辽宁省基本公共服务发展评价

在量化区域基本公共服务均等化发展水平之前,首先应对该区域的基本公共服务发展状况有总体的把握。本文用因子分析方法对辽宁省基本公共服务发展现状进行了评价,发现辽宁省的基本公共服务事业发展良好,处于全国领先水平,尤其是在人民的社会保障和医疗方面取得了较好的成果,但在环境保护方面投入较少,工业污染治理效果较差。     

FEMA and the Witt Revolution: Testing the Hypothesis of “Bureaucratic Autonomy”

In the wake of widespread criticism for its poor performance in Hurricane Andrew in 1992, FEMA became a more effective organization under the leadership of James Witt (1993–2001). One answer to the question of how and why FEMA improved so rapidly and significantly during this period is Carpenter’s (2001) theory of “bureaucratic autonomy.” This paper defines the minimum conditions Carpenter considers necessary for the term, evaluates their applicability to FEMA during this period, and briefly examines alternative explanations for FEMA’s organizational transformation. It concludes that the innovation and entrepreneurship FEMA demonstrated during this period do indeed meet the criteria for “bureaucratic autonomy.”

The Promise of Prediction Contests

This article examines the prediction contest as a vehicle for aggregating the opinions of a crowd of experts. After proposing a general definition distinguishing prediction contests from other mechanisms for harnessing the wisdom of crowds, we focus on point-forecasting contests—contests in which forecasters submit point forecasts with a prize going to the entry closest to the quantity of interest. We first illustrate the incentive for forecasters to submit reports that exaggerate in the direction of their private information. Whereas this exaggeration raises a forecaster's mean squared error, it increases his or her chances of winning the contest. And in contrast to conventional wisdom, this nontruthful reporting usually improves the accuracy of the resulting crowd forecast. The source of this improvement is that exaggeration shifts weight away from public information (information known to all forecasters) and by so doing helps alleviate public knowledge bias. In the context of a simple theoretical model of overlapping information and forecaster behaviors, we present closed-form expressions for the mean squared error of the crowd forecasts which will help identify the situations in which point forecasting contests will be most useful.     

‘A Common Sense of the Times’? Neo‐liberalism and Changing Public Opinion in New Zealand and the UK

Neo‐liberalism represents a significant and enduring shift in the politics shaping social policy. Although frequently ascribed a hegemonic, all‐powerful status that focuses our attention on the coherence found in neo‐liberal policies, this article builds on scholarly work highlighting variegation in the neo‐liberal project across different policy areas, national settings and time periods. Specifically, it employs Peck's and Tickell's (2002) view that neo‐liberalism has gone through multiple phases in response to both external and internal crises as an entry point for studying neo‐liberalism's impact on public support for the welfare state. Drawing upon New Zealand and British attitudinal data, the article argues that public reactions to an early period of retrenchment (‘roll‐back’ neo‐liberalism) differ from those reported in the ‘roll‐out’ or embedding phase of neo‐liberalism implemented by Third Way Labour Governments in both countries. Indeed, continuing public support in many policy areas arguably contributed to the internal crisis that provoked an adaptation to the neo‐liberal project. The article further explores public support for the welfare state following the external crisis provoked by the financial meltdown of 2008–09 asking whether New Zealand and British attitudes showed signs of resisting austerity measures or whether they, instead, indicated a third, ‘roll‐over’ period of neo‐liberalism where the public accepted not only a neo‐liberal economic agenda but also the need for further retrenchment of the welfare state. Conclusions about the politics of social policy at the level of public opinion offer both good and bad news for welfare state advocates.     

Xenophobia and immigrant contact: French public attitudes toward immigration

How does the presence of immigrants in a local community affect xenophobic attitudes? Does contact with immigrants ameliorate or exacerbate anti-immigrant attitudes among citizens? Synthesizing public opinion, economic, and demographic data from France, we test hypotheses concerning the relationship between the presence of immigrant populations and xenophobic sentiments. Supportive of the contact theory, we find that larger immigrant populations decrease xenophobic attitudes. This finding challenges much of the country-level research on immigrant concentration and xenophobia and offers some hope for those who are concerned about the rise of xenophobia and the radical right in the midst of diverse European polities.     

Does proximity matter? Plant location,public awareness,and support for nuclear energy

Does geographic proximity to nuclear power plants influence public attitudes toward nuclear energy? Utilizing a statewide survey of North Carolina residents, this research considers whether proximity to a nuclear facility – measured by residence in a 10 or 50 mile Emergency Planning Zone – influences citizen awareness, support, and perceptions of safety concerning nuclear energy. The results suggest that while geographic proximity to generating sites does lead to increased levels of awareness, it does not appear to impact overall attitudes toward the use and perceived safety of nuclear energy.     

Business Location Decisions in the United States: Estimates of the Effects of Unionization,Taxes, and Other Characteristics of States

This article examines how corporate decisions about the location for a new manufacturing plant in the U.S. are influenced by unionization, taxes, and other characteristics of states. The conditional logit model is used with some modifications to make the model more applicable to the business location decision. The most important finding is that the union sympathies of states have a major effect on business location. The results also indicate that state taxes affect business location, contradicting the conventional wisdom in the economic literature, although the tax effect is of modest magnitude.     

一种对“能力与素质”的分析角度——中华女子学院大学语文与应用写作课程教学跟踪调查

调查显示,与在校学生相比,中华女子学院的毕业生,更能认识到大学语文与应用写作课程的重要性.毕业生们对"讨论式教学"与"实践性教学"模式给予充分的肯定,并对两门课程的教学提出了改进的意见和建议.本文对毕业生的建议作了分析,并进行了相应的对策研究.     

《治安管理处罚法》的立法新意评析

通过与<治安管理处罚条例>的比较,剖析了<治安管理处罚法>的立法新意.论述了新法在增加处罚种类,调整处罚幅度,加大处罚力度,纠正与其它有关法律法规冲突的基础上,更加规范警察的执法行为,充分保障公民权利和人格尊严,彰显社会治安综合治理,构建和谐社会理念,进一步推动我国民主与法制化进程.     

传统文化与严复自由、共和的宪政观

严复对传统虽有批判,但并未背弃,对近代西方文化虽曾大力宣传,却一直是选择性的接受;“西学”与“中学”在严复头脑中始终不断“交融互释”着。严复晚年重估中西文化,是在致力于发扬中国文化的优点,质疑西方科技文化的局限,是对早年中西文化观的补正。这与其说是一种倒退,还不如说是一种更加成熟的表现,是在更高层面上理解和把握中西文化。