Public Policy Initiatives Research Articles

Links and Winks--The Design of Ecological Corridors

This is our invocation of memory, but also of fantasy. The efforts being made to design ecologi cal corridors are grounded in the memory of a more connected physical landscape, with a more reliable ecological function. Our past human actions have given us structures that dominate the natural landscape, severing demographic and genetic connections. Human and ecological health needs, now urgent, will require stitching together the pieces. Is our stitching in time? Can a rendered ecological fabric be repaired? Success will require links among professional disciplines, not just between landscape parcels. In this Special Issue, we address a variety of perspectives necessary for progress: scientific fact-finding; architectural design explorations; public policy initiatives; and scale of action, from microsite to continental. We also offer journalistic scope from detailed, analytical black-and-white figures, to the knockout, 16 pages of living color of landscape architecture innovations. Have we gotten your attention? There’s a design world out there for the ecological community to meet. Invite them over (a wine bar will do)!

Commentary on Durkee et al. (2012): Adolescents in a webbed world

Over the past 10–15 years, research on the growing prevalence of Internet addiction has risen dramatically, spearheaded in the mid-1990s by the work of Dr Kimberly Young 1. Since that time, problematic Internet use prevalence studies have been conducted around the world and illustrate a growing global public health concern worthy of multi-disciplinary attention. Durkee and colleagues 2 deliver a seminal article on the prevalence of maladaptive and pathological Internet use in a large sample of adolescents in 11 European countries. Internet use disorder has been proposed for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-5 incorporating criteria similar to those found in substance and behavioral addictions, including urges or pre-occupation to engage in Internet use, withdrawal, tolerance, difficulty controlling time spent online, a disregard of harmful consequences, a loss of other interests, using the Internet to escape from problems, deception regarding use and impairment 3, 4. While the Internet clearly provides adolescents many benefits (e.g. educational access, social networking, a world perspective larger than the classroom), a maladaptive or pathological use of the Internet also seems possible and probable. The fact that maladaptive and pathological Internet use rates were found in 13.5% and 4.4% of students, respectively, raises significant concerns over the potentially deleterious effects of continued use amongst our global youth. Previous research in young adult and adult populations has indicated psychological problems, such as depression and anxiety, and physical problems, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, dry eyes, headaches 5, altered sleep patterns 6 and poor academic performance 7 associated with excessive Internet use. The so-called ‘chicken and the egg’ debate, however, remains as to which condition promotes the other and is a topic in need of study. Although associated with negative consequences in adult users, we know very little about the short- and long-term effects of Internet addiction on the health and well-being of children and youth 8. Identifying predictors of maladaptive use in this population is an extremely important first step in targeting contributing factors which may lead to future consequences. Interestingly, Durkee and colleagues found that limited parental involvement in the students' lives was a predictor of pathology—a logical conclusion as low parental involvement (or perceived involvement) by the student has been associated with substance use and other unhealthy behaviors. This finding underscores the need for public health initiatives targeting parental education and community involvement as these have been successful in reducing risky behaviors, such as illicit substance use and teenage sexual activity 9-11. The article by Durkee et al. prompts us to further explore the factors associated with maladaptive Internet use by examining—longitudinally—harmful outcomes in youth throughout the webbed world. Unfortunately, research exploring potential genetic and environmental predictors of addition development and associated health correlates has been focused largely in substance addiction, absent of other behavioral addiction models 12. With the majority of the world engaging in Internet use and with the potential for significant negative consequences resulting from maladaptive Internet use, one hopes that the scientific examination of health and educational consequences of repetitive, maladaptive Internet use continues to grow. The research by Durkee and colleagues is an important step in advancing the global knowledge of Internet use in adolescents, but more work is needed. Preventative health measures for children and adolescents who have no understanding of a world without the Internet should comprise a public health priority worldwide. Currently, educational directives and preventative measures are largely lacking from clinical guidelines 13 and major public policy initiatives, such as Healthy People 2020 14 have shown limited interest in behavioral addictions in children and adolescents. Large-scale initiatives such as the Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe (SEYLE) project (from which the Durkee and colleagues sample is derived) provide a valuable example of research that strives to identify and call attention to the impact of abnormal Internet use. With increasing numbers of Internet-capable devices and of young people accessing the Internet everyday, mental and public health professionals should be on guard. BO has received a research grant from the Trichotillomania Learning Center and honoraria from Oxford University Press and Current Medicine Group, LLC. JG has received research grants from NIDA, the National Center for Responsible Gaming, Forest, Psyadon, and Transcept Pharmaceuticals, and the University of South Florida. JG receives compensation as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Gambling Studies.

