Cent In France Research Articles

Turning the UK into an innovation superpower

It was one of the real inflection points for the business when we got our first grant," recalls Neill Ricketts, the CEO of Versarien, an advanced materials business based in Cheltenham. "It shows a level of credibility to our investors and proves what you're working on is valid". Versarien's grant came from Innovate UK, one of the country's big sources of R&D funding, and an important lifeline for businesses like Versarien. Private companies, academic researchers and scientists working on cutting-edge technologies often rely on funding to pay for some or all of their R&D. Without this kind of support, most would run out of cash before being able to turn potentially revolutionary ideas into marketable products.Currently, however, the UK falls behind other comparable countries on R&D spending and support. World Bank data shows we spend about 1.7 per cent of GDP on R&D, compared with 2.2 per cent in France, 2.8 per cent in the USA, 3.1 per cent in Germany, 4.8 per cent in South Korea and 5 per cent in Israel (the highest spender).

Trade finance matters: evidence from the COVID-19 crisis

This study documents a substantial decline in the exports of major trading nations taking place in March 2020. Accounting for product-specific seasonality and annual trends, the data suggest a drop by 38 per cent in France, about a quarter in Turkey and Germany, and 12 per cent in the US, relative to their historical averages. Detailed export data from Turkey, disaggregated by financing terms, show another striking pattern. Flows using bank intermediation which eliminates or reduces the risk of non-payment or non-arrival of prepaid goods, such as letters of credit or documentary collection, appear to have been much more resilient to the current downturn relative to flows using other financing terms. These findings suggest that access to trade finance is vital during times of heightened uncertainty.

International variation in managing locally advanced or recurrent rectal cancer: prospective benchmark analysis.

Tumour extension beyond the mesorectal plane (ymrT4) occurs in 5-10 per cent of patients with rectal cancer and 10 per cent of patients develop locally recurrent rectal cancer (LRRC) after primary surgery. There is global variation in healthcare delivery for these conditions. An international benchmark trial of the management of ymrT4 tumours and LRRC was undertaken in France and Australia between 2015 and 2017. Heterogeneity in management and operative decision-making were analysed by comparison of surgical resection rates, blinded intercountry reading of pelvic MRI, quality-of-life assessment and qualitative evaluations. Among 154 patients (97 in France and 57 in Australia), 31·8 per cent had ymrT4 disease and 68·2 per cent LRRC. The surgical resection rates were 88 and 79 per cent in France and Australia respectively (P=0·112). The concordance in operative planning was low (κ=0·314); the rate of pelvic exenteration was lower in France than Australia both in clinical practice (36 of 78 versus 34 of 40; P < 0·001) and in theoretical conditions (10 of 25 versus 50 of 57; P =0·002). The R0 resection rate was lower in France than Australia for LRRC (25 of 49 versus 18 of 21; P =0·007) but not for ymrT4 tumours (21 of 26 versus 15 of 15; P =0·139). Morbidity rates were similar. Patients who underwent non-exenterative procedures had higher scores on the mental functioning subscale at 12 months (P=0·047), and a lower level of distress at 6 months (P=0·049). Qualitative analysis highlighted five categories of psychosocial factors influencing treatment decisions: patient, strategy, specialist, organization and culture. This international benchmark trial has highlighted the differences in worldwide treatment of locally advanced and LRRC. Standardized care should improve outcomes for these patients.

The apple, the tree, and a space to grow in

ABSTRACTThe idea for the study presented in Spanish Legacies: the coming of age of the second generation was sparked by the series of unrests from immigrant youths in a number of cities across Europe. The discontent expressed by the young generation of immigrants presented a sharp indicator of how little is known about young people of foreign origin growing up as immigrant residents in Europe, despite their significant number (10 per cent in France, 13 per cent in Spain and 15 per cent in Ireland by 2010). The success or failure of immigrants’ integrational processes, considering cultural factors and language barriers as challenges experienced by immigrants, can have major political and social impact on the regions where they reside. It is these challenges that are investigated in depth, in this book.

