Performance Funding in Federal Agencies: A Case Study of a Federal Job Training Program

Our case study highlights important details that enter into developing performance contingent budgeting schemes—details that do not emerge in more general discussions of the subject—and shows how the handling of these details can be crucial to these schemes' success. We study a federal job training program that gives state and local decision makers discretion over the program's operation, but through performance funding holds them accountable for achieving specific objectives. We find that states' modifications to the scheme's construction produced over time highly individualized performance funding schemes that likely varied in their effectiveness.     

Advising for impact: lessons from the Rae review on the use of special‐purpose advisory commissions

Abstract: Ontario's recent Postsecondary Review, led by former premier Bob Rae, was dramatically more successful than previous reviews by special‐purpose advisory commissions on postsecondary education conducted in Ontario. The authors argue that the success of special‐purpose advisory commissions ‐ defined as the extent to which a commission's recommendations are implemented in a timely way ‐ is dependent on environmental variables (such as the economy, fiscal situation and political cycle), process variables (such as reporting relationships, characteristics of the commissioners and stakeholder strategies) and the political acuity with which the commission develops recommendations that can command broad public support. The Rae review benefited from political conditions that favoured stronger investments in postsecondary education, despite a difficult fiscal situation. The report also benefited from a stakeholder community that was able to put aside most internal differences for the sake of a perceived common good. Within this environment, the review created a highly focused process that involved extensive consultation, the support of expert panel members and frequent interaction with decision‐makers. The review developed recommendations that were sensitive to long‐standing patterns of public opinion, articulated new public goals, recognized the important role to be played by each major stakeholder and proposed a new institution to entrench positive change in the long term. This experience offers lessons for governments, stakeholders and future commissions on how to manage special‐purpose advisory commissions in a way that maximizes their policy impact. Sommaire: La récente étude de l'éducation post‐secondaire en l'Ontario, menée par l'ancien premier ministre provincial Bob Rae, a remporté beaucoup plus de succès que les études antérieures entreprises en Ontario par des commissions consultatives spécialisées en éducation post‐secondaire. Les auteurs prétendent que le succès des commissions consultatives spécialisées ‐ défini par la mesure dans laquelle les recommandations d'une commission sont mises en œuvre de façon adéquate ‐ dépend de paramètres environnementaux (tels que l'économie, la situation financière et le cycle politique), de paramèrres de traitement (tels que les rapports hiérarchiques, les caractéristiques des commissaires et les stratégies des intervenants) et de l'acuité politique avec laquelle la commission élabore des recommandations qui peuvent susciter une forte adhésion du public. l'étude Rae a bénéficié d'un contexte politique favorable à de solides investissements dans l'éducation post‐secondaire, malgré une situation financière difficile. Le rapport a également tiré parti d'une communauté d'intervenants qui ont pu mettre de côté la plupart de leurs différences internes au profit de l'intérêt commun. Dans ce contexte, l'étude a donné lieu à un processus hautement focalisé qui a comporté de nombreuses consultations, l'appui des membres d'une commission d'experts, et de fréquentes interactions avec les décisionnaires. l'étude a mis au point des recommandations sensibles aux tendances ancrées dans l'opinion publique, a formulé de nouveaux objectifs publics, a reconnu l'importance du rôle à jouer par les principaux intervenants et a proposé qu'une nouvelle institution garantisse des changements positifs à long terme. Cette expérience offre des leçons aux gouvernements, aux intervenants et aux futures commissions sur la manière de gérer les commissions consultatives spécialisées afin de maximiser l'impact de leurs politiques.     

The Greater Yellowstone policy debate: What is the policy problem?

Yellowstone National Park and the surrounding mountainous region comprise the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), a 19 million acre area that is one of the few relatively intact ecosystems in the lower 48 states. Conservationists believe that continuation of present land management practices in the region will disrupt the ecological integrity of the GYE. Many authors have identified and described these threats, but as yet there has been no sustained effort to make sense of these threats in the context of the ongoing dynamic policy debate. We develop the foundation for such understanding by examining the implicit problem definitions that have emerged from this debate. They fall into three general categories: 1) a scientific definition, 2) an economic definition, and 3) a bureaucratic definition. This process produces an exploratory definition of the policy problem, which suggests a strategy for better understanding and policy design. We propose several intervention points at which substantive, one-the-ground improvements in the management of the GYE are possible.     

The Jews of early modern Marburg, 1640s—1800: A case study in family and household organization

This article examines Jewish household and family organization in a middle-sized German city, the Upper Hessian regional center of Marburg, the population of which ranged from 2500 to 6000 from the Thirty Years War to the end of the 18th century. Some general hypotheses about population development, household structure, and family life conveniently summarized by Toch [Toch, M. (1995). Aspects of stratification in early modern German Jewry: Population history and village Jews. In R. P. Hsia & H. Lehmann (Eds.). In and out of the ghetto: Jewish-Gentile relations in late medieval and early modern Germany (pp. 77-89). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press] serve as an organizational frame for the case study. In Toch's view, Jews' comparative wealth, as well as governmental restrictions on their settlement and marriage in central Europe, led to their having larger and more complex households than those of the Christian majority. While household enumerations over time confirm several of Toch's observations, especially the larger size of Jewish families, neither Hessian settlement policy nor local Marburg opposition prevented the Jewish minority of about 1% from keeping pace with general population growth. Moreover, Jews did not respond to their regulated living conditions and status as cultural outsiders with a family organization exhibiting remarkably more internal complexity than did Christian households.     

GC–MS studies on acylated derivatives of 3-methoxy-4-methyl- and 4-methoxy-3-methyl-phenethylamines: Regioisomers related to 3,4-MDMA

A series of side chain regioisomers of 3-methoxy-4-methyl- and 4-methoxy-4-methyl-phenethylamines have mass spectra essentially equivalent to the controlled drug substance 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (3,4-MDMA), all have molecular weight of 193 and major fragment ions in their electron ionization mass spectra at m/z 58 and 135/136. The acetyl, propionyl and trifluoroacetyl derivatives of the primary and secondary regioisomeric amines were prepared and evaluated in GC–MS studies. The mass spectra for these derivatives were significantly individualized and the resulting unique fragment ions allowed for specific side chain identification. The trifluoroacetyl derivatives provided more fragment ions for molecular individualization among these regioisomeric substances. These trifluoroacetyl derivatives showed excellent resolution on a non-polar stationary phase such as Rtx-1.     

Amanita phalloides mushroom poisoning: a cluster of four fatalities

A group of four illegal aliens had been without food for several days when they found a group of wild mushrooms growing in a field in Southern California. Each man consumed a meal of one to six fried mushrooms. Two days after eating the mushrooms, all four men developed abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea, and intractable vomiting. Three days after consuming the mushrooms, all four were hospitalized and their clinical courses rapidly deteriorated to refractory hepatorenal failure and coma. Three of the victims died three days after admission to the hospital and the fourth died eight days after admission. The autopsy findings are presented and the mechanism of Amanita phalloides mushroom poisoning is discussed.