Job Expectations and Career Goals of Title IV-E Child Welfare Social Workers with Varying Levels of Work Experience: How Do They Differ?

A comparison of three groups of Title IV-E child welfare workers revealed significant differences among all groups on job expectations and career goals. New workers reported most positive expectations for their jobs, and greatest interest in child welfare careers and in pursuing educational goals. Seasoned workers expressed least positive expectations and least interest in future child welfare careers and educational goals. Findings may assist universities in student selection and curriculum. Child welfare agencies may benefit in areas of recruitment, training, and policies. Realistic job previews might moderate high expectations for new workers and reduce unmet expectations for experienced workers.     

The Effects of Local Government Consolidation on Turnout: Evidence from a Quasi‐Experiment in Switzerland

In the last decades, municipal mergers have been one major element of local government reforms in Switzerland and beyond. In this article, we describe and analyze the political effects of this development. We use a quasi‐experimental setting to test the impact of municipal mergers on electoral participation. We find that in merged municipalities, the decrease in turnout is significantly stronger than in non‐merged municipalities. Further, the effect is more pronounced in relatively small localities. There is a temporal dimension to this effect—that is, turnout drops mainly in the first election after the first merger, but not so much after the second or third merger. Hence, the study provides a skeptical yet differentiated perspective on the democratic consequences of municipal mergers and points to further research avenues to develop a more comprehensive understanding of local government consolidation.     

Legislative Transparency and Credit Risk

Open governance requirements are designed to improve accountability, which implies that transparent governments are more trustworthy stewards of their publicly invested power. However, transparency may also reduce institutional effectiveness and inhibit political compromise, diminishing the capacity to manage resources responsibly. We assess empirical support for these competing perspectives in the context of American state legislatures, many of which have become exempt from state sunshine laws in recent decades. We leverage variation in the timing of these legislative exemptions to identify the effect of removing transparency in a crucial governing institution on investors’ risk perceptions of states’ general obligation bonds. Our analysis of these data during the period 1995–2010 suggests that removing legislative transparency reduces state credit risk. We conclude that while openness in government may be normatively desirable, shielding legislative proceedings from public view may actually be better for states’ debt repayment capacity, improving their overall fiscal health.     

Longitudinal Discrepancy in Adolescent Aggressive Behavior Problems: Differences by Reporter and Contextual Factors

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Little is known about the developmental course of informant discrepancies in adolescent aggressive behavior problems, though whether aggression increases or...     

波兰供热改革及其对北京市的启示

始于20世纪90年代的波兰供热改革和我国北方地区正在进行的供热体制改革具有相似性.首先,所处的经济背景相似.     

Sebastian Heilmann,Red Swan: How Unorthodox Policy Making Facilitated China’s Rise

Journal of Chinese Political Science -