Rented Housing and Market Rents: A Social Policy Critique

Water shortage is one of the most serious long-range problems for the United States, as has been witnessed in recent years. With rising energy costs and declining water tables, it appears that the U.S. agricultural sector faces the problem of how to efficiently allocate limited groundwater resources intertemporally and spacially;At first, theoretical aspects of common property resources are discussed. A model of production using common property resources is built. It focuses on factors determining intertemporal exploitation patterns of common property resources and on a comparison of a social optimal and a free market model. The theoretical analysis implies that, first, the lower the discount rate the larger the change of the exploitation rate, second, the greater the stock externality the greater the change of the exploitation rate, third, the steeper the slope of the yield function, the larger the change of the exploitation path, and fourth, the better the resource grade the more the resource will be exploited;Based on the theoretical analysis, the dynamic model is applied in the Southern Ogallala Aquifer. The solutions provide optimal rates of water use, irrigation acreages, farm income, net present values of farm income, and the levels of water tables for each of the 144 resource situations for years 1985-2005 under five alternative scenarios, with respect to energy and crop prices and discount rates. Comparing the social optimal solution with the free market solution, economic losses and excessive depletions of water due to commonality are estimated. The social optimal solution has a higher net farm income than the free market solution, and more water is conserved under the social optimal solution. With the free market policy, the region will lose 70 million in net farm income and 2.9 feet of its water table under the base scenario. Losses, however, depend on energy levels, crop prices, and the discount rate. Three alternative policies for achieving social optimal allocation of resources are examined. They are the flexible taxation in which the tax rate changes every five years, the fixed taxation which is constant over periods, and the quota policy. Examining the benefits side only, the experimental results for the Ogallala Aquifer prove that the flexible taxation is the best policy.

The shift from sequential to concurrent engineering has led to changes in the way design projects are managed. In order to assist designers, many effective tools have been developed to support collaborative engineering. Nowadays, industrial scenarios encourage companies to adopt product lifecycle management solutions, even if they may not be able to understand their benefits. Indeed, product lifecycle management roadmap is quite difficult to implement and return on invest can take time. Moreover, many free solutions with comparable functionalities are developed, which have been increasingly successful. In this article, we test different configurations of software to make a comparison between free software and market solutions. In this experiment, 72 students in a Master’s degree course aimed to design mechanical products by using dedicated software to assist collaborative distributed design, using two different configurations: free and commercial solutions. The research question to be solved is: as engineering educators, what is the most efficient way to train our students to collaborative distributed design? This experiment allowed us to compare design functionalities between the two configurations, in order to determine ways to improve efficiency in a collaborative distributed design situation. Finally, the feedback generated in this experiment allowed us to adapt training practices in engineering education.

The shift from sequential to concurrent engineering has led to changes in the way design projects are managed. In order to assist designers, many effective tools have been developed to support collaborative engineering, whose implementation is perceived as complex. Nowadays, industrial scenarios encourage companies to adopt PLM solutions, even if, sometimes, they can’t understand the benefits. On the other hand, many free solutions with comparable functionalities are developed, which have been increasingly successful.In this article, we test different associations of software to make a comparison between free software and market solutions. In this experiment, 24 students in a Master’s Degree course aimed to design mechanical products by using software to assist collaborative distributed design, using two different configurations. This experiment allowed us to compare design functionalities between free and commercial solutions, in order to determine ways to improve efficiency in a collaborative distributed design situation. Finally, the feedback generated in this experiment allowed us to adapt training practices in engineering education.KeywordsEngineering educationPLMcommunicationfree software

The private rental sector has been declining in many European countries. In describing the decline of the private rental sector, it is often suggested that a causal relationship exists between the decrease in private renting and rent control. The assumption is that the stricter the form of rent control, the greater the decrease in private renting levels. Or, conversely, that with fewer rent controls there are more opportunities for the private rental sector. At the same time, however, an unregulated rental market may result in insecurity for tenants. This text focuses on conflicts of interest between private landlords and tenants in the regulation of rents, from a welfare economics viewpoint. We present the results of a comparative study that involves France, England, Germany, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands. We describe the system of rent regulation in each country. We conclude that the balance achieved between landlords and tenants as a result of rent regulation may not be as clear-cut as it is often presented to be.

