242 research outputs found
Does strict employment protection discourage job creation? Evidence from Croatia
No full textEmployment protection legislation in Croatia is among the most strict in Europe. Firing is difficult and costly, and flexible forms of employment are limited. Is this apparent rigidity reflected-as one would expect based on standard economic theory-in low labor market dynamics? Is job creation low and hiring limited? Is the job security of insiders achieved at the cost of outsiders not being able to enter thelabor market? The author attempts to answer these questions by examining job flows. If the employment protection legislation is binding, then job and worker turnover should be low. He shows that this is indeed the case. Hiring is limited and the average job tenure is very long in Croatia. Job destruction is low, however job creation is still lower. The result is accumulation of unemployment, in large part due to new labor market entrants not being able to find a job. The high degree of job protection also seems to strengthen the bargaining position of insiders and results in relatively high wages. So, wages in Croatia are higher than among its competitors, even after adjusting for productivity. These high labor costs are likely to contribute to limited job creation in existing firms, but also are likely to discourage the entry of-and thus job creation in-new firms. The author presents evidence that firm growth has been indeed limited in Croatia, contributing to the low employment level. The author examines other potential causes of high unemployment in Croatia (the unemployment benefit system, labor taxation, the wage structure, and skill and spatial mismatches). He argues that they do not play a substantial part in accounting for poor labor market outcomes in Croatia. The author concludes that the stringent employment protection legislation is the key labor market institution behind low job creation and high unemployment. Based on this he recommends specific measures aimed at liberalizing the labor market to foster job creation and employment.Labor Management and Relations,Labor Policies,Labor Markets,Environmental Economics&Policies,Trade Finance and Investment,Labor Markets,Labor Management and Relations,Labor Standards,Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies
Why is unemployment so high in Bulgaria?
No full textThe author seeks to determine the main factors behind poor labor market outcomes in Bulgaria. Unemployment in Bulgaria is high and of long duration. The accumulation of the unemployment stock has been caused by relatively high inflows into unemployment coupled with limited outflows. These features of the Bulgarian labor market are typical of other transition economies in Central Europe and exploring their sources is of broad interest. The author focuses on determinants of and constraints to job creation. He uses data on job creation and job destruction from a survey of employment in all registered firms. He finds that the source of large inflows into unemployment is intensive enterprise restructuring associated with a high pace of job reallocation. However, job creation falls short of job destruction. Three main factors account for the limited job creation and hiring, and thus for low outflows from unemployment: a) The unfriendly business environment, reflected by a low rate of new firm formation, and a relatively small, small and medium enterprise sector. b) Labor market rigidities, including excessive hiring and firing costs. c) Skill and spatial mismatches brought about by enterprise restructuring, as well as low skills and marginalization of the long-term unemployed who cannot successfully compete for new jobs. The author recommends a three pronged strategy to improve labor market performance: (1) removing bureaucratic constraints to entry and expansion of firms; (2) enhancing labor market flexibility through lowering hiring and firing costs; and (3) improving the educational system so as to equip workers with broad and portable skills.Environmental Economics&Policies,Labor Policies,Labor Markets,Public Health Promotion,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Environmental Economics&Policies,Labor Markets,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Labor Standards,Banks&Banking Reform
Pancreatic exocrine insufficiency after bariatric surgery
No full textMorbid obesity is a lifelong disease, and all patients require complementary follow-up including nutritional surveillance by a multidisciplinary team after bariatric procedures. Pancreatic exocrine insufficiency (PEI) refers to an insufficient secretion of pancreatic enzymes and/or sodium bicarbonate. PEI is a known multifactorial complication after upper gastrointestinal surgery, and might constitute an important clinical problem due to the large number of bariatric surgical procedures in the world. Symptoms of PEI often overlap with sequelae of gastric bypass, making the diagnosis difficult. Steatorrhea, weight loss, maldigestion and malabsorption are pathognomonic for both clinical conditions. Altered anatomy after bypass surgery can make the diagnostic process even more difficult. Fecal elastase-1 (FE1) is a useful diagnostic test. PEI should be considered in all patients after bariatric surgery with prolonged gastrointestinal complaints that are suggestive of maldigestion and/or malabsorption. Appropriate pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy should be part of the treatment algorithm in patients with confirmed PEI or symptoms suggestive of this complication
Abnormal grain growth in a Zn-0.8Ag alloy after processing by high-pressure torsion
No full textAbnormal grain growth (AGG) in a Zn-0.8Ag (wt%) alloy, produced through the application of high-pressure torsion (HPT), was systematically investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) and microhardness testing. The HPT-deformed alloy exhibits AGG at room temperature without any additional heat treatment. Analysis by EBSD revealed oriented grain nucleation in a {112¯0}〈0001〉 direction from the initial (0001) fibre texture which agrees with the maximum energy release model. New grains were oriented according to the minimal Young's modulus direction (c-axis), parallel to the shearing direction. The strain-induced dissolution of nanocrystalline Zn
3Ag precipitates was identified as the main driving force for AGG in this alloy. The strains necessary for the initiation and termination of AGG were determined as ~4.0 and ~5.0, respectively. The increase in solid-solution strengthening caused an increase in hardness from ~47 HK in the fine-grained centre to ~84 HK in the coarse-grained region. A Hall-Petch investigation revealed grain refinement softening below a grain size of 23 µm. These results provide the first comprehensive description of AGG in metallic materials processed by a severe plastic deformation method at room temperature.
