Vacation as a Duty Hour Policy Lever

Investment in state of the art machinery and tooling and in R&D is widely seen as a prerequisite for achieving industry competitiveness in the long term. Investment-based incentives that countries provide for these inputs are perceived as a way of supporting industry competitiveness. Despite this being a global phenomenon, there is no formal process to guide the offer of these incentives. The process of designing such incentives is often based on internalized judgment rather than on formal models making it difficult to assess such interventions objectively and to improve on them. Specific to South Africa, the offer of incentives to the automotive industry to support its competitiveness has had mixed results. In particular, investment in R&D has remained minimal. The paper presents a system dynamics model as a proposed instrument in formalizing the offer of incentives, applied to the South African government's offer of incentives to the automotive manufacturing sector. The model was developed from qualitative and quantitative information on how the incentives had been structured. Simulations of the model reveal that the incentives model, as a stand-alone intervention, had a significant and positive effect on industry investment, but had no specific policy lever to direct investment into R&D and subsequent innovative activities. By this measure, the incentives model has not been a strong policy framework for supporting long-term industry competitiveness.

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The readiness of the South African education system for pre-grade R year

South African Journal of Childhood Education ◽

10.4102/sajce.v5i2.380 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Janeli Kotze

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

South African ◽

Basic Education ◽

Early Childhood Development ◽

Universal Access ◽

National Development ◽

Childhood Development ◽

Constrained System ◽

New Information ◽

Policy Lever

Investment in Early Childhood Development (ECD) has the prospect of cultivating potential within individuals and can assist in bridging the social equity gap from a very young age. Over the past decade Grade R has been the strongest policy lever used by the Department of Basic Education to improve early learning. The National Development Plan calls for universal access to two years of early childhood development prior to entering Grade 1. This paper explores the merits of this proposal, given the specific South African context. More specifically, this analysis intents to bring new information to bear on three matters. The first relates to the demand-side and aims to identify participation trends among four and five year olds. The second objective is to consider the supply-side and aims to understand the policy space in which pre-Grade R will function, the quality and quantity of infrastructure already in place, and the expertise of ECD practitioners. The final question considers the implementation of a universally accessible pre-Grade R within a constrained system and the requirements to ensure that it will have a significant impact on those children most in need.

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The Impact of Full-Time Enrollment in the First Semester on Community College Transfer Rates: New Evidence from Texas with Pre-College Determinants

Teachers College Record ◽

10.1177/016146811511701207 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 117 (12) ◽

pp. 1-34 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Toby J. Park

Keyword(s):

Community College ◽

Community Colleges ◽

Sample Selection ◽

State Level ◽

Public High School ◽

Full Time ◽

Transfer Rates ◽

Policy Lever ◽

The Impact ◽

First Time

Background/Context Recent developments in state-level policy have begun to require, incentivize, and/or encourage students at community colleges to enroll full time in an effort to increase the likelihood that students will persist and transfer to four-year institution where they will be able to complete their bachelor's degree. Often, these policies are predicated on the idea that full-time status is associated with greater engagement on behalf of the student, a concept that has been widely studied in higher education as it relates to student persistence and degree attainment. Purpose Building upon theory and observational studies, I seek to empirically test whether enrolling full time at a community college has a discernible effect on transferring to a four-year university. Research Design I follow four cohorts of first-time traditionally aged college students who graduated from a public high school in Texas in the years 2000–2003 and employ a propensity score matching procedure designed to reduce sample selection bias. Findings I find that enrolling full time increases overall transfer rates by at least 12%. These results are robust to the inclusion of many pre-college factors as well as to a sensitivity analysis, across four separate cohorts. Conclusions/Recommendations This study provides evidence in support of a key policy lever for increase transfer rates already in place in a handful of states: encouraging incentivizing, or requiring full-time enrollment. The key, however, will be to develop policy that results in more students enrolling full time while also maintaining the open access mission of community colleges. While requiring students to enroll full time may not be appropriate in all contexts, states should seriously consider other ways to incentivize or, at a minimum, support and encourage full-time enrollment, particularly for first-time traditionally aged students.

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NonProfits: A Public Policy Tool for the Promotion of Community Subjective Well-Being

Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory ◽

10.1093/jopart/muab010 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Robert W Ressler ◽

Pamela Paxton ◽

Kristopher Velasco ◽

Lilla Pivnick ◽

Inbar Weiss ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Policy ◽

Nonprofit Organizations ◽

Positive Emotion ◽

Well Being ◽

Subjective Well Being ◽

Theoretical Understanding ◽

Policy Tool ◽

Twitter Data ◽

Per Capita ◽

Policy Lever

Abstract Looking to supplement common economic indicators, politicians and policymakers are increasingly interested in how to measure and improve the subjective well-being of communities. Theories about nonprofit organizations suggest they represent a potential policy-amenable lever to increase community subjective well-being. Using longitudinal cross-lagged panel models with IRS and Twitter data, this study explores whether communities with higher numbers of nonprofits per capita exhibit greater subjective well-being in the form of more expressions of positive emotion, engagement, and relationships. We find associations, robust to sample bias concerns, between most types of nonprofit organizations and decreases in negative emotions, negative sentiments about relationships, and disengagement. We also find an association between nonprofit presence and the proportion of words tweeted in a county that indicate engagement. These findings contribute to our theoretical understanding of why nonprofit organizations matter for community-level outcomes and how they should be considered an important public policy lever.

