Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Editor's Note, Padraig O'Malley

New England Journal of Public Policy

Decades beget catchwords to describe them, but the 1980s may defy our best efforts to capture them in one pithy phrase. For a time it appeared that the "me generation" would suffice, but this was essentially an introspective generalization drawing on a parochial perspective: America preoccupied with America rather than with the broader world beyond its borders.

Perhaps the explosion of the Challenger on that bright Tuesday morning in January 1986 has much to do with our self-doubt, with our realization that while we might still regard ourselves as being first among equals, we were no longer preeminent. For the …

The Academic Workplace: Perception Versus Reality, Sandra E. Elman

New England Journal of Public Policy

Why are faculty becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the quality of the academic workplace? What accounts for burnout and low morale among so many college and university faculty? Is work life for professionals any more satisfying in the business world? What can academic leaders learn from business executives who work vigorously to reenergize their enterprises? Are corporate strategies aimed at enhancing the quality of work life applicable to improving satisfaction and productivity in our colleges and universities?

These concerns were addressed by a number of education leaders at a conference on faculty work life jointly sponsored by the New England Resource …

The Past As Prologue? What Past Industrial Conflicts Within The Gop Tell About The Future Of The Bush Administration, Thomas Ferguson

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article analyzes patterns of GOP campaign finance with an eye to the light they can shed on the future of the Bush administration. After flashing back to 1980 and 1984, it presents a detailed statistical breakdown of who contributed to whom in the 1988 GOP primary, based on a large and carefully constructed sample of top corporate executives and investors. The Dole campaign emerges as especially important for the clues it provides about the opponents of major changes in U. S. policy toward Eastern Europe and the USSR.

Growth Management In The 1980s: A New Consensus And A Change Of Strategy, Susan M. Sinclair

New England Journal of Public Policy

After a decade of relative silence on the issue of land use planning, legislatures in several states are reassessing the relative roles of state and local governments in the management of growth and development. When state governments first addressed the land use issue in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, environmental concerns dominated the debate. During this period a number of states established regulatory mechanisms for bringing certain kinds of development under state review. During the late 1970s and early 1980s there was a hiatus in state-level activity on land use issues. Since 1985, however, the issue has reemerged …

The Problems Of Rural Reindustrialization: A Case Study Of Monroe, Massachusetts, Jeanne H. Armstrong, John R. Mullin

New England Journal of Public Policy

Owing to the departure of the mill industry from rural New England, many small towns have suffered erosion of their economic base. These towns and villages face a declining population, vacant mills, and an aging workforce. Monroe, Massachusetts, is an example of the problems of rural reindustrialization. This article concludes that state intervention is required for the restoration of productivity.

The Southwest Corridor And Economic Development In Boston's Neighborhoods, Daryl Hellman, Andrew Sum, Joseph Warren

New England Journal of Public Policy

The Southwest Corridor is a narrow strip of land running five miles from the South End of Boston through Roxbury and ending in Jamaica Plain. Twenty years ago, neighborhoods through which the Corridor passes experienced tremendous upheaval as space was cleared for the proposed construction of Interstate 95. The communities were able to stop the highway project, but not without a long and difficult struggle and the eventual support of then Governor Francis Sargent. Today, the Southwest Corridor Project involves a new MBTA Orange Line relocated along the Corridor, with nine new stations at a total cost of approximately $750 …

Medicaid And Medicaid Cost Containment In Massachusetts, Fredric A. Waldstein

New England Journal of Public Policy

The purpose of this article is to describe Medicaid's financial structure and examine cost containment efforts to limit future growth of the program, particularly pertaining to Massachusetts. The principal focus is the Massachusetts Department of Public Welfare and the Massachusetts Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, the two agencies most responsible for Medicaid cost containment in the commonwealth. Because elected officials are unwilling to face directly the troublesome issues surrounding Medicaid and its growth, the government agencies responsible for cost containment have been left to define the scope of the problem, design remedial strategies, and evaluate their success. This process is found …

It's Hard Outside: Profiles Of Elderly Homelessness, Joseph Doolin

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article is a qualitative study of the lives of homeless elders in Boston. It examines the concerns uppermost in the minds of the homeless including the art of integrating their past lives into the values and milieu of their current homeless situation. Concern about the reinstitutionalization of the mentally ill in public shelters, domiciles once reserved for the older alcoholic, the pressures and stress of shelter life, victimization, the shrinking supply of SRO units, and the role of alcohol are also examined. Considered in detail are various coping strategies and supports utilized by older adults in their survival roofless. …

Editor's Note, Padraig O'Malley

New England Journal of Public Policy

In the domain of public policy, there often appears to be an inverse relationship between our ability to identify and define, sometimes with great specificity, the scale and dimensions of the problems we face and our capacity to address them. One reason for this state of affairs is that our major public policy dilemmas are interconnected — attention to one would require attention to many — and without the threat of catastrophic crisis, no action or piecemeal action is invariably preferred to comprehensive action.

But there is at least one other important factor at work: the question of who are …

The Housing Crisis And New England's Economy: State And Local Initiatives To Offset The Federal Retreat, Rebecca Stevens

New England Journal of Public Policy

Housing is a major economic factor for any region. Over the last several years, dramatically increased housing prices in New England have cast doubt on the region's ability to sustain continued economic growth. Indeed, New England's lack of affordable housing has caused labor shortages and other problems for New England businesses. With the federal government slashing its housing assistance in the 1980s, New England states and localities have started to address the region's housing problems by developing a variety of housing programs. But their resources are relatively limited and they are not able to expand the supply of affordable housing …

Vantage Points: Prose Parables Of The Republic, Shaun O'Connell

New England Journal of Public Policy

Shaun O'Connell brings his usual insights to his book review essay. "Our novelists," he concludes, "have served us better than our politicians in classifying our condition" — an accomplishment that is somewhat less grand than it seems when we remember that the recent competition came from George Bush's "Read my lips" and "A thousand points of light" and Michael Dukakis's "Good jobs at good wages" and "I'm on your side."

Among the works discussed in this essay: Firebird, by James Carroll; Where I'm Calling From: New and Selected Stories, by Raymond Carver; Paris Trout, by Pete Dexter; …