Comparative approaches to R & D policy coordination

Approaches to the interagency coordination of R & D policy adopted by the governments of five West European countries and the United States are described and analyzed comparatively in terms of four variables: (1) procedures; (2) aims; (3) distribution and sources of influence among participating agencies; and (4) the frame of reference which orders governmental actions in R & D for coordination purposes. Differences stem from general features of policy formation within each system and changes over time in the conception and goals of science policy. The inherent ambiguities of the coordination concept and the difficulties in defining the perfectly coordinated system are the primary obstacles in evaluating coordination formats both within and across systems.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association in Washington, D.C., September 1977.     

Reducing Medicaid expenditures through family responsibility: critique of a recent proposal.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Welfare recently proposed a "Family Responsibility Plan" which would impose a financial obligation upon adult children in the state for the nursing-home care of their parents who receive Medicaid. By examining the Massachusetts plan, this Note seeks to evaluate the viability of a concept of family responsibility, under which adult children contribute to the state Medicaid expenses of their medically indigent parents in nursing homes, as a means of combating the increase in state Medicaid expenditures. The Note examines the legal and policy issues raised by the Massachusetts welfare department's plan in particular, and by the concept of family responsibility in general. The author concludes that alternative methods of cost containment, such as positive financial incentives, would be more appropriate mechanisms for reducing state Medicaid expenditures than family--that is, adult child--responsibility plans.     

Employee and government access to personnel files: rights and requirements.

A maze of record-keeping, disclosure, and privacy statutes and regulations, with accompanying case law, have created a boom in privacy law. Employers find themselves caught in this rising tide, torn between the often conflicting requirements. The issue of access to employee files--by employees, government, and unions--is one of the most difficult issues in this complicated situation. This article discusses recent developments in the field and aims to help readers thread their way through the maze of contradictions and pitfalls confronting employers.