LIFE STORIES, DOCTRINES, AND DECISION MAKING

This article explores three supreme court appellate cases where one parent moves away with the children. These decisions from New York, Canada, and California reached very different conclusions.     

Project USA: American competitiveness and what must be done to restore it

The United States today faces a loss of influence as a world power, a reduction in American independence as a policymaker, and a decline in the standard of living on which Americans have come to depend. History teaches that nations weaker and less productive than the United States can rise to become economic powerhouses and rapidly increase their standards of living. History also teaches that nations failing to recognize their fundamental problems will inevitably decline. American politicians must face what is abundantly clear: the United States is losing ground and must act quickly to reverse its course. This White Paper outlines what must be done. Information about the nation's current status must be analyzed and communicated. Incentives to improve the level of competence in government must be provided and maintained. The emphasis of government policy must be changed to reflect broad economic and technological interests as opposed to special interests. Savings must be encouraged and increased. Infrastructure must be improved Tax laws must be modified to help bring these changes about. Economic and technological issues must be elevated to the importance they require. American thinking must reflect the new realities: that the age of leadership through military power is over, that the requirements for success in the world of the 1990s and beyond require a sound and growing economy that is internationally competitive. The US can accomplish these goals only through foundation-shaking, comprehensive, fundamental changealong the lines we propose herein.This paper is the executive summary (with minor editing modifications) of a white paper that is available from Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management.     

Consulting critics: A new role for academic policy analysts

It is by now widely accepted that social science research has only an indirect and general impact on public policymaking. Academic social science research, it is often argued, is antithetical to policy research: the former is animated by traditional scientific canons while the latter is specific and problem-oriented. Moreover, modern bureaucracies are now understood as political environments within which pure research will be routinely ignored if it does not serve someone's interests. For these and other reasons, social scientists are being encouraged either to eschew policy research or not to expect much influence. This article provides an alternative model of social scientists in the policy process, as consulting critics reviewing, analyzing and commenting upon substantive policy research. This model holds benefits for both scholars and clients, turns the canons of scientific inquiry into assets instead of liabilities, and responds to some of the concerns recently raised in the literature concerning the role of social science in the policy process.     

Between hermeneutics and semiotics

Translated by David Pellauer from the French, Entre herméneutique et sémiotique,Nouveaux Actes Sémiotiques (Vol.II, 1990, forthcoming).     

Underlying patterns in a current economic development model

Public officials may subjectively use a variety of elements, including economic characteristics and political considerations, in their selection of locations and allocation of resources for economic development. Policy capture is a method that determines the impartial weighting of a broad number of elements which influence these decision makers as they operationalize programs. Non-political criteria that may influence the selection of sites for local economic development provide the basis of the analysis conducted in this paper. Public officials at various levels of responsibility assessed the chances of creating jobs for disadvantaged residents (employment success) for a variety of hypothetical areas chosen as an enterprise zone. Their responses give insight into policy decisions. There is a comparison of both individual responses and groups of respondents to the hypothetical data as well as to actual zones that were recently selected. Concluding remarks will discuss these results and the application of this method for enterprise zones and other policy analyses.We wish to acknowledge the extensive helpful suggestions of the editor and two anonymous reviewers.     

Federal Constitutional Power Over the Economy

This article examines the non-fiscal powers of the federal Parliamentof Australia to make laws to control the economy. Although thecommerce power in Australia was inspired by that in the U.S.Constitution, the High Court of Australia has not followed theliberal interpretation of the commerce power adopted by theU.S. Supreme Court since 1937. However, other express federalpowers, particularly those relating to corporations and externalaffairs, have been used for purposes that in the United Stateswould be encompassed by the commerce power. While the AustralianParliament does not have the degree of power possessed by Congress,the judicial trend is toward broader interpretations of federalpowers. Also discussed is Section 92 of the Australian Constitution,which declares that "trade, commerce and intercourse among theStates shall be absolutely free." This provision, which limitsboth federal and state power, was interpreted for many decadesas embodying the principle oflaissezfaire. In 1988 the HighCourt of Australia held that its scope is limited to prohibitinglaws that discriminate against interstate commerce with a protectionistpurpose or effect.