Unconditional Benefit Research Articles

How Beneficial is EU Membership for CEE Countries: an Attempt of Critical Analysis

Tectonic changes in the system of modern geo-economic relations necessitate the revision of many theoretical postulates. One of them is the unconditional benefit of participating in integration associations. The purpose of the study is to assess the real scale of benefits received by Central-Eastern European countries from participation in the EU. The study of the relatively long experience of membership of CentralEastern European countries in the EU allowed to formulate some conclusions, the most significant of which are: the excessive ideological and political argumentation used in Central-Eastern European countries in the initial period of decision-making on accession to the EU, which significantly reduced the effectiveness of the analysis of the economic consequences of the future membership; the significant methodological complexity of conducting a quantified analysis of the macroeconomic aspects of EU membership and, therefore, the difficulty of determining the quantifiable impact of the general effects of integration in relation to the countries of Central-Eastern Europe; the presence of overly optimistic assessments of the effectiveness of Central-Eastern European countries receiving transfers from the EU budget.

The Sectoral Politics of Industrial Policy Making in Brazil: A Polanyian Interpretation

ABSTRACTThis article considers why Brazilian industrial policies have varied across sectors since the mid‐1990s. It relies on a Polanyian‐inspired framework to propose that the strength of counter‐movements against corporate welfare shapes the sector‐specific capacity of policy makers to exert state discipline over business interests and diverges from neoliberal scripts of industrial policy making. The authors use prototypical case studies on the automotive, animal protein and pharmaceutical sectors to support their argument. In the automotive industry, the continuous pressure from powerful and cohesive labour unions led to the emergence of a neo‐corporatist sectoral regime that was characterized by a tripartite policy design and encompassed conditionalities. In the case of animal protein, the lack of bottom‐up pressure culminated in a disembedded neoliberal sectoral regime, in which business owners received almost unconditional benefits, turning industrial policies into corporate welfare. Finally, in the pharmaceutical industry, the combination of diffuse societal demands and unions with intermediate relevance led to an embedded neoliberal sectoral regime that combined selective conditionalities with some space for non‐business participation in policy design.

CLINICAL EFFECTIVENESS OF EMPAGLIFLOZIN IN PATIENTS WITH HEART FAILURE.

The aim: To study the possibilities of increasing the effectiveness of treatment and improving the prognosis of patients with various phenotypes of heart failure when using empagliflozin. Materials and methods: The analysis of the data regarding the results of existing studies evaluating the clinical benefit and safety of empagliflozin in patients with various phenotypes of heart failure has been conducted. Conclusions: In the EMPA-REG OUTCOME study, empagliflozin has demonstrated the ability to improve cardiorenal outcomes and reduce the risk of hospitalization for heart failure in patients with diabetes. The results of the studies (EMPEROR-Preserved, EMPEROR-Reduced, EMPULSE) have shown the clinical advantages of empagliflozin over traditional heart failure therapy, manifested by a reduction in mortality and the number of hospitalizations for heart failure, as well as improvement in quality of life indicators. The clinical benefits of using empagliflozin were observed in patients with chronic heart failure with different left ventricular ejection fraction, as well as in patients with acute heart failure. Empagliflozin is a sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitor with a convincing evidence base for the treatment of all categories of patients with chronic heart failure, regardless of diabetes status. The results of the conducted studies indicate the unconditional benefit of early initiation of empagliflozin therapy in patients with both chronic and acute heart failure after the stabilization of their condition.

Nutraceutical Properties of Water Chestnut

Trapa natans or Water chestnut is a significant plant because of its unconditional benefits it has great importance in Indian Ayurvedic medication that is being used in the issues of the stomach, genitourinary framework, liver, kidney, and spleen. It could be severe, astringent, stomachic, diuretic, febrifuge, and disinfectant. Synthetic investigation of the fresh fruits and nuts having a significant amount of water content citrus extract and new organic product which validates its significance as dietary food additionally detailed low unrefined lipid, and significant mineral present with affirming great measure of minerals as an iron and manganese potassium were contained in the natural fruit. In this paper, the ongoing reports on dietary, phytochemical, and pharmacological parts of Trapa natans, as a neutraceutical and nourishing food, are reviewed.

