Poor Productivity and Damaging Demography

2019 ◽  
pp. 18-22
Author(s):  
Andrew Smithers
Keyword(s):  
Labour Productivity ◽  
Participation Rates ◽  
Hours Worked ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Us ◽  
Working Age ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Combined Impact

Over the past decade the slowdown in growth has reduced UK GDP by 20 per cent and US by 18 per cent. The contributions to this decline are calculated from changes in the population of working age, unemployment, participation rates, hours worked, and labour productivity. This shows that the deterioration in productivity caused 102 per cent of the slowdown in the growth of GDP for the UK and 65 per cent for the US, and the changes in demography caused 15 per cent of the slowdown in the UK and 37 per cent in the US. At least 100 per cent of this decline was therefore caused by damaging changes in demography and productivity. Changes in unemployment, participation rates, and hours worked offset some of the deterioration in demography in the UK but had almost no combined impact in the US.

scholarly journals Situating Continuing Professional Development in Life Long Learning in Qatar

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vishanth Weerakkody ◽  
Mohamad Osmani ◽  
Paul Waller ◽  
Nitham Hindi ◽  
Rajab Al-Esmail
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
The Past ◽  
Life Long Learning ◽  
The Us ◽  
Local Contexts ◽  
The Uk ◽  
High Level

<p>Continued professional development (CPD) has been at the centre of capacity building in most successful organisations in western countries over the past few decades. Specialised professions in fields such as Accounting, Finance and ICT, to name but a few, are continuously evolving, which is necessitating certain standards to be followed through registration and certification by a designated authority (e.g. ACCA). Whilst most developed countries such as the UK and the US have well established frameworks for CPD for these professions, several developing nations, including Qatar (the chosen context for this article) are only just beginning to adopt these frameworks into their local contexts. However, the unique socio-cultural settings in such countries require these frameworks to be appropriately modified before they are adopted within the respective national context. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of CPD in Qatar through comparing the UK as a benchmark and drawing corresponding and contrasting observations to formulate a roadmap towards developing a high level framework.</p>

Passing the Baton:

2003 ◽  
Vol 3 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 191-195
Author(s):  
Jerry Dupont
Keyword(s):  
Digital Library ◽  
The Past ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Us ◽  
On Line ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Law Library

I work for the Law Library Microform Consortium (LLMC), a cooperative with some 900 participating members. Most are in the US, with a fair number in Canada and some in Australia, the UK and sixteen other countries. For over a quarter of a century LLMC has provided its member libraries with a wide range of legal titles, including much Commonwealth material, on microfiche. We grew hoary in that task, but have been rejuvenated in a new role. We've just launched an on-line digital library, LLMC-Digital, which will provide vastly enhanced access to our materials. The foundation for this endeavour is our backfile of 92,000 volumes (some 49-million page images) filmed during the past 27 years. To that base will be added every new title acquired in LLMC's future filming or scanning.

scholarly journals Investing for Prosperity: Skills, Infrastructure and Innovation

2013 ◽  
Vol 224 ◽  
pp. R1-R13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Besley ◽  
Miguel Coelho ◽  
John Van Reenen
Keyword(s):  
Policy Changes ◽  
The Past ◽  
Long Run ◽  
The Us ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Relative Decline ◽  
Policy Risk ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Short Termism ◽  
National Infrastructure

What policies and institutions are needed to sustain long-run growth in the UK? We describe an optimistic story of the UK economy over the past 30 years. From the late 1970s, the UK reversed a century of relative decline in terms of per capita GDP with our main counterparts in the US, France and Germany. A key factor behind this improvement was an array of policy changes including an expansion of higher education and greater competition in product and labour markets. However, major weaknesses with respect to long-run investment in human capital, infrastructure and innovation remain. These are hampered by problems of short-termism and policy risk. We propose a series of radical reforms to address these problems: such as more flexibility in schooling with a new focus on disadvantage; a new architecture for national infrastructure decisions and more competition in banking.

The Globalization of Carbon Trading: Transnational Business Coalitions in Climate Politics

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 26-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonas Meckling
Keyword(s):  
Global Climate ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Policy Instrument ◽  
Carbon Trading ◽  
Environmental Groups ◽  
Climate Politics ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Eu

Over the past decade, carbon trading has emerged as the policy instrument of choice in the industrialized world to address global climate change. In this article I argue that a transnational business coalition, representing mostly energy firms and energy-intensive manufacturers, actively promoted the global rise of carbon trading. In this process, business was able to draw on the support of government allies and business-oriented environmental groups, particularly in the UK and the US. Alongside its allies, the coalition had pivotal influence in the internationalization of carbon trading through the Kyoto Protocol, in the U-turn of the EU from skeptic to frontrunner on carbon trading and in the re-import of carbon trading to the US. While business was not able to prevent mandatory emission controls, it was able to critically affect the regulatory style of climate policy in favor of low-cost, market-based options.

