Policies In Several Countries Research Articles

Women and children first: an appropriate first step towards universal coverage

There is a growing consensus that achieving universal health coverage is an appropriate, feasible and important goal for all nations. Under a rallying cry of “All for universal coverage”, Garrett et al. explain in a Lancet paper that attaining universal coverage will be vital if we are to reach health, poverty eradication and human rights goals.1

Enhanced HIV Testing, Treatment, and Support for HIV-Infected Substance Users

Enhanced HIV Testing, Treatment, and Support for HIV-Infected Substance Users

Mental Health Care Reforms in Latin America: An Overview of Mental Health Care Reforms in Latin America and the Caribbean

This new column provides an overview of mental health reforms in Latin America and the Caribbean. Progress has been particularly visible in countries that have implemented policies with strong political support (Brazil, Chile, and Belize, among others). However, lessons may be learned from the collective experience of a region that has faced multiple obstacles to reform. Available resources are still insufficient and inequitably distributed, reform implementation is not complete in most countries, and high levels of unmet need exist. Countries face new challenges related to growing psychosocial problems affecting children and adolescents and increasing violence, which require new responses from mental health services.

Why are there proportionately more poor pupils enrolled in non-state schools in urban Kenya in spite of FPE policy?

Abstract One of the conundrums of free primary education (FPE) policy in several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa is the ‘mushrooming’ of fee-paying private schools. Several researchers have become interested in studying this phenomenon and have raised the question—does free primary education meet the needs of the poor? Emerging voices among this group of researchers suggest that the impact of FPE, particularly in meeting the educational needs of the poor may be over-stated in situations where the poor still utilize what is referred to as ‘private schools for the poor’. The concerns expressed by those voicing this point of view point to the question of why the poor choose fee-paying [low quality] private schools when there is, presumably a free state school? To respond to this question and to contribute to this debate, this paper adopts the excess demand and differentiated demand frameworks to analyse how slum (poor) and non-slum (non-poor) parents utilize education in Nairobi, Kenya following the implementation of free primary education policy in 2003. We conclude that the answer to the ‘mushrooming’ of private schools for the poor is ‘excess demand’. As to whether free primary education meets the needs of the poor, we argue that where supply does not match demand excess demand is likely to arise in the initial stages. We recommend that what is required is greater and possibly differentiated and better targeted investment in education whereby unequals are treated unequally in order for the Kenyan government not to under-invest in the education of the poor.

How does interest rate policy affect inflation? A simple general equilibrium model with the interest rate as the policy instrument

This paper analyses the connection between the assumptions often made on the utility functions of economic agents when general equilibrium is considered. Concretely, we analyse the effect of certain assumptions regarding the elasticity of marginal utility for both the existence of equilibrium and, assuming equilibrium exists, for the effect that raising the nominal interest rate has on the equilibrium inflation rate. Typical macroeconomic wisdom states that an increase in the interest rate will decrease inflation, and this seems to have been the basis for real-life macroeconomic policy in several countries. However, this wisdom is based on models in which the money supply, and not the interest rate, is the policy instrument. Using a very simple general equilibrium model of intertemporal consumption, this paper finds sufficient conditions for the negative relationship to hold (and for it not to hold) in the short run, when monetary policy is characterised by a given nominal interest rate. Above all, it is shown how the relative risk aversion characteristics that are assumed of the economic agents are important.

TOURISM AND SOCIAL POLICY: The Value of Social Tourism

Social Tourism for low-income groups forms part of social policy in several countries of mainland Europe, but little research evidence of its benefits exists. This study empirically examines these benefits in terms of increases in social and family capital. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with participating families and their support workers, in a semi-longitudinal research design. Social Tourism was found to increase family capital in the short term, and social capital—in terms of social networks, related pro-active behavior and self-esteem—in the medium term. These increases can be seen as beneficial for the participants and to wider society. Consequently it is suggested that Social Tourism may be a cost-effective addition to social policy.