Introduction: Basic Human Needs in Theory and Practice, Kevin Avruch and Christopher Mitchell PART 1: BASIC HUMAN NEEDS IN THEORY 1. Extending the Reach of Basic Human Needs(BHN): A Comprehensive Theory for the Twenty-First Century, Dennis J.D. Sandole 2. Basic Human Needs and the Dilemma of Power in Conflict Resolution, Kevin Avruch 3. Through Gender Lenses: Human Needs in Theory in Conflict Resolution, Ingrid Sandole-Staroste 4. Moral Judgements, Human Needs and Conflict Resolution: Alternative Approaches to Ethical Standards, Louis Kriesberg 5. Ethics of Conflict Resolution Mediator: From Scientific Gaze to Sensitive and Skillful Action, Tarja Vayrynen 6. Explaining Human Conflict: Human Needs Theory and the Insight Approach, Jamie Price 7. From Human Needs to the Moral Imagination: The Promise of Post-Burtonian Conflict Resolution, Solon Simmons PART 2: BASIC HUMAN NEEDS IN PRACTICE 8. Beyond the Classical Model of Problem Solving Workshops: 25 Years of Experience, Experiment and Adaptation, Christopher Mitchell 9: Basic Human Needs: Bridging the Gap Between Theory and Practice, Mohammed Abu-Nimer 10. Acknowledging Basic Human Needs and Adjusting the Focus of the Problem-Solving Workshop, Ronald J. Fisher 11. Basic Human Needs in Practice: The Georgian-South Ossetian Point of View Process, Susan Allen Nan and Jacquie L. Greiff 12. Human Needs and Conflict Resolution in Practice: Environment and Community, E. Franklin Dukes Afterword

Rent Control in Britain began in the First World War and has lasted, on and off, most of this century. There has been almost no new building for private rent since 1939. The private rented sector is small (8%), marginalized, delapidated, and unattractive. The British Government is enacting new legislation to reform all areas of rented housing. Rents of new lettings will be freely agreed (i.e., at market levels) between landlord and tenant. But the tenant has security of tenure, subject to renegotiating a new rent. The absence of any important tax incentives or other subsidy was an obstacle to revival even with market rents. But the Business Expansion Scheme proposal in the March 1988 budget has created considerable interest among investors.

To Editor. —In his thoughtful Commentary, 1 Dr Ginzberg points out several important issues that need to be addressed in any informed debate about changing status quo in health care. However, Ginzberg relies on some incorrect assumptions that bias his arguments against free market solutions. While discussing current emphasis on free market, Ginzberg includes managed care company executives among its enthusiasts. These executives, whose jobs exist because of government interventions such as HMO [health maintenance organization] Act of 1973 and a current tax code that distorts free choice in insurance decisions, are no friends of free market and, in fact, consistently oppose free market reforms. It is government decrees that have promoted growth of these entities, whose incentives to physicians additionally make them no friends of patients. Ginzberg asks why, if the market has had wide scope to 'do its thing' for

Abstract. The study of markets and market prices has been a central feature of economic inquiry since the 18th Century. There have always been lingering questions on the meaning of market prices. Most moderneconomists argue that there are no normative implications to price analysis. The disclaimers of some economists about normative judgments ring hollow in the light of their vigorous advocacy of free market solutions to economic and other problems. Either free market solutions are superior alternatives or they are not; one cannot have a value free analysis and an ideological advocacy at the same time. The philosopher, Robert Nozick, in Anarchy, State, and Utopia, clearly finds meaning in the market place. His entitlement theory is predicated upon free exchange of goods and productive services. The normative use of free markets in general and of Robert Nozick's formulation in particular, it is contended, are inconsistent, illogical, and unscientific.

Nursing care involves a continuous interaction between nurses and people with disabilities. This has created a need for assessment tools that measure nurses’ knowledge about the basic human needs of people with disabilities. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to develop a Knowledge of Basic Human Needs Scale and investigate nurses’ levels of knowledge about the basic human needs of people with disabilities and their association with nurses’ education. Data were analyzed using principal component analysis to test the construct validity and to identify factors using principal varimax rotation. The reliability estimate was based on Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Linear regression models were used to assess the association between knowledge about basic human needs and predictors. Factor analysis extracted eight factors, explaining 66.3% of the total variance. The sampling adequacy, criterion validity, and internal consistency were satisfactory. The nurses’ levels of education was associated with their knowledge about the basic human needs of people with disabilities. The questionnaire constitutes a valuable contribution to improving nurses’ knowledge and practice, as well as the quality of healthcare, and it provides a contribution to improving the quality of life for people with disabilities.

Increasing attention is being paid to the ‘basic human needs' approach for reducing imbalances within a developing country, urban—rural imbalances being important among them. However, as investment for meeting basic human needs is not directly productive, the future growth of the economy would have to be sacrificed if this approach is taken. In this paper the development implications of two approaches, the economic growth and the basic human needs approaches, are projected through a simulation model, and they are evaluated relative to each other. It is shown that, even if the evaluation is based on the criterion of the relative position of the rural population to the urban population, low-income countries would be better off with the economic growth approach after about ten years. For middle- and high-income countries, the basic human needs approach deserves serious consideration.

