Economic evaluation of drug court: methodology, results, and policy implications

The purpose of this study was to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of three Drug Court programs in Kentucky for two groups of Drug Court participants: program graduates and program terminators. The economic benefits of the Drug Court programs were estimated relative to a comparison group of individuals who were assessed for the Drug Court programs, but did not enter the programs. This study highlights important factors in estimating the costs and the economic benefits of a Drug Court program. Results indicated that, particularly for graduates, Drug Court involvement was associated with reductions in incarceration, mental health services, and legal costs, as well as increases in earnings and child support payments. Net benefits and benefit–cost ratios for each program are presented and policy implications are discussed.     

Culturally sensitive treatment of adolescent Puerto Rican girls and their families

Adolescence for the Puerto Rican girl in the United States constitutes a phase of life in which developmental tasks are strained by the demands of her family and exposure to two cultures. This stress renders her adaptive potentials vulnerable to dysfunction. The authors describe the Puerto Rican family, the girl's socialization, the stress of living in dual cultures, and implications for behavioral problems. These factors are integrated to help the practitioner design culturally sensitive interventions.Carl Bryant is an Adjunct Assistant Professor Hunter College School of Social Work and is also in private practice.     

Educational attainment, age at first birth and lifetime fertility: an analysis of Canadian fertility survey data

Dans cet article, l'auteur réexamine de manière détaillée les rapports entre le niveau d'instruction, lâge à la naissance du premier-né et la descendance finale des femmes au Canada dans les années 1980, compte tenu des changements en matière d'options socio-professionnelles pour les femmes qui se sont produits au cours de la dernière génération. Les données employées sont tirées de l'Enquête nationale sur la fécondité au Canada de 1984 et concernent les femmes âgées de 35 à 49 ans (n= 2083). Les résultats révèlent une corrélation plus forte entre le niveau d'instruction des femmes et le choix du moment de la première grossesse qu'entre le niveau d'instruction et la descendance finale. De plus, cette influence du niveau d'instruction sur le choix du moment de la première grossesse semble être l'un des grands déterminants de la tendance générale. Cependant, l'étude a permis de dégager une nouvelle tendance démographique importante: même si elles ont moins de 20 ans quand elles donnent naissance à leur premier enfant, les femmes de la plus jeune cohorte (âgées de 35 à 39 ans) ont eu moins de trois enfants au total. Tout laisse prévoir le maintien chez les femmes canadiennes des tendances récentes au mariage tardif, à une progéniture moins nombreuse, à des niveaux d'instruction plus élevés et à une participation accrue à la population active. The purpose of this paper is to re-examine in some detail the relationship between education, age at first birth and life-time fertility of women in Canada in the 1980s. This re-examination is related to the changes that have taken place in the past generation in life course paths for women. The data in this paper are developed from the Canadian National Fertility Survey of 1984, focussing on women 35–49 years of age (N= 2,083). The findings show that it is the timing of first birth rather than the number of children ever born that is more related to educational attainment of women. In addition, it appears to be the effect of education on first birth timing rather than lifetime fertility that is of key importance in the overall pattern. However, an important new demographic trend is observable. Even when there is an early first birth (under the age of 20), the youngest cohort of women (age 35–39) had fewer than three children over the reproductive lifetime. It is likely that the recent trends of later marriage, smaller numbers of children, later age at first birth, and increasing levels of education and labour force activity will continue for women in Canada.     

Unemployment classifications and subjective well-being

Further research on the impact of unemployment on workers and their families requires greater refinement and more precise measurement of the concept. While previous studies have indicated the effects of unemployment on a wide range of variables, such as health and well-being, many of these studies suffer from imprecision by conceptualizing unemployment too narrowly and by using too strict a dichotomy between currently employed and currently unemployed workers. This research effort attempts to broaden and refine the concept of unemployment by defining it in terms of two job dimensions: current employment status and previous job loss. Using this conceptualization, the authors find that current unemployment after other job losses may have more devastating effects on well-being than losing one's job for the first time. Similarly, among the currently employed, those who have lost jobs in the past may experience more emotional difficulties than those who have never lost their jobs.     

Reconfirming Karl Marx's rate of surplus value

In Van Den Berg and Smith's comment that precedes this reply, I note their concession to the major conclusions of my 1982 comment. They no longer directly challenge my conclusions 1 / that there has been a general increase in the exploitation of labour by capital in the twentieth century despite fluctuations from decade to decade, nor 2 I the positive correlations between the rate of surplus value and strikes, especially between 1945 and 1966. Instead, they concentrate on minor methodological points that have little bearing on the thrust of my research. In this lies their major weakness: by narrowly focusing on a partial 'critique' of my critique of their 'critique' of my original research (Cuneo, 1978), Van Den Berg and Smith lose sight of the original research hypotheses, and end up trying to defend errors committed in their original commentary.     

Examples of option values in drug development

The option to stop a project is fundamental in drug development. The majority of drugs do not reach the market. Furthermore, many marketed drugs do not repay their development costs. It is therefore crucial to optimize the value of the option to stop. We formulate two examples of statistical models. One is based on success/failure in a series of trials; the other assumes that the commercial value evolves as a stochastic process as more information becomes available. These models are used to study a number of issues: the number and timing of decision points; value of information; speed of development; and order of trials. The results quantify the value of options. They show that early information that can change key decisions is most valuable. That is, we should nip bad projects in the bud. Modelling is also useful to analyse more complex decisions, for example, weighting the value of decision points against the cost of information or the speed of development. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modelling heterogeneity of survival in band-recovery data using mixtures

Finite mixture methods are applied to bird band-recovery studies to allow for heterogeneity of survival. Birds are assumed to belong to one of finitely many groups, each of which has its own survival rate (or set of survival rates varying by time and/or age). The group to which a specific animal belongs is not known, so its survival probability is a random variable from a finite mixture. Heterogeneity is thus modelled as a latent effect. This gives a wide selection of likelihood-based models, which may be compared using likelihood ratio tests. These models are discussed with reference to real and simulated data, and compared with previous models.     

Implications of survey design for generalized regression estimation of linear functions

The paper presents a general randomization theory approach to point and interval estimation of Q linear functions T_q = Σ^N₁c_kqY_k(q = 1,…,Q), where Y₁,…,Y_N are values of a variable of interest Y in a finite population. Such linear functions include population and domain means and totals, population regression coefficients, etc. We assume that some auxiliary information can be exploited. This suggests the generalized regression technique based on the fit of a linear model, whereby is created approximately design unbiased estimators T?_q. The paper focuses on estimation of the variance-covariance matrix of the T?_q for single stage and two stage designs. Two techniques based on Taylor expansions are compared. Results of Monte-Carlo experiments (not reported here) show that the coverage properties are good of normal-theory confidence intervals flowing from one or the other variance estimate.