THE CONTROL OF EXTERNALITIES IN A GROWING URBAN ECONOMY

The received theory of externality control, which implicitly assumes that both the social marginal damage and marginal treatment cost schedules will remain fixed during the time any policy is operative, concludes that an effluent tax and an auction of rights to emit pollutants in the amount of a given emissions standard will be equally efficient in meeting that standard. We show that urban growth causes shifts in both schedules. These shifts in turn substantially increase the welfare loss from a fixed effluent tax relative to that from an auction market with a fixed number of licenses.     

Clients' Reactions to Task-Centred Casework: a Follow-Up Study

Summary Four hundred people who came to a hospital casualty departmentduring one year after taking an overdose were randomly assignedto an experimental task-centred casework service or to the routineaftercare service. Half the sample was followed up four monthsafter overdose and the remainder 18 months after it. Clientsin the experimental group were more satisfied with the servicethey had received and showed more immediate improvement in socialproblems. A task-centred method (agreement on target problems,work on tasks and adherence to a time-limit) proved feasiblein about half the experimental cases.     

Establishments and the work-welfare mix*

Dans cet article, nous étudions le problème de l'emploi chez les assistés sociaux. Nous montrons qu'il existe, parmi les cas sociaux, un mouvement assez considérable lié A l'emploi. Les données indiquent également que la plupart des bénéficiaires renoncent éventuellement à leurs droits d'assistés sociaux pour prendre un emploi à court terme, généralement mal payé, dans un des établissements oh prédominent les emplois présentant ces caractéristiques, et où les salariés n'ont ni l'occasion ni le pouvoir de modifier les conditions d'emploi. D'après nous, ces salariés se trouvent alors enfermés dans le syndrome du ‘mauvais emploi’ et il ne leur est plus guère possible d'échapper de façon permanente à leur condition d'indigents. In this paper we examine the work experiences of welfare recipients. We show that there is a rather considerable movement within welfare caseloads which is associated with job-holding. The data also indicate that most recipients leave welfare caseloads for low-wage, short-term employment which is most likely to occur in establishments where jobs with these characteristics predominate, and where workers have few opportunities or little power to change the conditions of their employment. We see these workers as being locked in a ‘bad job’ syndrome where they have little possibility of moving away from ultimate dependence on welfare.     

Task-centred Casework with Marital Problems

Summary The use of task-centred casework with people who have maritalproblems and have taken an overdose is described. The stagesof task-centred work are illustrated and difficulties whichwere encountered are discussed. Task-centred casework is seento be a feasible and helpful method of working with people withmarital problems.     

The worker,the workplace,and the need for unemployment insurance*

Le chômage et la dépendance des prestations de l'assurance chômage qui en découle ne peuvent s'expliquer uniquement en termes de compétence naturelle, d'éducation, de formation professionnelle ou d'expérience préalable du travailleur en tant qu'individu. Lorsqu'on analyse ces attributs, on constate que leurs effets sont médiatisés par l'influence du lieu de travail. Pour explorer cette proposition, nous nous servons d'un modèle segmentaire d'établissements identifiés comme étant marginaux ou centraux dans le monde du travail, et fonctionnant selon une analyse des facteurs des caractéristiques de l'établissement. Les données sont tirées d'un échantillon vraisemblable de réclamants de prestations d'assurance chômage de la région canadienne de l'Atlantique. Nous comparons les travailleurs du monde marginal du travail à ceux du monde central en termes de l'usage possible de prestations. La portée théorique et la ligne de conduite de nos conclusions sont soumises à la discussion. Unemployment and subsequent dependence on unemployment insurance benefits cannot be explained solely in terms of the natural abilities, education, training or previous job experience of individual workers. When these attributes are analyzed, their effects are mediated through the influence of the workplace. To explore this proposition we use a segmentation model where establishments are identified either within the marginal or central work world operationalized through a factor analysis of establishment characteristics. The data are drawn from a probability sample of unemployment insurance claimants in Atlantic Canada. We compare workers in marginal and central work worlds in terms of potential benefit use. We examine through regression analysis the net effect of work world location, its importance in prediction, and its interactive effects with selected personal characteristics on potential benefit use. The theoretical and policy implications of our findings are discussed.     

Earnings and transfers: income sources in Atlantic Canada and their relationship to work settings*

Cette communication examine la question des sources de revenus des foyers et comment elles sont combinées. Son but est de montrer que le lieu de l'emploi du chef du foyer dans le monde de travail marginal influence la présence de revenus de transfert dans le montant total des revenus de la famille. Nous partons de l'hypothèse que, même si un emploi est à salaire bas, c'est sa situation dans le monde de travail marginal, plutôt que dans le monde de travail central, qui se montre le prédiseur le plus important du besoin du foyer de s'appuyer sur des revenus de transfert. Nous montrons que les foyers du monde de travail marginal ont plus tendance à recevoir des bénéfices de l' Assurance-Chômage et de l'Aide Sociale que des foyers qui s'identifient avec le monde de travail central. En plus, tandis que les transferts sont des sources importantes de revenus, ils ne sont jamais plus importants que les revenus provenant de salaires, sans regarder au lieu de travail. Cette étude est basée sur des données secondaires provenant d'un échantillon des foyers dans les provinces Atlantiques établi par Statistique Canada. This is a paper about household income sources and how they are combined. Its purpose is to show that the “location” of the job of the head of household in the marginal work world influences the presence of transfer income in the household's “income package.” Our hypothesis is that even though a job may be low wage, it is its location in the marginal work world as opposed to the central work world that is a more important predictor of the household's reliance on transfer income. We show that households in the marginal work world are more likely to derive income from Unemployment Insurance Benefits and Social Assistance than households identified with the central work world. While transfers are important income sources they are never more important than income from earnings, regardless of work setting. This study is based on secondary data drawn by Statistics Canada from a sample of households in the Atlantic provinces.     

The Safety Costs of Contingent Work: Evidence from Minnesota*

We find that workers' compensation costs for leased/staff agency workers are about three times higher than for regular full-time workers. This differential grows even wider when controlling for worker characteristics. Authors give a number of reasons for this result, including claims-reporting moral hazard on the part of contingent workers. We also present results on claim denials by work status, which seems to support the cost model.     

Understanding Young People and Prostitution: A Foundation for Practice?

Correspondence to Ian Shaw, School of Social and Administrative Studies, University of Wales Cardiff, 50 Park Place, Cardiff CF1 3AT, UK. Summary The practice and research literature on young people and prostitutionreflects a number of methodological challenges. This paper offersa focused review of the literature in the context of those challengesand attempts to draw conclusions that are strong enough to providea reflective and strategic approach to service planning andimplementation. Definitional issues are discussed, particularlyin relation to estimates of prevalence. The robustness of pastresearch designs and associated causal inferences are questionedand a synthesis of current explanatory accounts is offered.Risk in relation to prostitution is explored. Past service responsesare examined and a rationale for future responses is developed.