oaf@mit-vax.UUCP (Oded Feingold) (03/22/86)
Job training: One of Jay Forrester's and Dennis Meadows' early
counterintuitive results (system dynamics, computer simulation
of) was the effect of job training programs: City A establish-
es a job training program for welfare recipients. People come
from all over to paricipate: Not all get into the program, and
of the program's graduates not all can get jobs. End result --
more people on welfare than you started with. Lose (locally:
other cities win by not expending the funds for job programs,
and unloading some welfare recipients.)
Welfare - as the example above suggests, I think a multifarious
overhaul is necessary - addressing part of the problem often
leaks more misery into other parts. It takes energy,
commitment and lots of money. The Europeans have been willing
to spend it, but note that their taxes are much higher than
ours.
Another example: Public expenditure for subsidized public
transport. Makes jobs accessible without buying a car or mov-
ing to an expensive neighborhood, both of which are beyond the
abilities of many welfare recipients. The Europeans have made
that kind of investment, we haven't.
Mahoney Barry - My praise to both for making constructive sug-
gestions and having a problem-solving attitude, independently
of how I rate their "solutions."
--
Oded Feingold MIT AI Lab. 545 Tech Square Cambridge, Mass. 02139
OAF%OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA {harvard, ihnp4!mit-eddie}!mit-vax!oaf 617-253-8598