Competing with dominant global standards in a catching-up context. The case of mobile standards in China

The process of diffusion of standards and competition between standards is susceptible to initial conditions and is path dependent. In this paper, the authors are interested in investigating to which extent economic actions and public policy initiatives can modify the outcome of a path-dependent process of competition between standards. They also aim to identify the factors that affect the success of such initiatives. To this end they analyse competition between mobile standards in China across two generations (2G and 3G), with the help of essential notions of economics of standards. Different policy initiatives have been taken to stimulate the domestic innovation and to relieve the burden of foreign IPRs, culminating with the introduction of a 3G domestic standard, TD-SCDMA, to compete with the established global standards. Despite the size of the Chinese market and the strong hold of the government on the telecommunications industry, it is found that the available market data indicate that these path-breaking initiatives have not been successful from a commercial point of view. From the case study, the authors analyse the reasons for the unsatisfactory market results and outline the main lessons to be drawn. They also investigate to which extent the Chinese initiatives have contributed to other objectives related to catching-up. It is suggested that they have provided opportunities of learning to innovate and develop valuable capabilities. Building on the lessons drawn from this case, the authors discuss three standard policy and strategy options for catching-up countries: simple participation in global consortiums on agreed global standards, indigenous architectural innovation, and indigenous modular innovation.

Envy in the Market Economy: Sin, Fairness, and Spontaneous (Dis)Order

This paper explores the problem of envy (“sadness at another’s good”) from both theological and economic perspectives. The theological analysis helps show why envy is a perennial feature of human existence and an ongoing problem for ordered and flourishing social life. The economic analysis examines various attempts to come to grips with envy and its implications, showing the complexity of envy’s tractability (or lack thereof), and the resulting complications for attempts to minimize or eliminate envy through public policy initiatives aimed at inequalities resulting from market outcomes. The authors conclude that there are two variables at play in the calculus of envy: our sadness and another’s good. Envy could theoretically be reduced via the destruction of some goods, which often is the unintended result of policy solutions. But a more socially beneficial and morally responsible course of action is to focus on the economic, spiritual, and cultural causes of envy and their corresponding remedies.

The Supreme Court and information privacy

Advances in technology—including the growing use of cloud computing by individuals, agencies, and organizations to conduct operations and store and process records—are enabling the systematic collection and use of personal data by state and federal governments for a variety of purposes. These purposes range from battling crime and terrorism to assessing public policy initiatives and enforcing regulatory regimes. To aid these efforts, governments are promoting mandatory retention and reporting of data by online service providers and the expansion of laws that facilitate wiretaps to greater portions of the web. The legal framework for protecting individual privacy within this growing world of ‘big data’ is patchy and in critical ways outdated. Most of the current framework was erected in response to pronouncements by the Supreme Court over the years regarding the scope of constitutional privacy protections. Widespread agreement over the need for legislators to update the statutory regime has not yet produced results. Against this backdrop, the US Supreme Court has struggled in recent cases to articulate workable constitutional and statutory privacy norms that can help guide government, and individuals, in a world of digital and distributed data. An examination of the Court's privacy jurisprudence over the past forty years offers a number of insights into how the Court, and policy-makers, may achieve a balance between privacy and data use that accords with constitutional norms, serves vital public policy goals, and secures greater public trust and support.

Feelingful development: redefining policy through interpretation

This article initiates the concept of feelingful development, an idea which has emerged from our work on economic and community-based development in Atlantic Canada and Northern Ireland. The concept has evolved in parallel with the work of social and human scientists including Bevir and Rhodes (2008 and 2010), who have adopted an alternative, interpretive and decentred approach to the study of modern governance. The article will begin by outlining some of the thinking on interpretive approaches to public policy. It will offer our contribution by way of exploring what insights the literature of regional novelists in Atlantic Canada and Northern Ireland might add to pushing out the boundaries of this research. It will close by contemplating possible future research agendas on adaptation of policy and exploring whether Sen's (1999) capability approach might in future be cast within the governance literature to generate novel ideas on the interpretive evaluation of public policy and local development initiatives.