Digital society technologies: benefits and risks

In his Address to the Federal Assembly on December 1, 2016, the President of Russia outlined the relevance of the systematic program of the digital economy related to the development of the “economy of a new technological generation”. The definition of the digital economy was presented in the Strategy for the Development of the Information Society in the Russian Federation for 2017–2030, published a little later, as an activity in which the key factors of production are data presented in digital form, while their processing and use in large volumes, including directly at the time of their formation, allow to significantly increase the efficiency, quality and productivity in various types of production, technologies, equipment during storage, sale, delivery and consumption of goods and services, in comparison with traditional forms of management. Today, the digital transformation of society, its economic, financial, social spheres, and education has acquired a large-scale nature. In October 2020, Russian Prime Minister M. Mishustin signed Resolution No. 1646 on a new approach to digitalization of government agencies. The article shows the unconditional benefits of the introduction of digital technologies, as well as the risks associated with their implementation.

Questioning the feasibility and justice of basic income accounting for migration

When studying the feasibility and justice of basic income, researchers usually assume that policymakers would be introducing the unconditional benefit to a closed economic entity. When contemplating the introduction of a universal policy, few researchers take into consideration the fact that citizens and foreigners migrate, and that this movement alters the size and skill structure of the population. This article addresses this oversight by analyzing how basic income schemes based on residence or citizenship may affect tax base, wages, and employment while incorporating migration incentives. The discussion is based upon neoclassical labor supply and migration theory and informed by the conjectured economic effects from a normative perspective. This research suggests that a basic income would create migration incentives that reduce the tax base, leading us to question this policy’s feasibility. Moreover, the flow-on effects of migration call into question the justice of both residence-based and citizenship-based basic income schemes. Therefore, this article sheds light on how basic income’s feasibility and justice relate to each other and identifies the benefits and further opportunities for interdisciplinary social policy research.

Correlation of “virtual identity” problems and issues of preserving traditional values in modern society

The emergence of social networks has joined people from different parts of the world which has brought unconditional benefit to humanity. At the same time, the possibility of communication between citizens of different countries using the same platforms, foreign hosting companies and providers has created a new form of human identity – virtual identity. In turn, this has contributed to a new phenomenon, such as digital socialization of the individual. This has created comfort and additional opportunities for integration into society, but at the same time, this form has led to the blurring of traditional values, national cultures and the fragmentation of political consciousness.

ЭТИЧЕСКИЕ АСПЕКТЫ ЦИФРОВОГО БЛАГОПОЛУЧИЯ ОБЩЕСТВА. (АНАЛИТИЧЕСКИЙ ОБЗОР)

The concept of «digital well-being» is used to denote the positive effect of applying of digital technologies in all spheres of modern society. However, as practice shows, new information and communication technologies are quite risky and very ambiguous in the sense of an unconditional benefit for society. This thematic review presents an analysis of scientific sources on key social spheres: healthcare, education, economy, management and social development, media and entertainment, which are currently experiencing the most direct and aggressive impact of digitalization. The purpose of the review is to identify open and unresolved issues related to the ethics of digital well-being of society.

Study on Water Distribution Scheme Across Regions

For a long time, water conservancy projects across administrative region is mostly invest in the construction by superior government, each side unconditional benefit, this is difficult to arouse the enthusiasm of benefited party to investment, and makes the government faces a great financial pressure, at the same time, it is easy to produce regional imbalance and contradiction of water resources. Finally, it will affect the resource efficiency and investment efficiency of the project. The transregional water allocation is an important basis for implementing the total water use control system in drainage basin and regions and an important content for implementing tough water management measures. This article summarily analyses the typical engineering way of water allocation, and the basic principle of the water allocation, takes Qingxi Reservoir water allocation on concrete analysis, puts forward the main factors of Qingxi Reservoir water allocation, including the area of the Qingxi river basin in each administrative regions, water resources, effect of reservoir engineering constructions, the water demand and water deficit in each administrative regions, input factors, and then puts forward proposals on water allocation. Based on two water allocation proposals, this article puts forward proportion and recommended of water allocation in each administrative region. Each administrative region should own the same right to use water resources and shoulder the same responsibility based on the same proportion, same right, same profit and same responsibility. The water allocation plan can be used as reference for Qingxi Reservoir water allocation.

