Laboratory evidence of unsuspected parental consanguinity among cases of disputed paternity

A search was conducted to find evidence of possible incestuous unions between the biologic parents of children involved in 2500 paternity cases. Suspicion was raised when either (1) a mother and her child possessed identical HLA phenotypes, or (2) the child appeared to be possibly homozygous for one maternal haplotype (i.e., one of the child's HLA haplotypes was a blank). These mother-child HLA-haplotype dualisms (MHDs) occurred in 5% of all cases. Frequency of exclusion of the accused men in cases demonstrating MHD, was compared with the remaining paternity cases.No significant difference was found in overall exclusion rates between MHD cases and controls when exclusion produced by HLA and red cell antigen systems were observed. However, there was a greater rate of exclusion in MHD cases when comparing exclusions produced by red cell antigen systems regardless of whether HLA tests excluded paternity (p < 0.025). MHD cases involving teenaged mothers differed from control cases in frequency of exclusion of paternity only on the basis of red cell antigen phenotyping (p < 0.005).The HLA system's usefulness in paternity testing is diminished when there is MHD; multiple, independently-inherited systems are relatively more useful in these circumstances.The search method detects only half of potential incest cases; proof of incest requires more extensive testing for homozygosity among other polymorphisms. Since calculations of likelihood of paternity are inappropriate in cases involving close consanguinity, detection and follow up studies are important.Data suggest that one-fifth of MHD cases may involve first degree consanguinity and that the incest rate among paternity cases may be as high as 2%.     

Strategic agricultural trade policy interdependence and the exchange rate: A game theoretic analysis

Strategic Agricultural Trade Policy Interdependence is modeled using a game theoretic framework. The model distinguishes between the European Community, the United States and a politically passive rest-of-the-world. Particular emphasis is placed on the effect of the exchange rate on the equilibrium outcome of this game. Without compensatory payments to those with the highest political influence, the results suggest that only modest reform is possible. With compensation, liberalization occurs but free trade is not obtained. Simulations also indicate that the U.S. gains incentive to reduce protection given a depreciation of the dollar, while incentive to liberalize trade policies decreases as the dollar appreciates. Research was supported by Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station project 14065 “Economic Integration and Disintegration in Europe: Implications for U.S. Agriculture.”     

A NEW PARLIAMENT HOUSE — A NEW PARLIAMENTARY ORDER*

Abstract: The physical design and location of the existing Parliament House has influenced the evolution of Australia's parliamentary system. The new Parliament House will exert a new set of influences. The Executive will assume an entrenched position within its own enclave and Ministers will be physically more remote from backbenchers. The physical arrangements of the Executive entrance and the Prime Minister's suite will encourage a presidential-style status in the office. But the architecture also emphasises the public's access to Parliament in the spirit of Burley Griffin's original conception. There is likely to be a strong “congressional” impetus arising from the prominence given to committee room space and backbencher facilities. Tensions between the Executive and Parliament will be exacerbated. Changes to procedures and to parliamentary administration are also likely to flow from the new layout and facilities. The new building will provide an impetus for widespread parliamentary reform.     

Is There a Future for Contracting in the Australian Public Sector?

Contracting has moved from the margins to the centre of public management. Significant sections of the public workforce, from benefits delivery to corporate services, now find their functions open to tender. Governments prefer to concentrate on policy analysis and development, leaving service delivery to the market. As purchasers rather than providers, governments are redefining the role and scope of the state. But are Australian governments ready for this shift to contracting? Do they possess the full array of control and reporting mechanisms necessary if contracting is to deliver its promised benefits? There are significant difficulties finding evidence that answers such questions. Yet on the basis of concerns discussed across Australian jurisdictions, it appears contracting has developed so quickly it outstrips the capacity of government to monitor what is happening, and so learn from mistakes. In time governments will become better at maintaining accountability for contracted functions, because experience reduces the risks of moral hazard.     

Reviews

Anders Aslund & Richard Layard, eds, Changing the Economic System. London, Pinter Publishers: 1993, xviii + 237pp., £35.00.

János Mátyás Kova?s & Marton Tardos, eds, Reform and Transformation in Eastern Europe: Soviet‐type Economics on the Threshold of Change. London: Routledge, 1992, xix + 345 pp.

Peter J. Boettke, Why Perestroika Failed: The Politics and Economics of Socialist Transition. London: Routledge, 1993, viii + 199 pp., £35.00

John Flemming & J. M. C. Rollo, eds, Trade, Payments and Adjustment in Central and Eastern Europe. London: Royal Institute of International Affairs and EBRD, 1992, vii + 242 pp., £11.95 p/b.

Zoltan J. Acs & David B. Audretsch, eds, Small Firms and Entrepreneurship. An East‐West Perspective. Cambridge: CUP, 1993, 240 pp., £30.00, $49.95.

Alex Pravda, ed., The End of the Outer Empire: Soviet‐East European Relations in Transition, 1985–90. London: The Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1992, x + 238 pp., £35.00 h/b

Leonid Gozman & Alexander Etkind, The Psychology of Post‐Totalitarianism in Russia Trans. Roger Clarke. London: Centre for Research into Communist Economies, 1992, 121 pp., p/b £6.50.

F. J. M. Feldbrugge, ed., The Emancipation of Soviet Law. Dordrecht, Boston, London: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1992, xvii + 272 pp., £76.00. $146.00

John Massey Stewart, ed. The Soviet Environment: Problems, Policies and Politics. Cambridge: CUP, 1992, xv + 246 pp., £40.00, $64.95.

I. Kon & J. Riordan, eds, Sex and Russian Society. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1993, viii + 168 pp., £35.00 h/b, £12.95 p/b.

Kenneth C. Farmer, The Soviet Administrative Elite. New York: Praeger, 1992, xii + 296 pp., £39.95.

Robert Service, ed. Society and Politics in the Russian Revolution. New York: St Martin's Press, Basingstoke and London: Macmillan, 1992. Published in association with the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London, in their series Studies in Russia and East Europe. 199 pp., + index. £40.00 h/b, £14.99 p/b.