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23 Pol'y Stud. J. 6 (1995)

handle is hein.journals/plyssjnl23 and id is 1 raw text is: Policy Studies Journal, 23:1 From the Editors This issue inaugurates the twenty-third year of publication of the Policy Studies Journal. Several aspects of the field of policy studies are evident from the accumulated record of policy research that has been highlighted in this journal. Many of these are apparent even more clearly from the far more extensive and broader history of the study of public policy that extends back over many decades and across many fields of the scientific study of social phenomena. Among the most serious questions that arise from this overview concern the foundations and methods of policy research. Prompted by our recent conversations with Matthew Holden, a member of the PSJ Editorial Board, we are including in the Notes section at the end of this issue a Call for Papers for a future special symposium to be published in PSJ. Stated most broadly, the theme of these essays is the intellectual foundations of contemporary public policy research. Articles submitted for consideration to be included in this special issue will be subjected, of course, to the usual process of external peer review and evaluation. We envision a collection of first-rate essays, addressing various aspects of what could be characterized as the intellectual underpinnings of policy studies. Anyone who is interested in submitting manuscripts to this endeavor should contact the PSJ co-editors, and Professor Holden, at the earliest possible opportunity. Please see the Call for Papers announcement in this issue for further information. In This Issue The individually-contributed articles in this issue share a common theme of the interplay between economics and politics. Shaoguang Wang's essay on the transformations that are underway in China's economy emphasizes the role played in that process by policy debates over alternative future directions to be taken by what has become one of the largest and fastest-growing economies in the world. A central conclusion from Wang's research is the sharp and as-yet-unresolved nature of disagreements among high-level policymakers and academics. Vernon Ruttan examines the relationships that have arisen between the operations of multilateral development banks and policy decisions taken by the United States government. He emphasizes the interrelationships that exist between domestic political vicissitudes and the activities of transnational institutions. Kathleen Rehbein discusses the causes and consequences of domestic campaign contributions by firms that are owned by foreign sources of capital. Collectively, these three articles provide impressive evidence regarding important and different, yet related, aspects of contemporary political economy. The current edition of the Policy Studies Journal features a symposium on environmental health policy, edited by David R. Graber and James J. Johnson. This collection of peer-reviewed essays addresses various aspects of this important aspect of the study of public policy. It includes articles on the parameters of risk characterization and risk assessment procedures, economic considerations of environmental standards that are justified for their health consequences, hazardous waste disposal, meta-analysis, lead contamination, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster, and the hazards associated with benzene, dioxins, and formaldehyde. Review essays by Scott Ward on competing views regarding the feasibility of balancing the United States federal budget, and by Lawrence Mead on current literature elucidating United States policy toward combating poverty, are accompanied by individual book reviews by Ross Talbot of A Modern Guide to the European Parliament (by Martin Westlake), and by Charles Menifield of Marilyn E. Lashley and Melanie 6