#publicpolicy — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #publicpolicy, aggregated by home.social.
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subject to the cloud act...?
seems likely
'Unnamed companies are looking at setting up six data centres in Tasmania, a document tabled by the state government in parliament reveals'
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subject to the cloud act...?
seems likely
'Unnamed companies are looking at setting up six data centres in Tasmania, a document tabled by the state government in parliament reveals'
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subject to the cloud act...?
seems likely
'Unnamed companies are looking at setting up six data centres in Tasmania, a document tabled by the state government in parliament reveals'
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subject to the cloud act...?
seems likely
'Unnamed companies are looking at setting up six data centres in Tasmania, a document tabled by the state government in parliament reveals'
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subject to the cloud act...?
seems likely
'Unnamed companies are looking at setting up six data centres in Tasmania, a document tabled by the state government in parliament reveals'
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Whoever owns the compute owns the world?
In my latest post, I argue that governments should own or co-own part of the infrastructure behind AI. Regulation and taxation matter, but neither gives us the control we need.
We Need Public Ownership of AI Infrastructure
https://marcpuricelli.cv/posts/we-need-public-ownership-of-ai-infrastructure.html -
Whoever owns the compute owns the world?
In my latest post, I argue that governments should own or co-own part of the infrastructure behind AI. Regulation and taxation matter, but neither gives us the control we need.
We Need Public Ownership of AI Infrastructure
https://marcpuricelli.cv/posts/we-need-public-ownership-of-ai-infrastructure.html -
Whoever owns the compute owns the world?
In my latest post, I argue that governments should own or co-own part of the infrastructure behind AI. Regulation and taxation matter, but neither gives us the control we need.
We Need Public Ownership of AI Infrastructure
https://marcpuricelli.cv/posts/we-need-public-ownership-of-ai-infrastructure.html -
Whoever owns the compute owns the world?
In my latest post, I argue that governments should own or co-own part of the infrastructure behind AI. Regulation and taxation matter, but neither gives us the control we need.
We Need Public Ownership of AI Infrastructure
https://marcpuricelli.cv/posts/we-need-public-ownership-of-ai-infrastructure.html -
Whoever owns the compute owns the world?
In my latest post, I argue that governments should own or co-own part of the infrastructure behind AI. Regulation and taxation matter, but neither gives us the control we need.
We Need Public Ownership of AI Infrastructure
https://marcpuricelli.cv/posts/we-need-public-ownership-of-ai-infrastructure.html -
'University of Melbourne architect and the lead author of the study, said animals were seeking out buildings as substitute habitats as their natural homes and hollows disappeared'
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there's such a profound discord bw how i perceived civic virtue/the public interest/duty of care/pastoral responsibility and our current social formation around technology
i realise these are all distinct but the wholesale normalisation of ai (particularly into education and public service) intersects them all and i honestly believe this unreflective adoption (clearly perceived to be an essential engine of economic growth and competitive advantage) is symptom of social disease
'New York City’s public school system plans to impose strict limits on artificial intelligence and screen time in classrooms for the upcoming school year, including a blanket ban on generative AI'
#technology #pedagogy #genAI #publicPolicy #evidenceBasedPractice
https://gothamist.com/news/nyc-public-schools-to-ban-ai-for-teaching-students-below-9th-grade
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DATE: August 28, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: The gender gap in politics is not widening as much as you think
URL: https://www.psypost.org/the-gender-gap-in-politics-is-not-widening-as-much-as-you-think/
Despite popular narratives about a widening political divide between men and women, the gender gap on most social and cultural issues has remained relatively stable over the past two decades. A recent analysis of public opinion data reveals that while men and women often hold different views, their attitudes shift in parallel in response to current events. The research was published in Social Science Quarterly.
Researchers have tracked differences in political attitudes between men and women for over half a century. Women typically show higher support for social welfare and environmental protection, a trend often linked to socialization around caregiving and economic vulnerability. On the other hand, differences between the sexes are often smaller or less predictable on morality issues like abortion or immigration.
Some scholars suggest that younger, more egalitarian generations are driving a wedge between the sexes as they replace older generations. This type of generational change is known as a cohort effect. It happens when a specific age group develops distinct attitudes during their formative years and carries those views throughout their lives. As older generations pass away and younger ones enter the electorate, the overall public opinion shifts.
Alternatively, changes in public opinion might stem from period effects. These are widespread shifts in attitudes caused by historical events, such as a major economic recession or a global pandemic, which influence people of all ages at the same time. Political scientists April K. Clark of Northern Illinois University, Izabelle P. Chick and Juliet E. Carlisle of the University of Utah, and Eric R. A. N. Smith of the University of California, Santa Barbara, designed a study to see which of these two forces actually shapes the gender gap.
The research team analyzed data from the Gallup Poll Social Series. They looked at national surveys conducted annually between 2000 and 2024. The researchers organized responses to ten specific social and cultural issues into three distinct categories.
The first category focused on care and social protection, which included issues like hunger and homelessness, crime and violence, drug use, and healthcare access. The second category covered social stability and societal change, encompassing race relations, illegal immigration, and the quality of the environment. For these first two categories, respondents were asked to rate how much they personally worried about each problem.
The final category centered on morality and rights conflicts, specifically abortion policies, gun laws, and LGBTQ+ acceptance. For this category, respondents rated their level of satisfaction with the nation’s policies or social climate.
Using a statistical technique known as cross-classified random effects modeling, the researchers evaluated how opinions changed over time. This approach allowed them to separate the influence of a person’s birth year from the specific year they took the survey. In doing so, they could isolate whether generational replacement or time-specific events were responsible for shifts in public opinion. They also accounted for individual demographic factors like educational attainment, income, race, marital status, and political ideology.
Across nearly all the issues studied, the researchers found that period effects accounted for a large share of the variation in attitudes. When major national events occurred, the opinions of both men and women shifted in the same direction. Generational differences, or cohort effects, played a much smaller and less consistent role in changing public opinion.
Women consistently expressed higher levels of worry than men regarding care and social protection issues, such as hunger, homelessness, and healthcare. Yet, when concern spiked, as it did during the 2008 economic recession and the COVID-19 pandemic, it spiked for both sexes equally. Following these peaks, worry generally decreased for both groups. Because men and women responded to these external shocks similarly, the overall distance between their opinions barely changed.
The researchers observed similar parallel movements on issues of crime and drug use. Concern about both topics has generally declined since the early 2000s among all respondents. This downward trend aligns with documented drops in actual crime rates over the same period.
Similar patterns emerged in the other categories. Men and women showed comparable levels of concern regarding race relations and illegal immigration. Their views on these topics rose and fell together over the last two decades. The fluctuations regarding race relations likely reflect heightened public awareness in response to specific cultural moments, such as the Black Lives Matter movement. While the researchers noted a slight gap regarding the environment, with women expressing more worry, the two groups experienced parallel increases in concern in recent years.
On matters of morality and rights, satisfaction levels fluctuated in tandem for both sexes. Satisfaction with the nation’s abortion policies and gun laws has generally declined since the early 2000s for all respondents. Decreased satisfaction with gun policies in the early 2010s, for instance, aligns with the public outcry following the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting. On the other hand, satisfaction with LGBTQ+ acceptance grew steadily among both men and women throughout the study period.
The findings indicate that the idea of a growing culture war strictly divided by gender might be inaccurate. Instead of drifting apart into separate ideological camps, men and women appear to process and react to national events in similar ways. Broad social, economic, and political developments shape public opinion much more than any gender-specific divergence.
The study has certain boundaries. The data analysis begins in 2000, meaning it does not capture earlier decades when foundational shifts in gender roles and partisan alignments first occurred. Because the observed opinion shifts are primarily driven by current events rather than permanent generational changes, today’s trends might not predict future public opinion. An economic downturn, a major court decision, or a large policy shift could alter the current trajectory of these attitudes.
Future studies might expand the timeline to include earlier decades and incorporate more specific data on how factors like race, class, and geography interact with gender. Examining differences among women or among men, such as comparing married and unmarried individuals, could provide a more detailed picture of how political attitudes form in the United States.
The study, “Generational Shifts and Gendered Divides: Exploring Attitudes on Social, Cultural, and Political Issues in the United States,” was authored by April K. Clark, Izabelle P. Chick, Juliet E. Carlisle, and Eric R. A. N. Smith.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/the-gender-gap-in-politics-is-not-widening-as-much-as-you-think/
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Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #GenderGap #PublicOpinion #GenerationalShift #CohortEffect #PeriodEffect #PublicPolicy #CareAndSocialProtection #MoralityAndRights #EnvironmentalConcern #PoliticalAttitudes
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This is a column for everyone in the path of Hurricane Katrina who ever said, “I’m sorry, I’m just not interested in politics,” or, “There’s nothing I can do about it,” or, “Eh, they’re all crooks anyway.”
Look around you this morning. I suppose the NRA would argue, “Government policies don’t kill people, hurricanes kill people.” Actually, hurricanes plus government policies kill people. […] This, my friends, is why we need to pay attention to government policies, not political personalities, and to know whereon we vote. It is about our lives.Molly Ivins (1944-2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
Essay (2005-09-09), “Katrina and You,” Texas ObserverMore about this quote: wist.info/ivins-molly/16624/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #mollyivins #katrina #disaster #disengagement #government #misgovernment #payattention #policy #political #politics #publicpolicy #voting
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RE: https://scholar.social/@natebowling/116919710245909045
'*gentrification* is the process by which a neighborhood experiences an influx of wealthier residents and investment, often bringing higher property values, new businesses, and changes to the built environment. None of those things are inherently bad. The trouble comes with what often follows...Displacement occurs when rising housing costs, taxes, rents, or changing neighborhood conditions make it difficult or impossible for longtime residents to remain in the community they call home'
#gentrification #disability #builtEnvironment #publicPolicy #livableCities
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Is Nepal Moving Toward a Socialism-Oriented Federal State or a Capitalist Economy? A Systems-Level Reflection on Nepal’s FY 2026/27 Budget
The Constitution of Nepal defines Nepal as a “socialism-oriented federal democratic republican state.” Multiple election cycles since the Maoist insurgency suggest that democracy has matured considerably. Political parties broadly operating within the republican democratic framework have consistently remained at the center of political competition. The most recent election, following the Gen-Z movement, arguably strengthened the foundations of the republican system. Political actors advocating a return to monarchy remained on the margins and failed to translate public unrest into electoral dominance. Historically, pro-monarchy sentiment tends to gain visibility when governments fail to deliver expected outcomes. The Gen-Z movement represented perhaps the strongest expression of dissatisfaction with the status quo political order. If the Nepali public genuinely favored restoration of monarchy, that election cycle would have provided an ideal opportunity for monarchy-supporting forces to emerge as a dominant political alternative. Instead, voters largely endorsed parties committed to republican democracy, reinforcing the democratic republican trajectory of the country. Yet another constitutional question remains unresolved: while Nepal appears committed to republican democracy, is it also moving toward becoming a socialism-oriented federal state? This article adopts a devil’s advocate perspective to examine whether the latest fiscal budget advances that constitutional aspiration or whether it reflects a different economic direction.
The Budget Represents a Development-State Strategy
Viewed from a systems perspective, the budget rests on a coherent developmental logic. Its central objectives are to accelerate growth through productive investment, strengthen state capacity through reform and digitization, and attract domestic, diaspora, and foreign investment. The underlying diagnosis appears reasonable. Nepal’s challenge is not merely a shortage of money but low productivity, weak state capacity, fragmented development efforts, and bureaucratic friction. The budget attempts to connect infrastructure, energy, agriculture, tourism, technology, and investment into a more integrated economic architecture. Borrowing is presented not as a tool for consumption but as an instrument for productivity-enhancing investment. From this perspective, the budget is essentially a wager on state capacity. If government institutions become more effective, projects are completed on time, corruption is reduced, and investment translates into economic growth, then higher borrowing may be justified. Many countries such as South Korea and Vietnam that successfully modernized followed versions of this strategy. The budget therefore deserves credit for attempting to move the conversation beyond annual expenditures toward a broader development framework.