Federal Britain: The Case for Decentralisation

The United Kingdom’s current devolution settlement leads to unrepresentative government and has an inbuilt bias towards ‘big government’. This situation is exacerbated because nations with devolved government are over-represented in the UK parliament compared with their population, when it might be expected that they would be under-represented. • The UK has the most centralised government of the G7, as measured by the proportion of revenue raised by sub-central government. In the UK, only 5 per cent of revenue is raised locally, compared with 50 per cent in Canada and 13 per cent in France, which is the next most centralised country by this measure. • Measured by the proportion of total government spending undertaken by sub-central government, the UK does not fare quite as badly. However, it is among a group of three countries in which between 20 and 30 per cent of all government spending takes place at sub-central central government levels – this is much less than the G7 average. A further indication of the degree of centralisation in the UK is the fact that, in 2011, local authorities had over 1,300 statutory duties laid down by parliament. In other words, local government has substantial spending responsibilities, Summary xv but very often these involve fulfilling statutory obligations. • There are a number of benefits from decentralising government, e.g. it promotes greater experimentation, better matching of services to local preferences and greater competition between providers of governmentfunded services. • Theory is confirmed by the evidence. Fiscal decentralisation is associated with higher national income, better school performance and higher levels of investment. In particular, the decentralisation of revenue-raising powers has a stronger effect on performance than the decentralisation of spending. The evidence suggests that increasing the local share of taxation from 5 per cent to 20 per cent (still low by G7 standards) could raise GDP per capita by 6 per cent. With especially low levels of revenue decentralisation, and as a large country, the UK is in a particularly good position to gain from transferring powers and revenue-raising responsibilities from central to local government. • The UK needs to reform in two areas. Firstly, a federal state should be created with Scotland and either the rest of the UK (RUK), or England, Wales and Northern Ireland separately, becoming nations within a federal union. The federal government should have a very limited number of powers including defence, foreign affairs and border control and a small parliament and executive. No other proposed solution to the ‘English question’ can provide the same stability or beneficial Summary xvi economic outcomes. Secondly, there should be radical decentralisation of powers within Scotland and RUK to local government. The principle that should be followed is that of ‘subsidiarity’: this does not mean central government pushing powers downwards while keeping ultimate control. Rather, control should be at the local level unless functions cannot be performed locally. Current UK government proposals to devolve powers to cities do not deal with the problems identified by this research and may well exacerbate them. • Federal states have a tendency towards centralisation, the US being an important example. Centralisation would be prevented by requiring unanimity among the parliaments of all the individual nations as well as agreement of the federal parliament before any further powers were passed to the federal (UK) level. • Within the federal nations, responsibility for the following should be transferred from national government to the local level: environmental policy; working-age welfare; education and health; granting of permissions for and regulation of natural resource exploitation; lifestyle regulation; policing; and housing and planning. Local authorities could join together to provide some functions, such as policing, where local geography or other circumstances make that desirable. In addition, there should be complementary reforms to promote autonomy for individuals, families and civil society institutions, especially in relation to health and education. Summary xvii • Except for working-age welfare, which would be largely financed by government grant but administered by local government, all local government functions would be financed entirely by local revenue streams. These would come from user charges and from some combination of the following, to be determined at local level: taxes modelled on the current council tax; land value taxes; taxes on business property; natural resource levies; consumption taxes; variation in income taxes; and tourist taxes. • Two crucial principles must be applied when implementing these proposals. Firstly, revenue must be raised by the layer of government that is undertaking spending. Secondly, one layer of government must not bail out the debts incurred by any other layer of government. To prevent the problems seen in the euro zone, the central bank would not accept Scottish or RUK (or English, Welsh and Northern Irish if appropriate) bonds as collateral in monetary policy operations.

