Sociodemographic,Clinical, and Therapeutic Aspects of Penitentiary Psychiatric Consultation: Toward Integration Into the General Mental Health Services

The characteristics of mental disorders, as well as deficiencies in their treatment, must be properly defined. This was a prospective, longitudinal, observational study, in which all men referred to a penitentiary psychiatric consultation of three penitentiary centers in Spain were invited to participate. Those who consented to participation (1328) were interviewed at the baseline timepoint and at intervals for up to 3 years. The presence of mental disorders was high: 68.2% had a cluster B personality disorder, 14% had an affective and/or anxiety disorders, 13% had schizophrenia, and over 80% had a dual disorder. Polypharmacy was the norm. Moreover, the health care received in prison did not match that provided in the community in terms of quantity and quality. These results should help to facilitate the design of mental healthcare provision for prisoners, focusing on both the most frequent patient profiles and equality of care.     

Factors Explaining Public Participation in the Central Government Budget Process

This paper attempts to examine which factors explain public participation in the budget process in an international comparative approach. In particular, we investigate which socioeconomic, institutional, and political factors promote public engagement in the central government budget process. Using a sample of 93 countries, our results indicate that Internet penetration, population diversity, governmental financial situation, and budget transparency determine opportunities for public engagement in the central government budget process. In addition, we show that not only budget transparency promotes public participation but also public participation is necessary to enhance budget transparency.     

Government and business in Thailand

Institutions linking state and society affect both political and economic processes. Particularly critical are those institutions tying business and government. The effectivess of these institutions helps to determine the relative success national economies achieve in exploiting the challenges posed by the international economy. The particular form of the institutions is a critical factor influencing the development of a country’s political system. This article addresses in general terms the differences between business-government ties in Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand) and Northeast Asia (South Korea, Taiwan) as well as the differences among the former group. The article then offers a more detailed analysis of the patterns of cooperation and conflict between business and government in Tailand. His publications includeJapan’s Emerging Global Role (author and editor) (Lynne Rienner, 1993).     

English Language Proficiency and the Earnings of Young Immigrants in U.S. Labor Markets

This paper studies the English language proficiency levels of immigrants to the United States as determined from scores on a standardized test explicitly designed to measure reading proficiency. The data are disaggregated by area of origin and year of immigration. The connection between English deficiency levels and wages is then examined. In contrast to previous studies, it is found that English deficiency unambiguously depresses the wages of immigrants below what their other human capital characteristics suggest they should earn in the U.S. labor market. At the same time, the data show that, among the sample of young adults examined, there is a remarkable correlation between learning of English and time lived in the United States. The study indicates that policies encouraging the acquisition of English as a second language may provide a high dividend in the form of economic progress among immigrants.     

Non State-wide Parties in Spain: An Attitudinal Study of Nationalism and Regionalism

The contribution of regional parties to the development of thestate of the autonomies in democratic Spain is the focus ofthis article. One of the most important features of the transformedstate is non-statewide parties (NSWPs) that have emerged asa result of diversity and expressions of regionalism. The levelof electoral strength and institutional presence, attitudinalbases of their electoral support, and perceptions of the territorialspace and representation of NSWPs are analyzed.