Equity and information: Information regulation,environmental justice,and risks from toxic chemicals

Decreases over time in pounds of industrial chemical emissions have led to concerns that nonminority, higher‐income communities have benefited disproportionately in reductions in risk. Toxic chemical release data, modeled for toxicity and dispersion in square kilometer units across 45 states, are used to test six sets of hypotheses of potential interactions between facilities and the communities surrounding them. The results provide mixed evidence that ethnicity explains chemical emission changes. Stronger support is found that changes in emission patterns are affected by a community's ability to process complex information and its capacity for collective action, and industrial production factors. Some support is found for the efficacy of state environmental policies that both do and do not fit the traditional regulatory model in encouraging risk reductions. © 2005 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management     

Can a Dominating Orientation Enhance the Integrativeness of Negotiated Agreements?

A dominating orientation is commonly viewed as an impediment to integrative negotiation. However, a study of Norwegian and American negotiators shows that a dominating orientation may, in fact, enhance the integrative nature of some negotiations under certain circumstances. Implications for managers and negotiation trainers are discussed.     

Revealed public preference and social utility

Methods of demand theory are applied to the problem of the existence of a social welfare function under specific public choice algorithms. Integrability conditions, necessary for the derivation of social demand functions from utility maximization, are used. The social choice function, which chooses the mean of all voters demand for public goods to be the public provision, is analysed in detail. Necessary conditions for the existence of a social utility function, and by implication, a transative social ordering, are derived for this case. These conditions imply restrictions on individual preferences.     

Media coverage of organized crime—police managers survey

This brief presentation notes how the lack of clarity of what exactly is meant by “organized crime” as it is evolving, and particularly its transnational dimensions, can create problems and confusion for police and community alike. The role of the media is of particular significance in determining how both police and citizens perceive the scope and impact of organized crime. This in turn has implications for operations, priorities, and so on. The need to address a number of important areas that limit police effectiveness in countering organized crime, such as cooperation and sharing, appropriate resources, and measures of effectiveness, is also noted.     

Like Ships That Pass in the Night: AFDC Policy and Battered Women

Research confirms that significant numbers of AFDC‐eligible women are currently or formerly battered women. Policymakers intent on turning AFDC into a successful program of transitional assistance should not ignore this fact, for to do so would place battered women and their children at risk for serious harm, and insure the failure of welfare reform. AFDC policy re‐crafted in light of this data should prioritize safety for battered women and children; early assessment of the needs of applicants and recipients; recovery from the effects of violence; flexibility in setting program requirements; and integrated systems of service for battered women and their children. By responding in these ways, governments can empower battered women to move with integrity from lives gripped by violence and the aftermath of violence to lives of safety and independence.