Macroeconomic policies in times of crisis: options and perspectives

Includes bibliography

Policies for competitiveness

Includes bibliography

Integrated and sustainable mobility policies: review and proposed conceptual framework

This issue of the FAL Bulletin examines aspects of current urban transport policies in Latin America and proposes a conceptual framework for an integrated and sustainable mobility policy.

The use of databases of social and gender statistics in the development of policies and programmes

The unavailability of data to inform policy planning and formulation has been repeatedly cited as the main challenge to economic and social progress in the Caribbean. Furthermore, even in instances when data is produced, broader gaps exist between its production and eventual use for evidence-based policy formulation. Owing to those challenges, this report explores the use of databases of social and gender statistics in the development of policies and programmes in the Caribbean subregion. The report offers a general appraisal of databases against two main considerations: (i) maximizing the use of existing databases in relevant policies and programmes; and (ii) bridging the gaps in data availability of relevant statistical databases and their analyses. The assessment entailed an inventory of social and gender databases maintained by data producers in the region and analysis of the extent to which the databases are used for policy formulation. To that end, a literature search as well as consultations with a number of knowledgeable persons active in the field of statistics and data provision was conducted. Based on the review, a set of recommendations were produced to improve current practices within the region with respect evidence based policy formulation.

Cooperation and competition in the air transport market: current scenario, possible evolutions and analytical tools

dall'avvento della liberalizzazione, aeroporti e vettori hanno vissuto cambiamenti. Il maggior miglioramneto nella gestione degli aeroporti è una gestione più commerciale ed efficiente. Le forme di regolazione economica e le caratteristiche della gestione manageriale sono state indagate. Dodici paesi sono stati scelti per indagare la situazione del trasporto aereo mondiale, fra questi sia paesi con un sistema maturo sia paesi emergenti. La distribuzione del traffico è stata analizzata con l'indice HHI per evidenziare aeroporti con concentrazione maggiore di 0,25 (in accordo con la normativa statunitense); il sistema aeroportuale è stato analizzato con l'indice di Gini e con l'indice di dominanza. Infine, la teoria dei giochi si è dimostrata un valido supporto per studiare il mercato del trasporto aereo anche con l'uso di giochi di tipo DP

Canadian Cardiovascular Society 2009 Consensus Conference on the management of adults with congenital heart disease: complex congenital cardiac lesions

With advances in pediatric cardiology and cardiac surgery, the population of adults with congenital heart disease (CHD) has increased. In the current era, there are more adults with CHD than children. This population has many unique issues and needs. They have distinctive forms of heart failure and their cardiac disease can be associated with pulmonary hypertension, thromboemboli, complex arrhythmias and sudden death. Medical aspects that need to be considered relate to the long-term and multisystemic effects of single ventricle physiology, cyanosis, systemic right ventricles, complex intracardiac baffles and failing subpulmonary right ventricles. Since the 2001 Canadian Cardiovascular Society Consensus Conference report on the management of adults with CHD, there have been significant advances in the field of adult CHD. Therefore, new clinical guidelines have been written by Canadian adult CHD physicians in collaboration with an international panel of experts in the field. Part III of the guidelines includes recommendations for the care of patients with complete transposition of the great arteries, congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries, Fontan operations and single ventricles, Eisenmenger's syndrome, and cyanotic heart disease. Topics addressed include genetics, clinical outcomes, recommended diagnostic workup, surgical and interventional options, treatment of arrhythmias, assessment of pregnancy risk and follow-up requirements. The complete document consists of four manuscripts, which are published online in the present issue of The Canadian Journal of Cardiology. The complete document and references can also be found at www.ccs.ca or www.cachnet.org.

Canadian Cardiovascular Society 2009 Consensus Conference on the management of adults with congenital heart disease: executive summary

With advances in pediatric cardiology and cardiac surgery, the population of adults with congenital heart disease (CHD) has increased. In the current era, there are more adults with CHD than children. This population has many unique issues and needs. They have distinctive forms of heart failure, and their cardiac disease can be associated with pulmonary hypertension, thromboemboli, complex arrhythmias and sudden death.Medical aspects that need to be considered relate to the long-term and multisystemic effects of single-ventricle physiology, cyanosis, systemic right ventricles, complex intracardiac baffles and failing subpulmonary right ventricles. Since the 2001 Canadian Cardiovascular Society Consensus Conference report on the management of adults with CHD, there have been significant advances in the understanding of the late outcomes, genetics, medical therapy and interventional approaches in the field of adult CHD. Therefore, new clinical guidelines have been written by Canadian adult CHD physicians in collaboration with an international panel of experts in the field. The present executive summary is a brief overview of the new guidelines and includes the recommendations for interventions. The complete document consists of four manuscripts that are published online in the present issue of The Canadian Journal of Cardiology, including sections on genetics, clinical outcomes, recommended diagnostic workup, surgical and interventional options, treatment of arrhythmias, assessment of pregnancy and contraception risks, and follow-up requirements. The complete document and references can also be found at www.ccs.ca or www.cachnet.org.

