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Prior research on the impacts of public capital stocks on economic growth has generally used either national macroeconomic or multijurisdictional regional data. This study attempts to contribute to this area of the discipline by using time series data for a single metropolitan economy. To allow for both short-run and long-run effects, an error-correction modeling framework is used for the empirical analysis. Because comprehensive public infrastructure stocks are not published for El Paso, Texas, estimates for those variables are calculated using information regarding annual public capital investment data. Estimation results indicate that physical infrastructure investment may disrupt short-run economic growth but does improve long-run metropolitan economic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report compiles a great deal of qualitative data concerning the policy-making and decision climate in El Paso which have undergirded the consolidation debate up to the present time. Contained within the report are the following areas; Monitoring, which will demonstrate policy outcome; Evaluation, which will establish policy performance; Problem Structuring, which will outline policy problems; Forecasting, which will predict policy futures; and Recommendation, which will substantiate policy actions. It is the hope of this report that current and future city-county policy-making will implement the following decision-making instruments to transcend existing limitations and create a new vision for a consolidated metro government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The counseling role of clergy has been seen as threatened by the professionalization of mental health care. There are two reasons to reject this view. First, a theologically and psychologically sound program for training pastors in counseling has been growing for more than 50 years. Second, research findings, spanning a period of more than 20 years, consistently show that the clergy is the most frequently sought source of help for psychological distress. Findings reported in this study are based on a sample of 806 respondents selected from El Paso, Texas. As in past research, the clergy continue to be by far the most popular source of help for a personal problem. Popularity of the clergy as a help resource is not significantly affected by religious affiliation, but is affected by ethnicity, church attendance, and socioeconomic status. Among Other conclusions, it is suggested that an intensive community mental health care orientation be promoted among clergy, practitioners of family medicine, psychiatrists/psychologists, and psychiatric social workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]