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Limited Evidence That Competitive Food and Beverage Practices Affect Adolescent Consumption Behaviors

Health Education & Behavior ◽

10.1177/1090198111435095 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 40 (1) ◽

pp. 19-23 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Tracy C. Vericker

Keyword(s):

Food Policy ◽

Vegetable Consumption ◽

Value Added ◽

Public Health Problem ◽

Limited Evidence ◽

School Food ◽

Intervention Point ◽

Food And Beverage ◽

Using Data ◽

Policy Lever

Childhood obesity is emerging as a considerable public health problem with no clear antidote. The school food environment is a potential intervention point for policy makers, with competitive food and beverage regulation as a possible policy lever. This research examines the link between competitive food and beverage availability in school and adolescent consumption patterns using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999. Results from value-added multivariate regression models reveal limited evidence that competitive food policy affects fruit and vegetable consumption. Findings suggest a stronger link between competitive beverage policy and consumption of sweetened beverages for population subgroups.

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Tennessee to the Top: One State’s Pursuit to Win Race to the Top

Educational Policy ◽

10.1177/0895904815604216 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 31 (4) ◽

pp. 481-517

Author(s):

Maida A. Finch

Keyword(s):

State Level ◽

Race To The Top ◽

The State ◽

General Assembly ◽

Special Session ◽

Federal Program ◽

Grant Program ◽

Policy Lever

In 2009, a seldom-used policy lever emerged in the form of a competitive grant program, Race to the Top (RTTT), and sparked a flurry of state-led initiatives as states vied for federal dollars. The current study examines the policymaking context that surrounded these events and propelled Tennessee to the top of the race among the states. Through interviews with legislators and bureaucrats, I analyze the state-level processes instigated by a federal program in which all but four states participated, but fewer than half were winners. My examination details the parallels between the RTTT guidelines, Tennessee’s efforts, including the Special Session in the General Assembly, and the state’s plan for improving education in the state as outlined in their RTTT application.

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An Analysis of State Legislation on Community Trails

Journal of Physical Activity and Health ◽

10.1123/jpah.7.s1.s40 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 7 (s1) ◽

pp. S40-S47 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Amy Eyler ◽

Tina Lankford ◽

Jamie Chriqui ◽

Kelly R. Evenson ◽

Judy Kruger ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

State Legislatures ◽

State Level ◽

State Legislation ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Important Policy ◽

Fiscal Support ◽

Policy Lever ◽

Over Time

Background:Trails provide opportunities for recreation, transportation and activity. The purpose of this article is to describe state legislation related to community trails, to analyze legislation content, and to evaluate legislation on inclusion of evidence-informed elements.Methods:State trail legislation from 2001 to 2008 was identified using online legislative databases. An analysis of evidence-informed elements included in the legislation was conducted. These elements included: funding, liability, accessibility, connectivity, and maintenance.Results:Of the total 991 trail bills, 516 (52.0%) were appropriations bills, of which 167 (32.2%) were enacted. We analyzed 475 (48%) nonappropriation trail bills of which 139 (29.3%) were enacted. The percentage of enactment of appropriations bills decreased over time while enactment of nonappropriations trail bills increased. Over half of the nonappropriations trail bills included at least 1 evidence-informed element, most commonly funding. Few bills contained liability, connectivity, accessibility, or maintenance.Conclusions:There is opportunity for providing evidence-informed information to policy-makers to potentially influence bill content. The number of bills with a funding element demonstrates that fiscal support for trails is an important policy lever that state legislatures may use to support trails. Lastly, trails should be considered in over-all state-level physical activity legislation to provide opportunities for communities to be active.

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Defining the public domain in economic terms: Approaches and consequences for policy

Etikk i praksis - Nordic Journal of Applied Ethics ◽

10.5324/eip.v10i1.1951 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 61

Author(s):

Kristofer Erickson

Keyword(s):

Intellectual Property ◽

Consumer Surplus ◽

Public Domain ◽

Creative Economy ◽

Access To Information ◽

Policy Objective ◽

The Public ◽

Policy Lever ◽

Innovation Approach ◽

The Uk

<p>Stimulating innovation and growth in the so-called ‘creative economy’ is a current policy objective for national regulators. One policy lever traditionally applied to the creative sector is intellectual property, in particular the scope and term of protection offered by copyright. Opposition to expansion and further enclosure of the copyright public domain was previously articulated in terms of access to a commons of information. Since the Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property in 2011, copyright reform in the UK context is increasingly framed in the language of economics. This paper reviews two prevailing economic theories shaping how policy makers discuss the public domain in debates about IP reform: a welfare economics approach which weighs increases in producer and consumer surplus under different policy configurations and an economics of innovation approach which considers the value of the public domain as a reservoir of ideas for individuals and firms. I argue that economic definitions should be augmented by a consideration of the democratic requirement of access to information. The consequences of this re-figuration of the public domain for the public interest and access to information are discussed.</p>

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