摘要:

AbstractA preliminary appraisal of the Reagan administration's management reforms in the social service sector reveals a mixed record. A variety of gains are evident as a result of both the restructuring of whole programs and the implementation of specific management techniques. An increased reliance on the use of block grants as a means of disbursing funds to the states has generally had the effect of streamlining delivery of services. Likewise, dramatic savings have been realized due to changes in the hospital payment system under Medicare. Improved financial management has benefited the Social Security system and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. On the other hand, controversial policies have been implemented with regard to Aid to Families with Dependent Children and youth employment services. Similarly, a number of important challenges, such as welfare reform, have gone unaddressed. And the administration has severely reduced research and development efforts, a policy that could have a sharply negative impact in the future. For some programs budget reductions have had the positive effect of forcing officials to concentrate available resources on high priority tasks; however, essential operations have been impaired in other cases.

ISSN:0276-8739    

DOI:10.2307/3323750

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractGovernments are constantly attempting to use their tax systems for purposes other than the collection of revenue. Each such use entails difficult decisions of both design and administration. Consideration of a tax‐based policy that might reduce wage inflation—a so‐called TIP—serves to reveal the wide range of difficult choices that need to be made. In addition to problems of measuring the behavior of the tax payer who is to be benefited or penalized, the analyst must settle on such questions as whether the program should be permanent or temporary, whether it should emphasize rewards or punishments, and whether it should be administered by existing government agencies or by special agencies. None of these problems is insuperable. But lurking behind all of them is the question whether, is the end, the chosen policy will actually contribute to reducing wage in

ISSN:0276-8739    

DOI:10.2307/3323751

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractPolicies directed at alleviating poverty rest on a set of assumptions regarding the demographic composition of the poor and the psychological dispositions of poor individuals. Evidence from a long‐term study of a representative sample of low‐income individuals shows that poverty is very widespread but not usually very persistent, and that the characteristics of the persistently poor do not conform to the conventional wisdom. Furthermore, the economic status of the poor does not appear to have been caused by psychological dispositions. Intergenerational data from the same study show generally weak links between the poverty or welfare status of parents and that of their children. Public policies for dealing with poverty can be properly devised without attempting to resocialize poor people and without undue concern that poverty programs will generate dependency among the majority of those they h

ISSN:0276-8739    

DOI:10.2307/3323752

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractAnalysts are commonly called upon to perform the difficult task of evaluating the effects of specific changes in public policy upon the behavior of individuals, such as a change in the provisions of the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program relating to the benefits of those in the program who find work. When charged with such a task, analysts commonly try to answer the question by tracing the behavior of a fixed panel of individuals, comparing the experience of the group before and after the change in policy. That approach, however, risks major errors; in the case of the AFDC program, for instance, changes in the work benefit provisions affected the decisions of some who might have come into the program, a consequence that would not be picked up by a fixed panel of initial recipients. Cross‐sectional data drawn independently from a general population at points in time before and after a policy change can often provide a more valid measure of the effects of the policy change than can panel data; moreover, cross‐sectional data are usually less expensive and more readily availa

ISSN:0276-8739    

DOI:10.2307/3323753

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractAs the ongoing debate among philosophers and social scientists suggests, interpretation of cause and effect in human action is often extremely difficult. Especially complicated for the policy analyst is the problem of determining whether causal relationships are inferred from the evidence or imputed to it. This dilemma characterizes certain types of government activity in which distinctions between policy and implementation, between decisions and actions, and between inputs and outcomes are unclear. The efforts of the federal government between 1960 and 1985 to assist refugees in securing employment illustrate how the flow of events may elude causal explanation, and how conclusions and recommendation for improvement derived from the evidence may prove highly ambiguous. In such instances the most rational course open to policy analysts may be to concede ignorance.

ISSN:0276-8739    

DOI:10.2307/3323754

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0276-8739    

DOI:10.2307/3323755

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0276-8739    

DOI:10.2307/3323756

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0276-8739    

DOI:10.1002/pam.4050040408

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0276-8739    

DOI:10.1002/pam.4050040409

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0276-8739    

DOI:10.1002/pam.4050040410

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY