The primary aim of this thesis is to advance economics' understanding of the organization of political parties, for the purpose of explaining the policy choices that result from collective decision procedures. Motivating this inquiry is the benign neglect that the political party as an organization has long suffered from in economics, in a manner that mirrors depictions of the firm in early neoclassical analysis. Accordingly, this thesis first considers the question of the relative influence of different contributors to the political parties' electoral activities, i.e. special-interest groups contributing money and individual party activists volunteering their time, on their choice of policy platforms. It is found that the presence of activists induces parties to offer differentiated policy platforms, even in the presence of a special-interest group whose contributions are perfectly substitutable with those of activists. Concurrently, the special interest's influence is to bias the parties' platforms towards its preferred policy. Second, the internal dynamics of parties organized into factions sharing common goals are investigated. It is studied how they affect the party leader's choice of policies while in office and her accountability to voters, through the threat of her removal from the party's helm. While occasionally acting as a distortion on the election mechanism's effectiveness for keeping politicians accountable, the presence of the politician's party is accountability-enhancing especially in the presence of other distortions. This contributes to a second-best theory of politics. This thesis' secondary aim is to contribute to restoring the use of moral and ethical concerns in normative analysis and political economy. This is warranted by the fact that moral and ethical motives matter more in such contexts than in most market transactions, where rational self-interested behaviour largely prevails. This objective is primarily represented in this thesis' study of normative analysis as conditioned on a societal consensus. This study asks how redistributive policies are to be optimally-chosen when the extent of societal co-operation regarding work participation depends on a social norm. Its main finding is that constraining the social planner's choices on the extent of societal cohesion restricts the scope of redistribution compared with an unconstrained social planner. / Thesis (Ph.D, Economics) -- Queen's University, 2011-11-03 12:16:33.632

My thesis develops three models of political economy, examining different factors that affect equilibrium in political markets. The first paper develops a model based on that of Moutos (2001) whereby a government must choose between a tariff and an income tax in order to raise revenue to finance redistribution from rich to poor. I use a simple median voter model of political economy to show that an income tax may be preferred if it can raise more money than the tariff. This result links well with the empirical observation that more liberal trade regimes are often associated with larger government sizes. The second paper explores the idea of interactions between different parts of a political party’s platform and the benefit that different groups can receive from those policies. I show that even when parties have no predisposition towards any particular policy their policy announcements may differ due to the difference in demand for policy favours from special interests. I also discuss how this difference in demand can affect the relative success of interests groups and of the political parties themselves, and apply these results to a simple model of trade policy to show that left-wing parties proposing higher income tax rates may attract support from groups who support trade protection in developed countries. My third paper provides an extension to the well known model of special interest politics by Grossman and Helpman (1996). I introduce costly informative spending that special interests can use to convert uninformed voters into informed ones. This is advantageous to special interests when those being informed are of a similar political persuasion to the interest group members, thus skewing equilibrium policies towards the group’s objectives.

This systematic review of the literature examined the effectiveness of the Power Card strategy to increase social skills in studies conducted with individuals with autism and other intellectual disabilities. Database searches conducted identified 12 studies that met the inclusion criteria with a total of 30 participants who had a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or an intellectual disability (IDD). The majority of the Power Card studies (n= 7) targeted social skills, while other targeted skills include direction following, on-task behaviors, latency to teacher cues, executive functioning, and personal space. All 12 studies were reviewed and analyzed for their intervention procedures such as the use of a scenario card, access to the Power Card after reading, if a functional behavior assessment (FBA) was completed, and how the special interest item (SIA) was chosen. Results of the review highlight the need for more research to evaluate which steps of the Power Card strategy are most effective, the need for a greater variety of target behaviors, and the need to focus on the maintenance and generalization of skills learned via the Power Card strategy. Relevant suggestions for future research and practice are discussed. / Applied Behavioral Analysis