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European Social Policy. Idea and Reality
No full textLooking back from the perspective of the over 40-year history of European integration, the achievement of common social policy is visible first of all in these fields which supported economic integration and the rising of a uniform market. Until today the question remains open what should be the policy of the Union in face of the large differentiation of social rights and institutional solutions in the systems of social security of the member countries. In this scope there is a dissonance between the general declarations of the Union and practice resulting from the obligatory principle of unanimity in accepting resolutions concerning the questions of social security and the principle of subsidiarity in relations between the Union and member countries. For this reason, among others, the European Social Agenda, adopted in Nice in the year 2000, has essential importance. In accordance with its provisions the priority of the social policy of the Union in the first decade of the XXI century will be co-operation in the solving of common problems (unemployment, poverty and social exclusion, safety of pension systems) and modernisation of the European social model. The accepted goals and an open method of co-ordination as a method of their realisation manifests the greater determination of the Union in the scope of strengthening its social dimension and adaptation of the European social model to contemporary challenges.
The Swedish Model of Welfare State: Collapse or Adaptation?
No full textIn the paper, attempt was made to verify the not uncommon opinion about the collapse of the Swedish welfare state model. The first part of the paper was devoted to description of the Swedish model . Attention was drawn, among other things, to its features such as: the high level, universality and equality of social rights of all the citizens, the full employment policy and the solidaristic wage policy. Especially the Swedishmodel's particularity, i.e. the very high level of social expenditures was stressed and, in this connection, their size, structure and financing sources were presented. Then, the principles of organization of the following areas of the social security were discussed: the pension system, the health care system, the labour market policy and the family and social aid policy. The next part of the paper was devoted to the development trends of the Swedish economy, with special regard to the economic growth rate, the productivity, the level of unemployment and the condition of public finance. In the last part of the paper, basing on the analysis made, conclusions were drawn in the key question formulated in the heading of the paper.
Strategy of development of social services in the European socialist countries
No full textMajor changes can be observed in the strategy of development of social services in the socialist countries. These changes are prompted by such major factors in development of social services as changes in the structure of professionally active population, investment policy, and expenditure on social services from the state budget. Improvement in accessibility and quality of social services will depend in the future primarily on modernity of the structure and effectiveness of the national economy. A further conclusion drawn on the basis of the analysis of statistical data from 8 countries for the period 1950-1985 (Bulgaria, Czecho-slovakia, GDR, Hungary, Poland, Rumania, Yugoslavia and USSR) is a statement about the necessity of: 1) such increase in investment outlays on the social services sphere, which will outpace the rate of these outlays in the entire national economy, and 2) much more effective use of resources in this sphere
Staring down the barrel: portrayals of Black heroes in the westerns of the 1970s and today
No full textThe scope and topic of my thesis project is to investigate the figure of the black western hero, primarily in films from the 1970s. I analyze Sydney Poitier’s Buck and the Preacher (1972), Martin Goldman’s The Legend of Nigger Charley (1972), and Mel Brooks’s Blazing Saddles (1974). My argument rests in the consideration of filmmakers who use western tropes and cultural cues to provide an alternate understanding of American social and racial realities by incorporating blackness into this tradition. On a grander scale my thesis topic forces re-evaluations of the usual questions of mimesis, genre reproduction, and authorship that plague film study. To ground my study in theories of visual representation, I use Laura Mulvey’s concept of visual pleasure and gazing in film and Homi K. Bhabha’s theory of colonial mimicry. My thesis project argues that studying the black western protagonist brings forth questions of American artistic, economic, and socio-political realities. I also look at a recent manifestation of this phenomenon, Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained (2012), to grasp what about these realities has changed and what has remained constant.M.A.Includes bibliographical referencesby John Rutkowsk
Corrections to “Gastrointestinal stromal tumours: ESMO–EURACAN Clinical Practice Guidelines for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up” (Annals of Oncology (2018) 29(S4) (iv68–iv78), (S0923753419316916), (10.1093/annonc/mdy095))
No full textAnn Oncol 2018; 29: iv68–iv78 (doi:10.1093/annonc/mdy095) The following corrections have been made under authorship: The author R.L. Haas has been added with the corresponding affiliation and author disclosure statement. The author name P. Rutkovski has been replaced with: P. Rutkowski Under authorship, the author name: A. Hannu has been replaced with: H.T. Aro. Under authorship, A. A. Safwat's affiliation: Finland has been replaced with: Denmark. Under authorship, the author name: W. Van der Graaf has been replaced with: W.T.A. van der Graaf. W.T.A. van der Graaf's institution: 30 has been replaced with: 30, 33, 51
Soft tissue and visceral sarcomas: ESMO-EURACAN Clinical Practice Guidelines for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up
No full textAnn Oncol 2018; 29: iv51-iv67 (doi:10.1093/annonc/mdy096) The following corrections have been made under authorship: The author R.L. Haas has been added with the corresponding affiliation and author disclosure statement. The author name P. Rutkovski has been replaced with: P. Rutkowski Under authorship, the author name: A. Hannu has been replaced with: H.T. Aro. Under authorship, A. A. Safwat s affiliation: Finland has been replaced with: Denmark. Under authorship, the author name: W. Van der Graaf has been replaced with: W.T.A. van der Graaf. W.T.A. van der Graaf s institution: 30 has been replaced with: 30, 33, 51
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