Affordability and Germany's low homeownership rate

PurposeRelative to comparable industrialized countries, Germany stands out in terms of its low homeownership rate (43 percent). For Germany, it is unknown so far to what extent the low rate of homeownership can be related to housing being unaffordable. One reason for the lack of evidence is the apparent lack of data. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap.Design/methodology/approachBased on a regional dataset of 3.9 million asking prices of housing units collected by a real estate listing engine, the paper applies internationally established affordability concepts to the German housing market. The authors then run a number of cross‐section regressions at the level of the 16 German federal states, using the affordability measures as explanatory variables of the rate of homeownership.FindingsThe results show that the average German household would have to sacrifice a large part of its non‐housing consumption to afford homeownership, especially of single‐family homes. As the regional analysis reveals, certain types of household can even be considered excluded from the ownership market in some particularly unaffordable states with cost burdens of over 50 percent, such as Bavaria. The cross‐section regression results for the 16 federal states affirm the importance of affordability as a determinant of the homeownership rate.Research limitations/implicationsThe official data on ownership rates are rather spotty over time and only available for a single year (2006) for the time frame that is considered for the affordability analysis (2005‐2010). Given the data limitations, the regression analysis has to be confined to a single cross section least squares regression for 2006. The authors are aware that to obtain truly convincing results, it would be necessary to capture the development of ownership rates in different localities in Germany, such as the 16 federal states, over time and to check to what extent the affordability measures can explain any of the variation in ownership rates in a panel data framework with fixed effects for federal states and time. However, the authors feel that the regression results may serve as a starting point; they are better than a set of simple correlations, even if they constitute not a conclusive causal analysis.Practical implicationsAny public policy initiative to raise Germany's homeownership rate will have to address the question of how to make housing more affordable. The recent elimination of homeowner subsidies is working in exactly the opposite direction.Originality/valueThe affordability approach used is technically not new or challenging, but it offers a basis for comparison that has been conspicuously lacking so far for the fourth largest economy of the world. By applying affordability concepts that are well accepted and in use internationally, the authors believe that they can provide at least some suggestive evidence that can further spur research into the affordability issue. While the authors do not break new methodological ground with their paper, they do provide a basis of comparison for policy discussion and for further research. Germany provides a unique environment for affordability research, due to its reunification history, observations from which may thus yield insights valuable to the international research community.

Understanding social investment policy: evidence from the evaluation of Futurebuilders in England

The concept of social investment has attracted interest from policy makers, financial markets and not-for-profit organisations. It is an emergent notion that is multifaceted and includes different market forms, policy responses and institutional configurations. There is relatively little empirical evidence on the design, implementation and impacts of the various initiatives that have been perceived as falling within the field of social investment. This article begins to address this gap. It draws on the national evaluation of Futurebuilders in England, which was undertaken between 2005 and 2010. At the time, Futurebuilders was one of the largest examples of a public policy initiative to support social investment; based on a policy model of government seeking to promote the use of loan funding to third sector organisations as part of a wider agenda of expanding the sector's role in the delivery of public services. The article explores the effects of the programme on the third sector, on public service delivery and on service users. In conclusion, the article challenges some of the assumptions of this policy model, as well as the potential for 'impact investing' to become a framework for welfare provision.

Economic and health effects of fruit and vegetable advertising: Evidence from lab experiments

This study investigates consumer response to various types of advertising for fruits and vegetables—a food category which health officials uniformly agree is significantly under-consumed in the United States. Using an adult, non-student subject pool of 271 participants in an economic experiment, consumers’ response to different types of fruit and vegetable advertising is measured empirically. This study finds that broad-based advertising, which is generic advertising for the entire fruit and vegetable category, increases consumer willingness to pay by an average of 24.6%. The simulation model shows that broad-based advertising for fruits and vegetables, either alone or as a hybrid with individual commodity-specific campaigns (e.g., apple advertising), would reduce average caloric intake per person by approximately 1800kcal per year. The results of this study may contribute to new public policy initiatives that aim to reduce diet-related illnesses and obesity, which have become increasingly prevalent in the United States.

