Pseudoplanning

The tactics used by sponsors to manage a planning process is an important cause of plan failure. When the process is manipulated or its management ignored, pseudoplanning results. Several case studies were analyzed to identify types of pseudoplanning. They are called, “What's the problem,” “omnipotent planners,” “transported ideas,” “pooled ignorance,” “do it my way,” “change as given,” “surrender,” “takeover,” “sciencism,” and “empty phases.” Each is described to point out how they led to poor planning practice.     

Permanent and temporary workers in a matching framework

This paper investigates on a theoretical level the underlying causes of recent trends in decision of firms to hire temporary and permanent labour when workers and firms meet through a frictional directed search technology. Temporary workers differ from permanent workers in that they have a lower bargaining weight but look for a permanent job while on the temporary job. The findings are that permanent arrangements are more prevalent the more productive the aggregate production function is, i.e. also in the less productive phases. More efficient matching has an inverse U shaped impact, it first increases the prevalence of temporary arrangements and then decreases it. Bargaining weights have an ambiguous impact.     

Change mechanisms in the diffusion of residential energy conservation practices: an empirical study

Four types of variables that affect the diffusion of home energy conservation measures are assessed. These variables are the information possessed by households, household attitudes, the economic and demographic characteristics of households, and the attributes of conservation measures. A causal model of behavior change is presented based on Fishbein's theory of reasoned action. The model is tested using panel data on 225 homeowners from Decatur, Illinois and two conservation practices: employing winter night-time thermostat setbacks and adding attic insulation. The results illustrate the importance of all four change mechanisms. Many nonadopters have erroneous information about the financial and other benefits of the two practices. The elderly and the poor are particularly ill-informed. Negative attitudes are closely related to discomfort (for night-time setback) and expense (for attic insulation). As expected, barriers and incentives differ across population subgroups and innovations.     

Policy issues raised by direct broadcast satellites

Direct Broadcast Satellites, which transmit television programs directly to the viewer's home, present several policy issues that will have to be resolved during the next few years. Some of these issues transcend DBS, hence they must be resolved in a larger framework. Those that exist essentially within the framework of DBS include issues at the program producer's end, issues at the viewer's end, and technology issues. These latter are particularly important because inappropriate or unwise policy choices made now may nullify the benefits promised by improved technology.     

Who's talking about the future?: An analysis of the U.S. Presidents

What are people actually saying when they are talking and writing about the future? The paper rests on two premises; that the future is essentially a construct of human thought, and that one method of knowing the future is to carefully examine the language used when “the future” is being talked about. The 13 inaugural addresses of the U.S. presidents since 1933 are systematically examined for evidences of their author's future orientation. The paper provides both factual data about the future consciousness of our presidents over the past 50 years, and also demonstrates the use of linguistic analysis for forecasting the future.     

Citizen participation through computer conferencing

As American society grows more diverse and the issues that must be decided grow more complex, the need for new forums and better forms for public debate increases. Is computer conferencing likely to meet this need because of its potential for facilitating public participation in government? To shed light on this question, we constructed, ran, and observed a computer conference on recombinant DNA among four participants with no previous experience in using computers and no scientific training. Results indicate that not only was this topic successfully discussed by lay people in this way, but that the conferencing mode of discussion was preferred by certain types of people. Our experience also gave us insights that may improve management of computer conferences for inexperienced users.     

Informed consent in societal risk—Benefit decisions

Subjective judgements of fact and value are an inevitable component of societal risk—benefit decisions. Recent psychological research suggests that such judgments, whether made by experts or laypeople, are prone to systematic biases. Such judgmental problems can be handled in a variety of ways when designing decision-making systems, including: (a) ignoring them; (b) excluding laypeople and their fallible judgments; and (c) manipulating people's perceptions so as to induce countervailing biases. The feasibility of such approaches and their impact on the decision-making process are discussed.