The Dynamics of the Policies of Ethnic Cleansing in Silesia in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

Through studying German, Polish and Czech publications on Silesia, Mr. Kamusella found that most of them, instead of trying to objectively analyse the past, are devoted to proving some essential "Germanness", "Polishness" or "Czechness" of this region. He believes that the terminology and thought-patterns of nationalist ideology are so deeply entrenched in the minds of researchers that they do not consider themselves nationalist. However, he notes that, due to the spread of the results of the latest studies on ethnicity/nationalism (by Gellner, Hobsbawm, Smith, Erikson Buillig, amongst others), German publications on Silesia have become quite objective since the 1980s, and the same process (impeded by under funding) has been taking place in Poland and the Czech Republic since 1989. His own research totals some 500 pages, in English, presented on disc. So what are the traps into which historians have been inclined to fall? There is a tendency for them to treat Silesia as an entity which has existed forever, though Mr. Kamusella points out that it emerged as a region only at the beginning of the 11th century. These same historians speak of Poles, Czechs and Germans in Silesia, though Mr. Kamusella found that before the mid-19th century, identification was with an inhabitant's local area, religion or dynasty. In fact, a German national identity started to be forged in Prussian Silesia only during the Liberation War against Napoleon (1813-1815). It was concretised in 1861 in the form of the first Prussian census, when the language a citizen spoke was equated with his/her nationality. A similar census was carried out in Austrian Silesia only in 1881. The censuses forced the Silesians to choose their nationality despite their multiethnic multicultural identities. It was the active promotion of a German identity in Prussian Silesia, and Vienna's uneasy acceptance of the national identities in Austrian Silesia which stimulated the development of Polish national, Moravian ethnic and Upper Silesian ethnic regional identities in Upper Silesia, and Polish national, Czech national, Moravian ethnic and Silesian ethnic identities in Austrian Silesia. While traditional historians speak of the "nationalist struggle" as though it were a permanent characteristic of Silesia, Mr. Kamusella points out that such a struggle only developed in earnest after 1918. What is more, he shows how it has been conveniently forgotten that, besides the national players, there were also significant ethnic movements of Moravians, Upper Silesians, Silesians and the tutejsi (i.e. those who still chose to identify with their locality). At this point Mr. Kamusella moves into the area of linguistics. While traditionally historians have spoken of the conflicts between the three national languages (German, Polish and Czech), Mr Kamusella reminds us that the standardised forms of these languages, which we choose to dub "national", were developed only in the mid-18th century, after 1869 (when Polish became the official language in Galicia), and after the 1870s (when Czech became the official language in Bohemia). As for standard German, it was only widely promoted in Silesia from the mid 19th century onwards. In fact, the majority of the population of Prussian Upper Silesia and Austrian Silesia were bi- or even multilingual. What is more, the "Polish" and "Czech" Silesians spoke were not the standard languages we know today, but a continuum of West-Slavic dialects in the countryside and a continuum of West-Slavic/German creoles in the urbanised areas. Such was the linguistic confusion that, from time to time, some ethnic/regional and Church activists strove to create a distinctive Upper Silesian/Silesian language on the basis of these dialects/creoles, but their efforts were thwarted by the staunch promotion of standard German, and after 1918, of standard Polish and Czech. Still on the subject of language, Mr. Kamusella draws attention to a problem around the issue of place names and personal names. Polish historians use current Polish versions of the Silesian place names, Czechs use current Polish/Czech versions of the place names, and Germans use the German versions which were in use in Silesia up to 1945. Mr. Kamusella attempted to avoid this, as he sees it, nationalist tendency, by using an appropriate version of a place name for a given period and providing its modern counterpart in parentheses. In the case of modern place names he gives the German version in parentheses. As for the name of historical figures, he strove to use the name entered on the birth certificate of the person involved, and by doing so avoid such confusion as, for instance, surrounds the Austrian Silesian pastor L.J. Sherschnik, who in German became Scherschnick, in Polish, Szersznik, and in Czech, Sersnik. Indeed, the prospective Silesian scholar should, Mr. Kamusella suggests, as well as the three languages directly involved in the area itself, know English and French, since many documents and books on the subject have been published in these languages, and even Latin, when dealing in depth with the period before the mid-19th century. Mr. Kamusella divides the policies of ethnic cleansing into two categories. The first he classifies as soft, meaning that policy is confined to the educational system, army, civil service and the church, and the aim is that everyone learn the language of the dominant group. The second is the group of hard policies, which amount to what is popularly labelled as ethnic cleansing. This category of policy aims at the total assimilation and/or physical liquidation of the non-dominant groups non-congruent with the ideal of homogeneity of a given nation-state. Mr. Kamusella found that soft policies were consciously and systematically employed by Prussia/Germany in Prussian Silesia from the 1860s to 1918, whereas in Austrian Silesia, Vienna quite inconsistently dabbled in them from the 1880s to 1917. In the inter-war period, the emergence of the nation-states of Poland and Czechoslovakia led to full employment of the soft policies and partial employment of the hard ones (curbed by the League of Nations minorities protection system) in Czechoslovakian Silesia, German Upper Silesia and the Polish parts of Upper and Austrian Silesia. In 1939-1945, Berlin started consistently using all the "hard" methods to homogenise Polish and Czechoslovakian Silesia which fell, in their entirety, within the Reich's borders. After World War II Czechoslovakia regained its prewar part of Silesia while Poland was given its prewar section plus almost the whole of the prewar German province. Subsequently, with the active involvement and support of the Soviet Union, Warsaw and Prague expelled the majority of Germans from Silesia in 1945-1948 (there were also instances of the Poles expelling Upper Silesian Czechs/Moravians, and of the Czechs expelling Czech Silesian Poles/pro-Polish Silesians). During the period of communist rule, the same two countries carried out a thorough Polonisation and Czechisation of Silesia, submerging this region into a new, non-historically based administrative division. Democratisation in the wake of the fall of communism, and a gradual retreat from the nationalist ideal of the homogeneous nation-state with a view to possible membership of the European Union, caused the abolition of the "hard" policies and phasing out of the "soft" ones. Consequently, limited revivals of various ethnic/national minorities have been observed in Czech and Polish Silesia, whereas Silesian regionalism has become popular in the westernmost part of Silesia which remained part of Germany. Mr. Kamusella believes it is possible that, with the overcoming of the nation-state discourse in European politics, when the expression of multiethnicity and multilingualism has become the cause of the day in Silesia, regionalism will hold sway in this region, uniting its ethnically/nationally variegated population in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity championed by the European Union.

