BACKGROUND: The authors examined the labor market for registered dental hygienists (RDHs) and dental assistants (DAs) in California from 1997 to 2005 to determine whether there was a shortage in either market.

METHODS: This analysis used economic indicators interpreted within an economic framework to investigate trends in labor force numbers and market-determined wages for RDHs and DAs. Rising inflation-adjusted mean wages indicated a labor shortage, while declining inflation-adjusted mean wages indicated a labor surplus.

RESULTS: From 1999 to 2002, the wages for RDHs increased 48 percent and then stabilized, indicating a shortage had occurred, after which the market achieved equilibrium. Wages for DAs increased 13.9 percent from 1997 to 2001, but then declined from 2001 to 2005, indicating a shortage that then became a surplus. The market for DAs may not have stabilized.

CONCLUSIONS: Wages increased for RDHs and DAs, suggesting that labor shortages occurred in both markets. The large supply response in the market for DAs resulted in wages declining after their initial rise.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Tracking the local labor markets for RDHs and DAs will enable dental professionals to respond more efficiently to market signals.

This article analyzes the Ebro inter-basin transfer, which was the main project of the Spanish
National Hydrological Plan. The Ebro transfer was prompted by pervasive pressures, scarcity and
degradation of Southeastern basins in Spain. The heated policy debate on the Ebro transfer, highlights the
difficulties of achieving a sustainable water management, because of the conflicting interests of stakeholders
and regions. Alternatives to the Ebro transfer show that, acceptable outcomes combine demand and supply
measures. Nevertheless, implementation could be difficult and requires compensation to farmers, otherwise
an excessive burden on farmers would be met by social opposition leading to the failure of measures.

This article provides an updated analysis of the institutional and organizational landscape surrounding the advocacy of and opposition to vouchers and other forms of school choice over the past decade at federal/national, state, and local levels. The politics of choice grew far more complex during the 1990s, with Republican control of Congress and the White House, the growth of the national charter school movement, congressional passage of pilot voucher programs, and the Supreme Court’s 2002 Zelman v. Simmons-Harris ruling. Utilizing an Advocacy Coalition Framework, questions about the ideological motivations behind different forms of school choice, the particular programs that certain groups are likely to support or oppose, and the strategies—including the potential alliances and coalitions—that are increasingly employed around school choice policy are explored. A framework for understanding and analyzing policymaking in this area is offered, extending existing thinking on both school choice issues and education policy more generally.

We show that the proportion of community social capital attributable to religious groups is inversely and strongly related to the number of cigarettes that smokers consume. We do not find overall community social capital or the proportion of community social capital attributable to religious groups to be related to the overall prevalence of smoking. Using a new validated measure of community social capital, the Petris Social Capital Index and three years (1998-2000) of US data on 39 369 adults, we estimate a two-part demand model incorporating the following controls: community-level fixed effects, price (including excise taxes), family income, a smuggling indicator, nonsmoking regulations, education, marital status, sex, age, and race/ethnicity.