How close is close enough? Evaluating propensity score matching using data from a class size reduction experiment

In recent years, propensity score matching (PSM) has gained attention as a potential method for estimating the impact of public policy programs in the absence of experimental evaluations. In this study, we evaluate the usefulness of PSM for estimating the impact of a program change in an educational context (Tennessee's Student Teacher Achievement Ratio Project [Project STAR]). Because Tennessee's Project STAR experiment involved an effective random assignment procedure, the experimental results from this policy intervention can be used as a benchmark, to which we compare the impact estimates produced using propensity score matching methods. We use several different methods to assess these nonexperimental estimates of the impact of the program. We try to determine “how close is close enough,” putting greatest emphasis on the question: Would the nonexperimental estimate have led to the wrong decision when compared to the experimental estimate of the program? We find that propensity score methods perform poorly with respect to measuring the impact of a reduction in class size on achievement test scores. We conclude that further research is needed before policymakers rely on PSM as an evaluation tool. © 2007 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management     

美国模范刑法典导论

美国法学会1962年通过的《模范刑法典》在美国刑法法典化的历史中发挥了最重要的作用。自颁布至今,该法典一直是美国刑法典改革的主导力量,也是美国刑法学研究的催化剂。该法典内容上包括总则、具体犯罪的规定、处遇和矫正、矫正组织四编,总体上采用了“原则性实用主义”的进路。该法典的创新之处体现在:全面的总则、分析性的结构、充分界定犯罪、使用限定的术语、法典条款的解释体系、犯罪体系,以及某些具体规则的创新,如犯罪要件、不完整犯罪和同谋犯、正当事由、免责事由等。     

Reviews

Stephen F. Cohen, Bukharin and the Bolshevik Revolution. A Political Biography 1888–1938. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1973, and London: Wildwood House, 1974. xix + 495 pp. $15. £4.50.

Vladimir G. Treml, Dimitri M. Gallik, Barry L. Kostinsky and Kurt W. Kruger, The Structure of the Soviet Economy. Analysis and Reconstruction of the 1966 Input‐Output Table. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1972 and London: Pall Mall Press, 1973. xxiv + 661 pp. $32.50. £14.00.

Gur Ofer, The Service Sector in Soviet Economic Growth: A Comparative Study. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP, 1973. xi + 202 pp. $10.00. £5.00.

Morris Bornstein (ed.), Plan and Market: Economic Reform in Eastern Europe. New Haven and London: Yale UP, 1973. viii + 416 pp. $15.00. £6.50.

Jan Ake Dellenbrant, Reformists and Traditionalists: A Study of Soviet Discussions about Economic Reform, 1960–1965. Stockholm: Raben T. Sjogren, 1972. 166 pp.

Abraham Katz, The Politics of Economic Reform in the Soviet Union. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1972 and London: Pall Mall Press, 1973. viii + 230 pp. £6.25.

Rudolf Bi?ani?, Economic Policy in Socialist Yugoslavia. Cambridge: at the University Press, 1973. (Soviet and East European Studies Series.) viii + 254 PP‐ £4–80.

Michael Ellman, Planning Problems in the USSR. The Contribution of Mathematical Economics to their Solution 1960–1971. Cambridge: at the University Press, 1973. (University of Cambridge Department of Applied Economics, Monograph 24.) xx + 222 pp. £4.50. $14.95.

Gunnar L. Amundsen, Le Conseil d'Entraide Economique. Structures, réalisations, perspectives. Strasbourg: Université des Sciences Humaines, second printing 1972. 835 pp.

Ellen Mickiewicz (ed.), Handbook of Soviet Social Science Data. New York: The Free Press, and London: Collier Macmillan Publishers, 1973. xxvi + 225 pp. £7.50.

Gerhard Simon, Church, State and Opposition in the U.S.S.R. London: C. Hurst, 1974. x + 248 pp. £4.20.

Martin Dewhirst and Robert Farrell (eds.), The Soviet Censorship. Metuchen, New Jersey: The Scarecrow Press, 1973. vii + 170 pp. $7.50.

Paul Avrich (ed.), The Anarchists in the Russian Revolution. London: Thames & Hudson, 1973. 179 pp. £2.75 (cloth). £1.35 (paper).

Paul Hollander, Soviet and American Society. A Comparison. London : OUP, 1973. xx + 476 pp. £5.75.

Anita Dasbach‐Mallinckrodt, Wer macht die Aussenpolitik der DDR? Düsseldorf, Droste Verlag, 1972. 364 pp.

J. G. Garrard (ed.), The Eighteenth Century in Russia. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973. xiii + 356 pp. £6.50.     

Early Adolescent Social and Overt Aggression: Examining the Roles of Social Anxiety and Maternal Psychological Control

This study examined the factors contributing to the self-reported use of social and overt aggression among 745 10–14-year-old European American and Latino adolescents. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that dispositional social evaluative anxiety was uniquely positively associated with boys’ and girls’ social aggression and negatively associated with boys’ overt aggression. Maternal psychological control was positively associated with overt aggression for all boys, but with social aggression only for Latino boys. Although maternal psychological control also was associated with girls’ use of overt aggression, this effect was stronger among older than among younger females. The relationship between maternal psychological control and girls’ social aggression was mediated by social evaluative anxiety. Implications for elevated levels of social evaluative anxiety are discussed within a social cognitive theory perspective and for maternal psychological control within a social learning theory perspective.Received Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Michigan State University. Research interests include the interacting influences of individual differences and contextual factors on child and adolescent aggression.Research interests include examining the familial and peer systemic influences on child and adolescent aggression, individual differences influencing child and adolescent aggression, and interventions to reduce bullying behavior in peer groups.Received Ph.D. in School Psychology from Mississippi State University. Research interests include developing interventions in the classroom for disruptive behaviors, increasing prosocial behaviors, and decreasing aggression.     

Anthropological measurement of lower limb and foot bones using multi-detector computed tomography

Anthropological examination of defleshed bones is the gold standard for osteological measurement in forensic practice. However, multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) offers the opportunity of three-dimensional imaging of skeletal elements, allowing measurement of bones in any plane without defleshing. We present our experiences of the examination of 15 human lower limbs in different states of decomposition using MDCT. We present our method of imaging and radiological measurement of the bones including sex assessment. The radiological measurements were undertaken by three professional groups--anthropology, radiology, and forensic pathology--both at the site of scanning and at a remote site. The results were compared to anthropological oestological assessment of the defleshed bones. We discuss the limitations of this technique and the potential applications of our observations. We introduce the concept of remote radiological anthropological measurement of bones, so-called tele-anthro-radiology and the role that this could play in providing the facility for standardization of protocols, international peer review and quality assurance schemes.     

Fair Housing After “Big Government”: How Tax Credits Are Reshaping the Legal Fight Against Racial Segregation

ABSTRACT

In June 2015, the Supreme Court ruled, in a 5–4 split decision, that facially neutral state policies and practices that unintentionally segregated minorities could violate the Fair Housing Act. This article draws on the Texas fair housing litigation to engage broader debates on fair housing as a legal framework, and its potential for disrupting or transforming patterns of structural inequality. Specifically, it examines how shifts in the ways that society designs and implements housing policies may encourage courts, advocates, and legal actors to think about fair housing issues in new ways. Moving beyond the emphasis on disparate impact, my findings elaborate on two mostly overlooked ways that LIHTC reshapes the legal battleground in the fight for fair housing, by opening contentious debate on (a) the state level of government, and (b) passive government administration of policies. I interpret these effects as unintended consequences of the gradual shift toward market-driven policies that allow officials to govern at a distance.