Indian Mutual Fund Industry:Challenges and Road Ahead

Mutual funds as an investment vehicle have currently gained immense popularity in India as reflected in the robust growth levels of assets under management. The Indian mutual fund industry has witnessed a sharp growth in past several years at about CAGR of 28% from 2006-11. However, Indian mutual fund industry is yet to travel a long distance as the contribution of the industry is still less than 0.5% of the global assets under management. Assets under management as a percentage of GDP is less than 5 per cent in India as compared to 70 per cent in the US, 61 per cent in France and 37 per cent in Brazil. The paper attempts to assess the performance of Indian mutual fund industry, its comparison with world markets, challenges faced by the industry and road ahead for mutual fund industry.

Variations in locoregional therapy in postmenopausal patients with early breast cancer treated in different countries

The Tamoxifen and Exemestane Adjuvant Multinational (TEAM) trial is an international randomized trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of exemestane, alone or following tamoxifen. The large number of patients already recruited offered the opportunity to explore locoregional treatment practices between countries. Patients were enrolled in Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, the UK and the USA. The core protocol had minor differences in eligibility criteria between countries, reflecting variations in national guidelines and practice regarding adjuvant endocrine therapy. Between 2001 and 2006, 9779 patients of mean(s.d.) age 64(9) years were randomized. Some 58.4 per cent had T1 tumours (range between countries 36.8-75.9 per cent; P < 0.001) and 47.3 per cent were axillary node positive (range 25.9-84.6 per cent; P < 0.001). Independent factors for type of breast surgery were country, age, tumour status and calendar year of surgery. After breast-conserving surgery, radiotherapy was given to 93.2 per cent of patients, 86.0 per cent in the USA and 100 per cent in France. Axillary lymph node dissection was performed in 82.0 (range 74.6-99.1) per cent. Despite international consensus guidelines, wide global variations were observed in treatment practices of early breast cancer. There should be further efforts to optimize locoregional treatment for breast cancer worldwide.

Revisiting Deficit Hysteria

THE LATEST ECONOMIC NEWS (May 2004) from the United States, Japan, and Asia is positive. Of all the G7 countries only Canada remains obsessed with balanced budgets and avoiding deficits. In Japan unemployment has now fallen to 4.7 per cent from 5.4 per cent a year ago and growth is a robust 5.6 per cent The United States is running a deficit that is almost 5 per cent of its GDP, which the Democrats deplore and the New York Times dislikes. But an economic recovery is taking root. Growth is 4.2 per cent and unemployment has dropped to 5.6 per cent from 6 per cent a year ago. The Chinese and Indian economies are experiencing booms with growth rates in excess of 9 per cent in China and over 10 per cent in India. Canada with its zealous policy of balanced or surplus budgets has growth of 1.6 per cent and unemployment of 7.3 per cent. In Europe, with overall unemployment at 8.8 per cent, the European Union continues to denounce countries like France and Germany that have run deficits that exceed 3 per cent of the GDP or 60 per cent of the debt-to-GDP ratio on the grounds that they are violating the stability pact that governs the common currency and the very monetarist European central bank. But unemployment is 9.8 per cent in France and 10.5 per cent in Germany. The one major European country that so far has refused to join the stability pact and the common currency, Great Britain, has an

Lone‐parent Families in Europe: A Variety of Economic and Social Circumstances

The third wave of the European Community Household Panel Survey (ECHP) shows that 12 per cent of European families were lone‐parent families in 1996. Nine single parents out of ten are women, usually divorced or separated. The proportion of lone parents under 30 varies from 3 per cent in Italy to 20 per cent in the United Kingdom. Most lone parents are in work, and very often occupy a full‐time job, but the employment rate ranges from only 40 per cent in Ireland and the United Kingdom to 75 per cent in France and Denmark. Lone‐parent families benefit from social transfers more often than other families, and for higher amounts, but poverty is more common than in other households, except in Denmark, Greece and Portugal. The housing circumstances of lone‐parent families vary widely from country to country. In the south of Europe, 25 to 40 per cent are lodging in a larger household, suggesting solidarity within the extended families. This paper classifies the nations of Europe into five groups in terms of the overall circumstances of lone‐parent families. Anglo‐Saxon countries have the highest proportion of lone parents, with the least labour market participation and lower incomes. In contrast, lone parents in Scandinavian countries are more often at work and no more affected by poverty than other types of households.

