Public sector think tanks in interagency policy-making: designing enhanced governance capacity

Abstract: Since World War Two, the role of non profit think tanks in the United States has grown and diversified. Today, the United States' government and Congress is advised on many matters of policy-making and implementation by such think tanks. The Westminster system of parliament, as practised in the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, has rarely provided a fertile ground for the creation and sustained existence of such privately operated institutions. Despite limited links with similar United States' organizations, the seeds have never really flourished outside the United States of America. Australian Commonwealth governments have been most antagonistic in this regard. On the other hand, management consulting companies, many of which have headquarters in the United States, lobbyists, and corporate representation flourish in the quasi-corporatist political environment carefully constructed by the Australian Labor party (ALP) government since 1983. Policy-related research divisions and statutory authorities have likewise grown in size and importance within the departmental agencies of government itself. Energy, agriculture, immigration, and social service research “arms” have been encouraged within the ministerial arena of policy analysis and advice. Especially important has been micro and macro-economic research, urban and infrastructural planning, the Industry Commission, and the Bureau of Industry Economics, respectively. This paper will analyse the growth of these specialized forms of government think tanks, study the range of their ministerial advice, and speculate about their changing role in an increasingly “managerialist” type of Westminster-style parliamentary setting. Sommaire: Aux États-Unis, depuis la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, le rôle des groupes de réflexion à but non lucratif, ou think tanks, a pris de l'ampleur et s'est diversifié. Aujourd'hui, ces groupes prodiguent des conseils au gouvernement et au Congrès des États-Unis sur de nombreuses questions de définition et de mise en oeuvre de politiques. Le système parlementaire de Westminster, tel que pratiqué au Royaume-Uni, au Canada, en Nouvelle-Zélande et en Australie, a rarement favorisé la création et l'existence de telles institutions exploitées par le secteur privé. Malgré certains liens limités avec des organisations américaines similaires, elles ne se sont jamais vraiement épanouies à l'extérieur des États-Unis.     

Hemolyzed blood and serum levels of delta 9-THC: effects on the performance of roadside sobriety tests

A pilot study was conducted to ascertain the range of induced hemolyzed blood/serum delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta 9-THC) concentrations in 58 human subjects. Subjects were tested within 5 min of smoking a delta 9-THC cigarette and then at half-hour intervals to 150 min. The subjects initially demonstrated a broad range of delta 9-THC hemolyzed blood levels, which settled within an hour to levels comparable to those measured in California drivers who had been stopped for impaired driving, arrested, and tested for delta 9-THC. Serum levels, when correlated with performance or roadside sobriety tests, demonstrated a broad range (5 to 183 ng/mL) of delta 9-THC levels and an "adaptation" effect in the subjects' perception of their own impairment. Although this preliminary study was not a double-blind placebo experiment, the overall performance of human subjects demonstrated the "adaptation" effect, which may be a significant factor in making judgments while performing such complex tasks as driving. Also, the effects of the drug extended beyond the period of elevated delta 9-THC blood levels, perhaps because of THC metabolites that may contribute to impairment or the persistence of THC in the central nervous system. This pilot study will lay the groundwork for a program designed to determine the epidemiology and behavior correlates of marijuana use in motorists.     

Facing the Giant: A Framework to Undo Sex-Based Discrimination in Academia

In 2019, American workers reported 26,221 claims of workplace harassment to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Nearly half of those claims represented sex-based harassment. The #MeToo movement has shined a spotlight on the pervasiveness of harassment across sectors and institutions. A 2018 report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine indicates that 58 percent of women in academic institutions, for instance, have experienced some form of sexual harassment. In this article, the authors propose a three-part framework to establish a culture of zero tolerance of sexual harassment. The framework helps academic and other institutions prevent sexual harassment, protect victims from risks of reporting harassment, and set accountability measures to demand justice. The utility of the framework is twofold. First, administrators can apply it as a tool to audit institutional attitudes toward sexual harassment. Second, leaders can apply it as a corrective tool to prevent permissive organizational climates that allow sexual harassment to be perpetuated.     

On the relation between savings,distribution and inflation

A model of inflation, distribution and savings analysed by Thirlwall is evaluated. We replace the Kaldor saving function, instead following Pasinetti, where capitalists’ and workers’ savings are assumed proportional to their respective incomes. With this formulation, estimates of the inflation required to change the overall savings rate are generally larger than Thirlwall's. The magnitude of the difference is related, inter alia, to the share of capitalists’ profits in total income. Alternative estimates are presented, and it is shown that in general very large inflation changes are required to raise savings through redistribution. We also discuss the empirical evidence on the value of the wage adjustment parameter in the models.