Decolonization of Psychiatric Public Policy in Jamaica

Involuntary commitment and custodialization were the principal tenets of British colonial public policy provisions for the management of the violent, disturbed mentally ill in Jamaica and the West Indies. Over the fifty years following Jamaica's political independence from Britain, a community engagement mental health programme has developed through a decolonization process that has negated involuntary certification, incarceration and custodialization, has promoted family therapy and short stay treatment in conventional primary and secondary care health facilities, and has promoted reliance on traditional and cultural therapies that have been extremely successful in the treatment of mental illness and the reduction of stigma in Jamaica. Collaborations involving The University of the West Indies, the Jamaican Ministry of Health and the Pan American Health Organization have been seminal in the development of the decolonizing of public policy initiatives, negating the effects of involuntary certification that had been imposed on the population by slavery and colonization. This collaboration also catalysed the psychiatric training of medical, nursing and mental health practitioners and the execution of community mental health policy in Jamaica.

The risks and impacts of space weather: Policy recommendations and initiatives

Space weather affects global technological systems and societies. Space weather, or the dynamic conditions on the Sun and in the space environment and their impacts on technological systems, can produce coronal mass ejections, solar energetic particles, and geomagnetic disturbances. These space weather events can cause extreme currents in the electric grid, widespread blackouts, and phone and internet communication failures both in space and within the Earth's atmosphere. Severe space weather can damage satellites used for global positioning, communications, and weather forecasting. It also creates a risk of radiation exposure to astronauts and commercial airline crews and passengers. Accurate forecast knowledge of the space weather threat and timing of events is critical to planning and preparation to minimize socioeconomic impacts. This paper reviews the scope of the space weather threat on the global community today. It describes current international and US public policy initiatives to mitigate risk to infrastructure, public safety, and human life. It examines recent international reports and US federal disaster reduction plans to meet these challenges and provides recommendations to increase public awareness and implement public policies to prepare, prevent, and recover from possible catastrophic failures of commercial and government infrastructures caused by a major space weather event.

Impact of Public Policy on Nursing Employment: Providing the Evidence

Due to economic instability, employment status has been shifting over time. Organizations have been moving toward a flexible contingent workforce. An early study of employment patterns demonstrated a significant rise in part-time and casual employment in the Ontario nursing workforce ( Baumann et al. 2006 ). The Nursing Graduate Guarantee, a public policy initiative, represents a substantial investment by the provincial government to stimulate full-time employment. This article presents the results of a trend analysis of nurse employment. Results indicated that stimulus funding attached to the public policy influenced employment of new graduate nurses.

Enhancing Financial Sector Surveillance in Low-Income Countries - Case Studies

This supplement presents ten case studies, which highlight the roles of targeted policies to facilitate sustainable financial deepening in a variety of country circumstances, reflecting historical experiences that parallel a range of markets in LICs. The case studies were selected to broadly capture efforts by countries to increase reach (e.g., financial inclusion), depth (e.g., financial intermediation), and breadth of financial systems (e.g., capital market, cross-border development). The analysis in the case studies highlights the importance of a balanced approach to financial deepening. A stable macroeconomic environment is vital to instill consumer, institutional, and investor confidence necessary to encourage financial market activity. Targeted public policy initiatives (e.g., collateral, payment systems development) can be helpful in removing impediments and creating infrastructure for improved market operations, while ensuring appropriate oversight and regulation of financial markets, to address potential sources of instability and market failures.

The methodological identity of shadowing in social science research

PurposeThe research technique of shadowing is the most in‐depth type of systematic, direct observation in situ of behaviours within a particular organisational or social setting, and yet, it crucially lacks documentation and critical analysis. The origins of the under‐documenting, coupled with the mutation of the scientific method of shadowing through its adoption by many industries as a means of on‐the‐job training, have led to a misunderstanding of shadowing as a scientific technique. This is problematic at several levels for academics deeply involved in qualitative methodology. The purpose of this paper is to address, in part, this gap in the literature.Design/methodology/approachBy defining shadowing, considering the reasons why shadowing has had little critique from social science scholars and then exploring the problems of it as a research technique, particularly within the current context of ethics regimes, the authors wish to proactively help to avoid unintentional yet delicate fieldwork situations, in which misunderstanding may happen due to the lay use of “shadowing” as a passive (non‐obtrusive) observation.FindingsThe authors argue that the research practice of shadowing implies specific systematic techniques and extensive self‐discipline by the researcher. It also caters for a need in data collection that oversteps traditional observation‐and‐interviewing techniques, by adding a new hermeneutical layer to the information gathered. It becomes an essential tool in the evaluation of public policy initiatives and programmes and in the understanding of not only the mechanics, but of the motivations behind actions and behaviours.Originality/valueThis paper addresses part of a gap in the literature and paves the way for more critical analysis of the dynamics that emerge during the shadowing of a research participant.

