Visible hand or invisible fist?: the new market and choice in the English NHS

2007 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 317-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
CALUM PATON
Keyword(s):  
Health Policy ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
New Labour ◽  
Internal Market ◽  
Invisible Hand ◽  
Visible Hand ◽  
The Government ◽  
The One ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Pro Choice

Abstract:As England (unlike the rest of the UK) retreads the market route in health policy, it is worth asking two questions. Firstly, is the government right that the ‘new market’ (as it refuses to call it, except in private seminars) is fundamentally different from the 1990s’ internal market which New Labour allegedly abolished in 1997? Secondly, given that the new market is clearly not characterized by the invisible hand, should we characterize it as steered ‘economically’ by a visible (facilitating) hand, on the one hand, or managed ‘politically’ by a fist which would like to remain invisible in order to maintain its power? This article goes on to examine choice in the new NHS with reference to Hirschman (1970), arguing that genuflections to the latter by pro-choice advocates such as Le Grand (2003) are just that – genuflections. Hirschman is used as a taxi by which to reach a desired destination rather than a stimulus to critical reflection, Hirschman-style, upon how ‘exit’, ‘voice’, and particular combinations of ‘exit’ and ‘voice’ may produce perverse outcomes.

Dancing with Three Hands: The Identical Roots of China’s Agricultural Miracle and Crisis

Social Change ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 473-492 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Zhou ◽  
Ping Fang ◽  
Caihong Wang
Keyword(s):  
Rural Development ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Agricultural Development ◽  
Invisible Hand ◽  
Human Relationships ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Visible Hand ◽  
The Government ◽  
Favourable Environment ◽  
The One

Ever since economic reforms were launched in China in 1978, the government, as ‘the visible hand’, introduced extraordinary policies by reorganising agricultural production and providing fiscal and financial support to promote rural development. The market, on its part as ‘the invisible hand’ stimulated distribution and strengthened agricultural competitiveness. Society, as ‘the third hand’, helped agricultural development further by creating a favourable environment; reinforcing human relationships and emphasising qualities like diligence and thrift. These three hands, namely the government, market and society, then promoted agricultural development in China. However, at the same time, their unequal relationship had the opposite effect. Thus, while on the one hand, a ‘dance’ of these hands lead to great achievements in agricultural production, farmers’ income and rural development, it also created a systematic crisis of unsustainable agricultural production. So this relationship simultaneously has been the cause of the miracle and the crisis in Chinese agriculture. We conclude by saying that for the sustainable development of China’s agriculture an efficient market, an effective government and a powerful society are three necessary elements.

Taking the iron fist a little further

2007 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 327-331
Author(s):  
IAN GREENER
Keyword(s):  
Internal Market ◽  
Invisible Hand ◽  
Economic Market ◽  
Political Market ◽  
Visible Hand ◽  
The One ◽  
The Invisible

In ‘Visible hand or invisible fist’ Professor Paton asks two specific questions; first, whether the new internal market is different to the one we experienced in the 1990s; and, second, given that the new market is not steered by anything approximating the invisible hand, is it an economic market at all, or some kind of political market instead?

scholarly journals Public governance, agility and pandemics: a case study of the UK response to COVID-19

2021 ◽  
pp. 002085232098340
Author(s):  
Paul Joyce
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Role ◽  
Public Confidence ◽  
Strategic Decisions ◽  
Public Governance ◽  
Local Initiative ◽  
Government Response ◽  
Local Resources ◽  
The Government ◽  
The One ◽  
The Uk

The UK government’s leaders initially believed that it was among the best-prepared governments for a pandemic. By June 2020, the outcome of the collision between the government’s initial confidence, on the one hand, and the aggressiveness and virulence of COVID-19, on the other, was evident. The UK had one of the worst COVID-19 mortality rates in the world. This article explores the UK government’s response to COVID-19 from a public administration and governance perspective. Using factual information and statistical data, it considers the government’s preparedness and strategic decisions, the delivery of the government response, and public confidence in the government. Points for practitioners Possible lessons for testing through application include: Use the precautionary principle to set planning assumptions in government strategies to create the possibility of government agility during a pandemic. Use central government’s leadership role to facilitate and enable local initiative and operational responses, as well as to take advantage of local resources and assets. Choose smart government responses that address tensions between the goal of saving lives and other government goals, and beware choices that are unsatisfactory compromises.

scholarly journals New Labour Ambiguity, or Neo-liberal Consistency? The Debate About Racial Inequality in Employment and the Use of Contract Compliance

