Female family size ideals as population policy objectives for Latin America: Demographic and methodological considerations

This paper discusses the use of female family size ideals in the formulation of population policies in Latin America and the demographic implications of and barriers to the attainment of this objective. Using a specially developed cohort projection model that incorporates contraceptive activity and resource limitations, the authors empirically analyze El Salvador, Mexico and Venezuela.Results indicate that in the next two decades most cohorts of women now in the reproductive ages will experience completed family size at levels that far exceed stated ideal family size. Using data based on optimistic assumptions concerning the effectiveness of family planning services, the authors feel that achieving ideal family size could be possible. Despite the apparent difficulties involved in reducing the high fertility of these populations, the authors conclude that family size ideals as stated by women deserve further attention as a policy alternative.This is a revised version of a paper given at the 1975 Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America, Seattle, Washington, April 1975. Research for this paper was funded by Population Council Grant T73.54.     

Predicting Bureaucratic Control: Evidence from the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments

The extent to which politicians control bureaucracies that are delegated authority over public policy involves fundamental positive and normative issues for the study of politics. Considerations related to such issues have stimulated a great deal of debate about whether the legislature exercises control over bureaucratic performance. However, establishing the measurable empirical conditions under which elected officials do and do not assure agency responsiveness remains unsettled.
In light of this state of affairs, we try to determine whether it is possible to develop a general means of predicting control, or at least of predicting what we term "intent to control," based on the assumption that legislators' preferences toward agency responsiveness reflect the nature of the policy environment. Our application to the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 finds strong empirical evidence that statutory provisions vary predictably, depending upon whether legislators possess the requisite technical ability and are likely, or wish, to be held politically accountable. Our results indicate that control varies for reasons that fit well with our understanding of how elected officials deal with complexity and their own political situations. Our findings also imply that subtle, but measurable, differences in the specific policy environment are crucial for understanding control.     

Common elements of efficiency wage theories: What relevance for developing countries?

Conventional labour economics argues that wages are determined by supply and demand and that the typical firm is a wage taker. Efficiency wage theories state that wages are endogenous to a firm's own optimising behaviour and that the wage rate determines the labour productivity. These theories raise questions regarding the effectiveness of expenditure‐reducing and expenditure‐switching adjustment policies. This article reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on efficiency wages. It examines alternative models, highlights the emphasis of empirical research towards industrial countries, and points out the need for a test based on the major implications of the theory.     

Assessing mandatory HPV vaccination: who should call the shots?

In 2007, many legislatures considered, and two enacted, bills mandating HPV vaccination for young girls as a condition of school attendance. Such mandates raise significant legal, ethical, and social concerns. This paper argues that mandating HPV vaccination for minor females is premature since long-term safety and effectiveness of the vaccine has not been established, HPV does not pose imminent and significant risk of harm to others, a sex specific mandate raises constitutional concerns, and a mandate will burden financially existing government health programs and private physicians. Absent careful consideration and public conversation, HPV mandates may undermine coverage rates for other vaccines.     

Twenty-Five Years Ago and Twenty-Five Years from Now: The Future of Public Dispute Resolution

Over the past twenty-five years, public dispute resolution has emerged as an important area of practice — linked, in part, to ongoing efforts to promote deliberative democracy. As the field has evolved, however, the market for public dispute mediators has shifted. It is already possible to glimpse the further shifts and the new intellectual challenges likely to face the public dispute resolution field over the next twenty-five years.