States as Policy Laboratories: Emulating Success in the Children's Health Insurance Program

This article illustrates the use of the directed dyad-year event history analysis to study policy diffusion, with an application to policy changes in the Children's Health Insurance Program from 1998 to 2001. This analysis reveals strong evidence that states with successful policies are more likely to be emulated than are those with failing policies. Evidence of success is especially relevant for policy changes that lower program costs rather than those raising costs, and for changes made by legislatures rather than by administrative agencies. Moreover, this study reveals policy diffusion based on political, demographic, and budgetary similarities across states, rather than simply geographic proximity.     

Competition, Marketisation, Public Services and Public Ethics

The topic I address provides an embarrassment of scope. At the same time, it allows the development of a theme that is worthwhile discussing. When in the public sector is it worthwhile to import private sector concepts, principles and practices and when would the adoption of a private sector model be injurious to the state's constituents? The theme is worthwhile discussing, in part because some of Australia's jurisdictions appear to be adopting what they consider to be private sector practices, without an adequate framework to guide them. Because there is no proper framework, mistakes are made which could have been avoided. There is also some evidence that the public is uneasy about the loss of ‘public’ from the term public services. It would not be in the public’s own interests to resist, for no good reason, the adoption of private sector principles where that would allow more cost-effective services. The topic also allows a discussion on the influence on public sector ethics of the trend to place senior public servants on contracts that can be disposed of without a reason or prospect of appeal.     

Index

Authors Index

Index     

Interviewing Preschoolers: Comparisons Of Yes/No and Wh- Questions

This study investigated the influence of question format on preschool-aged children's errors, their response accuracy, and their tendency to say I don't know when given non-misleading questions in a neutral, unbiased context. Children (3 to 5 years old) participated in a craft-making session that included a staged accident with two experimenters differing in gender and appearance; the environment also had several distinctive features. One week later children were interviewed about actions, participants, and environment; questions were yes/no format with the veridical response yes (yes questions), yes/no format with the veridical response no (no questions), and specific wh- format questions. Question format substantially influenced children's responses: they were most likely to make errors if asked no questions, and were unlikely to answer either yes/no question with I don't know. In contrast, children spontaneously and frequently said I don't know to wh- questions about content they did not recall (environment), but not about content that was well recalled (actions). Implications of question format for reliability of eyewitness testimony by preschoolers are discussed.     

Slowing monetary growth since 1984: A public choice explanation

Until about 1984, the U.S. monetary base typically grew at an accelerating rate. Since then, that acceleration has stopped. Modern evidence suggests that the Federal Reserve responds to political pressure. We present empirical evidence supporting the hypothesis that reduced monetary base growth reflects the fact that the political advantages of price inflation have been significantly reduced by the tax indexation provisions of the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981.     

A Longitudinal Study of the Interactive Effects of Impulsivity and Anger on Adolescent Problem Behavior

The current study examined the moderating effect of impulsivity on the relation between anger and adolescent problem behavior (substance use and delinquency). High levels of anger were associated with delinquency for impulsive, but not for nonimpulsive adolescents in cross-sectional analyses. This moderating effect was not supported for substance use. Gender-moderated links between temperament and problem behavior showed that anger predicted substance use for females only, and impulsivity was more strongly associated with delinquency for males. In prospective analyses, both anger and impulsivity predicted adolescent problem behavior, but impulsivity did not moderate the effects of anger. Overall, results provided partial support for the notion that temperament dimensions operate interactively to promote poor adjustment.     

An analysis of the effects of gender on outcome in group treatment with young adolescents

This study investigated the ways in which the gender of group leader and client might affect treatment outcome with young adolescents. Seventh- and eighth-grade students were involved in programs for enhancing social competence. Mixed-sex groups of adolescents received treatment from either male or female group leaders. Results revealed gender differences between the male and female adolescents on the outcome measures, no difference on outcome due to leader gender, and one interaction effect on a measure of social skills between adolescent gender and group leader gender. Acquisition of social skills, which takes place through modeling and observation, may be influenced by matched gender between leaders and adolescents; however, other competencies and abilities do not appear sensitive to leader and adolescent gender.He received his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His major interests include developing and evaluating interventions for adolescents, social skills training, and practice evaluation for social workers.     

ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING; A CASE OF LEARNING THROUGH EVALUATION?

The aim of environmental monitoring programs is to provide information useful in enforcing existing environmental statutes and helping to detect and prevent future problems. Despite the considerable number of monitoring programs being conducted, information on the quality of the nation's environment remains poor and of little use in supporting environmental policymaking. This paper examines the role evaluation has played in developing an effective nationwide environmental monitoring system. Background information on environmental monitoring programs is provided, followed by a discussion of the evaluations of past programs and recommendations made for improvement. One program in particular, the "Status and Trends" program administered by the National Oceanic and ATmospheric Administration, is examined to explore whether environmental monitoring demonstrates a case of learning through evaluation. "Status and Trends" is based on the experience gained during several of the previous monitoring programs and incorporates many of the recommendations spawned from earlier environmental programs. Whether the program demonstrates a case of learning through evaluation will depend on the ability of the program to evolve as we learn more about environmental quality and out ability to measure it.