears about its status and worth that these difficulties disclose. We then examine how security players seek to legitimate the industry using various narratives of professionalization. Four such narratives are identified - regulation, education, association and borrowing - each of which seeks to justify private security and enhance the industry's social worth. What is striking about these legitimation claims is that they tend not to justify the selling of security in market terms. In conclusion we ask why this is the case and argue that market justifications are 'closed-off' by a moral ambivalence that attaches to an industry trading in products which cannot guarantee to deliver the condition that its consumers crave.     

COAMFTE accreditation and California MFT licensing exam success

Professional accreditation of graduate programs in marital and family therapy (MFT) is intended to ensure the strength of the education students receive. However, there is great difficulty in assessing the real-world impact of accreditation on students. Only one measure is applied consistently to graduates of all MFT programs, regardless of accreditation status: licensure examinations. Within California, COAMFTE-accredited, regionally (WASC) accredited, and state-approved programs all may offer degrees qualifying for licensure. Exam data from 2004, 2005, and 2006 (n = 5,646 examinees on the Written Clinical Vignette exam and n = 3,408 first-time examinees on the Standard Written Exam) were reviewed to determine the differences in exam success among graduates of programs at varying levels of accreditation. Students from COAMFTE-accredited programs were more successful on both California exams than were students from other WASC-accredited or state-approved universities. There were no significant differences between (non-COAMFTE) WASC-accredited universities and state-approved programs. Differences could be related to selection effects, if COAMFTE programs initially accept students of higher quality. Implications for therapist education and training are discussed.     

WHO IS ‘BEHAVIORAL’? COGNITIVE ABILITY AND ANOMALOUS PREFERENCES

In this paper, we ask whether variation in preference anomalies is related to variation in cognitive ability. Evidence from a new laboratory study of Chilean high‐school students with similar schooling backgrounds shows that small‐stakes risk aversion and short‐run discounting are less common among those with higher standardized test scores. The relationship with test scores survives controls for parental education and wealth. We find some evidence that elementary‐school GPA is predictive of preferences measured at the end of high school. Two laboratory interventions provide suggestive evidence of a possible causal impact of cognitive resources on expressed preferences.