PAYOFF DOMINANCE VS. COGNITIVE TRANSPARENCY IN DECISION MAKING

This paper reports on three laboratory experiments designed to investigate the roles of decision costs and rewards on the accuracy of economic decisions. The experimental vehicle is a purchase decision employing the Becker-DeGroot-Marshak (BDM) mechanism. The first experiment verifies the incentive-compatibility of the BDM in a pure induced-value setting; the second tests its performance under different information regimes and payoff schedules; the third addresses the role of feedback information. Steep payoff schedules are found to be necessary to optimizing behavior only in cases where subjects must search out an optimal strategy rather than being able to deduce it from information provided. (JEL C91, D83)     

Practice Validity, Reflexivity and Knowledge for Social Work

Correspondence to Professor Michael Sheppard, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth, Devon PL4 8AA, UK Summary In the last few years there have been significant developmentsin conceptualizing the role and nature of knowledge in socialwork. This has been based on a fundamental review of epistemological,ethical and theoretical facets of social work and its knowledgebase. Amongst some of the most significant developments havebeen the emergence of new concepts (for social work) such asprocess knowledge, reflexivity and a range of ideas relatingto hypotheses. In a recent article, Susan White (1997) soughtto critique some of my ideas on this matter. This article representsa response to her paper; one which uses the opportunity to drawout wider issues for a general theory of social work knowledge.In particular, it focuses on three key dimensions: the centralityof the concept of practice validity, the importance of a conceptof reflexivity which is not simply transferred from the disciplineof sociology but which has a social work-specific meaning, andthe dangers of an unrestrained relativism.     

Care Management and Information Provision: Towards a Reasoned Method of Assessing the Range and Extent of Problems and Needs in Child-Care Social Work

Correspondence to Professor Michael Sheppard, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth, Devon PL4 8AA Summary The new managerialism associated with care management has, aswith other areas of health and welfare work, promoted ideasof efficient use of resources, quality assurance and the capacityto audit the work of welfare agencies. This approach placesa high premium on measurement, and emphazises a long-standingdesire to develop instruments the use of which would providethe basis for resource allocation. This paper presents a methodby which such data can be rigorously generated and analysed.It uses as its basis an instrument of established reliabilityand validity, designed to collect data on problems identifiedin clients in the child and family care social work group. Ituses a combination of principal component and cluster analysisto provide a clear picture of the nature and range of problemsand the grouping of cases with similar characteristics. Thesedata provide a quantitative basis upon which judgements aboutresource allocation can be made.     

ON THE INFORMATION CONTENT OF ASYMMETRIC FOMC POLICY STATEMENTS: EVIDENCE FROM A TAYLOR-RULE PERSPECTIVE

For over two decades, the FOMC has included in its policy decisions a statement of bias toward subsequent tightening or easing of policy. This article examines the predictive content of these statements in a Taylor-rule setting, finding that they convey useful information for forecasting changes in the federal funds rate target, even after controlling for policy responses to inflation and the output gap. Moreover, the evidence suggests that this asymmetry can be represented in terms of shifts to the parameters of the Taylor-rule equation, indicating a greater or lesser degree of responsiveness to information about inflation and output. (JEL E52 , E58 )     

A Survey of Approved Social Work in England and Wales

Correspondence to Prof. P. Huxley, Department of Psychiatry, University of Manchester, Mathematics Tower, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL. Summary A survey of approved social workers (ASWs) was undertaken withlocal authorities in England and Wales, to review the provisionand organization of ASW services, and the contribution theymake towards the establishment and maintenance of a comprehensivemental health service. The findings show some variation in provisionwhich is in itself indicative of a variety of factors operatingto produce local and regional patterns of provision. Some ofthese are related directly to policy decisions, others to demographicand geographic variables, while still more are related to teamstructure, workload demands, and generic/specialist issues.The future pattern of mental health social work following theimplementation of the NHS and Community Care Act is consideredin the light of the findings from the survey.     

The Mentally Handicapped and Their Professional Helpers

Summary This article discusses visits paid to fifty-three families witha severely mentally handicapped adult living at home, most ofwhom were also quite severely disabled physically. Varying reactionsto the services offered by general practitioners and mentalwelfare officers are described and those factors influencingthe generally poor opinion of mental welfare officers' servicesare discussed. The importance of the daily routine of the familiesis emphasized and the difficulty of the mental welfare servicein providing services or practical assistance which helps withthe daily routine. Finally it is suggested that the social servicesshould see a greater part of their work as helping and enablingthe community to do better, and with less strain, the caringit does already and that this means that the planning of servicesneeds to start from the locality in which the handicapped personlives     

心脏病常用药扫除心魔

加拿大蒙特利尔市麦吉尔大学的临床心理学家阿伦·布鲁耐特最近在不断给创伤后应激障碍患者(PTSD)施加压力,一次次地重现给他们带来感情创伤的可怕经历——有的是强奸,也有的是战场外伤。当他的病人感到特别沮丧的时候——主要表现为哭泣、颤