Reform In Portugal Research Articles

Product market competition and gender discrimination

This paper presents novel empirical evidence for the prediction from Becker’s (1957) classical theory, that competition drives discrimination out of the market. We use a comprehensive business registration reform in Portugal as a quasi-natural experiment to study the effect of increased product market competition on gender discrimination. We use employer-employee data for the universe of private sector firms and workers, and exploit the staggered implementation of the reform across municipalities for identification. Increased competition following the reform increases growth of the female employment share and reduces the gender pay gap for middle-managers and for medium- and high-skilled workers but not for top-managers or the unskilled. We also find that discriminatory employers, approximated by a low female employment share, are more likely to exit and those that survive reduce overall employment growth following the reform, while non-discriminatory employers grow faster. Existing evidence has shown that gender discrimination reduces output; our findings suggest that entry deregulation can contribute to reduce inefficiencies arising from gender discrimination.

The politics of labour reforms in Portugal: Politicization and Europeanization before and after the bailout

Abstract The article focuses on the politicization of Portuguese Labour Code reforms since the early 2000s. More specifically, it looks at the link between mechanisms of politicization and Europeanization from a variety of perspectives, including decision-making processes and agenda setting, political divides and reform coalitions. By adopting a longitudinal approach, the article shows how the economic crisis and troika bailout have affected connections between politicization and Europeanization. Portuguese labour market policies have followed a continuous process of increased flexibility in recent years irrespective of governments’ partisan orientations and without any significant variations. It remains that the economic crisis – and the memorandum agreed with the troika and implemented against the backdrop of a sovereign debt crisis – have had a considerable effect on political debate and social protest while deepening the polarization that divides Portuguese trade unions and governing parties. The processes of Europeanization and politicization are addressed from a qualitative perspective that is crucial in the understanding of the politics of labour reforms in Portugal as it sheds light on the political conditions of reforms coalitions and their constraints.

The health care reform in Portugal: Outcomes from both the New Public Management and the economic crisis

The Portuguese health system concentrates most of its activity in a National Health Service, created in 1979 to promote universal and general access. The National Health Service should ensure equity, efficiency, and quality of all health care delivered services. This study assesses the impact of health care policies between 2002 and 2017, focusing on 3 timeframes: the adoption and adaptation of New Public Management principles to the health care sector (2002 to 2010), the economic and financial crisis period (2011-2015), and the postcrisis recovery period (2016-2017). The current study evaluates the main policy measures in the health sector, presenting their impacts in terms of access, efficiency, accountability, and costs over those 3 economic periods. It was verified that not all the measures implemented by the successive governments obtained the desired outcomes, generating even costs increase, apart from the austerity period in which health expenditure showed a significant reduction because of the financial constraints.

Understanding change in higher education: an archetypal approach

During the past three decades, higher education institutions have been changing, moving away from the traditional bureaucratic archetype towards a more managerialist one. Empirical research already demonstrated that organisations tend to be in a hybrid area of archetypal change. Considering the specific case of a government-imposed reform in Portugal, and using a case study approach of six public universities, this study aims to explore archetypal hybridism through the lens of two main dimensions: systems and structures and interpretive scheme. The theoretical background lies on academic literature on organisational change in higher education and specifically on archetype theory. The findings drawn from document analysis and interviews outline the main characteristics of the hybrid archetype that we chose to name efficient-collegiality.

The Counter-Reformation, Diplomacy, and Art Patronage in Portugal under Cardinal-Infant D. Henrique of Portugal: A Legacy to Serve Church and Kingdom

Commonly known as the Cardinal-King, Don Henrique of Portugal was a Portuguese royal-blood infant who was destined to become a prince of the Church. He was a preeminent figure of the sixteenth century: the period of the political, economic, religious, and cultural expansion of the Portuguese Empire, and of the Counter-Reformation. During his service to the Roman Catholic Church, D. Henrique occupied the seats of the three Portuguese archdioceses, was chosen to govern some of the wealthiest religious orders, and represented the Holy Office in Portugal. He was also nominated cardinal and legate a latere to Portugal. The Cardinal-Infant was responsible for an unprecedented architectural innovation in Portugal and beyond, reforming, expanding, and erecting several buildings. This study focuses on the institutional projects and material reforms in Portugal initiated by Cardinal-King D. Henrique through complex diplomatic relations between the Portuguese Crown and the Holy See during the sixteenth century. Its main objective is to create a basis for further research into his architectural patronage while occupying his several positions of ecclesiastical and lay authority.

