Government-Mandated Discriminatory Policies

This paper provides a simple explanation for why some minority groups are economically successful, despite being subject to government-mandated discriminatory policies. We study an economy with private and public sectors in which workers invest in imperfectly observable skills that are important to the private sector but not to the public sector. A law allows native majority workers to be employed in the public sector with positive probability while excluding the minority from it. We show that even when the public sector offers the highest wage rate, it is still possible that the discriminated group is, on average, economically more successful. The reason is that the preferential policy lowers the majority's incentive to invest in imperfectly observable skills by exacerbating the informational free riding problem in the private sector labor marketDiscrimination; Informational Free Riding; Income Distribution

Testing the Gender Role-Perception Theory: A Proposed Explanation for the Lack of Maternity Leave Policy in the United States

The United States is the only industrialized country in the world to not have a federally mandated paid maternity leave. While there is an obvious lack of maternity leave policy in the United States, there is not adequate explanation of this lack. There are some current theories used to explain this problem, such as Hofstede’s theory of individualism, and historical influence, but they are not able to fully explain why there is not maternity policy in the United States. A new proposed theory, the Gender Role-Perception Theory combines gender roles in the United States and attitudes/perceptions towards working mothers to explain how society’s negative views of working mothers who abandon their traditional gender roles leads to the unavailability of maternity policy. Results indicated that while the Gender Role-Perception Theory did not predict attitudes towards a federally mandated maternity leave in general, it did predict attitudes towards paid federally mandated maternity leave. Additional findings included males being more supportive of maternity leave than females, and a liberal political affiliation being significantly correlated with attitudes towards a federally mandated maternity leave

Open Access Self-Archiving of Refereed Research: A PostGutenberg Compromise

Unlike with OA's primary target, journal articles, the deposit of the full-texts of books in Open Access Repositories cannot be mandated, only encouraged. However, the deposit of book metadata + plus + reference-lists can and should be mandated by universities and funders. That will create the metric that the book-based disciplines need most: a book citation index

Repositories for Institutional Open Access: Mandated Deposit Policies

Only 15% of articles are currently being made Open Access (OA) through spontaneous self-archiving efforts by their authors. They average 25%-250% more citations in all 12 disciplines tested so far. Ninety-four percent of journals endorse immediate OA self-archiving. There is no evidence that self-archiving induces subscription cancellations. The “OA advantage” consists of: Early Advantage (early self-archiving produces both earlier and more citations), Usage Advantage (more downloads for OA articles, correlated with later citations), Competitive Advantage (relative citation advantage of OA over non-OA articles: disappears at 100% OA), Quality Advantage (OA advantage is higher, the higher the quality of the article) and Quality Bias (authors selectively self-archiving their higher quality articles – a non-causal component: disappears at 100% OA). We are currently comparing the OA advantage for mandated and spontaneous (self-selected) self-archiving. Deposit rates in Institutional Repositories (IRs) remain at 15% if unmandated, but climb toward 100% OA if mandated, confirming surveys that predicted 95% compliance. In the UK, 4 of the 8 research funding councils and the Wellcome Trust mandate self-archiving and it is being considered by the European Commission and the US federal FRPAA. There is no reason for universities to wait for the passage of the legislation. Five universities and two research institutions (including CERN) have already mandated it, with documented success. An Immediate-Deposit/Optional-Access Mandate covers all cases and moots all legal issues: metadata are immediately visible webwide and, where needed, access to the postprint can be set as Closed Access instead of OA throughout any embargo period. Software to support this approach (that allows the author to email individual copies of non-Open Access papers to individual requesters) has been created for both EPrints and DSpace repository platforms

Mandated School Facilities Improvement: What Have Other States Done?

In most school districts, funding for the construction and improvement of school facilities comes from local property taxes, sometimes solely, and sometimes with additional state support. In nearly all states, older school buildings, especially those in low-income districts are in need of renovation or repair. When school buildings are in poor repair or otherwise inadequate with respect to the educational environment which they provide, the quality of education available to students attending those schools can be adversely affected. As a result of lawsuits addressing this concern, a number of states have faced judicial mandates stemming from constitutional challenges requiring school districts to assure that school facilities throughout the state consistently meet minimal standards of adequacy, equity, and/or efficienc

GPs are from Mars, Administrators are from Venus: The Role of Misaligned Occupational Dispositions in Inhibiting Mandated Role Change

Research on mandated occupational role change focuses on jurisdictional conflict to explain change failure. Our study of the English National Health Service highlights the role of occupational dispositions in shaping how mandated role change is implemented by members of multiple occupational groups. We find that tension stemming from misaligned dispositions may emerge as members of different occupations interact during their role change implementation efforts. Depending on dispositional responses to tension, change may fail as members of the different occupations avoid interactions. This suggests that effective role change can be elusive even in the initial absence of conflicting occupational interests

Mandated Annuities in Switzerland

Switzerland is one of the few countries with a relatively mature funded pension scheme. This paper offers a short description of the Swiss system, highlighting two specific areas for which previous experience is particularly valuable. Taking the Swiss example, firstly, it illustrates the importance of prudential regulation and adequate transparency standards. Secondly, the paper explores the impact of different pay-out options in a mandatory second pillar.occupational pensions; regulation of pension schemes; pay-out options

Professional Practice Guidelines for Occupationally Mandated Psychological Evaluations

Psychological evaluations are relied on by employers, professional licensing boards, and civil service commissions to make hiring and employment decisions affecting individuals, orga- nizations, and the public. To promote best practices, these professional practice guidelines were developed for use by psychologists who perform clinical evaluations of individuals for occupational purposes, regardless of whether the evaluation is intended to obtain employ- ment, to achieve licensure/certification, or to maintain either. These guidelines were created by the Committee on Professional Practice and Standards (COPPS) to educate and inform the practice of psychologists who conduct occupationally mandated psychological evaluations (OMPEs), as well as to stimulate debate and research in this important area

Supervised Release, Sex-Offender Treatment Programs, and Substantive Due Process

This Note argues that mandated PPG testing should be eliminated as a condition of federal supervised release. The test infringes on a constitutionally protected liberty interest against unwanted bodily intrusions and, as only the Second Circuit has held, any condition of supervised release that infringes on a constitutionally protected right may be mandated only where it is narrowly tailored to serve a compelling government interest. Because there are a number of viable, less intrusive alternatives, PPG testing as it stands today is not narrowly tailored enough to serve a compelling government interest