Artist Taxation: Art. 17 of the OECD Model Treaty – a Relic of Primeval Tax Times?

Each independent state can extend the taxation based on its national law on income derived from the exercise of an artistic or athletic income which was realized in its national territory. The right of taxation by the state of activity maintains if a tax treaty with another state exists and does not preserve the tax influence. In connection with the practice of an artistic or athletic income the right of taxation for this kind of income is normally conceded in supplying Art. 17, para. l of the OECD Model Treaty to the state of practice. According to Art. 17, para. 2 of the OECD Model Treaty this also applies if the concerning income does not run into the artist's or sportsman's account but into a third person's account. In this way the income derived from the practice or utilization of an artistic or athletic work in the Federal Republic of Germany is subject to the limited tax liability based on s. 49, para. l, No. 2d; s. 49, para. l, No. 3 and No. 4 of the income tax law. The tax claim is levied on s. 50a of para. 4 of the income tax law by a 25 per cent source tax off the gross income and not from the gain. Other states are also taxing the income derived from artistic or athletic activities of people who are not resident in their territory. The tax is also raised in the form of a source tax. In the course of this the basis of assessment is not always the gross income. In Switzerland for example there is a global deduction of expenses of 20 per cent taken off the gross. The remaining basis of assessment is converted into a daily fee afterwards. The income tax charged thereon is turned progressively and extends from 0.8 per cent to 7 per cent. In view of the canton tax e.g. in the canton of Zurich the maximum tax burden results in 13 per cent of the income. Other states levy the tax on the gross like the Federal Republic of Germany. The rate varies from 10 per cent in Luxembourg and 15 per cent in France, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Japan to 20 per cent in Greece, Austria and Italy, with 23 per cent in Great Britain up to 30 per cent in the USA depending on the classification of the tax subject. Differences in the form of taxation might be produced if employees are employed. Due to simplification reasons the financial effects which the taxation of the gross by the state of activity has on the self-employed should be described and whether it would not be more usefui to assign the taxation right within the framework of double tax treaties to the state of residence as well as in connection with other income.

Beyond Commercials: Television Program Sponsorship in France and the United Kingdom

This article deals with varieties of sponsorship, with regulation, with the number and types of programs sponsored on terrestrial television, and with the types of advertisers who sponsor them. In France, the 1980s were characterised by expansion and experimentation in sponsorship which outpaced regulation; by contrast, the first network program sponsorship in the United Kingdom was in 1989. The effect of the European legislation of 1989 was to tighten control in France and ease the regulatory framework in the United Kingdom. However, the perceived power of commercials and the strict regime imposed by the British ITC Code of Television Sponsorship, although further liberalised in 1997, continue to limit the penetration of sponsorship in the United Kingdom, Given that in 1995 only 2 per cent of television's advertising income in Britain, and 6 per cent in France, came from sponsorship, there is no evidence to date that sponsorship has had an adverse effect on program quality or diversity.

Chapter II. The World Economy

In the course of the last 2 years economic performance in the major 7 economies has become less synchronised. In 1988 GNP grew by more than 3.5 per cent in all seven economies, with growth rates either at or close to cyclical highs. However for 1991 we expect negative GNP growth for Canada and the United Kingdom, negligible growth in the United States, growth of around 1.5 per cent in France and Italy, and of over 3 per cent in Germany and Japan. Table 1 shows that GNP growth in the major 7 economies is expected to slow to 1.2 per cent in 1991. Chart 1 highlights the different responses among the major 4 economies.

The Economic Situation

For most of the 1980s the British economy has grown faster than the rest of Europe; this year the position is being reversed. The increase in output is expected to be about 3½ per cent this year in Germany, a little over 3 per cent in France and in Italy, as against about 2½ per cent in this country. Looking further ahead the gap may widen with growth of around 1 per cent a year in Britain, but 2 or 3 per cent a year in other major European economies.

