IMPROVING OBSERVATIONAL STUDIES OF POLICE

Despite advances in measurement and the sophistication of statistical technique, quantitative studies of police behavior seems to have reached the limits of their capacity to explain variance, develop and test theory, and inform policy choices. This paper suggests that further advances in observational studies of police behavior require that researchers account for the cognitive decision processes police use in exercising their discretion. A method for debriefing officers after encounters with the public is described. The results of a preliminary test of the method indicate that valuable in formation can be obtained with quite limited reactivity effects.     

THE TREASURY AND PUBLIC INVESTMENT: A PERSPECTIVE ON INTER-WAR ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT

This paper examines certain administrative constraints which hampered inter-war governments in their operation of public works policies and reinforced their opposition to even more ambitious Keynesian employment programmes. The stabilizing effectiveness of public investment is assessed, as is central government's ability to promote greater capital expenditure by the local authorities, the principal agencies for public investment. To this end, a special study is made of the large-scale public works programmes proposed by Mosley in 1930 and Lloyd George in 1935. It is concluded that there were cogent administrative and political reasons why such programmes were viewed as inappropriate solutions to unemployment between the wars, apart from the more nominally cited economic-theoretic foundations of orthodox opposition to Keynesian policies.     

THE REFORM OF FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT IN THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION: A PUBLIC MANAGEMENT POLICY CYCLE CASE STUDY

Since the mid‐1990s during the Santer, Prodi, and Barroso presidencies, the European Commission has experienced several public management policy cycles. Included on the Barroso Commission's (2004–2008) policy agenda was the reform of internal financial control, prompted by significant irregularities in budget execution signalled repeatedly by the European Court of Auditors (ECA) in its annual Declaration of Assurance (DAS) and Annual Reports. This led to a declared Barroso Commission strategic objective of achieving a ‘positive DAS' by 2009. The proposed solution was ‘integrated internal control’ based on an international reference point within the accounting and auditing professions. The result was a centrally co‐ordinated Commission project aiming to reform management and audit practices within both the Commission and EU member states. This article reports on the ‘positive DAS' and ‘integrated internal control’ policy cycle and explains its agenda‐setting, alternative‐specification, and decisional processes.     

PUBLIC PURCHASING: AN ADMINISTRATIVE CINDERELLA

The potential value of enlightened public sector purchasing policies (as distinct from crude'Buy-British policies) to stimulate industrial efficiency and technological innovation, although long recognized as of fundamental importance to the British economy, has been largely disregarded by those seeking policies for industrial revitalization. This article reviews the present government's renewed commitment to enlightened public purchasing, outlining exactly what such policies demand of and offer to buyers and suppliers; assessing the progress made to date; and suggesting a number of ways in which the impact of the current initiative might be improved.     

The Free-Market Economy Is Fundametally Healthy

Though another Great Depression seems to have been averted for the moment, great geo-economic shifts are in the works as a result of the global meltdown emanating from Wall Street. Four Nobel laureates in economics take a look at where we are headed.