ABSTRACTThis article extends reasoning about social policy, as a response to basic human need, to the treatment of communication policy. The idea of communication as a basic human need is of vital importance in a contemporary world in which so much social interaction of a private and public nature occurs through technological mediation. Through an examination of arguments in social and political theory about human needs, this article emphasizes how “needs talk” is used to justify “rights talk,” with particular attention given to how assumptions about communication needs—what they are, how they can or should be satisfied, and the politics of need recognition—are or can be used to justify communication rights.

References

POLITICAL ECONOMY AND DEMOCRACY IN THE WRITINGS OF CLASSICAL LIBERALS – JOHN STUART MILL AND HERBERT SPENCER The main aim of this paper is showing mainstream economic theory as an important factor shaping the evolution of political liberalism. The role of the economic theory in this process seems underestimated. The paper analyses the writings of two classical liberal thinkers – John Stuart Mill and Herbert Spencer, the former a pioneer of egalitarian liberalism, the latter of laissez-faire liberalism. Both Mill and Spencer were the followers of the classical political economy accepting the classical theory of distribution. Both saw the distribution of wealth as a spontaneous process, seeing no possibility correcting it for the people’s sake without disturbances or damages. According to the classical theory of wage fund, workers would get higher incomes only through accumulation of capital by owners and repressing their own fertility. Such statement was fundamentally opposite to all postulates of the workers’ movement. Workers always claimed bigger share in social income and legislation favoring laborers. The inevitable result of this contradiction was a conflict between liberal and democratic ideas. Mill and Spencer proposed two different solutions. J. S. Mill found a specific compromise and proposed enlarging franchise on working class, but with a still dominant position of the educated classes. Mill was against equal franchise for the working class because he did not conceive them as liable, rational and sober people. This position results from the wage fund doctrine; according to it, abundant workers’ fertility is wasteful for them and only sexual restraint (or chastity) would make their wages higher. Spencer in his early writing was an enthusiast of democracy, supposing the working class’ affinity to free market solutions. His later disappointment with democracy turned him into a strong critic of democratic parliamentarism from the standpoint of laissez-faire individualism. The case of these two liberal thinkers shows fundamental difficulty in reconciliation between the ideas of democracy and free market. We could choose democracy accepting welfare state or choose free market solution and become unambiguous critics of democracy. Spencer was a forerunner of all later ‘neoliberal’ critics of welfare state. Mill’s opinion was halfway between laissez-faire liberalism and modern egalitarian liberalism. Democracy and equal voting rights became acceptable by mainstream economist only when they had abandoned the wage fund doctrine and other constructs of the classical political economy. Thus changes in the economic theory had a significant impact on the evolution of political liberalism.

AIMS: to present a reflection on the clinic of patients infected by COVID-19 and to propose the main nursing diagnoses based on International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP©).
 METHOD: this is a reflection study, in which the selection criteria used were articles indexed in the MEDLINE, LILACS and BDENF databases published between December 2019 and April 2020, in English and Portuguese.
 RESULTS: 10 scientific articles were part of the study, which made it possible to know the symptomatologic profile of the disease, with emphasis on the classic triad of COVID-19, which is cough, shortness of breath and fever. It revealed that the basic human need most affected in this patient profile is oxygenation in view of hypoxemia being the main complication, for which the clinical outcome was negative, especially in elderly patients.
 CONCLUSION: there was a shortage and studies related to nursing in the face of this pandemic, but it was possible to conclude that ICNP© is one of the taxonomies that can be used to implement nursing diagnoses and intervention, the most frequent nursing diagnoses are related to the basic human and social need for oxygenation and vascular regulation.

The notion of sustainable infrastructure for the delivery of social services is to fulfill basic human needs; in war-torn societies, human safety is a critical basic need. The relationship between sustainable infrastructure development and human safety remains under-researched in Afghan neighborhoods. Therefore, this study examined the effectiveness of the police facilities constructed for stability enhancement in Afghan communities. To do so, this study used Afghans’ polling datasets on the police presence and the public safety perceptions, including newly collected survey data related to the influence of the police facilities on human safety and other factors contributing to the neighborhoods’ well-being. The datasets are organized with a multilevel structure in which different individuals are sampled within neighborhoods and analyzed using a multilevel model approach to capture the randomness of the responses. The results showed that police facilities are more important to perceptions of safety in less safe areas and that Afghans in villages perceived themselves as safer than in urban areas, relative to their own immediate region. Those perceiving themselves as being safer were older, more highly educated, and widowed respondents. Overall, Afghans perceived the police facilities as institutional symbol for promoting improvements and opportunities for fulfilling basic human safety need.