Measures to Reduce Youth Unemployment in Britain, France and West Germany

In 1980 the unemployment rate (on standardised OECD definitions) for under-25 year-olds was 14 per cent in the United Kingdom, 15 per cent in France and 4 per cent in Germany. This year it is expected by OECD that these rates will be 21 per cent in this country, 31 per cent in France and 9 per cent in Germany. In all three countries special measures have been introduced in an attempt to reverse the trend. In this note we outline the circumstances in which this rapid increase in youth unemployment has occurred and then describe the measures taken in each country to combat it.

The direct and indirect role of higher education in industrial innovation: What should we expect?

IN THE LAST ten years, universities have been encouraged and pressed to assume a more direct role in the generation and introduction of new technologies in primary, secondary and tertiary industries. Such encouragements and pressures are not restricted to the United Kingdom. The main explanations of these widespread attempts to change the role of universities are the sharp reductions in economic growth in the 1970s and 1980s, and the belief that--at least in information technology and biotechnology--science and technology are merging to such an extent that university scientists and engineers could now play an important and maybe a key role in industrial innovation. In the United Kingdom a reconsideration of the role of universities came rather earlier than in other West European countries. That was because the growth rate in Great Britain was persistently lower than in other countries in the European Community. Between 1950 and 1973 the annual productivity growth rate in the United Kingdom averaged 3.1 per cent compared to between 4 and 5 per cent in Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands, and between 5 and 6 per cent in France, Italy and Germany. Following the successes of "science at war" and the writings of some eminent scientists and economists, post-war governments in Britain were persuaded that greater expenditure on higher education and research would generate continuing high rates of economic growth. Although for 25 years after the war growth rates in the United Kingdom were higher than ever before, British growth rates did not match those of other mature economies, and British universities were given part of the blame. The indirect and direct contributions of British universities to the introduction and diffusion of new or improved processes and products were insufficiently large, it was argued, because their anti-industrial culture made their courses and research programmes "too academic".

Rights of Artists: The Case of the Droit de Suite

In that law of art, as in art itself, we innocents often look abroad for instruction. That process has been taking place with respect to the droit de suite, an addition to the copyright laws of France, Italy, and Germany, among other nations. Usually translated as an “art proceeds right,” the droit de suite is a technique designed to furnish artists with a portion of the increase in the value of their works when they are resold. Sometimes, as in France, a flat fee is payable to the artist or his heirs on the public resale of all paintings, and the fee must be paid whether the painting rises in price or not. In Italy, on the other hand, the artist is entitled to a droit de suite only on the increase in value of the work of art. The techniques used differ with respect to the resale covered (auctions, dealer, or private), the percentage of the resale price the artist obtains (three per cent in France, one per cent in Germany), the minimum price the object must bring before the mechanism is brought into play at all, and the length of time during which the mechanism operates (sometimes the life of the artist plus 50 years).

Tuberculosis Mortality Among Children: The Last Stage: A Statistical Review of the 1950-1959 Decade in Canada, the United States, England and Wales, and France

1. During the 1950-1959 decade, tuberculosis mortality rates among children under 15 have decreased in the United States 88 per cent; in France by 91 per cent; in Canada by 92 per cent; and in England and Wales by 93 per cent. 2. In 1959, the children's tuberculosis death rate was 0.44 per 100,000 in the United States; 0.69 in England and Wales; 0.88 in Canada; and 1.80 in France. 3. In 1959, tuberculous meningitis was still responsible for the majority of deaths among children: 55 per cent of those in the United States; 61 per cent in Canada, England and Wales; and 68 per cent in France; but its occurrence has been greatly reduced. 4. BCG vaccination has had a very limited use in the United States; in Canada, practically only in Newfoundland and Quebec; increasingly among “school-leavers” —aged 13 or 14 — in England and Wales since 1953; and widely in France lately. 5. The general tuberculosis death rate for all ages in 1959 was 5.5 per 100,000 in Canada; 6.5 in the United States; 8.4 in England and Wales; and 23.4 in France.