xiv, 115 p. : ill. (some col.) / This dissertation presents the findings of a Type 2 translational research study to develop and test the feasibility and social validity of a social skills intervention for middle/secondary students with Asperger's Syndrome (AS) / High Functioning Autism (HFA). Utilizing a technology adoption model (TAM), this dissertation project sought to develop and test the feasibility of a three-tiered social skills curriculum/training program to promote social competency in teens with AS/HFA across multiple settings: school, home, and community. The TAM was developed in 2004 by Gardner and Amoroso to provide a more rigorous methodology by which to assess the acceptance of the technology by consumers. The development of an intervention that includes parental input in a repeated measurement of social validity and efficiency over time, together with the inclusion of a unique population parameter (parental groups) within a repeated measure, reinforced the appropriateness of the decision to use a Type 2 translational research model. This study consisted of two distinct phases. Phase 1 of the development process was conducted using separate focus participant groups: Group A (students with AS/HFA), Group B (parents/caregivers of students with AS/HFA), and Group C (educators of teens with AS/HFA). Phase 2, a small pilot study utilizing the newly created curriculum, was conducted using complete triads. This triad consisted of a student with AS/HFA, the student's parent/caregiver, and an educator of said student. These groups (ultimately triads) developed and refined a school-facilitated social skills intervention that utilized the goals and objectives of the student and her/his family in conjunction with existing opportunities within the community to design, implement, track, and modify a social skills program that was functional for the unique needs of the student. Findings suggest the Social Skills Triad curriculum may be a viable alternative method for teens with AS/HFA to develop and master social skills across settings over time that are meaningful to students, their families, and the home/school communities in which they function. / Committee in charge: Dr. Jeffrey Sprague, Chair; Dr. Kenneth Merrell, Member; Dr. Debra Eisert, Member; Dr. Gordon Hall, Outside Member

No description available.

It has been slightly more than a decade since Asperger syndrome was recognized as a distinct sub-category of autism disorder and was first given a diagnostic category in the DSM-IV. An abundance of suggestions, ideas, and recommendations for treatment have been offered, yet there is only a limited amount of research that empirically evaluates these interventions. This study explores an intervention, the Power Card Strategy (PCS), previously demonstrated to be effective with improving social behaviors with a young girl with autism, by employing the student's area of special interest. An advantage to this intervention is it is relatively easy to implement, requires minimal time, and the cost is virtually nil. This study used a reversal design to investigate the utility of the Power Card Strategy to increase on-task behavior during teacher-directed math instruction in a general education class. The results of this study suggest that the PCS was effective for increasing on-task behavior with this student. An upward trend was observed in the student's on-task behavior during the intervention condition. Upon return to the baseline condition, the student's on-task behavior stabilized at levels observed during intervention, suggesting that skills acquired during the intervention phase maintained.

A large majority of adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have one or more special interests, i.e. interests that they find to be extremely motivating and engaging. Also, students with ASD often struggle to focus in classroom settings, as academic assignments are typically not as motivating as their special interests. Previous research has shown that special interests can be used to increase academic on-task behavior for young children with ASD but is lacking in terms of academic on-task behavior in adolescents. In this study, a multiple-baseline across participants was used to determine whether altering academic assignments to match individuals’ special interests would increase on-task behaviors in three high school students with ASD. The intervention proved to be effective, as on-task behavior increased in all three participants. Although altering assignments did require some time from teachers this is likely justifiable, given the positive effects for the students. / En övervägande majoritet av ungdomar med autismspektrumtillstånd (AST) har ett eller flera specialintressen; intressen som de tycker är extremt motiverande och engagerande. Dessutom uppvisar elever med AST ofta svårigheter med att fokusera i klassrumsmiljöer, eftersom akademiska uppgifter vanligtvis upplevs vara mindre motiverande än deras specialintressen. Tidigare forskning har visat att specialintressen kan användas för att öka akademiskt on-task-beteende hos små barn med AST, med det saknas forskning gällande detta område hos ungdomar. I den här studien användes en multipel baslinje-design för att undersöka hur inkluderandet av specialintressen i skoluppgifter påverkade akademiskt on-task beteende hos tre gymnasieelever med AST. Interventionen visade sig vara effektiv, då on-task-beteendet ökade hos alla tre deltagare. Trots att denna typ av anpassning av uppgifter är tidskrävande för lärare, är tidsåtgången sannolikt befogad utifrån de positiva effekter det hade för eleverna.