Gen Green: Changes in Australian apprentices’ and trainees’ experience of skills and sustainability from 2008 to 2011

The Gen Green research in 2008 and 2011 indicates that skills for sustainability public policy and business initiatives are having an impact, but that young skilled Australians’ high level of interest in sustainability skills is confounded by a lack of guidance and incentives from employers, the market and educators. The research indicates that, since 2008, there has been a significant take up of green skills in workplaces and courses. Young skilled people say that their learning of sustainability skills from all sources has increased, continuing to recognise TAFE as their main source of learning about sustainability skills. Young skilled people see barriers to sustainability reducing and shifting from cultural factors to technological limitations. However, the research indicates that there remains a large gap between young skilled peoples’ aspirations to develop skills for sustainability and available learning opportunities, suggesting an increased scope for skills for sustainability initiatives in the future.

Medicare Part D Research and Policy Highlights, 2012: Impact and Insights

BackgroundIn the 6 years since the implementation of Medicare Part D in the United States, the program has been reported to improve quality, offer better beneficiary protections, and lower drug costs. ObjectiveThe purpose of this article was to highlight the latest key peer-reviewed research findings on Medicare Part D and major public policy initiatives for Part D for 2012. MethodsPubMed was searched for studies on Medicare Part D published in 2011 in biomedical/scientific, peer-reviewed, English-language journals. For the policy update, sources included the Federal Register, the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Manual, the 2012 Final Call Letter, and guidance from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. ResultsMedicare Part D has been associated with increased medication utilization, reduced out-of-pocket expenditures, and an overall decrease in cost-related non-adherence and nonpersistence. Its impact on reduction in non-drug utilization of health services has been more apparent after the transition year in 2006 and among subsets of Medicare beneficiaries. Recent policy changes promise to make Part D more user-friendly, simplify choice, and offer greater protection to beneficiaries. The coverage gap will phase out by 2020. Both the quality rating system for prescription drug plans and medication therapy management programs were enhanced. ConclusionsAlthough Part D was designed to improve drug benefits, improvements may be needed in plan selection and simplification, quality assessment (especially with regard to long-term impact and health outcomes), evidence-based improvements in medication therapy management, and disparities among priority subpopulations. Medicare Parts A, B, and D could be coordinated to offset costs by increasing medication expenses and decreasing expenses for nonprescription medical services, thereby improving the overall cost-effectiveness of the Medicare program.

Description of a Fidelity Implementation System: An Example from a Community-Based Children’s Mental Health Program

Public policy initiatives to deliver evidence-based practices in community settings have increased the need to develop implementation feedback systems to assist program administrators adopting the practices as well as researchers who wish to continue the line of research. This paper contributes to the efforts to reduce the implementation gap in the children’s mental health services field by exploring the concept of fidelity and highlights its importance to the adoption of evidence-based practices. Fidelity, or the degree to which interventions are implemented as originally designed, is generally conceptualized as a system of five unique and interrelated components including adherence, dosage, participant responsiveness, quality of delivery, and program differentiation. Definitions and a critical analysis of each of the component’s strengths and weaknesses are offered while discussing the integrated nature of each component. An example of the development and use of the five components of fidelity within a community-based evidence-based program is described.

Demarketing teen tobacco and alcohol use: Negative peer influence and longitudinal roles of parenting and self-esteem

Tobacco and alcohol companies face increasing pressure to prevent smoking and drinking among underage consumers, reinforcing public policy initiatives designed to reduce youth substance use. One approach targets parents to influence their child's behavior. However, the extant literature remains unclear about whether childhood parenting strategies affect children's behavior beyond early adolescence. To fill this void, this research develops an integrative model of parental influence, specifying parenting strategies as antecedents, self-esteem as mediator, and susceptibility to negative peer influence (SPI) and substance use (smoking, and drinking) as socialization outcomes. The findings indicate that childhood parenting strategies impact smoking and drinking in the late teens, by reducing susceptibility to negative peer influence, with self-esteem playing a critical mediating role. These findings not only offer guidelines to social marketers and public policy makers, but also provide new avenues for tobacco and alcohol marketers to be responsive to recent federal laws and regulations, and enhance their corporate social responsibility.