Funding universities for efficiency and equity: research findings versus petty politics

The present paper starts by discussing the principles of public funding of universities. The size of the social returns to investment in education gives an indication regarding the most efficient use of resources, while the difference between the private and the social rates relates to issues of equity. The available evidence is contrasted to higher education funding policies in several countries. It is concluded that there is a divide between the research findings regarding efficient and equitable financing, and the actual public funding of universities. The reasons for this divide are discussed in the context of political economy, rent‐seeking by several stakeholders and, above all, vote‐seeking by politicians.

Safety chain approach in flood risk management

Historically, the Dutch have placed strong emphasis on prevention (building dikes) in their flood risk management policy. However, in current public debate it is questioned whether this historically grown flood risk policy is still the best protection policy for the country in the 21st century. In this paper, the so-called safety chain approach is used to address this question. The safety chain distinguishes between five links or phases of risk and crisis management: pro-action, prevention, preparation, response and recovery. This approach is used to evaluate flood risk management policy in several countries and to perform a cross-national comparison. The international comparison supports the hypothesis that the safety chain approach is a useful tool for policy evaluation and that valuable lessons can be drawn from different approaches in other countries. Furthermore, it is found that the Dutch flood defence strategy, focused on prevention, cannot be replaced by measures in other links of the chain. This strategy can, however, be broadened by more pro-active measures and additional efforts on preparation, response and recovery. By doing so, the consequences of possible flooding would be better taken into account and the policy focus would shift from managing the probability of flooding to managing flood risk (i.e. both the probability and consequences of flooding).

Políticas y clivajes: algunas ideas a propósito de una revisión de políticas

A brief comment on the issues arising from the policy-making process in a region like Latin America, a propos of a UNESCO document on information society policies in several countries of the region.

Record linked retrospective cohort study of 4.6 million people exploring ethnic variations in disease: myocardial infarction in South Asians.

BackgroundLaw and policy in several countries require health services to demonstrate that they are promoting racial/ethnic equality. However, suitable and accurate data are usually not available. We demonstrated, using acute myocardial infarction, that linkage techniques can be ethical and potentially useful for this purpose.MethodsThe linkage was based on probability matching. Encryption of a unique national health identifier (the Community Health Index (CHI)) ensured that information about health status and census-based ethnicity could not be ascribed to an identified individual. We linked information on individual ethnic group from the 2001 Census to Scottish hospital discharge and mortality data.ResultsOverall, 94% of the 4.9 million census records were matched to a CHI record with an estimated false positive rate of less than 0.1 %, with 84.9 – 87.6% of South Asians being successfully linked. Between April 2001 and December 2003 there were 126 first episodes of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) among South Asians and 30,978 among non-South Asians. The incidence rate ratio was 1.45 (95% CI 1.17, 1.78) for South Asian compared to non-South Asian men and 1.80 (95% CI 1.31, 2.48) for South Asian women. After adjustment for age, sex and any previous admission for diabetes the hazard ratio for death following AMI was 0.59 (95% CI 0.43, 0.81), reflecting better survival among South Asians.ConclusionThe technique met ethical, professional and legal concerns about the linkage of census and health data and is transferable internationally wherever the census (or population register) contains ethnic group or race data. The outcome is a retrospective cohort study. Our results point to increased incidence rather than increased case fatality in explaining high CHD mortality rate. The findings open up new methods for researchers and health planners.

Issues in Higher Education Quality Assurance

This article examines a range of policy issues which concern the quality assurance of higher education by regulatory bodies. There is a widespread consensus that the benefits of at least some forms of external quality assurance of higher education exceed the costs. This is probably a matter of faith more than the outcome of a considered analysis, but public policy in several countries has accepted it nevertheless.There are important questions regarding the manner in which such quality assurance should be conducted. Issues to do with self‐regulation, the use of independent ratings agencies, the role of the courts, the establishment of a government agency, and the public funding of private quality assurance bodies all deserve consideration.Process matters become important once structural issues have been decided. These include quality assurance principles, internationalisation and national jurisdiction; the role of a quality assurance system in qualifications' design and development; what precisely is to be ‘quality assured’ in higher education; the standards to be used in quality assurance; linkages between quality assurance and public funding of higher education; compliance costs; and the utility of a National Qualifications Framework (NQF).This article places considerable emphasis on a discussion of the deficiencies of the NQF approach. It argues that the emphasis placed on the development of an NQF in several systems of educational quality assurance is misplaced: an NQF cannot embrace the complexity of contemporary qualifications systems.Claims to the effect that an NQF is a valuable addition to the sources of information available to national and international labour markets must be treated with scepticism. There are logical and practical issues to be considered in this regard. An NQF is arguably likely to mislead labour markets seriously under existing circumstances.

