Efficiently Taking Soundings in a Sea of Change: Two Histories of Public Budgeting and Finance

Books reviewed:
Irene S. Rubin, Class, Tax, and Power: Municipal Budgeting in the United States.
Donald R. Stabile, The Origins of American Public Finance: Debates over Money, Debt, and Taxes in the Constitutional Era, 1776–1836.     

In Pursuit of the Public Interest

What does the injunction “serve the public interest” really mean for public managers, and why is it important? By way of an answer, this analysis systematizes different perspectives on the public interest and offers a multifaceted formulation of the public manager’s duty. It is a process involving the exploration of two concerns—democracy and mutuality—in the current time frame and two others—sustainability and legacy—in the future time frame.     

The Lost Sexenio: Vicente Fox and the New Politics of Economic Reform in Mexico

The 2000 presidential election of opposition candidate Vicente Fox signaled an end to seven decades of Mexico's single-party regime and seemed to herald the advent of truly competitive politics. But by 2003, economic reform had largely stalled, and Fox's party suffered a historically unprecedented midterm' loss in the congress. This article analyzes the underpinnings of policy gridlock in the Fox administration. Fox inherited the need for microeconomic restructuring and increased competitiveness, more innovative and pragmatic state policies, the need to pay attention to the country's sharp income inequalities, and the challenge of crafting a political strategy that could build a middle ground and foster policy consensus. With his party's minority standing in the congress, Fox was constrained from the start by divided government. But more effective statecraft and coalition building would have helped. These will be essential elements for the success of any post-Fox regime.     

Natural Settings Trials — Improving the Introduction of Clinical Genetic Tests

Approaches to genetic testing differ in the research setting and the clinical setting. More data are needed to develop approaches that will best facilitate the use of new genetic tests in the clinical setting, especially settings where genetic testing has not been widely used, such as in primary care. Furthermore, data are needed to establish the clinical utility of new genetic tests in the general practice setting. Natural setting trials are proposed as a strategy to develop this information. While natural setting trials are clinical research studies and will expose participants to some degree of risk, the risks are different, and arguably less than the risks those same individuals would otherwise face if the test went directly into clinical practice. Ultimately, clinical practice and safety of new genetic tests can be improved by adding the evaluation provided by natural setting trials.     

Authoritarianism,religiosity and reactions to deviance

A modified F-Scale and a deviance-control scale were administered to a sample of 116 police science students and a random representative sample of 91 state university students. No overall relationship was found between respondents' preference to control deviance and their authoritarianism, nor did the F-Scale discriminate between the two groups. However, the police sample favored the control of deviance significantly more. Evidence of response bias to the F-Scale was also found. It was concluded that the source of the criminal sanction usually typified as moral indignation, was more a cognitively based evaluation than an emotionally based reaction.     

Reasons for refraining from criminal activity

In order to establish the relative importance of reasons for not engaging in illegal activities, respondents were administered a questionnaire containing a list of possible factors that could account for not committing crimes, and were then asked to rank them. Multidimensional scaling analyses revealed the underlying structure of these factors. Specifically, respondents tended to structure their reasons based on the formality/informality of a negative consequence and the relative seriousness of a sanction.     

LSD Use as a barrier to public safety employment: A review of the medical findings

Conclusions In a review of available literature on the topic of adverse effects of the use of hallucinogenics, the authors found some remarkable evidence. First, there is not evidence that these drugs are physically or emotionally addictive. In fact, users generally discontinue use because of the impact of altering states of consciousness. Few have the desire to experience these effects beyond satisfying their curiosity about the drugs. There seem to be some specific personality factors that predispose individuals to experiment with psychedelic drugs, and certainly, specific personality types are prone to be associated with negative side effects in both the short and long-term. In light of the considerable amount of research which supports the premise that LSD is not as dangerous as once assumed, perhaps restrictive hiring policies should be reviewed and reevaluated in the case of the one-time user. If an individual passes all testing, and personal history shows stability, disqualifying a candidate for prior LSD use does not appear to be supportable by research finding. Again, this report is not meant to diminish the negative effect of hallucinogens on a small portion of our society. The intent is to point out that the medical literature does not support the contention that one-time hallucinogen use carries with it any undesirable long-term consequences. The importance of considering an individual within the context of testing and background can not be minimized.