Is the Budget Fundamentally a Trickle-Down Strategy?
A central question is whether the budget’s theory of change resembles a form of trickle-down economics. Much of the strategy focuses on investment promotion, infrastructure expansion, digitization, regulatory reform, business facilitation, and productivity growth. The implicit assumption appears to be that economic growth will eventually spread throughout society through employment generation, enterprise creation, and broader economic opportunities. The concern is not whether growth is desirable. The concern is whether the benefits of growth will reach marginalized populations quickly and equitably enough. Critics may reasonably ask whether the budget places greater emphasis on investors, businesses, and the middle class than on direct improvements in the economic conditions of vulnerable communities. If economic gains remain concentrated among those already positioned to benefit from investment opportunities, the constitutional aspiration of a socialism-oriented state becomes harder to reconcile with actual policy outcomes.
Do Specific Policy Choices Reflect a Capitalist Rather Than Socialism-Oriented Direction?
Several policy signals raise broader questions about the state’s economic philosophy. First, taxes imposed on education and health services are likely to be passed on to consumers unless strong regulatory mechanisms prevent it. If the objective is to increase reliance on public education and public healthcare, improving the quality and competitiveness of those services may be a more effective first step than creating additional costs within private alternatives. Second, electricity consumption thresholds before tax appear low relative to the growing electrification of modern households. As families adopt induction cooking, electric vehicles, heat pumps, and other appliances, many middle-income households could exceed these thresholds. The result may unintentionally encourage continued reliance on gas, firewood, or other fossil-fuel alternatives. If the objective is to redirect electricity toward industrial use, expanding generation capacity may be more sustainable than discouraging household consumption.
Third, enthusiasm for data centers, AI, remote work, and digital services raises a deeper strategic question. Is Nepal building on its own long-term comparative advantages, or is it once again responding primarily to incentives created elsewhere? Nepal previously moved away from potentially transformative assets such as electric public transport systems, ropeways, and large-scale reservoir hydropower development, and increasingly relied on labor export. The concern is not that digital industries are undesirable, but whether Nepal is repeating a pattern of chasing externally driven opportunities without a clearly articulated national development vision.
These examples create an impression that the budget may be nudging Nepal toward a model closer to contemporary market capitalism than toward the socialism-oriented framework envisioned by the constitution. Ironically, some parts of the capitalist Americas are currently witnessing renewed interest in democratic-socialist ideas and stronger social welfare policies, while Nepal appears to be emphasizing investment-led growth and market incentives.
The Real Debate may not Socialism Versus Capitalism
As the world is witnessing a renewed interest in democratic-socialist ideas and stronger social welfare, the deeper issue may not be whether Nepal is becoming socialist or capitalist country. The more important question is whether the assumptions underpinning the strategy prove correct. Several unintended consequences deserve attention. First, the key question is whether Nepal can finally convert borrowing into productive assets rather than accumulating debt without generating sufficient returns. Second, growth alone does not guarantee broad-based prosperity. The strategy assumes that gains from investment will spread through jobs, enterprise creation, and economic opportunity reaching marginalized communities. History suggests this outcome is possible but far from automatic. Third concern is about governance. The budget assumes improvements in administrative efficiency, project execution, corruption control, bureaucratic coordination, and institutional discipline. If these governance preconditions fail, borrowing could become another source of fiscal stress and public resentment rather than a catalyst for development. Fourth, the budget contains numerous concepts—corridors, processing, digitization, investment facilitation, infrastructure, tourism, and energy. Yet the overarching economic vision remains somewhat implicit. It is unclear whether these initiatives are components of a strategic coherent national development strategy or simply a collection of individually attractive policies held together by optimism rather than a clearly articulated economic vision. The assumption appears to be that combining these fragments will naturally produce prosperity, which deserves scrutiny.
