Private health insurance in Uganda: bridging the gap in public health provision?

This article discusses two organisations currently providing voluntary private health insurance in Uganda and considers their contributions to bridging the gap in provision in the country's public health sector.     

Does Urban Public Housing Diminish the Social Capital and Labor Force Activity of Its Tenants?

This paper investigates the effect of urban public housing on the social capital and labor force activity of its tenants using cross‐sectional survey data from the Multi‐City Study of Urban Inequality (MSCUI). A structural equation model of the hypothesized direct and indirect effects of public housing and neighborhood disadvantage on social capital and labor force activity is specified and fitted to these data. The modeling results suggest that urban public housing is strongly associated with neighborhood disadvantage but has little or no direct effect on either social capital or labor force activity. And while public housing may have indirect effects on social capital and labor force activity through neighborhood poverty, these indirect effects appear to be small. These findings have implications for the current emphasis in urban public housing policy on moving residents into the private housing market and reducing poverty concentration. © 2001 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

THE GROWNING INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES OF THE AMERICAN STATES1

This article examines state responses to the changing global economy, by exploring the growth of state international economic activities, variations in these activities, factors promoting and limiting state involvement in international affairs, and implications of these trends for the implementation of state economic development policies. Global economic competition, a changing domestic political and economic landscape, the modernization of state government, and increasingly open international markets have inspired states to increase their international activities. Consequently, dramatic growth in state international activities has occurred in the fields of trade promotion and economic development. Yet, state and local involvement in international affairs has not been universally accepted nor consistently funded.     

The Paradox of Probation: Community Supervision in the Age of Mass Incarceration

After four decades of steady growth, U.S. states' prison populations finally appear to be declining, driven by a range of sentencing and policy reforms. One of the most popular reform suggestions is to expand probation supervision in lieu of incarceration. However, the classic socio‐legal literature suggests that expansions of probation instead widen the net of penal control and lead to higher incarceration rates. This article reconsiders probation in the era of mass incarceration, providing the first comprehensive evaluation of the role of probation in the build‐up of the criminal justice system. The results suggest that probation was not the primary driver of mass incarceration in most states, nor is it likely to be a simple panacea to mass incarceration. Rather, probation serves both capacities, acting as an alternative and as a net‐widener, to varying degrees across time and place. Moving beyond the question of diversion versus net widening, this article presents a new theoretical model of the probation‐prison link that examines the mechanisms underlying this dynamic. Using regression models and case studies, I analyze how states can modify the relationship between probation and imprisonment by changing sentencing outcomes and the practices of probation supervision. When combined with other key efforts, reforms to probation can be part of the movement to reverse mass incarceration.     

The dynamics of federalism,subnational markets and trade policy-making in Canada and the US

Preferential trade agreements are now the dominant trend in the international trading regime. Unlike earlier ‘first generation’ agreements, the new agreements became more comprehensive in their coverage, impinging on areas that are subject to subnational jurisdiction of federal systems. Given constitutionally-prescribed competences allocated to subnational governments, the diversity of interests and sensitivities of subnational entities bring deeply entrenched regulatory practices under scrutiny. Few studies have focused on whether the combination of economic liberalization and political fragmentation will push federal and sub-federal entities to address domestic market fragmentation. We examine whether international market liberalization fosters domestic regulatory and structural reforms to cross-border barriers to trade in Canada and the United States. We show that while the political incentives and functional pressures generated by free trade agreements have fostered attempts at addressing internal market restrictions in Canada, the US has not followed the same path due to weaker mechanisms of intergovernmental coordination.     

Negligent homicide caused by exhaust gas escaping from a manipulated chimney

A chimney built and operated according to the instructions is supposed to ensure that the combustion gases coming from the fireplace can escape safely. If the operational reliability is impaired, this presents a risk of acute poisoning. The report deals with a negligently caused carbon monoxide poisoning of a married couple as a consequence of improper installation of a cover of the chimney opening. Various causes of fatal poisoning due to defective exhaust systems are discussed in connection with the presented case report.