The reactions to macro-economic crises in Nordic health system policies: Denmark, Finland and Sweden, 1980–2013

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juhani Lehto ◽  
Karsten Vrangbæk ◽  
Ulrika Winblad

AbstractDenmark, Finland and Sweden have experienced two major recessions during the last 25 years. The adjustments to the earlier crisis in the late 1980s (Denmark) and early 1990s (Finland and Sweden) resembled the policies in many other European countries during the present crisis. The analysis of relationship of deep economic crises and growth period between them to the health system policies and institutions in the three countries from the 1980s to 2013 is based on a categorisation of reactions to external shocks as path conforming or path breaking. The results of the empirical long-term trends show that the reactions to deep recessions have been mainly temporary adjustments and acceleration of changes already prepared before economic crisis. The economic crisis in the three countries has not been ‘good enough’ to enable paradigmatic changes in the Nordic public, decentralised and equity-oriented health systems. Changes such as the slow privatisation in care funding and production and the adoption of new management practices indicate an ongoing paradigmatic change related to longer-term societal, ideological and political developments rather than directly to economic crises or growth.

Atmosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 187
Author(s):  
Christopher Lawrence ◽  
Huiting Mao

This study examined the long-term trends in Arctic ambient methane (CH4) mixing ratios over 1986–2014 and investigated their potential causes. Significant correlations between carbon monoxide (CO) and CH4 in Barrow, Alaska (r = −0.59, p = 0.007) and Alert, Canada (r = −0.62, p =0.004) with the strongest correlations occurring in April (r = −0.81, p = 0.000, and r = −0.80, p = 0.000) suggest local to global anthropogenic contributions to ambient CH4 during the cold months. Backward trajectories indicate a significant influence (27% of total trajectories) of local emissions from the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field on ambient CH4 in Barrow in winter, and this influence was dominated by other factors in summer. The mean CH4 wetland emission flux in Barrow over 1986–2014 was estimated to be 0.008 ± 0.002 µg m−2 s−1 while in Tiksi, Russia it was 0.010 µg m−2 s−1 over 2012–2016, which is comparable to the lower end of measurements in the literature. Note that in Barrow, there was a decrease in wetland flux from 0.0083 ± 0.002 µg m−2 s−1 over 1986–1998 to 0.0077 ± 0.002 µg m−2 s−1 from 1999–2006 followed by an increase to 0.0081 ± 0.002 µg m−2 s−1 over 2007–2014. Although the difference between the three values is not statistically significant due to small sample size, it is indicative of possible warm season wetland emissions contributing to the zero-growth period. Strong support for this hypothesis is that these changes are consistent with a concurrent drop in summertime temperature possibly causing a decrease in wetland emissions over 1998–2006 based on the statistically significant correlations between temperature and CH4 during August through November (r~0.36–0.56, p= ≤ 0.05). In a warming climate, permafrost thawing can increase CH4 wetland emissions and also decrease wetlands making it a complex problem, and, hence, further study is needed to better understand the mechanisms driving long-term trends in Arctic CH4.


Soil Research ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 223 ◽  
Author(s):  
RC Dalal

The effects of conservation practices, zero-tillage and stubble retention, on long-term trends in total N (0-0.1 m depth) of a Vertisol used mainly for wheat cropping were studied in a semi-arid subtropical environment (28�12'S. and 152�06' E.) in Queensland. Trends in total N content of a Vertisoi (65% clay, pH 7.2) were discerned during a 22-year period of management practices including: zero-tillage (ZT) and conventional tillage (CT); stubble retention (SR) and stubble burning (SB); and fertilizer N application of nil (Nl), 23 kg N ha-1 yr-1 (N2) and 69 kg N ha-1 yr-1 (N3). Soil total N (0-0.1 m) declined under all treatments at an overall rate of 25f 2 kg N ha-1 yr-1 although after 22 years soil under ZT, SR and N3 treatments still contained higher soil total N than under CT, SB and N1 treatments. Apparent fertilizer N recovery in the soil-plant system was poor (34 64%) under CTSB, CTSR and ZTSB and ZTSR treatments, because N removed by the wheat crop was equivalent to less than 20% of fertilizer N in the first 12 years of management practices, due mainly to disease. Deep leaching losses of NO3-N was the likely factor for poor recovery of N. The ZTSR treatment showed better apparent N recovery than the CTSB treatment, most likely due to greater immobilization of fertilizer N, more N uptake in grain due to additional available soil water and hence less leaching losses of NO3-N. Under the current cultural practices, soil total N (0-0.1 m) may decline further to reach a steady state (about 1000 kg N ha-1). However, the apparent N recovery in the soil-plant system can be increased by disease control (for example, resistant cultivars and winter-summer crop rotations) and optimum utilisation of soil water (opportunity cropping) to minimize NO3-N leaching losses and to maximise production of crop biomass.


2007 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 344-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Kalinowski

AbstractIn this paper I analyze the nexus between economic crises, market oriented reforms, and democratization in Indonesia and Korea since the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis. I provide some support for the hypothesis that democracies are better able to survive economic crises than authoritarian regimes. In both countries democratization facilitated a crisis resolution strategy based on market oriented reforms. However, I assert that in the long run the social consequences of market-oriented reforms tend to undermine democratization partly because both are so closely linked and the majority of the population sees them as one. This process does not necessarily destroy democracies but it leaves them more vulnerable to possible external shocks in the future.


Author(s):  
Birgitta Dian Saraswati ◽  
M. Khusaini

This study aimed to identify how household consumption is influenced by economic crises in 1997 according to Keynes absolute income hypothesis. Using Chow Test and Partial Adjustment Models, the result show that the economic crisis in 1997 resulted in a structural change in household consumption in Indonesia clearly visible from MPC value before the economic crisis is bigger than the MPC after the crisis. The economic crisis has an effect on household consumption in Indonesia in both the short term and in the long term.  