The fifth concerns Nepal’s long-term development challenge. For more than four decades, billions of rupees have been invested in expanding road access into hill and mountain districts. While connectivity improved significantly, many districts continue to experience population decline as young people migrate to cities or overseas employment. Agricultural land is increasingly abandoned, wildlife pressures have intensified, and local economic opportunities remain limited. This experience suggests that infrastructure alone does not guarantee development. The more fundamental challenge may be employment generation, entrepreneurship, agricultural modernization, and innovation. A clearer budgetary focus on urban and rural entrepreneurship could potentially provide a more direct response to youth migration. Finance, training, vocational education, pilot programs, market access, digital economy initiatives, grants, loans, mentoring, and long-term support mechanisms could then function as supporting pillars around that central objective.
Finally, Nepal’s strategic location between India and China remains an underdeveloped dimension of national economic planning. The bridge-economy concept appears indirectly through investments in connectivity, energy, logistics, and regional development, but it remains insufficiently explicit. Positioning Nepal within the evolving economic geography of Asia may ultimately prove as important as any individual budget allocation.
Concluding, the budget reflects a serious attempt to accelerate growth, strengthen state capacity, and attract productive investment. Those objectives are difficult to oppose. However, important questions remain: are some policy choices moving Nepal closer to a market-capitalist model and trickle down economy than to a socialism-oriented nation; is there a sufficiently explicit economic vision connecting the many initiatives contained in the budget; can Nepal finally overcome its historic weakness in execution?The ultimate test will not be the size of the budget, the ambition of the plans, or the sophistication of the theories behind them. It will be whether the strategy creates productive employment, broad-based opportunity, stronger institutions, and a development pathway that keeps young Nepali invested in the country’s future. Efficiency can accelerate development. But democratic legitimacy, social inclusion, and long-term national purpose ultimately determine whether development becomes sustainable.
Note: This article is inspired by the article “New Team, New Budget: Nepal’s Big Development Bet [Part 1: Big Budget. Big Dreams. Big Assumptions.” published by Dr. Alok Bohora in his Substack website “Nepal Unplugged”. I was acknowledged in his successive article for contributing to the discussion. This article combines my thoughts together my synthesis of above mentioned article.
Rate this:
#AgriculturalModernization #ArtificialIntelligence #bijeshMishra #BridgeEconomy #BureaucraticReform #Capitalism #ChinaNepalRelations #ConstitutionOfNepal #CorruptionControl #DataCenters #DevelopmentState #DiasporaInvestment #DigitalEconomy #EconomicGrowth #EconomicPolicy #EconomicVision #energyPolicy #Entrepreneurship #FederalDemocraticRepublic #FiscalPolicy #ForeignDirectInvestment #FY202627Budget #Governance #Hydropower #InclusiveGrowth #IndiaNepalRelations #InfrastructureDevelopment #InstitutionalReform #InvestmentPromotion #LaborMigration #MarketEconomy #NationalDevelopmentStrategy #Nepal #NepalBudget202627 #NepalDevelopment #NepalEconomy #PoliticalEconomy #ProductiveInvestment #PublicAdministration #PublicFinance #PublicPolicy #RuralDevelopment #SocialJustice #SocialismOrientedState #SouthKoreaDevelopmentModel #StateCapacity #SustainableDevelopment #TrickleDownEconomics #UrbanDevelopment #VietnamDevelopmentModel #youthEmployment -
This new book explains why your elderly parents’ retirement home, the nursery where you drop your children, or the company that pipes water into your kitchen is taken over by an increasingly intricate and deregulated industry.
If a private equity fund is "buying something using a lot a debt, [then] all of that debt is loaded onto the company that the private equity fund has acquired."
"Private equity has moved into care homes, housing, water, nurseries and other essential services."
