Cost-benefit analysis—a critique

This paper surveys some of the main criticisms of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) that have emerged over the years. It is noted in passing that views on what type of technique CBA really is, or should be, have differed and continue to differ depending on the set of value judgements used. We emphasise that the more recent suggested extensions to or modifications of CBA have sought to make the technique more comprehensive (i.e. to include distributional, environmental quality and other objectives as well as economic efficiency) at the inevitable cost of a loss of precision. The underlying principles of CBA are examined and the problems of multiple objective planning highlighted. Valuation problems are analysed, in particular with regard to amenity and environmental effects. Finally, the issues of uncertainty, irreversibility and intergenerational equity are raised briefly to indicate the complexity of the decision-making task when large-scale technologically advanced projects have to be appraised. In conclusion it is argued that CBA presented in a disaggregated format, as a comprehensive method for the ordering of information and a testing procedure for a range of valuations can perform a useful role in the decision-making process. The term ‘policy analysis’ is probably a better one for this broader view of the use of CBA. Ultimately we seem to be searching for a synthesis of the participatory and the traditional (technocratic) style of decision-making though we have a long and difficult course to chart before we even approach such a goal.     

Rethinking melas as subaltern spaces: Pardhan blacksmiths and some aspects of ‘caste-passing’ in fairs, 1872–1931

Nineteenth-century melas (fairs) were evanescent public spaces that facilitated anonymity and unplanned encounters between castes, classes, men and women. By recognizing caste-passing in various mela clusters, historians gain insights into a range of subaltern debates about caste. Caste-passing involved lower caste adoption of the accouterments of upper castes and threatened social hierarchy. Opaque to police, associational life within fairs signified a society undergoing transformation. The figure of the Pardhan blacksmith embodied the unknowable fair-going crowd. Hailing from an adivasi (indigenous) community in the Central Provinces of India, these blacksmiths attracted police notice. Pardhan blacksmiths deployed their skills towards manufacturing imitation gold; at the fair they passed off as members of upper castes. For the police, Pardhan caste-passing within fairs threatened to unravel taxonomies of tribe and caste, region and religion. It was at the fair that hounded and persecuted Pardhan blacksmiths found some respite from the theft of their lands and labour. Through an analysis of caste-passing, a social history emerges of nineteenth-century fairs in colonial India that foregrounds experiences of those fairgoers who were members of ‘criminal tribes’ persecuted by colonial police, and the plebeian multitude that mingled in melas and participated in anti-caste debates.     

Informal sector taxes and equity: Evidence from presumptive taxation in Zimbabwe

Using a mixed‐methods approach, this article evaluates the equity implications of Zimbabwe's presumptive tax system, introduced in 2005 to raise revenue from the country's growing informal sector. The representative taxpayer method, which compares the hypothetical tax burdens of formal and informal sector taxpayers at varying income levels, shows that the presumptive tax regime undermines both vertical and horizontal equity. In addition, interviews with key informants from the tax authorities, other relevant organizations and informal sector operators were conducted to probe issues around collection, compliance and perceptions of fairness. The qualitative data suggest that weak enforcement, with more visible informal activities bearing the brunt of the tax burden, and selective (and sometimes politically motivated) application of the legislation, compromise equity further.     

Properties of the ordinary least squares and stein-rule predictions in linear regression models with proxy variables

This article considers a linear regression model in which misspecification relates to the use of a stochastic proxy variable. The analysis indicates the decline in efficiency of the predictions arising from the ordinary least squares and the Stein-rule estimation procedures when a proxy variable is used in the place of an unobservable variable. However, the performance of the Stein-rule predictions is still found to be better than the ordinary least squares predictions over a broad range of k, the characterizing scalar of the Stein-rule estimator.     

Exposure to abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction among adults who witnessed intimate partner violence as children: implications for health and social services

Intimate partner violence (IPV) damages a woman's physical and mental well-being, and indicates that her children are likely to experience abuse, neglect and other traumatic experiences. Adult HMO members completed a questionnaire about adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) including childhood abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction. We used their responses to retrospectively assess the relationship between witnessing intimate partner violence and experiencing any of the 9 ACEs and multiple ACEs (ACE score). Compared to persons who grew up with no domestic violence, the adjusted odds ratio for any individual ACE was approximately two to six times higher if IPV occurred (p < 0.05). There was a powerful graded increase in the prevalence of every category of ACE as the frequency of witnessing IPV increased. In addition, the total number of ACEs was increased dramatically for persons who had witnessed IPV during childhood. There was a positive graded risk for self-reported alcoholism, illicit drug use, i.v. drug use and depressed affect as the frequency of witnessing IPV increased. Identification of victims of IPV must include screening of their children for abuse, neglect and other types of adverse exposures, as well as recognition that substance abuse and depressed affect are likely consequences of witnessing IPV. Finally, this data strongly suggest that future studies, which focus on the effect of witnessing IPV on long-term health outcomes, may need to take into consideration the co-occurrence of multiple ACEs, which can also affect these outcomes.     

A study of factors related to rural job preference among prospective nursing graduates

Four hundred and thirty prospective nursing graduates from ten schools and five colleges in India were studied to identify factors related to their preferences for work in urban or rural areas. Seventy per cent expressed a preference for urban work. Significant factors related to rural preferences were: religion and background (rural or urban); type of educational institution (government or non-government); and living in a rural setting during community nursing experience. Of the personal, professional and socio-cultural factors related to rural work preference, the most significant were: accomodation, sanitation and safe water; job availability for spouse, security, and school for children. Of the personal and professional factors, the most important were: continuing education opportunities, job satisfaction, and intellectual stimulation.     

Strategic assessment—A rational response to university cutbacks

Effective strategic assessment and planning is required if public higher education is to cope with the problems of the next two decades. This article suggests an approach that can be easily adapted to most public post-secondary institutions, based on a strategic plan devised to combat decline in enrolment and fiscal reduction in a State educational institution.     

Articulating selfhood through the therapeutic: Teaching for justice and social transformation in contradictory spaces

In this article, we argue that it is in engaging with the particularly socio-politically loaded topics such as racism, gender-based violence, homophobia, and classism, where we urgently need to find new ways of simultaneously opening up, holding, and containing the visceral responses of students in relation to continuously renegotiating boundaries of the learning environment. Specifically, we contend that under the current conditions of calls for decolonization in South African higher education and elsewhere, the university as a whole (its curriculum, the classroom and its dynamics, teaching methodologies, and its governance structures) needs to be questioned and its pedagogical practices in general need to be reviewed. We take as the point our separate, but related experiences of teaching in the Department of Political Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand. Some of the questions that frame our theoretical and methodological concerns are: How do we actually teach social justice related topics in diverse classrooms; how can we teach within, across, and beyond our own situatedness, especially where privileges and experiences of discrimination intersect and; how does one, ultimately, hold a space where the collective engagement with structural violence in its multiple intersecting expressions and the factual complexity of a dialogical pedagogical practice often lead to both moments of productivity and also repressive chaos? What we struggle with in this article, then, including the incidents foregrounded in it, are the complexities of engaging with social justice within the South African higher education context that is constantly grappling with being both the best and the worst example of political imagination.