Getting a head start: early provision of day care among municipalities in Norway

Municipal day care services for children in Norway have experienced two important reforms: the introduction of the Kindergarten Act in 1975, and the introduction of preschools for 6-year-olds in 1991. Focusing on the relationship between environmental inputs and policy outcomes, this article attempts to identify characteristics influencing the propensity towards early provision of day care in the municipalities. Applying logistic regression, service-specific factors show the greatest importance, as opposed to more general municipal features. The political system, in terms of high female representation and low representation from the Christian Democratic Party, the Center Party, and the Progress Party in local councils, seems responsive to the proportion of children, the percentage of women working full time, and average net income per capita. The persisting importance of gender-specific variables is discussed – suggesting different interpretations of the results in relation to the feminization of politics.     

The geographic distribution of gaming machine proceeds in New Zealand

ABSTRACT

Within NZ gambling and its associated harms are well-researched topics. However, most studies to date have relied upon the use of survey methodology or have focused on individual regions. In this paper we distribute gaming machine proceeds (GMP) from gaming venues to the surrounding localities in order to derive estimates of GMP per capita. It is hoped these estimates will enable the trusts who operate the electronic gaming machines (EGMs), and who are responsible for reinvesting a proportion of proceeds back into the community, to more accurately target funding towards the areas most affected by the harms of EGM gambling. Our estimates of GMP per capita also provide a means of assessing the criterion validity of the recently developed Dynamic Deprivation Index. Furthermore, although it is well known that Māori and Pacific Island populations have a higher incidence of problem gambling, our results imply that when controlling for socio-economic deprivation and the geographic location of EGMs the associations between ethnicity and GMP per capita are weak. From a policy perspective, this suggests the most effective way of limiting the harms of EGM gambling on these populations is to place tighter controls on the number of venues within their communities.     

To test or not to test: do workplace drug testing programs discourage employee drug use?

Workplace drug testing programs are often met with intense criticism. Despite resistance among labor and consumer groups and a lack of rigorous empirical evidence regarding effectiveness, drug testing programs have remained popular with employers throughout the 1990s and into the current century. The present study analyzed nationally representative data on over 15,000 US households to determine whether various types of workplace drug testing programs influenced the probability of drug use by workers. The study estimated several empirical specifications using both univariate and bivariate probit techniques. The specification tests favored the bivariate probit model over the univariate probit model. Estimated marginal effects of drug testing on any drug use were negative, significant, and relatively large, indicating that drug testing programs are achieving one of the desired effects. The results were similar when any drug use was replaced with chronic drug use in the models. These results have important policy implications regarding the effectiveness and economic viability of workplace anti-drug programs.     

Access to Healthcare Among Working‐Aged Hispanic Adults in the United States*

Objectives. The purpose of this research is to examine differences in access to and sources of healthcare for working‐aged adults among major Hispanic subpopulations of the United States. Nativity, duration in the United States, citizenship, and sociodemographic factors are considered as key predictors of access to and sources of care. Methods. Using pooled National Health Interview Surveys from 1999–2001, logistic and multinomial logistic regression models are estimated that compare Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans, and other Hispanics with non‐Hispanic blacks and non‐Hispanic whites. Results. Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and other Hispanics display significantly less access to care than non‐Hispanics whites, with immigrant status and socioeconomic status variables accounting for some, but not all, of the differences. For sources of care, Mexican‐American, Puerto Rican, and other Hispanic adults were all much more likely than non‐Hispanic whites to report clinics or emergency rooms as their source of regular care. Conclusions. There are wide differences in access to and sources of care across racial and ethnic groups in the United States. Mexican‐American adults, regardless if born in Mexico or the United States, appear to be most in need of access to regular and high‐quality care. Naturalization may be an especially important factor in greater access to regular and high‐quality care for Hispanic immigrants.     

Altruism,the free rider problem and group size

This paper is a survey of recent theoretical work on the influence of group size, perceived effectiveness or noticeability of one's behavior on a group member's altruistic responses. Experiments on this problem are analyzed and evaluated, and problems for future research are outlined.This paper is a revised version of a paper originally presented at the March 1973 meetings of the Public Choice Society. In preparing this paper I have benefited from criticisms and suggestions made by a number of people and I wish to take this opportunity to thank them. Among them are John Bonin, Barry Groffman, Bob O'Gorman, Don Moon, George Reynolds and Harrison Wagner.     

Marx on ideology,power and force

As Marx matured as a thinker, he became more acutely aware of the obstinate hold which capitalism exercised upon society. Consequently, he was forced to complement his theory of revolution with a theory of social structures. In this paper, I aim to explore Marx's ideas on this point as they emerge in three of his more mature works, i.e.,Capital, Grundrisse, and theTheories of Surplus Value. My enterprise is guided by my convictions that (i) the notions of ideology, power and force are still central to debates in modern social theory, and (ii) Marx's development of these notions has the intrinsic merit of providing a useful and sophisticated contribution to such debates.     

全球经济及其理论辨析

由关贸总协定、世界贸易组织、世界银行、欧共体、美洲自由贸易区等国际协定和跨国公司体现的世界经济一体化是由私有化进程和打破区域垄断的自由主义经济目标推动的不可逆转的趋势。在这一过程之中经济和经济学成了世界的结构信息。经济学的两个预设———自私自利的经济人和人的世界———非人世界的二元论是全球经济的深层理论基石。经济人的实践活动造成贫富不均 ,二元论把人溺爱成肆无忌惮地破坏环境的动物。人类应该冷静思索这一新的世界形势 ,提出合理对策     

Policy-makers in social services in Finland: the municipality and the state

Finland has been a latecomer in its development of social services. Nevertheless, during the 1970s and 1980s, it constructed a wide-ranging system of social services. This is a result of cooperation, but also of inter-administrational struggle between central and local government. The provision of Finnish social services has been the responsibility of self-governing local municipalities, although it is subsidized and controlled by the state. The proportion of state financing has increased remarkably during the last decades, but the municipalities still finance half of their social service expenditure themselves. The economic recession of the 1990s has led to a restructuring of the Finnish model of social services, but local government will evidently remain at the center of decision-making on social service provision.     

THE LIMITS OF EMPOWERMENT IN HUMAN SERVICE WORK

This paper critiques the notion of empowerment and the concept of power upon which it is based Specifically, it argues that the concept of empowerment, as generally represented in human service work, has developed along a highly abstract and Utopian line which does not necessarily result in the kind of the practice its supporters preach. The discourse of empowerment is based on rationalist assumptions which if left unexamined will continue to perpetuate relations of domination between human service workers and clients.