Private regulation in mental health

General hospitals are increasingly important sources of care for chronic and acute mental patients. Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals (JCAH) standards for staffing in general hospitals require the same degree of physician supervision and control for all services, including mental health. This paper considers the economic impact of JCAH standards on the practice of psychologists in hospitals. The “voluntariness” of the standards is assessed and the evidence that these standards foster economic protectionism is considered. We conclude that in light of the demonstrated capability of nonphysician professionals, methods of quality control appropriate for physician health care in general hospitals should be reconsidered as these instutions diversify into mental health services.     

Budget-maximizing governmental agencies: An empirical test

Niskanen's theory of government budgeting, involving powerful agencies interested in maximizing their budgets through bargaining with a weak, poorly informed governmental ‘Sponsor’, has received wide recognition. This paper presents the first direct empirical tests of Niskanen's ideas. One implication of Niskanen's model of budgeting is that the demand for public services will appear to be elastic. Niskanen's model also implies restrictions on the elasticity of the derived demand for labor in the public sector. Neither set of predictions is supported by existing empirical research on government activity.     

‘Give us peace’: Gladys Avery Tillett and the search for women's political activism in the United States, 1945–1950

As previously demonstrated by scholars, the social justice feminism movement in the United States accomplished its two central goals by the time of that nation's official involvement in World War II. This article examines the subsequent development of former social justice feminists' search for political activism after World War II through the activities of one of the social movement's later, significant leaders, Gladys Avery Tillett, particularly in her participation in the controversial and bitter campaign of North Carolina United States Senator Frank Porter Graham to retain his seat in the 1950 Democratic party primary.     

Governance for human development: the role of external partners

There is a positive correlation between democratic governance and human development. Democratic governance is governance infused with the principles of, inter alia, equity, participation, rule of law, transparency and accountability. Human development is at its very core the expansion of people's choices and their increased participation in decisions that affect their lives. Therefore democratic governance reinforces human development, and human development reinforces democratic governance. External partners—those actors outside of the national development process—can positively contribute to a country's transition to and consolidation of democratic governance (and, thereby, its human development) in a number of ways. External partners act through democratic governance entry points to deliver strategic services and use indicators to measure their relative progress. Indicators can be valuable tools in informing external partners and recipients of assistance of what works, what does not work and why. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.