On the Trail of a Radical Pedagogy for Social Work Education

Correspondence to Dr William De Maria, Department of Social Work and Social Policy, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia. Summary This article uses a general decade by decade approach to notethe emergence (1970s), decline (1980s), and re-emergence (1990s)of radical social work. An issue for this 1990s'-type radicalsocial work will become one of attending to its own teachingmission. A range of radical pedagogic principles is presented:cause-sensitive action, tailoring, contradiction-based learning,de-monopolized values, radical analysis, polemic storytelling,and centring marginality.     

OPTIMAL PUNISHMENT SCHEMES WITH STATE-DEPENDENT PREFERENCES

The optimal tradeoff between the certainty and severity of punishment is studied in a setting in which individuals are more sensitive to changes in certainty than severity and have state-dependent preferences—being convicted of a crime reduces utility at every wealth level. In this setting it is not optimal to set the probability of punishment at one even if it is costless to convict criminals, because reducing the certainty of punishment also reduces the probability that offenders' utility functions shift downward. The optimal level of certainty is therefore lower than that implied by prior studies based on state-independent preferences. (JEL K42, D81)     

ACROSS TIME AND REGIMES: 212 YEARS OF THE US‐UK REAL EXCHANGE RATE

The behavior of the US‐UK real exchange rate over the period 1794–2005 is examined. This series includes five intervals of floating nominal exchange rates and four fixed exchange rate regime periods. A consistent pattern of higher real exchange rate volatility under floating nominal rates is shown. Over time, real exchange rate movements have increasingly been driven by movements in the nominal exchange rate rather than relative prices. The persistence of the real exchange rate has been considerably higher in the postwar period. (JEL F31, N20)     

EXTERNALITIES, PROPERTY RIGHTS AND THE ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES IN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

Most economists who have analyzed professional baseball have concluded that two distinctive features of its labor market—the reserve clause and player draft—influence the distribution of wealth between players and owners but do not affect the allocation of playing talent among teams. Such conclusions, which are strongly at variance with laymen's views of such matters, are derived from theoretical considerations rather than empirical examinations. Our paper examines data from the two decades of major league history and concludes that, on the basis of that data, the empirical generalizations of previous economists do not appear to be justified.     

No exit for wives: sexual division of labour and the cumulation of household demands

Deux thèses opposées sont formuluées sur la division sexuelle du travail domestique: une 'théorie d'associés en adaptation mutuelle' et une 'théorie de travail subordonné.' Des budgets de temps de semaine et de fin de semaine de plusieurs centaines de couples mariés du Grand Vancouver sont analysés de façon à permettre un choix entre les deux thèses. Les résultats de l'analyse sont compatibles avec la théorie du travail subordonné de la femme mariée. lis rendent la théorie d'associés en adaptation peu vraisemblable, vu que la conduite des maris demeure insensible à la cumulation des tâches domestiques causées par l'emploi de la femme, les heures prolongées de travail et les jeunes enfants.
Two conflicting arguments on the sexual division of household labour are formulated: an 'adaptive partnership theory' and a 'dependent labour theory.' Workday and weekend time budgets of several hundred married couples in Greater Vancouver are analysed in order to choose the most adequate of the two arguments. The results of the analysis are consistent with the theory of married women's dependent labour. They make the theory of adaptive partnership implausible, as the conduct of husbands remains insensitive to the cumulation of demands on the household, of wives' employment, extended job hours, and young children.     

Television Coverage of State Government

An empirical analysis of 3,334 state and local television newsstories in 10 cities clarifies the reluctance of commercialtelevision newscasters to cover state government. Contrary towhat many television news directors assert, television's minimalattention to state government cannot be attributed to an allegednegative relationship between state government and newscastratings. Rather, it appears to stem from the high cost of obtainingfilmed coverage of state government in a timely fashion.