Public Opinion and Dynamic Representation in the American States: The Case of Environmental Attitudes*

Objective. We investigate causal processes linking environmental conditions, attitudes, and policies in the American states: Is public opinion about ecology shaped by environmental conditions? Are state policymakers responsive to environmental opinions? Does public opinion respond to policy adoption? Methods. Using public opinion data from the DDB Worldwide Life Style Survey to measure aggregate state attitudes about the environment, as well as measures of water quality and policy intervention, we capture the dynamics of representation in the American states on the environment during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Results. Our findings support a thermostatic model of representation—state environmental opinions are influenced by environmental conditions and are responsive to policy outputs alongside improved environmental conditions. Conclusions. This model of the opinion‐policy linkage refines our understanding of representation and focuses us not just on the passage of public policy to address public desires, but the effectiveness of that policy as well.     

Food packaging 1974–1984

The author argues that it is clear that the manufacturers of most food products now have a bewildering array of alternative forms of packaging from which to choose. Due to pressure on profit margins, they will look for those systems that will be the cheapest having regard to many technical, commercial, legal and ecological factors. There will often be many different answers to any one packaging problem and all will be right to some extent! And not one is likely to satisfy every need!     

Race,Rural Residence,and Wildland Visitation: Examining the Influence of Sociocultural Meaning1

Abstract Previous studies have shown that African Americans have less favorable impressions about wildlands and recreate on wildland areas less frequently than do whites. However, most of these investigations have been conducted on non-rural populations. Rural perceptions of wildlands and visitation to such areas have received relatively little attention. In this exploratory study, we propose that race operates on wildland recreation visitation through the different meanings rural blacks and whites attribute to wildlands. We examine this hypothesis with a structural model which specifies wildland meaning as an intervening factor between race and visitation. Single equation results show blacks visit wildlands less, and have less favorable definitions of wildlands, compared to whites. However, when wildland meaning is included in the structural model, racial differences become insignificant. This suggests that the meanings different racial groups attach to wildlands help explain visitation. Both sex and age are also significant predictors of both wildland meaning and visitation.     

The Privatization of Welfare

The different forms of privatization all imply some diminution of the state's role in the provision, financing or regulation of welfare. Privatisation does not simply mean the sale of public assets and greater reliance on private enterprise and competitive markets; it also means the transfer of welfare responsibilities from the state to the voluntary and informal sectors. This is partly an ideological issue, concerning the state's relationship with individual citizens and social groups, and partly a matter of practicalities. Welfare pluralism implies a less dominant role for the state in the provision (as opposed to the financing and regulation) of welfare services: its major themes are decentralization and participation. Some doubt is cast on the capacity and the desirability of the informal and voluntary sectors substituting for the state in social service provision. The family is undergoing substantial changes which may reduce its capacity to provide care and, at the same time, the number of dependents is increasing. The voluntary sector is beset with problems of uneven and incomplete coverage, equity, fragmentation and accountability. The chief consequence of welfare pluralism has been the rapid development of the commercial sector.     

Mental health, social relations, and social selection: a longitudinal analysis.

A wide body of literature documents the effect of social networks and social supports on mental health. Fewer studies, however, have examined the reciprocal effect of mental health on social relationships. This problem is examined using data from a national panel survey of adults aged 20-64. For the sample as a whole, support was found for a social selection process, since psychological distress predicted decreases in primary, but not secondary, social relationships. The extent of primary relationships also were found to be associated with subsequent distress, providing evidence that the relationship between mental health and social environment may be transactional. When examined separately by gender, males but not females were found to be vulnerable to the process of social selection, supporting the hypothesis that the expression of distress is less role-appropriate for men and therefore more likely to invite social sanctions. Social causation effects also were observed only among males.     

Fertility Changes Among Immigrants: Generations,Neighborhoods, and Personal Characteristics*

Objective. To understand how adaptation/assimilation, disruption, and diffusion interact to produce changes in fertility levels among successive generations of Mexicans and Central Americans in the United States. Method. Using restricted access data that link individual data (CPS) to neighborhood data (census tracts), we examine the role of generation, personal characteristics, and neighborhood characteristics in determining children ever born (CEB). Results. There are significant differences in fertility across generations and, to a lesser extent, between women who live in ethnic enclaves and those who do not. Once personal characteristics are considered, the independent effect of generation on fertility is nearly eliminated. Personal characteristics dominate neighborhood characteristics in their ability to predict fertility. The most consistent predictor of CEB at the neighborhood level is the percentage of Hispanic adults. Conclusions. Personal characteristics dominate fertility change across generation, and were it not for increases in educational attainment, fertility might be higher in successive generations rather than lower or unchanged.     

Development and Consideration of Global Policies for Managing the Future Risks of Poliovirus Outbreaks: Insights and Lessons Learned Through Modeling

The success of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative promises to bring large benefits, including sustained improvements in quality of life (i.e., cases of paralytic disease and deaths avoided) and costs saved from cessation of vaccination. Obtaining and maintaining these benefits requires that policymakers manage the transition from the current massive use of oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) to a world without OPV and free of the risks of potential future reintroductions of live polioviruses. This article describes the analytical journey that began in 2001 with a retrospective case study on polio risk management and led to development of dynamic integrated risk, economic, and decision analysis tools to inform global policies for managing the risks of polio. This analytical journey has provided several key insights and lessons learned that will be useful to future analysts involved in similar complex decision-making processes.