Taking children's rights seriously

SUMMARY. How are we to justify our criticisms of current policies in relation to children? This paper, delivered as the Fourth Brian Jackson Memorial Lecture at Huddersfield Polytechnic on 6 November 1987, argues that we need to address the questions of why we ought to take children's rights seriously and of how this can be done. The article examines the moral grounds for rights for children and concludes by suggesting some institutional changes including the establishment of a Children's Ombudsperson. The suggestion is also made that a ‘child impact statement’ should be attached to all new legislation and other major policy statements.     

Adult Perspectives on Children's Autonomy

A representative sample of 1,002 Los Angeles adults respondedto vignettes on parent-child conflict by indicating their supportfor the position of either the parent or the child. Adults'perspectives on children's rights to autonomy were examinedin the nine substantive areas of education, privacy, appearance,religion, economics, sexual conduct, access to media, politicalparticipation and public responsibility, and social participation.In all these areas, there is a lack of consensus about children'srights among adults. Social characteristics of the sample, however,correlate with views on this issue in ways consistent with ageneral liberal-conservative orientation.     

Research Notes/Notes de recherche

La representativite des politiciens Clus est un element important du processus electoral. Dans cet article, nous Pvaluons I'evolution au cours des deux derniPres decennies des profils professionnels des candidats, deputes et ministres de la Couronne au niveau federal de la politique canadienne. Nous utilisons les donnees des Rapports du Directeur general des elections, pour les elections de 1965 B 1984. Nous montrons que la representation la plus diversifiee des origines socio-Cconomiques se trouve au niveau des candidats, alors que les deputes ont tendance B provenir de groupes a statut professionel plus Cleve. Quant aux ministres de la Couronne, la tendance dominante demeure une appartenance aux secteurs professionnels.
This paper examines one central component of the electoral process - the representativeness of elected politicians. We assess changes over the last two decades in the prepolitical occupational backgrounds of candidates, members of Parliament (MPS), and Cabinet Ministers in Canadian federal politics. Using information from the Chief Electoral Office Reports for the elections between 1965 and 1984, we show that the broadest representation of socio-economic backgrounds occurs for candidates, while MPS have come increasingly from high status occupational backgrounds. For Cabinet Ministers, representation from professional fields remains overwhelming.     

CHANGE-POINT ANALYSIS OF THE GROWTH EFFECTS OF STATE BANKING DEREGULATION

This article uses recent developments in change-point analysis to demonstrate that stronger income growth rates previously associated with state bank branch deregulation were in all cases temporary rather than permanent. In addition, patterns of temporal ordering across regions suggest that in many states deregulation was a response to economic conditions rather than the reverse. (JEL E44 , G28 )