PUBLIC ENTERPRISE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, AND THE IMPACT OF ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION: THE EXPERIENCE OF AMERICAN SEAPORTS ON THE PACIFIC RIM

Port authorities perceive their ideas as broadly supportive of regional economic development and are strongly associated with chambers of commerce, economic development agencies and growth oriented citizens groups. However, shifts in American foreign trade and the use of new technologies atid environmental regulation have dramatically changed the seaport industry over the last 15 years. As public enterprises, many ports responded to the new competitive markets by developing efficient but capital intensive container technologies. Environmental regulation also had a role in stimulating more efficient use of port lands. Although frequently viewed as a road block to all development plans, the intergovernmental review processes may have helped turn ports away from their traditional patterns of land expansion development and toward redevelopment of existing facilities. With the constraint of greatly reduced expansion opportunities. the enterprising ports figured out they could greatly increase cargo handling capacity without enacting the wrath of environmental quality interests. This paper examines this contention with both economic logic and inferential data.     

Early work experience: A partial antidote for adolescent egocentrism

One of the most important lessons a young person may learn from working is how to interact effectively with others. This potential outcome of work experience has received virtually no attention from proponents of the early integration of adolescents into the workplace. In this paper we suggest that working may contribute to the development of more advanced social understanding (i.e., social sensitivity, social insight, and effective social communication and manipulation) by requiring youngsters to (a) shift back and forth between diverse roles and (b) interact frequently with strangers. Illustrative material is presented from interviews with 100 working adolescents and their parents.This study is part of a large-scale investigation of the costs and benefits of part-time employment during the high school years. The first two authors are Co-Principal Investigators of the Spencer Foundation grant and share primary and equal responsibility for this report.Received Ph.D. in human development and family studies from Cornell University. Main research interests are adolescent development, life-span development, and social policy.Received Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Harvard University. Main research interests are adolescence and social institutions, life-span development, and social policy.Main research interests are environmental and community psychology.Main research interests are human development and social policy.     

French Canada and the ‘bureaucratic phenomenon’ Saskatchewan

Abstract. The Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism (1969) noted in its report that French Canadians, compared with English Canadians, do not have the same way of seeing, settling or discussing problems. How are they different? What is the impact of French-Canadian values on such variables as patterns of bureaucratic behaviour, organizational structures and styles of policy-making? These questions were not really dealt with by the Royal Commission in its discussion of the public service. In this paper an attempt is made to identify so-called unique French-Canadian characteristics and to ask whether they do in fact have an impact on patterns of bureaucratic behaviour and bureaucratic structures. Usage is made of a model, developed by the French sociologist Michel Crozier, on the nature of authority relations among civil servants in France. Crozier has argued that French civil servants avoid face-to-face authority relations as much as possible, the result being bureaucratic structures which tend to be extremely centralized. Historical and contemporary evidence on French Canada is examined to test for the validity of the model. The model can be only partially confirmed with regard to the behaviour of French-Canadian civil servants. Nevertheless, the findings are interesting enough to allow one to speculate on what impact French-Canadian values have on the nature of bureaucratic authority and policy-making.