2005 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL ORTON ◽  
PETER RATCLIFFE
Keyword(s):  
Policy Development ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
New Labour ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Contract Compliance ◽  
Minority Ethnic Groups ◽  
Labour Policy ◽  
The Government ◽  
Key Barrier ◽  
The Uk

In 2003 the UK government set an objective that in ten years' time Britain's minority ethnic groups should not face disproportionate barriers in the labour market. A key ‘barrier’ is discrimination by employers. This article examines one potential way forward: the use of contract compliance. First, the article presents findings from the authors' study of an innovative use of contract compliance by a group of local authorities in the West Midlands. If contract compliance can be made to work and New Labour is committed to addressing racial inequality in employment, this suggests that contract compliance is an approach that the government should be seeking to develop. The second part of the article therefore considers New Labour's stance on contract compliance, which can be seen to be highly ambiguous. It is argued that if contract compliance is located within the broader context of New Labour policy development, what is apparent is that the professed aspiration for social change is compromised by a dominant commitment to the maintenance of neo-liberal economic policies. The conclusion is that it is likely that only limited progress will be made in achieving racial equality in employment.

Chapter I. The Home Economy

1990 ◽  
Vol 131 ◽  
pp. 6-23
Keyword(s):  
Market Exchange ◽  
Full Membership ◽  
Full Member ◽  
Market Exchange Rate ◽  
The Government ◽  
Run Up ◽  
The One ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Right

The probability has increased that the UK will become a full member of the EMS before the next general election. The issue is by no means settled, but full membership now seems the right assumption to make for the forecast. The precise timing is difficult to foresee: on the one hand the present economic situation in this country makes an immediate move difficult, on the other hand the Government might be loath to make the move in the run-up to the election. Fortunately the choice of the exact date is not very material to the forecast. We have assumed the fourth quarter of the year is the date of entry. A more important question concerns the terms on which the UK joins: whether sterling joins at the market exchange rate of the day and the width of the band within which it can fluctuate.

The Community Trademark Regulation will establish a system whereby a Community trademark can be obtained by registration at the Community Trademarks Office, which the regulation establishes. The mark is a unitary right, which has effect throughout the EC, and the proprietor will be able to proceed against infringements taking place in several Member States through a single action in a designated court in a single Member State. The Commission’s original proposal for a regulation was published in 1980. The European Council decided on 29 October 1993 that the office should be located in Spain (and that the proposed Community Designs Office should be there too) and that the languages of the office should be English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. The regulation, which had been stalled over these matters for many years, was then adopted. The Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market, which will run the Community trademark system, started operations on 1 April 1996. It had been accepting applications since the start of the year, but they will not be examined before April and will be accorded a filing date of 1 April. The Act makes provision for the necessary regulations to be made in the UK. However, the provisions which deal with this matter will have no effect until the Community trademark is up and running. Section 52 is the provision which enables the government to make regulations required for the introduction of the Community Trademark Regulation. It empowers the Secretary of State to make the necessary provisions by regulation. The Community Trademark Regulation will, like other EC regulations, be directly effective in the UK (and in all other Member States). However, there are consequential matters which do require domestic legislation. First, applications for Community trademarks may be made through the national intellectual property offices of the Member States. In the UK, this means that an application for a CTM may be made to the Patent Office, in the same way as an application under the 1994 Act. Applications filed in this way will not be examined by the Patent Office, but simply passed within the two weeks prescribed in the CTMR to the CTMO in Alicante: a receipt will be issued and a handling charge made. Second, there have to be provisions to enable the UK registry to determine a posteriori the validity or liability to revocation of a registration of a trademark from which a Community trademark claims seniority. This is not only a consequence of the regulation but a requirement of the directive (Article 14). The problem is that a CTM may claim priority from an earlier UK trademark: the CTM then stands in the shoes of the UK registration if a dispute arises between it and another trademark. This will continue to be the case even if the UK mark is surrendered or lapses, but not if it is revoked or invalidated. This means that anyone whose

1997 ◽  
pp. 665-665
Keyword(s):  
Member State ◽  
Internal Market ◽  
Patent Office ◽  
Member States ◽  
Single Action ◽  
Original Proposal ◽  
Domestic Legislation ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Unitary Right

Policy Recommendations on the Application of AI to the Development of Smart Cities

2021 ◽  
pp. 215-227
Author(s):  
Kangjuan Lyu ◽  
Miao Hao
Keyword(s):  
Smart City ◽  
Smart Cities ◽  
Invisible Hand ◽  
City Development ◽  
Development Mode ◽  
Equal Importance ◽  
Visible Hand ◽  
Orientation Information ◽  
The Government ◽  
Technology Orientation