HOW IS THE INTERNATIONAL LAW POSSIBLE?

Problem setting. Different directions of modern science of international law explore the problem of the existence of its subject, its typology, forms of attitude to the law of na- tional states, etc. In this article, asking about the very possibility of international law, the focus on the subject area is shifted to a methodological one. This, perhaps, is the rare case when a “study of investigators” brings an unconditional benefit to understanding the essence of the cognizable subject. The article concludes that the special form of dialectics found in the movement of these methodologies reflects how the phenomenon of interna- tional law actually realizes itself. German classical philosophy titled this form as a “reflection of essence”.Recent research and publications analysis. The methodological dualism of the theo- ry of international law reflects in methodological monism. The monistic theory of interna- tional law, in its turn, “splits” into adherents of the primacy of the national state, on the one hand, and on the other, those who insist on the superiority of international law.Paper main body. Rational cognition, incapable of thinking the contradictions objec- tively existing in the subject, is horrified by such “strange behavior” of international law. It even goes so far that the very fact of its existence is being questioned. The article uses the experience of I. Kant’s transcendental philosophy, which first criticized such knowledge. With his question: “How is a priori synthesis possible?”, He showed an example of how reasonable knowledge is possible, capable of thinking the dialectic of opposites in its subject matter.This study can serve as another contribution to the newly emerging science of the philosophy of international law. Sources in the current literature on this issue, unfortu- nately, do not affect the problem of knowing its contradictory nature.

Work, Leisure, and Care: A Gender Perspective on the Participation Income

AbstractIn ‘The case for a participation income’, Anthony Atkinson identified unconditionality as an obstacle to support for a citizen's income. He advocated prioritising the universality and individuality of a citizen's income but replacing its unconditionality with a ‘participation’ requirement. At the time, Atkinson's critique read as political realism: to eliminate means‐testing, make a concession to the fear of free‐riding. Ironically, Atkinson remained opposed to unconditionality despite his own critical contributions to documenting the growing income and wealth inequality that have increased support for an unconditional basic income. In this article I consider the ‘participation’ requirement from a gender perspective in order to uncover the problematic notions of ‘dependence’, ‘independence’, reciprocity, and free‐riding that underlie normative arguments for conditional over unconditional benefits. Employing such a perspective demonstrates the superiority of unconditional benefits in achieving more efficient and effective income support and reducing inequality—Atkinson's core commitments throughout his distinguished career.

Technology Diffusion, Outcome Variability, and Social Learning: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Kenya

AbstractThis article explores the mechanisms through which social learning mediates technology diffusion. We exploit an experiment on the dissemination of biochar, a soil amendment that can improve fertility on weathered and/or degraded soils. We find that social networks transmit information about the average benefits of adoption, but also its risk, and that observed variability inhibits uptake to a greater degree than positive average results engender it. Paradoxically, this relationship is stronger among networks that do not discuss farming, but disappears among farmer networks that do. This is resolved with a simple model of social learning about conditional, rather than unconditional benefit distributions. As farmers observe factors associated with outcomes in their networks, they constrain the distribution of their own potential outcomes. This conditional distribution diverges from the unconditional distribution that the econometrician observes. We conclude that social learning is characterized by implicit model‐building by sophisticated decision makers, rather than simple herding towards observed good results.