The Diverse Impacts of the Neo-liberal Social Policies on Children’s Welfare and Social Work with Young People: The Finnish Perspective

This article discusses the impacts of globalization, neo-liberal social policies and the Finnish economic recession of the 1990s on children's and young people's welfare. It summarises some of the impacts of Finnish social policies on the everyday lives of families with children and highlights some of the features of the recent and current debates surrounding youth delinquency and the societal reactions to young generations. All this contributes to a contradictory and conflicting societal context which challenges experts in the field of child welfare social work experts to operate - as expected - at the right moment, legally and effectively. Instead of being overly-defensive for the ‘good old’ ways of practicing social work with children, the authors invite social work scholars and practitioners to reconceptualise both the concept of children's citizenship and its position both in child welfare theory and practice in the context of children's global rights.

Tackling Youth Exclusion in the UK: Challenges for Current Policy and Practice

Addressing the situation of marginalised youth has been central to policy initiatives directed at tackling poverty and social exclusion in the UK in recent years. The period since 1997 has therefore witnessed a renewed emphasis upon the development of a coherent framework for youth policy in the UK with the goal of promoting youth inclusion and participation. Nevertheless, understanding the nature and prospects for policies designed to tackle youth exclusion involves a deeper interrogation of the concept of ‘social exclusion’ and its applications within UK policy debates. Here, it is argued that whilst considerable progress has been made in the promotion of a coherent and integrated strategy for youth inclusion in the UK such policies are unlikely to be effective without a re-conceptualisation of the nature of social exclusion, its causes and consequences. In particular, a more holistic understanding is called for which extends beyond an emphasis on labour market activation policies as a response to the circumstances facing marginalised youth in the UK and elsewhere, and one which interrogates exclusionary processes and institutional practices rather than addressing only the symptoms of disadvantage.

Implementing the UNESCO Convention in EU's Internal Policies

This briefing note was prepared by invitation from the European Parliament's Committee on Culture and Education. It provides an analysis of how the existent EU internal policies reflect the spirit and the letter of the UNESCO Convention on Cultural Diversity. The note suggests further ideas on how the EU may calibrate current practices and explores in a forward-looking manner the possibilities for the Convention’s implementation in future internal policies, understood both as hard and soft EU legal instruments. Particular attention in this query is paid to digital media and their regulatory implications.