Electoral Reform in Portugal: The Role of Political Scientists

Abstract The purpose of this article is to achieve an understanding of the role of political scientists (and other academics) in relation to political practitioners in electoral reform processes. U...

Primary Health Care Reform in Portugal: Portuguese, modern and innovative.

The 2005 Portuguese primary health care (CSP) reform was one of the most successful reforms of the country's public services. The most relevant event was the establishment of Family Health Units (USF): voluntary and self-organized multidisciplinary teams that provide customized medical and nursing care to a group of people. Then, the remaining realms of CSP were reorganized with the establishment of Health Center Clusters (ACeS). Clinical governance was implemented aiming at achieving health gains by improving quality and participation and accountability of all. This paper aims to characterize the 2005 reform of Portuguese CSP with an analysis of its systemic and local realms. This is a case study of a CSP reform of a health system with documentary analysis and description of one of its facilities. This reform was Portuguese, modern and innovative. Portuguese by not breaking completely with the past, modern because it has adhered to technology and networking, and innovative because it broke with the traditional hierarchized model. It fulfilled the goal of a reform: it achieved improvements with greater satisfaction of all and health gains.

Flexicurity between Europeanization and Varieties of Capitalism? A Comparative Analysis of Employment Protection Reforms in Portugal and Greece

AbstractThe article examines the adoption of Flexicurity principles in Portugal and Greece during 2006–2009. Despite the similar conditions between the two cases and common EU stimulus, the process and final outcomes in the reform of their employment protection systems differed. In Portugal, the government persevered and implemented a reform in line with Flexicurity principles. By contrast, the Greek government initially favoured Flexicurity and initiated a reform process of the legal framework; however the reform was halted. The article explains this divergence by combining the insights of Europeanization and Varieties of Capitalism literatures. It is argued that in cases of Mixed Market Economies, ‘misfit’ with EU stimuli is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for institutional change. Instead, reforms depend on union structure and the existence of policy entrepreneurs favouring reform, which explains the divergent reform paths.

The Hospital Real de Todos-os-Santos and its healing agents

The article explores the actions of king Dom João II (1481-1495), who spearheaded a major assistance reform in Portugal during the late fifteenth century, when charitable institutions were grappling with a serious crisis. The king and his queen, Dona Leonor, ordered two large, modern hospitals to be built, centralizing assistance work and cementing a new assistance model. Relying on chronicles and royal decrees from the period, the article focuses on the main hospital that was built then: Hospital Real de Todos-os-Santos, located in Lisbon. The king and queen also intervened heavily in the practice of health agents by regulating, overseeing, and inspecting the work of doctors and apothecaries.

Desafios Organizacionais para Fortalecimento da Atenção Primária à Saúde em Portugal

RESUMO Este artigo analisa os principais aspectos da Reforma da Atenção Primária à Saúde (APS) em Portugal, que culminaram na implantação das Unidades de Saúde Familiar (USF), ampliação do acesso e melhoria no processo de coordenação dos cuidados. Identifica avanços e limites da reforma na APS portuguesa, que, apesar do contexto social e histórico distinto, podem subsidiar as políticas de saúde no Brasil. Realizou-se um estudo de caso com abordagem qualitativa, em Portugal, elegendo-se quatro USF na Região Norte, uma USF na Região de Lisboa/Vale do Tejo e dois Agrupamentos de Centros de Saúde (Aces) na Região Norte. Foram realizadas 20 entrevistas semiestruturadas, com observação sistemática e análise documental. O sucesso da reforma destaca-se na dimensão micropolítica, ou seja, na criação das USF como processo voluntário de adesão dos profissionais de saúde, o que permite certa estabilidade mesmo em tempos de crise. A Reforma da APS em Portugal é considerada um “evento extraordinário”, um exemplo bem-sucedido de intervenção nas reformas organizacionais na Europa em favor da coordenação dos cuidados por médicos generalistas.