Концептуально-методологическое обоснование гуманитарной экспертизы технологических проектов

The subject of consideration in this article is a humanitarian examination. The authors’ research object was technological projects, processes, technology and technical in general. The article raises the problem of theoretical and methodological foundations of humanitarian expertise of technological projects and processes. The urgency of considering this problem is manifested in connection with the development of scientific and technological progress and the penetration of technology into all spheres of human life. Authors of the article suggest the author's conceptual paradigm of humanitarian evaluation, which is formed on the basis of the selection of "the first flowers" of moral consciousness - objective regulators of consciousness - the archetypal bases of morality. At the same time, the moral is viewed as an objective relationship between the ontological relationship in nature between the individual and social consciousness. The model of humanitarian expertise is based on the humanitarian paradigm, which affirms respect for man as the main criterion and content of moral assessment. Unconditional benefit as an ideal pattern of behavior and activity is to provide a person with the most comfortable conditions for his self-realization, the disclosure and functioning of all his essential forces. The authors clearly outline the scope and prospects of humanitarian expertise, and argue that its further development is associated with real steps towards the institutionalization of an integral and autonomous humanitarian expertise. This process involves the following steps: the analysis of practices related to humanitarian expertise and the development of its technology, the development of draft legislative acts related to the institutionalization of expertise, the testing of technologies for humanitarian expertise

Social Context, Management, and Organizational Performance: When human capital and social capital serve as substitutes

Do internal (administrative human capital) and external (social capital) resources work to reinforce the effects of each other? Work from multiple disciplines has approached this question, and we advance this literature with a theory of social and administrative resources as potential substitutes for each other in the production of public education outcomes. We argue that social capital benefits some groups more than others and that it interacts with management to improve performance. We therefore expect the benefits associated with social capital to be non-uniform across community groups. Using education as our area of study, we find that social capital offers the most direct and unconditional benefits to white students but that management can use human capital resources to compensate disadvantaged students who may lack support and resources outside of the classroom. We do not find support for the expectation that social capital and human administrative capital reinforce the benefits of each other, but we find evidence that the two resource types are substitutable. This implies that management may substitute human capital resources when social capital is low to benefit public program performance.

Something for Nothing: Liberal Justice and Welfare Work Requirements

Welfare reform legislation enacted in 1996, which created the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, makes entitlement to federal poor relief conditional on fulfilling work requirements. The article addresses the following timely question: whether just liberal societies should require work as a condition of public assistance for the able-bodied, or whether aid should be provided unconditionally through, for example, a basic guaranteed income for all. Drawing on the work of liberal egalitarian theorists, the article investigates whether standard liberal theories of justice can help make sense of arguments commonly voiced in favor of work requirements: that unconditional welfare guarantees, such as a universal basic income, exploit workers, license free riding, and violate basic principles of social reciprocity. The article concludes that the view that unconditional benefits are unfair or exploitative is difficult to derive from liberal notions of just societies. Liberal egalitarians start from a baseline of equal initial shares of resources, skepticism about desert and market allocations, and an obligation to hold persons harmless for unlucky outcomes and endowments that does not clearly yield a bedrock obligation to work for a living. Drawing on an evolutionary analysis, the article concludes that any tension between liberal theories and politically popular notions of fairness are due to the failure of political theory to capture dynamic historical conditions that gave rise to basic norms against shirking. The logic of evolutionary development is fundamentally at odds with the static, contractarian thought experiments that liberal theorists favor. The article speculates on the implications of this explanation for the divergence between principles derived from rational analysis and the realities of political psychology.

Optimal discretionary monetary policy in a micro-founded model with a zero lower bound on nominal interest rate

This paper investigates optimal discretionary monetary policy under the zero lower bound on the nominal interest rate (ZLB) in the case of a distorted steady state due to monopoly and taxation. Solving a fully nonlinear micro-founded (FNL) model using a global method, I find that the central bank in a more distorted economy would cut the interest rate less aggressively under a particularly adverse demand shock. This occurs because inflation and nominal interest rates are higher on average, making the ZLB less likely to bind and causing the economy to escape from the ZLB sooner. However, the social planner would choose the optimal inflation rate of approximately zero. The result emerges because the unconditional benefit of avoiding the ZLB is not big enough to offset the cost of higher relative price dispersion when inflation is significantly positive. In addition, I show that the conventional linear-quadratic (LQ) method is inaccurate in the case of a sufficiently distorted steady state.

