DISTRIBUTIVE CONSEQUENCES OF A PROPERTY TAX REVOLT

Voters who support tax limitations measures such as California's Proposition 13 seem to feel that their expected gains more than compensate for whatever costs may follow from a successful tax revolt. Costs can arise from a decline in government services or from an increase in some replacement tax if service levels are maintained. This paper estimates the perceived and actual incidence of a property tax revolt under alternative assumptions about voter perceptions and eventual outcomes. Our results suggest that the most visible benefits of a tax cut favor low-income homeowners. In the event of government budget cutbacks, it is possible that the distribution of services is sufficiently skewed toward low-income groups to reverse the incidence of a property tax revolt.     

War-wounded refugees in Sweden

Sixty-one newly arrived war-wounded refugees were interviewed about their background and flight while treated at the Medical Center for Refugees, University Hospital, Linköping, Sweden. They came from 9 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Spinal cord injuries, nerve lesions, amputations and fractures were the most frequent injuries. The group was heavily burdened with regard to factors that might be of significance for wellbeing and integration in Swedish society: torture (51%), imprisonment (49%), loss of kin in war (62%), difficulties while growing up (54%), little or no schooling (48%), not having made the decision to flee oneself (46%) and having to leave the family behind (90%). This study is a first step in a longitudinal research project to shed light upon the situation of war-wounded refugees on arrival in Sweden and after 2 years.     

The case conference revisited: a systems view

To disentangle clients from a social service network that has turned into a web, the author suggests a method: case conferences that include staff members of involved services, and a role: the systems-oriented case manager. As the coordinator of the client's social service network, the case manager would mediate the overt and convert conflicts that often exist among the professionals who are involved simultaneously with the client.     

Review Essay: Of Two Minds and The Therapeutic Corporation: A Review

Sociological Forum -     

The use of the weighted likelihood in the natural exponential families with quadratic variance

The authors propose a weighted likelihood concept for the estimation of parameters in natural exponential families with quadratic variance. They apply the results to both simulated and real data.     

Distribution-free tests for independence against positive quadrant dependence: A generalization

A class of distribution-free tests based on two matched pairs is considered for testing independence against positive quadrant dependence. The class of tests proposed by Kochar and Gupta (1990) is a member of the proposed class. The performance of the proposed class is evaluated in terms of Pitman asymptotic relative efficiency for Block-Basu (1974) model and Woodworth family of distributions. The small sample performance of few members of the proposed class is also studied by finding empirical powers. Unbiasedness and consistency of the proposed class of tests have been established.     

An overview of risk-adjusted charts

Summary.  The paper provides an overview of risk-adjusted charts, with examples based on two data sets: the first consisting of outcomes following cardiac surgery and patient factors contributing to the Parsonnet score; the second being age–sex-adjusted death-rates per year under a single general practitioner. Charts presented include the cumulative sum (CUSUM), resetting sequential probability ratio test, the sets method and Shewhart chart. Comparisons between the charts are made. Estimation of the process parameter and two-sided charts are also discussed. The CUSUM is found to be the least efficient, under the average run length (ARL) criterion, of the resetting sequential probability ratio test class of charts, but the ARL criterion is thought not to be sensible for comparisons within that class. An empirical comparison of the sets method and CUSUM, for binary data, shows that the sets method is more efficient when the in-control ARL is small and more efficient for a slightly larger range of in-control ARLs when the change in parameter being tested for is larger. The Shewart p -chart is found to be less efficient than the CUSUM even when the change in parameter being tested for is large.     

The Limits of Positivism in Social Work Research

Correspondence to David Smith, Leaturer in Social Work, Department of Social Administration, Fylde College University of Lancaster, Bailrigg, Lancaster LA1 4LX. Summary This paper considers the argument that research on social workshould be more rigorously scientific in its methods, using thework of Brian Sheldon as representative of this position. Itis argued that a wholly positivist approach is inadequate onepistemological grounds, and that the procedures characteristicof this approach, particularly the experimental method, areunlikely to prove generally feasible or useful. Evaluation researchin other fields is used to illustrate this argument, and itis suggested that social work is far from unique in its under-useof research findings. A possible alternative, that social workshould be evaluated by artistic criteria, is briefly examinedand found to be problematic. The paper concludes with an argumentthat research in future should be more concerned with process,and more open, participative and pragmatic in style.