On Voters' Attitudes Towards Unemployment Insurance Subsidies across Regions: A Canadian Simulation

The Canadian unemployment insurance program is designed to reflect the varying risk of joblessness across regions. Regions that are considered low-risk areas subsidize higher risk ones. A region's risk is typically proxied by its relative unemployment rate. We use a dynamic, heterogeneous-agent model calibrated to Canada to analyze voters preferences between a uniformly generous unemployment insurance and the current system with asymmetric generosity. We find that Canada's unusual unemployment insurance system is surprisingly close to what voters would choose in spite of the possibilities of moral hazard and self-insurance through asset build-up.

Family-Friendly Employment Policies: What do People Want?

This research examines what people want in terms of family-friendly employment policies within the workplace. Two groups were compared: undergraduate students preparing themselves for the workforce and Baby Boomers that are about to, or already have, retired. The sample was chosen from current University of Connecticut fourth year students and alumni who graduated from the University of Connecticut between 1970 and 1978. Data was collected using an online questionnaire, mainly consisting of closed-ended questions on four and five point Likert scales. Analysis indicates differences between males and females in their response to employment policies, particularly their opinions in terms of sick leave. Alumni, many of whom are part of the sandwich generation, are less worried about child, partner, or elder care responsibilities than one might expect.

Hospital and environmental variation in Texas nonprofit hospital organizational policies regarding charity care

The 2005 Annual Statement of Community Benefits Standard (ASCBS) and the annual report of the Community Benefits Plan, Summary of Current Hospital Charity Care Policy and Community Benefits, were used to identify various environmental and policy relationships with regard to eligibility for charity care requirements, a component for meeting the nonprofit requirements established by the Texas Legislature for nonprofit tax exemption (Texas Health and Safety Code, §311.04610). ^ Charity care policies are established by the individual hospital (or systems) and are generally defined as rules concerning care provided by the institution without the expectation of payment. This study has been undertaken to provide specific information about the charity care eligibility requirement policies of nonprofit hospitals. These hospitals are the part of the safety net for those persons who are indigent, low-income and uninsured. This study examines nonprofit hospitals by physical location, bed size, religious affiliation, trauma level, disproportionate share, and teaching designations. County information includes population, percentage of residents eligible for Medicaid benefits, ethnic makeup of county residents, poverty level, designation of a hospital district or operators of a public hospital, and the number of nonprofit and for-profit hospitals located in the county. Although this information has been collected by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), no other analysis has been conducted. ^

Seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis and current thinking regarding screening in pregnancy: A review of the literature and case study discussion

The approach to the diagnosis and treatment of congenital toxoplasmosis has been one of flux and debate, fueled by lack of knowledge, lack of consensus, different methods of screening and different national policies for screening in different parts of the world. Countries with higher prevalence of disease such as in Europe and South America have a heightened awareness of the need to screen and treat for this parasitic infection during pregnancy. In contrast, in the United States, it is a condition scarcely discussed and has been largely ignored except in some large centers and by a few researchers. Policies and research strategies for any condition should start with obtaining good data. The aims of this thesis included a review of prevalence studies conducted in the United States, focused on the past 20 years, combined with a description of original research conducted by the author several years ago. The latter was a cross-sectional study performed in Houston, one of the largest American cities with a great ethnic mix. The study analyzed prevalence rates of Toxoplasma gondii IgG antibody in sera of women of reproductive age. Overall seroprevalence was 12.3%. In keeping with other studies, higher prevalence correlated with lower socioeconomic status, Black and Hispanic and Asian ethnicities, and increasing age. A literature search revealed only three prevalence studies performed in the United States over the past 20 years, with another four studies only referred to as personal communications or within a textbook, without further study detail available. The literature review also revealed a lack of consensus on whether or not to screen for toxoplasmosis in pregnancy, and even whether or not treatment in utero is worthwhile.^ Proponents of screening and treatment in pregnancy site studies both in the United States and France, emphasize that treatment reduces disease manifestations in infants. Opponents cite other studies that show only marginal benefits, together with potential side effects of medication regimens and generation of anxiety in parents. What is agreed on so far is the value of educating pregnant women on how to avoid contracting toxoplasmosis, and educating physicians on making the best use of reference laboratories before major treatment decisions are made. Further research to reevaluate the literature critically, review new treatment regimens and examine costs and benefits of screening and treatment of toxoplasmosis in pregnancy, bringing together European and American researchers, is needed.^