The impact of hospital organization in the ethical act of hospital management

Objective: There are different levels of decision and clinical, administrative and management procedures in a hospital organization. The exercise of management and bioethics should be seen as an interconnected operation by anyone committed to an ethical conduct. This article is based on a larger study under a PhD in Bioethics and was conducted in 25 Portuguese hospitals. The objective of the article is to determine whether hospital organization is predictive of the ethical act of its managers.Methods: We have developed a correlational study using the Questionnaire of Ethicity in Hospital Management (QEHM). It was conducted with a sample of 421 professionals with management positions in Care Units/Services, Management Departments/Units, Boards of Directors of the National Health Service and hospitals connected to the Ministry of Health. The sample is also composed of different management models, representative of the Public, Private and Social sectors.Results: A significant association/correlation was discovered in the following dimensions: Accountability and quality, Ethical weighing and Costs and ethics within the management models; Ethical weighing and Ethical decision within the management level; Costs and ethics and Economical and ethical restriction within age.Conclusions: The ethical act of hospital managers, besides being associated with the hospital management model, is not independent of the managers’ age, being influenced by the organizational structure, particularly at management level. This means that hospital organization has an impact in the ethical act of hospital management. Given the correlational nature of the study and the current health sector reforms in Portugal, we suggest an observational study to examine the implications of the organization in the ethical act of managers and their impact on health care users, which was not included in this study.

Administrative reforms and performance of local public policies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to clarify the relationship between administrative reform in Portugal and the impacts on the dependence of local governments in the face of budgetary resources of state and local municipal revenue collection, which is understood as a form, among others, participation civil society in local public policies. Design/methodology/approach – The study opts for an exploratory analysis using the grounded theory approach, including the use of data relating to local government structures and partnerships with the private sector, based on the main lines of the public administration reform. The data were supplemented by documentary analysis, including legislative documents and papers in specialized area of administrative decentralization and civil society participation in local public policies. Findings – The paper provides empirical insights about how the increased participation of civil society in local public policies is associated with less reliance on state budgets and a greater number of local managerial structures. Research limitations/implications – Due to the chosen research approach, the results cannot be generalized. A comparative study between several countries could bring several interesting insights. Social implications – The paper includes implications for economic and social development of new public policies in the context of administrative reforms. Originality/value – This paper makes several theoretical and empirical contributions on this research field specially about local public manager's decisions for financial resources transfers within the active policy of sustainable local development.

School Equity: The Students’ Perspectives in Diverse School Contexts

Educational reforms in Portugal reflect the influence of the Lisbon Strategy regarding a more competitive knowledge based economy and social cohesion. European directions also agree that educational systems respond to the work market tendencies in addition to the social challenges emerging in the globalized world. Accordingly, recent policies address educational inequalities concerning studentś truancy and failure, high number of students with low levels of literacy, the enlargement of compulsory secondary education, and an emphasis on adults education based on the principle of lifelong learning. Being part of a larger project, this paper focuses on perspectives of educational justice and purports to (a) identify factors that sustain or hinder educational equity; (b) understand the students’ perspectives regarding school practices of justice; and (c) how they are construed in diverse school contexts. What meanings do students attribute to school experiences? What practices are perceived either as just or unjust? The analysis combined qualitative and quantitative data from two urban schools with differential socio-economic and cultural family backgrounds. Results emphasize the following studentś perspectives of justice: (a) the equalitarian, regarding the distribution of the educational resources and forms of treatment; and (b) the redistributive, underlining matters of equity. The discussion underlines two points for interpretation: the association of critical school contexts to recent official policies; and the students’ differential concerns regarding teachers and schools practices.

Teachers’ role in curriculum design in Portuguese schools

Teachers’ role in curriculum design is a broad question that inspires political educational reforms among European countries, a trend that even extends to higher education politics. The perspective on teachers’ role in curriculum, both at the level of the policies and of the practices, shapes recent educational reforms in Portugal. These are the concerns underlying our research that intends to substantiate school teachers’ involvement in curriculum development as it is experienced by them, and while comparing their views to the roles they are attributed in the political and academic dominant discourses. To reach teachers’ perceptions, we distributed questionnaires which were completed by 214 teachers in primary and secondary schools. We could conclude that the enactment of a professional identity on the basis of teacher assumption of their role as real curriculum designers is still far from being achieved.

O "imperscrutável vínculo": corpo e alma na medicina lusitana setecentista

Este artigo discute a emergência do discurso médico sobre questões relativas ao comportamento transgressor no contexto intelectual lusitano do século XVIII, através das obras Dissertação sobre as paixões da alma (1753), de Antonio Ribeiro Sanches (1699-1783), e Medicina Theologica (1794), de Francisco de Melo Franco (1757-1823). Ambas escritas e publicadas durante as reformas ilustradas em Portugal, no período que se estende entre o consulado pombalino e o reinado mariano. Calcadas em referenciais filosóficos de matriz racional-empirista, os respectivos autores se utilizam de um vocabulário médico que se renovava através dos debates entre correntes vitalistas, animistas e mecanicistas, para interpelar os discursos tradicionais, sobretudo o Direito e a Teologia, e reivindicar a legitimidade do discurso médico para tratar da alma como um objeto próprio à sua jurisdição.