"We have the power for it to be done otherwise."Hettie O’Brien: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAJKiVQZaks via @oscarjiminy
#mortality #publicHealth #housing #publicServices #retirement #careHomes #hospital #expansion #development #LBO #privateFinance #finance #privateFinance #privateEquity #capitalism #publicPolicy #assets #England #Wales #Scotland #privateSector #UK #Britain #Blackstone #property #realEstate #buildToRent #Macquarie #childCare #careIndustry #taxBreaks #pensions #extraction
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Gig Worker Social Security in India
India’s Gig Workers Have a Law. They Still Don’t Have Protection. The Implementation Gap in the Code on Social Security, 2020 Policy Brief | Anjali Bisht | June 2026 The Problem India has around one crore gig workers today- delivery riders, cab drivers, domestic service providers, and freelance platform workers- who power the country's urban economy every day. According to NITI Aayog's 2022 estimates, the gig workforce is projected to reach 2.35 crore by 2029–30. For decades, they […]https://thinkwithab.wordpress.com/2026/06/07/gig-worker-social-security-in-india/
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I wrote a short, reflective blog post because social media musings be transient.
https://medium.com/@aarohini/policy-work-beyond-technological-moral-panic-4fdd2eb0b0aa
#policy #socialpolicy #techpolicy #publicpolicy #moralpanic #reflections #blog
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Nudge theory was all about taking responsibility – but it allowed big business to look the other way
#NudgeTheory #BehavioralEconomics #PublicPolicy #CorporateAccountability #SystemicChange #Economics #SocialPolicy #ClimatePolicy #Governance #Inequality
https://the-14.com/nudge-theory-was-all-about-taking-responsibility-but-it-allowed-big-business-to-look-the-other-way/ -
The U.S. national debt crossed 100% of GDP this week. The coverage got it wrong in both directions. The $39 trillion gross figure overstates the immediate problem. The "it's just the government owing itself" dismissal understates the long-term one. The Fed's SOMA holdings and the Social Security trust funds are fundamentally different obligations and the standard presentation muddles both.
https://jameshoward.us/2026/05/01/the-39-trillion-number-is-wrong/
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Quebec since 1995: decline or progress?
#Quebec #Canada #Economy #FiscalPolicy #Poverty #PublicFinance #Demographics #SocialEquality #Taxation #Healthcare #Progress #Inequality #Housing #Sustainability #QuebecReferendum #EconomicGrowth #PublicPolicy
https://the-14.com/quebec-since-1995-decline-or-progress/ -
What does it really mean to build a career in #SocialJustice?
From #MacroSocialWork and #CommunityOrganizing to #PublicPolicy and #LegalAdvocacy, there’s no single road to systemic change. Each path offers unique trade-offs in impact, access, and sustainability.
My latest article breaks down the four most effective professional routes to drive justice at scale, and helps you find the one that aligns with your values.
https://themacrolens.com/2025/10/22/career-in-social-justice/
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The biggest threat in the Ontario election isn’t Donald Trump, it’s voter disengagement
#Ontario #Canada #OntarioElection #DougFord #VoterEngagement #ClimateChange #HousingCrisis #Healthcare #Politics #Election2025 #PublicPolicy #Democracy #CanadaPolitics
https://the-14.com/the-biggest-threat-in-the-ontario-election-isnt-donald-trump-its-voter-disengagement/ -
On Jan 22nd, join our colleagues at Children Now for a webinar about how you can use the 2024 California Children's Report Card to support kids in your community.
The webinar will provide an overview of the findings in the Report Card; trends in children’s health, early childhood, education, and child welfare; and opportunities for local and state advocates to work together to build power, amplify community voices, and improve children’s outcomes.
Details and registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jaWnI67IQ-Stk5llTGtI5g#/registration
#Children #ChildHealth #Childcare #Education #EarlyEducation #Data #Trends #California #PublicPolicy #PublicHealth
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Between 2019 and 2021, California lost more than 1,100 licensed childcare facilities and nearly 19,000 licensed spaces—more spaces than the number of children in Mendocino or 21 other California counties.
In 2021, child care spaces were unavailable for nearly a quarter of California children ages 0 to 12 with working parents.
This National Family Caregivers Month, revisit our blog series on the childcare crisis: https://bit.ly/3XOYq4X
#Children #Childcare #AffordableChildcare #WorkingFamilies #WorkingParents #PublicPolicy #Education #Caregivers #EarlyEducation #Preschool #Daycare