Building a smart city requires maintaining “wisdom” in concept, which requires scientific top-level design to properly handle the contradiction between partial interests and overall interests. Its ultimate goal of urban development is to serve people, so equal importance should go to both construction and operation. This chapter emphasizes trading-off some relationships in smart city development, such as diversity and homogeneity, technology orientation and demand orientation, information sharing and information security, the invisible hand of the market with the visible hand of the government, etc.. Finally, it puts forward adopting the development mode that drives overall development through typical examples as a good way.

scholarly journals Regional entrepreneurial ecosystems: Technological transformation, digitalisation and the longer term—The automotive and ICT sectors in the UK and Bulgaria

2021 ◽  
pp. 026909422110257
Author(s):  
Chiara N Focacci ◽  
Vassil Kirov
Keyword(s):  
Technological Transformation ◽  
Regional Clusters ◽  
Entrepreneurial Ecosystems ◽  
Economic Paradigm ◽  
West Midlands ◽  
The Government ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The One ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Successful Innovation

We investigate how regional entrepreneurial ecosystems have adapted to the information revolution as a techno-economic paradigm since the 1960s. Particularly, we look at how the organisation of firms and labour has changed in the automotive and ICT sectors in, respectively, the UK and Bulgaria. Findings show that, in both countries, it was the degree of cooperation between the local enterprises, research institutions and the government that enabled successful innovation in the regional clusters of the West Midlands and Sofia. The resulting ecosystems allowed, on the one hand, the already mature automotive sector in the UK to survive and, on the other hand, the newly developed ICT sector to be installed successfully in Bulgaria.

scholarly journals Efficacy of Foreign Direct Investment in India - An Evaluation

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 38-46
Author(s):  
G Shivagami ◽  
T Rajendra Prasad
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Foreign Capital ◽  
Computer Software ◽  
Production Capacity ◽  
Domestic Saving ◽  
New Production ◽  
The Government ◽  
The One ◽  
The Uk

Foreign investment plays a noteworthy role in all walks of development. Foreign Direct Investment bridges the gap between saving and investment. In the process of economic development, foreign capital helps to cover the domestic saving constraint and provide access to the superior technology that promotes efficiency and productivity of the existing production capacity and generate new production opportunity. The perceptible growth of India’s GDP, particularly in the past few decades has lifted millions of people from sever poverty on the one hand and made the country a conducive ground for foreign direct investment on the other hand. A recent UNCTAD survey projected India as the second most important FDI destination after China for transnational corporations during 2010-2015. Services, telecommunication, construction activities, computer software & hardware and automobile are major sectors, which attracted higher inflows of FDI in India. Few nations such as Singapore, Mauritius, the US, and the UK were among the leading suppliers of FDI in India. This paper intends to examine the degree of global countries’ participation, the sector-wise inflow of foreign capital and the recent initiatives of the government policy towards foreign direct investment.

scholarly journals Kaleidoscope

2015 ◽  
Vol 207 (3) ◽  
pp. 277-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek K. Tracy ◽  
Dan W. Joyce ◽  
Sukhwinder S. Shergill
Keyword(s):  
Alcoholic Beverage ◽  
Crystalline Form ◽  
Current Status ◽  
News Stories ◽  
House Of Lords ◽  
Internet Search Engine ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Government ◽  
The One ◽  
The Uk

Palcohol. What is it? It's a powdered alcohol that has recently been approved for sale in the USA.On the one hand, it is just adding choice, offering a new, crystalline form of one of the world's most commonly used and enjoyed chemicals (although recent news stories1 of some Australians brewing moonshine from Vegemite are surely pushing choice beyond the pale). However, there are some specific challenges with palcohol, which are well articulated in an editorial in JAMA by Naimi & Mosher.2 The powder is sold at 50% alcohol by weight, but the strength by volume will depend on how it is diluted. It can be more easily concealed than liquid alcohol, and it could be added – surreptitiously – to another alcoholic beverage. The potential for misuse, including by children, is self-evident; indeed, a video of an individual eating palcohol has already been uploaded, along with discussions on inhaling it, though such acts appear unlikely to produce intoxication. What is its current status in the UK? Answering a parliamentary question in the House of Lords earlier this year Lord Bates noted3 that ‘The Government is not aware of powdered alcohol being marketed or made available to buy in England and Wales'. However, a very quick and simple check on a well-known internet search engine gave a web-link to buy palcohol online.

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