Committee proposals and restrictive rules.
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I analyze a game-theoretic model of committee-legislature interaction in which a majority decision to adopt either an open or closed amendment rule occurs following the committee's proposal of a bill. I find that, in equilibrium, the closed rule is almost always chosen when the dimension of the policy space is >1. Furthermore, the difference between the equilibrium outcome and that which would have occurred under the open rule can be arbitrarily small. (+info)
Can legislation prevent debauchery? Mother gin and public health in 18th-century England.
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The "gin epidemic" of 1720 to 1751 in England was the first time that government intervened in a systematic fashion to regulate and control sales of alcohol. The epidemic therefore provides an opportunity to gauge the effects of multiple legislative interventions over time. Toward that end, we employed time series analysis in conjunction with qualitative methodologies to test the interplay of multiple independent variables, including real wages and taxes, on the consumption of distilled spirits from 1700 through 1771. The results showed that each of the 3 major gin acts was successful in the short term only, consistent with the state's limited resources for enforcement at the local level, and that in each instance consumption actually increased shortly thereafter. This was true even of the Gin Act of 1751, which, contrary to the assumptions of contemporaries and many historians, succeeded by accident rather than by design. The results also suggest that the epidemic followed the inverse U-shaped trajectory of more recent drug scares and that consumption declined only after the more deleterious effects of distilled spirits had been experienced by large numbers of people. (+info)
Does the liberalisation of abortion laws increase the number of abortions? The case study of Spain.
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BACKGROUND: Over the course of the 1980s a public debate on abortion took place in Spain culminating in a more permissive social climate and, in 1985, the partial decriminalisation of abortion. Before this, women were forced to abort illegally or abroad in countries which had decriminalised abortions. The aim of this study is to present jointly the evolution of abortions in Spanish women in England and Wales between 1974 and 1995, The Netherlands between 1980 and 1995 and Spain since the start of the register in 1987 through to 1995 and to compare trends both before and after the law in Spain. METHODS: Incidence rates were calculated in each of the countries studied and the slopes of the curves for 1974-1984 and 1987-1995 were compared. Data were obtained from reports published by the offices of abortion surveillance in England and Wales, The Netherlands and Spain. RESULTS: The rates increased constantly throughout the study period. From 1974 to 1985, a total of 204,736 Spanish women aborted in England and Wales and The Netherlands. After the law was passed, 34,895 Spanish women had abortions in those countries over the period 1986-1995. During 1987-1995, 340,214 Spanish women terminated their pregnancies in Spain. The regression coefficients before and after the passing of the law were beta = 0.3538 (0.307-0.400) and beta = 0.319 (0.243-0.394) respectively; no difference was observed. CONCLUSIONS: During the study period a significant proportion of reproductive-aged Spanish women had abortions in England and Wales and The Netherlands. Decriminalisation has had no observed effect on the trends in abortion, but rather it has benefited Spanish women by making abortion available locally and, therefore, reducing the inequalities implied by lack of access to proper health care services. These data demonstrate the impact of the liberalisation of abortion on the trends of procedures performed in other countries. (+info)
What happened to long-term care in the health reform debate of 1993-1994? Lessons for the future.
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During 1993 and 1994, the United States debated but did not enact major health care reform. Although the reform efforts focused on providing health coverage for the uninsured and controlling acute care costs, many proposals included substantial long-term care initiatives. President Clinton proposed creating a large home-care program for severely disabled people of all ages and all income groups, among several other initiatives. By stressing non-means-tested public programs, the president's plan was a major departure from the Medicaid-dominated financing system for long-term care. In designing the long-term care component, the Clinton administration addressed many of the basic policy choices that must be decided in all reform efforts, including whether initiatives should be limited to older people or cover people of any age, how to balance institutional and noninstitutional care, whether to rely on government programs or on the private sector, and how to control costs. Analyzing the political and intellectual history of long-term care during the health reform debate provides lessons for future reform. (+info)
Access to dental care: a historical review of medicaid eligibility growth and dental productivity decline.
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The present dilemma in providing dental services to the indigent and Medicaid recipients throughout this nation has generated considerable controversy as to the evolution of the problem. Most states recognize that there are deficiencies in the provision of dental services to these populations and are seeking resolutions. While state licensing board practices and dental professional society politics have been the object of criticism as contributing to if not causing of this problem, other rational and statistically valid explanations for the current difficulty exist. As an explanation for access to care issues, this paper explores the decline in the national numbers of dental practitioners and concomitant dental productivity. Furthermore, it relates those parameters to the dramatic rise in the utilization and demand for dental services resulting from a robust economy, population growth trends, and changes in state and federal Medicaid legislation that increase numbers of Medicaid-eligible recipients. While these general trends are national in scope and application, the state of North Carolina and its experience will be used to fully explore the impact of these trends at the state and local level. (+info)
Guidelines of the Council on Environmental Quality for the preparation of environmental impact statements.
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Definitions and the seven principles of ecology are listed. NEPA expresses or implies all seven. Section 101 is quoted in illustration. CEQ Guidelines implement Sec. 102(2)(C). The reasons for initial delays in implementation are reviewed; these are now largely resolved. The policy involves action through integrating engineering, economics and ecology. Alternative actions must be considered, and short-term effects weighed against the long-term goals. Twelve modes of approach are advocated. (+info)
Paternalism versus autonomy: medical opinion and ethical questions in the treatment of defective neonates.(7/248)