Snake Bite in India: Current Scenario of an Old Problem

Snake bite is a significant health concern, especially in rural populations of tropical and subtropical countries. In India, snake bites take a heavy toll of human lives, and therefore warrant urgent attention. High mortality is due to poor health services in rural areas and delay in getting the victim to a well-equipped health care facility, where anti snake venom can be administered. However, geographical and species variation, logistic, economic and production issues restrict the use of anti-snake venom. India has a large repository of medicinal herbs, which have been used in folk medicine for treatment of snake bites. Though numerous herbal remedies are scientifically unsubstantiated, yet they cannot be glossed over due to their inherent advantages. They are practiced by diverse social groups for long, offering unconditional benefits. In view of limited presence of modern medical avenues in far flung areas, such a resource needs to be harnessed, as herbals are cheap, acceptable and often at the disposal of victims. Exhaustive ethno botanical studies in different regions of the country can help to undertake well designed scientific studies, for establishing therapeutic efficacy of various herbals for treating snake bites. The present article highlights an assortment of herbal plants used in India for snake bites.

Let Unions Be Unions: Allowing Grants of Benefits During Representation Campaigns

Unions exist to provide assistance to employees; this is their reason for being. Yet once a union begins a campaign to represent a group of employees, it is legally barred from extending tangible assistance to the workers. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or the Board) and courts deem a union grant of benefits to employees during or prior to a representation campaign objectionable conduct that requires setting aside the results of the representation election and holding another election.This article's proposal to open the door to unconditional union benefits during an organizing campaign will likely be controversial. Part of the controversy stems from the fact that the proposal would reverse a legal rule that has been in place for more than thirty years. A greater source of controversy will be that the proposal would allow unions to do something that employers are forbidden to do. Currently, both unions and employers are prohibited from granting employees unconditional benefits during an organizing campaign. Removing that prohibition just for unions would no doubt spur complaints by employers and their representatives, who would argue that the prohibitions on each side are currently equivalent, and it would therefore be unfair and unreasonable to remove the limit for just one side.This article proposes a policy change that the Board has full authority to carry out. The Board, in fact, created the prohibition on union grants of benefits and it should now revisit this policy. The prohibition is harmful to employees and limits their ability to make a fully informed and well reasoned choice in representation elections.

Do Conditional Benefits Reduce Equilibrium Unemployment?

Although unconditional unemployment benefits destroy jobs in competitive and noncompetitive labor markets, conditional benefits can spur job growth in noncompetitive labor markets. Unconditional benefits reduce the penalty of shirking and misconduct, while conditional benefits increase this penalty. This is shown for the efficiency-wage, no-shirking model of the labor market developed by Shapiro and Stiglitz (1984). Switching from unconditional to conditional benefits lowers unemployment. Tough eligibility requirements are thus important components of the welfare state. However, if conditional benefits are financed by a payroll tax, conditional benefits exert upward wage pressure so that unemployment falls by less and may even increase.

The Impact of Active Labor Market Programs and Benefit Entitlement on the Duration of Unemployment

Swiss policy makers created a unique link between unemployment benefits and Active Labor Market Programs (ALMPs) by making benefit payments conditional on program attendance after 7 months of unemployment duration. We evaluate the effect of Active Labor Market Programs and benefit entitlement on the duration of unemployment in Switzerland. In the evaluation we allow for selectivity affecting the inflow into programs. Our results indicate that (i) After ALMP-participation the transition rate to jobs increases for Swiss women but not for Swiss men. However, the job hazard rate is strongly reduced during participation. Taken together, this leads to the conclusion that programs prolong unemployment duration for men, but tend to shorten durations for women. (ii) Once the unemployment spell approaches the expiration of unconditional benefit entitlement the job-hazard rate increases strongly, both for women and for men. (iii) There are important selectivity effects for Swiss females, but not for Swiss males.