11 research outputs found
Shadow Economies and Corruption all over the World: What do we really Know?
No full textEstimations of the size and development of the shadow economy for 145 countries, including developing, transition and highly developed OECD economies over the period 1999 to 2003 are presented. The average size of the shadow economy (as a percent of “official” GDP) in 2002/03 in 96 developing countries is 38.7%, in 25 transition countries 40.1%, in 21 OECD countries 16.3% and in 3 Communist countries 22.3%. An increased burden of taxation and social security contributions, combined with labor market regulation, are the driving forces of the shadow economy. Furthermore, the results show that the shadow economy reduces corruption in high-income countries, but increases corruption in low income countries. Finally, the various estimation methods are discussed and critically evaluated.shadow economy of 145 countries, tax burden, tax moral, quality of state institutions, regulation, DYMIMIC and other estimation methods
Author response: Promoting international collaboration and creativity in doctoral students
No full textMarginal effects.
No full textA. More convenient1) , B. Lack of availability on regular market, C. Involuntary, D. Social and/or redistributive reasons. Notes: 1) Lower price and/or faster/better service/product; * Difficulties in paying (household) bills. Source: Author`s calculations based on data from Special Eurobarometer 498 –Wave EB92.1, Undeclared Work in the European Union, Fieldwork—September 2019 / Publication date—February 2020 (European Commission, 2021).</p
Predicted probabilities of reasons for a ‘representative consumer’ to make purchases from the informal economy: By region (with 95% CI).
No full textA. More convenient 1) B. Lack of availability on regular market, C. Involuntary, D. Social and/or redistributive reasons. Notes: 1) Lower price and/or faster/better service/product. Source: author`s calculations based on data from Special Eurobarometer 498 –Wave EB92.1, Undeclared Work in the European Union, Fieldwork—September 2019 / Publication date—February 2020 (European Commission, 2021).</p
The Translesional Spinal Network and Its Reorganization after Spinal Cord Injury
No full text© The Author(s) 2020. Evidence from preclinical and clinical research suggest that neuromodulation technologies can facilitate the sublesional spinal networks, isolated from supraspinal commands after spinal cord injury (SCI), by reestablishing the levels of excitability and enabling descending motor signals via residual connections. Herein, we evaluate available evidence that sublesional and supralesional spinal circuits could form a translesional spinal network after SCI. We further discuss evidence of translesional network reorganization after SCI in the presence of sensory inputs during motor training. In this review, we evaluate potential mechanisms that underlie translesional circuitry reorganization during neuromodulation and rehabilitation in order to enable motor functions after SCI. We discuss the potential of neuromodulation technologies to engage various components that comprise the translesional network, their functional recovery after SCI, and the implications of the concept of translesional network in development of future neuromodulation, rehabilitation, and neuroprosthetics technologies
Predicted probabilities of reasons for a ‘representative consumer’ to make purchases from the informal economy: By level of tax morality (with 95% CI).
No full textA. More convenient 1) B. Lack of availability on regular market, C. Involuntary, D. Social and/or redistributive reasons. Notes: Higher tax morality score = high tax morality; 1) Lower price and/or faster/better service/product. Source: author`s calculations based on data from Special Eurobarometer 498 –Wave EB92.1, Undeclared Work in the European Union, Fieldwork—September 2019 / Publication date—February 2020 (European Commission, 2021).</p
Low-income families : experiences and responses to consumer exclusion
No full textThe purpose of this paper is to focus on low-income families who are excluded from consumer culture. It explores their experiences and responses to material deprivation, social deprivation and stigmatization. Given the need for identification and calculation of exclusion thresholds to be supplemented by the voice of the excluded themselves, the study is based on qualitative analysis of 30 in-depth interviews with low-income families who encounter consumption constraints in the marketplace. While the harsh realities of consumer exclusion cannot be denied, findings also present a more positive outlook as excluded consumers can achieve empowerment through employment of stigma management strategies, creative consumer coping and rejection of the stigmatizing regime. Research is based only on families with children under the age of 18; future research on older people and exclusion would prove a useful comparison. The research raises a number of important policy issues in relation to social barriers to inclusion and the role of marketing in contributing to consumer exclusion. Social policy studies surrounding social exclusion in terms of separation from mainstream society tend to focus on employment. This paper highlights that a social exclusion discourse can also provide a useful perspective to investigate exclusion in relation to consumerism
Petty capitalism, perfecting capitalism or post-capitalism? : lessons from the Argentinian barter network
No full texteconomic systems;Argentina;barter;currencies;monetary systems
