A critique of quasiexperimental and statistical controils for measuring program effects: Application to urban growth control

Most studies evaluating the effect on housing prices of regulatory programs for controlling urban growth use econometric methods (hedonic price models) without considering the research-design aspects of the task. The article examines the strengths and weaknesses of several quasiexperimental and statistical methods for measuring the effect of growth-control programs, using criteria extracted from theory. The methodological critique is tested empirically by comparing several methods using data from the growth-control community of Davis, California and from three comparison communities. The empirical test demonstrates that different research designs can produce, large differences in the magnitudes of estimated effects, and that adding statistical controls to quasiexperimental controls permits the detection of smaller effects.     

An Economic Exclusion/Male Peer Support Model Looks at “Wedfare” and Woman Abuse

In recent years “welfare reform” has become a vehicle for many neo-conservative social commentators to invoke marriage vows as a cure for poverty and the abuse of poor women. Their basic claim is that cohabiting relationships are not only more violent than marriages, but that married couples are happier, healthier, and wealthier than cohabiting ones. A policy then of encouraging cohabitants to marry, they claim, would lead to increased family wealth and decreased family violence. We examine these claims in this article, along with the alternative argument that marriage per se is not a solution to these problems. Alternatively we propose an economic exclusion/male peer support model that explains why many cohabiting men abuse women in intimate relationships. If forcing these couples to marry is not a solution, then structural solutions are necessary, along with progressive policy suggestions that address the antecedents of poverty and abuse. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2003 Trapped by Poverty/Trapped by Abuse Conference, Austin, Texas. The authors would like to thank Desmond Ellis, Claire Renzetti, Barbara Sims, Tom VanderVen and the anonymous reviewers for their comments and criticisms.     

Free Market Experiments in the Laboratory of Democracy: The Long Decade of Policy Reform in New Zealand those risks

Books reviewd in this essay:
Christine Cheyne, Mike O'Brien and Michael Belgrave, Social Policy in Aotearoa New Zealand: A Critical Introduction
Brian Easton, The Commercialisation of New Zealand
Paul Dalziel and Ralph Lattimore, The New Zealand Macroeconomy: A Briefing on the Reforms
RC Mascarenhas, Government and the Economy in New Zealand
Raymond Miller (ed.), New Zealand Politics in Transition
Geoffrey Palmer and Michael Palmer, Bridled Power: New Zealand Government Under MMP     

Do crises help remedy regulatory failure? A comparative study of the Walkerton water and Jerusalem banquet hall disasters

Abstract: This study explores whether and how policy changes in the aftermath of a crisis. The authors ask why pre‐existing regulatory regimes that are identified as contributory factors to “failure” are not necessarily reformed in the wake of a crisis. The investigation adds to the literature that addresses the classic tension between reformism and conservatism in post‐crisis periods. Regulatory failure is identified as being largely responsible for two crises – the tainted drinking‐water tragedy in Walkerton, Canada, and the collapse of a banquet hall in Jerusalem, Israel. Despite similarities in the nature of media coverage, institutional procedures for investigation and commission findings, these two tragedies differ dramatically in policy change outcomes. A policy streams prism is used to identify, characterize and analyse reasons for very different policy responses to crises associated with regulatory failure. Sommaire: Cette étude examine si et comment les politiques changent à la suite d'une crise. Les auteurs se posent la question de savoir pourquoi des régimes de réglementation préexistants qui sont identifiés comme étant des facteurs contribuant à l'«échec » ne sont pas nécessairement réformés à la suite d'une crise. L'enquête apporte des éléments à la documentation portant sur la tension classique qui existe entre le réformisme et le conservatisme au cours des périodes postérieures à une crise. L'échec de la réglementation est identifié comme étant largement responsable de deux crises : la tragédie de l'eau potable contaminée à Walkerton, au Canada, et l'effondrement d'une salle de réception à Jérusalem, en Israël. Malgré des similarités dans la nature de la couverture médiatique, dans les procédures institutionnelles de l'enquête et les résultats des commissions, ces deux tragédies diffèrent radicalement dans les résultats des modifications de politiques. Un prisme des courants de politiques est utilisé pour identifier, caractériser et analyser les raisons des réactions très différentes en matière de politiques à des crises associées à l'échec de la réglementation.