Taxing capital gains

From 1969 to 1971 he was a member and from 1972 to 1974 the Chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. His major publications include The Fiscal Revolution in America, Presidential Economics,and Governing the $5 Trillion Economy.He is a member of the board of contributors of the Wall Street Journal, where his writings appear frequently.     

European trade policy in Africa

A detailed critique of where aid has got Africa so far and why the ‘big push’ may not be the answer for the continent, particularly if donor agencies do not embark on substantial internal reforms and Africa itself does not act to improve its own lot.     

Common services in government

Abstract. The provision of supporting services to a number of departments and agencies by one or more common service departments is the application in government administration of the economic principle of the specialization or division of labour. Common service agencies are used widely in the Government of Canada, in provincial and municipal governments, and indeed within most large organizations both in the public and private sectors of the economy. This paper examines the advantages and disadvantages of common service agencies and considers some of the principles which can contribute to their success. The paper then focuses on four major issues which face both users and suppliers of common services. These are (a) whether the use of common services should be optional or mandatory; (b) whether or not the users of common services should pay for the services they receive; (c) under what circumstances common service agencies should buy their services from the private sector and under what circumstances they should staff to provide those services themselves; and (d) whether common service agency efficiency and effectiveness should be subordinated to other policy objectives. The paper concludes that the use of common services in government has produced many of the advantages inherent in the specialization or division of labour as well as some attendant disadvantages. Whether common services will succeed or fail depends in no small part on what might be called the level of civilization of the organization in which they operate. Sommaire. La prostration de services de soutien à plusieurs ministères et organismes par un on certains ministères désignés est une illustration de l'application clans l'administration publique du principe économique de la spécialisation ou de la division du travail. Les organismes de services communs sont très répandus à tous les paliers de gouvernement et du reste, on les retrouve dans la plupart des grandes entreprises publiques et privées. L'auteur de l'article fait le bilan des avantages et des inconvénients des organismes de services comniuns et examine certains des principes qui pourraient contribuer à leur succès. Il s'attache ensuite à quatre questions importantes que se posent tant la clientèle que les fournisseurs des services communs, à savoir: (a) si le recours aux services communs doit être facultatif ou obligatoire; (b) si les utilisateurs des services communs doivent payer ou non les services; (c) quelles sont les circonstances qui peuvent amener les organismes de services communs à acheter leurs services du secteur privé et celles où ils doivent s'attacher le personnel leur permettant de fournir eux-mêmes ces services; et (d) si le fonctionnement et l'efficacité. des organismes de services communs doivent être subordonnés à d'autres objectifs prioritaires. L'auteur conclut que l'utilisation des services communs au sein du gouvernement comporte un grand nombre des avantages inhérents à la spécialisation ou à la division du travail en même temps que certains inconvénients inévitables. Le succès ou l'échec des services communs tient en grande partie à ce que l'on pourrait appeler le niveau de civilisation de l'organisation qu'ils servent.     

Physician-assisted suicide in Oregon: a medical perspective

This Article examines the Oregon Death with Dignity Act from a medical perspective. Drawing on case studies and information provided by doctors, families, and other care givers, it finds that seemingly reasonable safeguards for the care and protection of terminally ill patients written into the Oregon law are being circumvented. The problem lies primarily with the Oregon Public Health Division ("OPHD"), which is charged with monitoring the law. OPHD does not collect the information it would need to effectively monitor the law and in its actions and publications acts as the defender of the law rather than as the protector of the welfare of terminally ill patients. We make explicit suggestions for what OPHD would need to do to change that.     

Banishment and the Post-Industrial City: Lessons from Seattle

Seattle deploys several mechanisms by which individuals’ presence in particular spaces can constitute a crime. Through a range of means, police in Seattle are given wide authority to question and arrest those who appear as human manifestations of the “disorder” that is of concern to many. Importantly, these programs accentuate the power of criminal law by mobilizing other forms of law, most notably civil law and administrative law. This legally-hybrid structure works to accentuate the police’s power notably. Yet increased police power does not actually work to reduce “disorder” to any appreciable extent. For this reason, and others, we suggest that different approaches to addressing social marginality represent more promising avenues for cities like Seattle to explore.