Epidemiological characteristics, practice of ventilation, and clinical outcome in patients at risk of acute respiratory distress syndrome in intensive care units from 16 countries (PRoVENT): an international, multicentre, prospective study
No full textBackground Scant information exists about the epidemiological characteristics and outcome of patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) at risk of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and how ventilation is managed in these individuals. We aimed to establish the epidemiological characteristics of patients at risk of ARDS, describe ventilation management in this population, and assess outcomes compared with people at no risk of ARDS. Methods PRoVENT (PRactice of VENTilation in critically ill patients without ARDS at onset of ventilation) is an international, multicentre, prospective study undertaken at 119 ICUs in 16 countries worldwide. All patients aged 18 years or older who were receiving mechanical ventilation in participating ICUs during a 1-week period between January, 2014, and January, 2015, were enrolled into the study. The Lung Injury Prediction Score (LIPS) was used to stratify risk of ARDS, with a score of 4 or higher defining those at risk of ARDS. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients at risk of ARDS. Secondary outcomes included ventilatory management (including tidal volume [VT] expressed as mL/kg predicted bodyweight [PBW], and positive end-expiratory pressure [PEEP] expressed as cm H2O), development of pulmonary complications, and clinical outcomes. The PRoVENT study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01868321. The study has been completed. Findings Of 3023 patients screened for the study, 935 individuals fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Of these critically ill patients, 282 were at risk of ARDS (30%, 95% CI 27–33), representing 0·14 cases per ICU bed over a 1-week period. VT was similar for patients at risk and not at risk of ARDS (median 7·6 mL/kg PBW [IQR 6·7–9·1] vs 7·9 mL/kg PBW [6·8–9·1]; p=0·346). PEEP was higher in patients at risk of ARDS compared with those not at risk (median 6·0 cm H2O [IQR 5·0–8·0] vs 5·0 cm H2O [5·0–7·0]; p<0·0001). The prevalence of ARDS in patients at risk of ARDS was higher than in individuals not at risk of ARDS (19/260 [7%] vs 17/556 [3%]; p=0·004). Compared with individuals not at risk of ARDS, patients at risk of ARDS had higher in-hospital mortality (86/543 [16%] vs 74/232 [32%]; p<0·0001), ICU mortality (62/533 [12%] vs 66/227 [29%]; p<0·0001), and 90-day mortality (109/653 [17%] vs 88/282 [31%]; p<0·0001). VT did not differ between patients who did and did not develop ARDS (p=0·471 for those at risk of ARDS; p=0·323 for those not at risk). Interpretation Around a third of patients receiving mechanical ventilation in the ICU were at risk of ARDS. Pulmonary complications occur frequently in patients at risk of ARDS and their clinical outcome is worse compared with those not at risk of ARDS. There is potential for improvement in the management of patients without ARDS. Further refinements are needed for prediction of ARDS
Identification of independent association signals and putative functional variants for breast cancer risk through fine-scale mapping of the 12p11 locus.
No full textBACKGROUND: Multiple recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), rs10771399, at 12p11 that is associated with breast cancer risk. METHOD: We performed a fine-scale mapping study of a 700 kb region including 441 genotyped and more than 1300 imputed genetic variants in 48,155 cases and 43,612 controls of European descent, 6269 cases and 6624 controls of East Asian descent and 1116 cases and 932 controls of African descent in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC; http://bcac.ccge.medschl.cam.ac.uk/ ), and in 15,252 BRCA1 mutation carriers in the Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/2 (CIMBA). Stepwise regression analyses were performed to identify independent association signals. Data from the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements project (ENCODE) and the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) were used for functional annotation. RESULTS: Analysis of data from European descendants found evidence for four independent association signals at 12p11, represented by rs7297051 (odds ratio (OR) = 1.09, 95 % confidence interval (CI) = 1.06-1.12; P = 3 × 10(-9)), rs805510 (OR = 1.08, 95 % CI = 1.04-1.12, P = 2 × 10(-5)), and rs1871152 (OR = 1.04, 95 % CI = 1.02-1.06; P = 2 × 10(-4)) identified in the general populations, and rs113824616 (P = 7 × 10(-5)) identified in the meta-analysis of BCAC ER-negative cases and BRCA1 mutation carriers. SNPs rs7297051, rs805510 and rs113824616 were also associated with breast cancer risk at P < 0.05 in East Asians, but none of the associations were statistically significant in African descendants. Multiple candidate functional variants are located in putative enhancer sequences. Chromatin interaction data suggested that PTHLH was the likely target gene of these enhancers. Of the six variants with the strongest evidence of potential functionality, rs11049453 was statistically significantly associated with the expression of PTHLH and its nearby gene CCDC91 at P < 0.05. CONCLUSION: This study identified four independent association signals at 12p11 and revealed potentially functional variants, providing additional insights into the underlying biological mechanism(s) for the association observed between variants at 12p11 and breast cancer risk
