History and Agrarian Change in South Africa

Abstract The new south African government plans a large-scale and rapid redistribution of land to African smallholder farmers. This programme draws on proposals put forward by the World Bank. Historians have been largely absent from processes of consultation surrounding the programme. Yet recent South African rural historiography has much to say about the limitations on the ability of the state to restructure agrarian relations. It also underlines the importance of understanding the diversity of needs and aspirations of rural Africans.     

Reforming the Oversight of Multi-Site Clinical Research: A Review of Two Possible Solutions

The current system for the ethical oversight of clinical research suffers from structural, procedural, and performance assessment problems. Initially conceived primarily to handle local investigator-initiated single-site studies, the system of institutionally-based committee review has become progressively more inefficient given the increased prevalence of commercially or federally sponsored multi-center trials. To date, proposed solutions do not adequately address these problems.

Beginning with a review of these structural, procedural, and performance assessment problems, this article will then consider two proposals for addressing these deficiencies: (a) regional ethics organizations; and (b) IRBNet?, a newly developed web-based program for cooperative IRB review. The strengths and weaknesses of these two approaches will be evaluated in light of recent experience with centralized review. The proposal to establish a system of regional ethics organizations presents a comprehensive approach to many of the problems faced by the current system. However, IRBNet? offers an immediate and feasible solution to many of the problems faced by the review of multi-site clinical studies.     

CONSEQUENCES OF PARTICIPATING IN A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF MARRIAGE

The possibility that survey research methods, particularly thoseused in longitudinal studies, can effect enduring changes inattitudes or behavior among respondents was explored using datafrom a 4-year study of black and white newlyweds. Randomly selectedcouples in first marriages were assigned to either a relativelylarge study group or a smaller control group, with the formerreceiving more frequent and more intense interviewing over thestudy period. Some evidence is found that participating in thepanel procedures has consequences for the experience of maritalwell-being. Compared to the control group, the study group hadsignificantly higher variance in their reported marital satisfactionin the second year of marriage, reflecting the fact that a greaternumber of study group respondents reported low satisfaction.By the fourth year, however, the marriages of the study groupcouples appeared to be better adjusted on several dimensionsof marital quality.     

RELATIVE PRICE LINEARITY AND JRC EQUILIBRIUM

A theoretical explanation is given which resolves the relative price nonlinearity problem in household production models where the attributes are market produced. It is shown that in a Lancasterian framework with markets of a modified Chamberlin type kinked demand curves can be derived which, together with large scale economies, lead to a market equilibrium where all goods are just relevant commodities (JRC) and the characteristics frontier is linear (LCF). A simultaneous testing procedure is proposed to estimate the objective structure among inputs.     

Transactional Analysis: an Introduction to its Theory and Practice

Summary This article provides an outline of Transactional Analysis theory.It also explores some of the advantages and limitations of usingthis approach in social work, drawing mainly on material providedby the writer's work in a Health Centre, and her students' practicewhilst on placements.     

The education,treatment and handling of autistic children

SUMMARY. The defining criteria for autism form a complex network, of impairments by virtue of their impingement on each other. To be effective, treatment and education must address this complexity. Some major problem areas that exercise anyone involved with autistic children are discussed from this standpoint, and the need to humanise a behavioural approach with lessons learned from research on intersubjectivity is stressed, A version of this paper was first given for the Netherlands Organisation for Post-Academic Education in the Social Sciences, Amsterdam, 1986, and will be published in the relevant conference papers     

Stability and change in living arrangements in Indonesia,Singapore, and Taiwan, 1993-99

We use longitudinal data from Indonesia, Singapore, and Taiwan to examine stability and change in the co-residence of older adults and their children. Longitudinal data support the analysis of transitions in living arrangements. We focus on how life-cycle characteristics of older adults and their children are related to co-residence at a point in time, to maintaining co-residence over time, and to transitions into and out of co-residence. We find that many of the characteristics found to be associated with co-residence at baseline interviews exhibit an even stronger association with continued co-residence over time. While some of the results support the interpretation that co-residence provides support for parents as they age, the needs of children also play an important role in the decision to co-reside.     

BEHAVIORAL FOUNDATIONS OF RECIPROCITY: EXPERIMENTAL ECONOMICS AND EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY

Laboratory experiments have generally supported the theorem that, in classical property rights environments, noncooperative behavior in markets yields efficient social outcomes. Experiments, however, regularly fail to support the game theoretic prediction of noncooperative behavior in small-group strategic interaction and in large-group public good environments. In these two types of experiments subjects frequently achieve more efficient social outcomes–they collect more money from the experimenter–than noncooperative game theory predicts. Many subjects in these experiments exhibit reciprocity even in single-play games. Evolutionary psychologists hypothesize that humans have evolved mental algorithms for identifying and punishing cheaters in social exchange. ( JEL A11, A12, B41, C70, C72, C92)