2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Pilar Martí-Ballester ◽  
Alexandra Simon

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to fill a gap in the management systems (MSs) field by addressing whether the implementation of an integrated management system (IMS) and the integration level of its elements bring benefits and/or challenges to companies and whether these are related to corporate financial performance (CFP). Design/methodology/approach Drawing on a Spanish sample of 76 organizations with at least an environmental and a quality MS, the authors perform a partial least squares (PLS) analysis. Findings The results showed evidence of a positive relationship of the integration benefits with respect to the integration level of MS documentation and the integration level of MS procedures that overweights the negative significant effect of difficulties of integration in relation to the integration level of MS documentation and the integration level of MS procedures. The authors also found new evidence on this topic, related to a positive significant relationship between the integration level of MS procedures and CFP that overweights the negative significant effect of integration level of MS documentation on CFP. Research limitations/implications This study used cross-sectional data from interviewees who are Catalan managers. Furthermore, the mail survey was answered in 2010 at the beginning of the economic crisis from which results should be taken with caution given that the situation might have changed due to the continuation of the Spanish economic crisis. Practical implications The findings could allow companies’ managers to understand the extent to which the integration of quality management practices and environmental management practices influences some of the most relevant firms’ financial performance dimensions. Originality/value As far as the authors know, there are not empirical studies that address the relationship of IMS with a measure of performance such as CFP.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (27) ◽  
pp. 50-54
Author(s):  
Sarah Jaroudi ◽  
Shengping Yang ◽  
Gilbert Berdine

To determine trends in daily emergency department (ED) visits, a preliminary retrospective study was done to analyze the relationship of long-term trends, day of week, and month of year to ED volume at University Medical Center in Lubbock, TX. Local data were collected from January 1, 2011, through December 31, 2017. An increase in ED visits from 2011 to 2014 was followed by a decrease in ED visits from 2014 to 2017. The best fit third order polynomial was “ ” with y=number of ED visits and x=cumulative day. The busiest day of the week was Monday with an average of 235.6 visits per day. Throughout the week, ED visits decreased to a minimum value of 201.9 visits per day on Saturday. The differences between each day of the week were significant (p < 0.001). Seasonal trends were present with peaks during February and September. The differences among months were significant (p < 0.001).  The total variance of the ED visit data was decreased after adjusting for the long-term trend, day of week, and month of year. These adjustments remove noises not relevant to the study goal and are necessary for further studies testing hypotheses about factors affecting ED visits that may not be uniformly distributed over time. 


2008 ◽  
Vol 65 (7) ◽  
pp. 1459-1474 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carrie A. Holt ◽  
Randall M. Peterman

Fisheries managers usually have multiple options available but are often unclear on how to choose among them owing to uncertainties in biological and management components of fisheries systems. We evaluated the performance of current and possible future assessment and management practices for sockeye salmon ( Oncorhynchus nerka ) in British Columbia and Alaska by using a computer model that included major biological and management components and their associated uncertainties (interannual variability in recruitment, age-at-maturity, and sex ratio, as well as uncertainty in observations of spawner abundances, forecasts of recruitment, and outcomes from implementing management regulations). One option for management practices that we evaluated was designed to make the forecasting model more realistic by accounting for long-term trends in age-at-maturity. A second option was designed to reduce deviations between management targets and actual or “realized” harvest levels. We found that compared with practices that ignore those sources of uncertainty, the second option produced annual catches that were higher, on average, and less variable over time while maintaining recruitment above critical conservation levels. Contrary to our expectations, the first modification did not result in comparable benefits. Our results demonstrate the value of using simulation models to evaluate potential modifications to Pacific salmon management practices.


Elem Sci Anth ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikhail V. Chester ◽  
Braden Allenby

Changing complexity in the increasingly integrated human, natural, and built systems within which our infrastructures are designed and operated make it necessary to examine how the role of engineering requires new competencies for satisficing. Several long-term trends appear to be shifting our infrastructures further away from the complicated domain where optimization and efficiency were the core approaches, to the domain of complexity, where rapidly changing environments and fragmentation of goals require fundamentally new approaches. While complexity in infrastructure has always existed in some form, making infrastructures agile and flexible for the Anthropocene will require us to acknowledge and work with the fact that infrastructure change now appears to be a wicked and complex process. Wicked complexity is the result of three competing forces that are inimical to rapid and sustained change of infrastructures in a future marked by acceleration and uncertainty: wicked problems, technical complexity including lock-in, and social complexity. The combination of these factors raises serious questions about whether rapidly changing demands, technologies, and perturbations (such as climate change, or cyber attacks) will affect our infrastructure’s capacity to provide services. What infrastructure managers need to do today is very different than in the past. Increased presence and polarization of viewpoints is becoming more common, where solutions are dictated not by technical performance measures but instead by “acceptable enough” to all parties. Adaptive management practices and associated competencies that have proven successful in managing complex socio-ecological systems may provide some guidance for how to manage infrastructure change. These competencies are i) promoting a shared understanding of what infrastructures can do, ii) managing infrastructures as systems with changing demands, iii) emphasizing experimentation over conventional approaches, and, iv) restructuring education and training for a complexity mindset that emphasizes what can be over what is, and relies on satisficing, not optimization.


Soil Science ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 124 (2) ◽  
pp. 110-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. W. MEINTS ◽  
L. T. KURTZ ◽  
S. W. MELSTED ◽  
T. R. PECK

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