Tight Clusters or Loose Networks? The Critical Role of Inward Foreign Direct Investment in Cluster Creation

Giblin M. and Ryan P. Tight clusters or loose networks? The critical role of inward foreign direct investment in cluster creation, Regional Studies. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of inward foreign direct investment in instigating a clustering process. In particular, the study examines the situation in which foreign direct investment is initially attracted to a region as a result of public policy initiatives rather than the existence of sophisticated local capabilities. Under these circumstances, the presence of large foreign-owned multinational corporations is shown to result in local knowledge transfers and regional reputation effects. These effects give rise to a clustering process, which contrary to other perspectives, shows that external economies can be captured locally from foreign direct investment. Giblin M. et Ryan P. Des grappes entassées ou de vagues réseaux? Le rôle critique de l'investissement direct étranger dans la création des grappes, Regional Studies. Cet article cherche à examiner le rôle de l'investissement direct étranger dans la création des grappes. En particulier, l'étude examine la situation où l'investissement direct étranger se dirige dans un premier temps vers une région particulière suite aux actions gouvernementales plutôt qu'en réponse à la présence des capacités locales évoluées. Dans cette optique, on démontre que la présence des grandes sociétés multinationales à capital majoritaire étranger entraîne des effets quant aux transferts de la connaissance locale et à l'image de marque de la région. Ces effets suscitent le regroupement qui, contrairement à d'autres points de vue, montre que l'on peut capter sur le plan local des économies externes de l'investissement direct étranger. Grappes industrielles Investissement direct étranger Sociétés multinationales Régions Retombées Economies externes Giblin M. und Ryan P. Enge Clusters oder lose Netzwerke? Die wichtige Rolle der eintreffenden ausländischen Direktinvestitionen bei der Bildung von Clustern, Regional Studies. In diesem Beitrag wird die Rolle der eintreffenden ausländischen Direktinvestitionen bei der Auslösung eines Clusterprozesses untersucht. Insbesondere wird die Situation untersucht, in der die ausländischen Direktinvestitionen anfangs nicht wegen des Vorhandenseins fortgeschrittener lokaler Kapazitäten, sondern aufgrund von öffentlichen politischen Initiativen angezogen werden. Unter diesen Umständen führt die Präsenz von großen multinationalen Konzernen im Auslandsbesitz zu lokalen Wissenstransfers und Auswirkungen auf den Ruf der Region. Diese Auswirkungen verursachen einen Clusterprozess, was – im Gegensatz zu anderen Perspektiven – zeigt, dass externe Ökonomien durch ausländische Direktinvestitionen lokal erfasst werden können. Branchencluster Ausländische Direktinvestitionen Multinationale Konzerne Regionen Übertragungen Externe Ökonomien Giblin M. y Ryan P. ¿Aglomeraciones estrechas o redes sueltas? El importante papel de la inversión extranjera directa interna en la creación de aglomeraciones, Regional Studies. La finalidad de este artículo es investigar el papel de la inversión extranjera directa interna al instigar un proceso de aglomeración. En este estudio analizamos en particular la situación en la que la inversión extranjera directa no es atraída inicialmente a una región por la existencia de capacidades locales sofisticadas sino como resultado de las iniciativas políticas de carácter público. En estas circunstancias, se demuestra que la presencia de grandes corporaciones multinacionales de propiedad extranjera crea transferencias de conocimiento local y tiene repercusiones en la reputación regional. Estos efectos dan lugar a un proceso de aglomeración, lo que, a diferencia de otras perspectivas, muestra que las economías externas pueden ser captadas localmente por inversión extranjera directa. Aglomeraciones industriales Inversión directa extranjera Corporaciones multinacionales Regiones Desbordamientos Economías externas

Impact of Public Policy on Nursing Employment: Providing the Evidence

Due to economic instability, employment status has been shifting over time. Organizations have been moving toward a flexible contingent workforce. An early study of employment patterns demonstrated a significant rise in part-time and casual employment in the Ontario nursing workforce (Baumann et al. 2006). The Nursing Graduate Guarantee, a public policy initiative, represents a substantial investment by the provincial government to stimulate full-time employment. This article presents the results of a trend analysis of nurse employment. Results indicated that stimulus funding attached to the public policy influenced employment of new graduate nurses.