Who Gets What From Government? Distributional Consequences of Child‐Care Assistance Policies

Given the fragmented structure of child‐care assistance in the United States, it has been difficult to obtain accurate estimates of which families are assisted, through which mechanisms, and at what level. Making use of survey data from New York City, we analyze the distribution of several forms of public child‐care assistance. Results suggest that about 40% of all families with young children receive some form of child‐care assistance. Considering all forms of assistance, the distribution of child‐care help is targeted in both expected and some unexpected ways. Implications of these results are discussed in the context of U.S. child‐care policies governing access and benefit levels.     

Role of informal sector recycling in waste management in developing countries

Many thousands of people in developing country cities depend on recycling materials from waste for their livelihoods. With the focus of the Millennium Development Goals on poverty reduction, and of waste strategies on improving recycling rates, one of the major challenges in solid waste management in developing countries is how best to work with this informal sector to improve their livelihoods, working conditions and efficiency in recycling.The general characteristics of informal recycling are reviewed, highlighting both positive and negative aspects. Despite the health and social problems associated with informal recycling, it provides significant economic benefits that need to be retained. Experience shows that it can be highly counterproductive to establish new formal waste recycling systems without taking into account informal systems that already exist. The preferred option is to integrate the informal sector into waste management planning, building on their practices and experience, while working to improve efficiency and the living and working conditions of those involved. Issues associated with integrating informal recycling into the formal waste management sector are discussed.     

When the Export of Social Problems Is No Longer Possible: Immigration Policies and Unemployment in Switzerland

Throughout the twentieth century, Switzerland has been one of the OECD countries with the highest proportion of immigrants in its population. The aim of this article is to show how institutional factors have shaped the opportunities for change in immigration and immigrant‐employment‐related policies there in the 1990s. Whereas unemployment had remained low in the 1970s and 1980s, there was a marked increase at the beginning of the 1990s. Existing migration policies were considered a central cause of this increase, since the great majority of foreigners who had come and settled in Switzerland in the periods of economic expansion were low‐skilled, and were now over‐represented among the unemployed. The reforms undertaken in the field of immigration and integration policy to respond to these new problems have been determined by specific institutional factors: direct democracy, a defensive migration regime, the development of immigrant rights and the weak autonomy of the central state. These factors account to a large extent for the limited scope and specific pathways of policy reforms in these two domains.     

The Seveso Directive: An Italian Pilot Study in Enabling Communication

In 1982 the Council of the European Communities issued a Directive on the Major Accident Hazards of Certain Industrial Activities, commonly known as the Seveso Directive. Besides other requirements, the Directive specifies that members of the public liable to be affected by a major accident from certain industrial activities must be informed of safety measures and how they should behave in the event of an accident. The Directive was subsequently amended in an extensive way. Upon the transposition of the Seveso Directive and its amendments into national legislations, the 12 European Member States are faced with the task of "appropriately and effectively" informing the public about major accident hazards. Delays are observed throughout the community, both in transposing the Directives and implementing public information. A pilot study on "Risk Information Needs" was commissioned and carried out at two Seveso sites in Italy in order to begin to resolve some of the problems involved in the provision of public information and to suggest appropriate guidelines. One hundred subjects answered an experimental protocol designed to assess their "information needs." This article presents the theoretical background, the pragmatic aims, and the design of the study. It also summarizes its most relevant findings and suggests some recommendations for the provision of information to the public.     

健全粮食安全利益保障体系的机制设计与政策建议

发挥经济激励对国家粮食安全的保障作用至关重要。经过多年来的实践探索,我国基本建立起多维立体的涉粮激励政策体系,形成了稳定粮农收入、优化营商环境、调动产区积极性和保障消费者可得性的政策框架,但仍存在种粮农民利润空间压缩、粮油加工业后劲潜力不足、粮食主产区高产穷县等问题。针对粮食安全利益保障水平较低背后成因,探索构建以实现“产得出、运得到、买得起”为目标、协调粮食产业链利益相关主体关系、充分释放经济效益在保障粮食安全中作用的机制,并提出健全粮食安全利益保障体系的对策建议:一是优化补贴政策,强化政策保本功能;二是加快发展农业社会化服务,实现经营增效;三是协调产业链主体关系;四是逐步健全主产区利益补偿机制;五是健全应急储备及市场调节机制。     

国外土地政策研究的新变化

土地是人类赖以生存和发展的物质基础。近二十年来,土地单纯作为自然资源的价值发生了深刻的变化,已成为影响经济和政治活动的重要因素。基于土地的经济和社会价值的与日俱增,土地政策的重要性也越来越受到学者的重视,因此关于土地改革的政策研究也成为热点。     

以公共政策为导向的户外广告规划研究——《深圳市户外广告设置指引》的探索

为了提升城市户外广告环境品质,改进规划工作的不足,提出以公共政策为导向的户外广告规划研究方法。在《深圳市户外广告设置指引》的编制实践中,通过多视角的目标建构、"规范"加"规划"的导控策略以及"手册式"的成果表达手段,取得了良好的实践效果。因此提出:为了提高户外广告规划成果的可操作性,增强实施实效性,必须正确认识户外广告的双重属性,将规划工作从传统的技术导向转变为以公共政策导向,做到导控中的因势"利导"与"力导"。     

西夏对外政策的历史考察

:西夏在长期的对外交往中形成了以趋利避害、左右逢源、灵活务实为主要特征的对外政策 ,表现出和平交往与兵戎相见的错综复杂性。西夏的对外政策既是西夏与诸政权间力量对比消长变化的产物 ,又提供了其自身发展壮大和与各强大势力巧妙周旋、长期并存的重要条件 ,同时也给当时北方民族关系和政治格局以深刻影响     

大城市低收入老人群体状况分析

本文依据在广州的调查数据 ,揭示了低收入老人的群体特征 ,提出制订老龄政策时 ,适当照顾低收入老人 ,同时动员家庭、单位和社会都来积极关心这部分脆弱群体     

From Birth to Death: A Social Monitoring Framework from New Zealand

The paper begins by outlining the development of social indicators work and social monitoring at the national level in New Zealand and comments on how this relates to the international movement. It describes the 'key' indicators/life stage approach developed by the New Zealand Planning Council in the early 1980s. This exercise continues from a university base and the fourth report in the series, entitled Tracking Social Change in New Zealand was published in early 1998. Examples are presented to show how the results can be used to highlight the policy implications of changing social trends.