Understanding Of Policy Issues Research Articles

Political advocacy and practice barriers: a survey of Florida APRNs.

This study examined factors aligned with advocacy among advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) by examining the relationships among demographics, years of RN and APRN experience, education levels, affiliations with professional organizations, perceptions of barriers to practice, political activism, and willingness to speak to the media. This was a secondary analysis of online survey data (N = 884) from APRNs in Florida. All APRNs with an e-mail address with the state nursing board or a Florida Coalition of Advanced Practice Nurses' membership organization received an e-mail requesting their participation to the survey. Having a high educational level and involvement in a professional organization are each individually statistically associated with perceiving practice barriers, engaging in political activism, and willingness to speak with media. Emerging nurse leaders need an understanding of policy issues, an appreciation of the potential of the profession, and enhanced advocacy skills. To address the nation's health needs, APRNs need to recognize practice barriers, develop advocacy skills, and take action for policy changes to enhance the legal authority to practice to full extent of APRNs' education and training.

The Media and an Informed Electorate - An Economist's Perspective

The media make an important contribution to the public’s understanding of policy issues. They are therefore important contributors to the workings of a democracy. Economic theory provides powerful tools for analysing markets. These include specification of a theoretical ‘ideal’ market and identification of possible market distortions or ‘failures’. This theory also provides frameworks for understanding possible policy interventions to address these failures, including explanations of their effects. This paper presents a theoretical economic structure for news media markets as providers of information on policy issues. Conceptually, it could be imagined that there are markets operating for the purchase and sale of information through newspapers, television and radio. Sufficient conditions are suggested for such markets to work in an ideal manner. This is contrasted to actual news media markets, identifying six possible market failures and associated policy interventions (including public provision). In part, this discussion may help to explain current policies on the news media, both in terms of why they have been introduced and how they may work. In addition, they may indicate the thinking underpinning the decisions to introduce the policies, why those interventions were selected. If the theory is relevant, this gives a useful structure for understanding and influencing the news media. If the theory is not relevant due to misrepresenting the actual operation of the news media, others may be able to see flaws in the reasoning. Economists could then take note of these errors to improve their understanding and resulting policy recommendations.

A Decision Analysis Approach to Policy Issues: The NAFTA Case

AbstractThis article presents decision analysis concepts and tools that can help scholars and decision makers to get a better understanding of policy issues. It describes the structure of knowledge maps for representing uncertain elements in policy issues, and decision frames for uncovering the information elements behind conflicting positions and helps participants find a common ground for agreement. The article also presents the application of these techniques to issues arising from the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Expanding the levels of analysis of fdi for improved understanding of policy issues: the case of mexico

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows are a key component of the restructuring and external integration now underway in many Latin American national economies. This paper suggests that understanding of policy issues concerning FDI can be enriched by two complementary shifts in the levels of analysis of FDI, each of which entails more detailed attention to the strategies and operations of multinational corporations (MNCs). At the macro-level, we show why it is beneficial to expand beyond the normal analytic concern with aggregate total FDI flows to focus instead on the separate, disaggregated components of those flows--that is, equity, reinvested earnings and other long-term and short-term capital flows between parent firms and their affiliates, as recorded in the national balance of payments capital account. The microlevel shift emphasizes the importance of focusing on varieties of types of FDI, not only across different foreign investors but within individual companies as well. It demonstrates the significance of switching from the usual concentration on firms as a whole to instead accentuating examination of individual projects and products--especially the dichotomy between market-access projects producing for the host country domestic market and production-efficiency projects producing for export markets, including the home country market. These two shifts in the level of analysis complement one another, and they interact in the sense that the mix of component flows can depend in part on the type of FDI. These analytic themes are developed using evidence concerning FDI in Mexico, with special reference to the automotive industry. Such improved comprehension of FDI is particularly germane for Latin American countries that are contemplating liberalization of foreign direct investment rules or have already undertaken them and witnessed the ensuing increase of inbound FDI.