Privatisation and Economic Development: Study on the Effect of Privatisation on the Economic Efficiency in Developing Countries: Egypt - as a Case Study under Law No. 203 For 1991

Privatisation is a worldwide phenomenon. Initially taking place in industrialised economies, its boundaries now extend to the former socialist bloc as well as to low-income-developing economies. In recent years economic policies in several countries seem to reflect a widespread and growing interest in shifting economic activity from the public sector to the private sector. This decline in the role of the state and the growing acceptance of privatisation can be viewed as an outcome of several developments during the 1970s and 1980s. Secondly, the failure of development planning in several less-developed countries (LDCs), and the problems of slow economic growth, budget deficits and inflation have forced many LDCs to increase the scope of private ownership and of the private

A New Era of Labour Market Regulation in Developing East Asia? The Case of Indonesia

The efficiency of labour markets has been identified as one element in the East Asian “miracle” economic performance, in the context of effective management of markets generally (World Bank, 1993, pp. 258–273). With the exception of Singapore, the absence of direct government intervention in determining the price of labour has been one factor which distinguishes the NICs and the ASEAN4 countries from many Latin American and African economies. Flexible labour market adjustment, high levels of labour mobility and response to wage incentives have been critical to facilitating rapid transfer of labour from low productivity into rapidly growing sectors. The second half of the 1980s marked a watershed in labour market policies in several countries in the region, most notably South Korea and Taiwan. Several factors combined to herald an era of increasing labour demands and government concern with labour protection. These included strains imposed by a decade or more of tightening labour markets and domestic pressures for liberalization of union controls (in Korea in particular). In Korea and Taiwan, domestic political action supported the move towards reducing control of labour and increasing government intervention in labour market outcomes. Excess demand for unskilled labour placed unions in a much better position to demand greater regulation of wages and working conditions.

Taxation and Democracy: Swedish, British, and American Approaches to Financing the Modern State

Taxation and Democracy is the first book to examine the structure, politics, and historic development of taxation policies in several countries. Comparing three quite different political democracies-Sweden, Britain, and the United States-the book provides a powerful account of the ways these democracies have managed to finance their welfare programs despite widespread public resistance to taxes. Sven Steinmo argues that the different political structures of these countries produce varying tax systems and, by extension, differing social policy regimes. According to Steinmo, all democracies face a basic dilemma-how government can be both autonomous and responsive to public wishes. This dilemma is a crucial factor in explaining their different tax systems. In the United States, for example, the system of multiple checks and balances and fragmented political authority has led to a tax system that is complex, inefficient, and has a low revenue yield. Sweden's corporatist model of government is less responsive to the will of the masses, and so the country has a surprisingly regressive tax system that is stable, efficient, and has a high revenue yield: its working class basically agrees to accept a heavy tax burden in exchange for heavy social welfare spending. The British government, which is dominated by strong parties, can virtually dictate tax policy preferences to the Parliament, and so its tax system is highly unstable, as is the distribution of tax burdens among classes. Steinmo demonstrates that the New Institutionalism can account for both historic continuities and political change-that common economic and political forces confronting these countries in the twentieth century were shaped by each country's changing political institutions. His study thus makes an important contribution to comparative political theory as well as to our understanding of the development of the modern welfare state.

Microchips and industrial relations

Microelectronics may be precipitating another industrial revolution. Greg Bamber considers relevant public policies in several countries. He identifies the likely issues of conflict and concludes that Britain should set up an Agency for New Technology to spearhead more positive government action, which could help to induce a climate of high trust at the workplace.