Do Entry Regulations Deter Entrepreneurship and Job Creation? Evidence from Recent Reforms in Portugal

Abstract We evaluate the consequences of a recent regulatory reform in Portugal, which substantially reduced the cost of firm entry. Our analysis uses matched employer–employee data, which provide unusually rich information on the characteristics of founders and employees associated with new firms before and after the reform. We find that the short‐term consequences of the reform were as one would predict with a standard economic model of entrepreneurship: the reform resulted in increased firm formation and employment, but mostly among ‘marginal firms’ that would have been most readily deterred by existing heavy entry regulations. These marginal firms were typically small, owned by relatively poorly educated entrepreneurs, and operating in low‐technology sectors (agriculture, construction and retail trade). In comparison to firms that entered in the absence of the reform, these marginal firms were less likely to survive their first two years.

Higher Education Reform in Portugal: A Historical and Comparative Perspective of the New Legal Framework for Public Universities

The 1988 University Autonomy Act conferred Portuguese universities with a considerable degree of autonomy and designed a governance system based on collegiality. Strong participation of academic and non-academic staffs and students in decisions became the rule and democratic elections of all individual or collective governance bodies were the basis for legitimacy. More recently, a new reform has changed the legal framework. This reform was publicly presented as the implementation of New Public Management (NPM) in the Portuguese higher education system. In this paper, we analyse the new legal framework to understand how far it can be seen as an application of NPM and compare the Portuguese reform with those taking place in several European countries to determine how far there is convergence with the European modernisation agenda.

<b>O Mérito nos Processos de Seleção da Alta Direção da Administração Pública Portuguesa: mito ou realidade?

The influence on managerial model of administrative reform in Portugal and in particular with regard to the introduction of highertechnical rationality in the processes of public management is widely recognized in Portugal. There were many governments in OECD countries have taken similar initiatives. However, the literature on administrative reform presents enough evidence of the resilience of institutional bureaucracies to change. It turns out that the NPM would assert itself as a standard recipe without respect for cultural diversity and the various administrations, despite taking over as primer, got different expressions and manifestations. This article aims to contribute to this debate. Therefore, examines the influence of meritocracy, as NPM idea, administrative reform ofPortugal.

Beyond Paternalism Towards Social Capital: Local Governance Reform in Portugal

An urge to reform local government in Portugal requires a sensitive approach to the role of social capital and, particularly, to the consequences of local governance arrangements in its formation. This research agenda, greatly influenced by the identification of positive externalities of social capital, has generated several claims regarding the need for proactive and objective top-down initiatives. Though assuming that institutions and public policies can have positive effects on social capital building, this article tries to contribute to the debate, focusing on the challenges met by local administration reform, arguing that it requires a four-fold approach: the identification of local government functions and the role of the State; a close look at institutional design and citizen engagement mechanisms; correct tools for allowing civil society reinforcement and social capital building; and recognizing political leadership as a fundamental aspect of a governance arrangement.

Institutional Reform in Portugal: From the Perspective of Deputies and Voters Perspectives

Résumé La réforme du système électoral a fait l’objet de longs débats au Portugal, en particulier depuis 1997. Cependant, bien que plusieurs propositions pour changer le système du scrutin de liste à celui de la proportionnelle aient été exposées et débattues par les principaux partis, notamment au Parlement – la constitution elle-même ayant été modifiée pour le permettre – en fin de compte cette réforme n’a jamais été adoptée. Après une vue d’ensemble historique très brève des propositions tendant à réformer le système électoral depuis la transition démocratique (1974) jusqu’en 2008, cet article aborde tout à la fois les deux niveaux de cohésion d’élite à l’intérieur et au travers des partis, et aux niveaux de la congruence de l’élitemasse (ou de sa carence) autour des thèmes de la réforme institutionnelle, en insistant plus particulièrement sur la réforme du système électoral. Il tente de saisir dans quelle manière les niveaux de la cohésion d’élite et de la congruence de l’élite-masse peuvent nous aider à expliquer pourquoi il n’y a pas eu de changement du système électoral, malgré les multiples propositions qui ont été abordées à partir de 1997.