The use of pedigree estimates of genetic merit to predict progeny performance of Holstein Friesian bulls tested in the UK

1997 ◽  
Vol 1997 ◽  
pp. 26-26
Author(s):  
B.J. McGuirk ◽  
J. Smith ◽  
R. Mrode
Keyword(s):  
Pedigree Information ◽  
Progeny Testing ◽  
Genetic Merit ◽  
The Past ◽  
The North ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Holstein Friesian ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Uk ◽  
North American Type

Over the past 10 years, dairy breeding in the United Kingdom has switched from British Friesian to the North American type Holstein. Many of the bulls entering progeny testing in the UK in that period were sourced from overseas bull mothers, especially from the US. The aim of this study was to compare current predictions of the genetic merit of those bulls, using pedigree information, with the performance of their UK daughters.

Gearing Up for a New “Pandemic” on the Eyes

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Wang ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Electronic Devices ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
The Uk

As the novel coronavirus continues ravaging communities worldwide, children and adults are spending more time than ever before on their electronic devices. Social networking websites, streaming platforms, and video games accumulate hours of usage. Students and employees are turning to remote learning and working. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, teleworking was already on the rise. In the US, the population of employees working remotely increased from 19.6% in 2003 to 24.1% in 2015, and in Sweden, the prevalence of working from home jumped from 5.9% in 1999 to 19.7% in 2012 (Feldstead & Henseke, 2017). Research conducted by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) reported that the teleworking rate in the UK increased by at least 20% over the past decade. There are currently no official reports on the increase of remote working in 2020. However, given the current pandemic situation along with the rapid advancement of technology each day, the numbers are expected to be at an all-time high. This may introduce the world to a new set of health problems: the Digital Eye Strain syndrome.

scholarly journals Glancing at the past and course-setting for the future: lessons from the last decade of research on medication abortion in high-income countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Annik M. Sorhaindo
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
High Income ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Medication Abortion ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Quality Evidence

Abstract Objective Although medication abortion has become more common in high-income countries, the procedure has not yet met early expectations for widening access to abortion. High-quality evidence can serve as a catalyst for changes in policy and practice. To direct research priorities, it is important to understand where quality evidence is concentrated and where gaps remain. High-income countries have developed a body of evidence that may have implications for the future of medication abortion. This literature review assesses the characteristics and quality of published studies on medication abortion conducted in the last 10 years in high-income countries and indicates future areas for research to advance policy and practice, and broaden access. Study design A structured search for literature resulted in 207 included studies. A framework based upon the World Health Organization definition of sub-tasks for medication abortion was developed to categorize research by recognized stages of the medication abortion process. Using an iterative and inductive approach, additional sub-themes were created under each of these categories. Established quality assessment frameworks were drawn upon to gauge the internal and external validity of the included research. Results Studies in the US and the UK have dominated research on MA in high-income countries. The political and social contexts of these countries will have shaped of this body of research. The past decade of research has focused largely on clinical aspects of medication abortion. Conclusion Researchers should consider refocusing energies toward testing service delivery approaches demonstrating promise and prioritizing research that has broader generalizability and relevance outside of narrow clinical contexts. Plain English summary Although medication abortion is more commonly available worldwide, it is not being used as often as people thought it would be, particularly in high income countries. In order to encourage changes in policy and practice that would allow greater use, we need good quality evidence. If we can understand where we do not have enough research and where we have good amounts of research, we can determine where to invest energies in further studies. Many high-income countries have produced research on medication abortion that could influence policy and practice in similarly resourced contexts. I conducted a literature review to be able to understand the type and quality of research on medication abortion conducted in high-income countries in the past 10 years. I conducted the review in an organized way to make sure that the papers reviewed discussed studies that I thought would be important for answering this question. The literature review found 207 papers. Each of these papers were reviewed and organized them by theme. I also used existing methods to determinine the quality of each study. Most of the research came from the US and the UK. Furthermore, most of the research conducted in the past 10 years was focused on clinical studies of medication abortion. In future studies, researchers should focus more on new ways of providing medication abortion to women that offers greater access. Also, the studies should be designed so that the results have meaning for a broader group of people or situations beyond where the study was done.

The changing fortunes of UK retired households, 1977–2017

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Gilleard
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Income Distribution ◽  
Household Income ◽  
Temporal Contiguity ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Past ◽  
Working Age ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Improve Access

PurposeThis study aims to explore whether trends in the pattern of income inequality over the past 40 years apply equally to working and retirement age households in the UK, and if so, why this might be so.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on data from the Office of National Statistics, various indices of income inequality have been calculated among retired and working-age households for the period 1977–2017.FindingsDespite a broadly similar trend towards increasing inequality during the 1980s and into the 1990s among both types of household, income inequality among UK retired households has always remained below than that of working-age households. For retired and working-age households alike, the fortunes of those in the upper half of the income distribution have seen themselves do better. Despite the temporal contiguity, different explanations for both sets of inequalities seem to be required, and likely different strategies needed to ameliorate their more negative effects.Originality/valueFew studies have conducted comparisons of inequality between retirement and working-age households over four decades in any country. The present study's long view suggests that factors creating inequality in the upper half of the income distribution may differ in both their cause and impact, compared with inequalities in the lower half. Arguably, the greatest need is to improve access to benefits for those retired householders at the bottom of the income distribution.

Mental Health Services in Transition: the United States and the United Kingdom

1992 ◽  
Vol 161 (5) ◽  
pp. 589-593 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Raftery
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Mental Health Services ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Community Care ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Past ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Uk

Mental health services are of interest not only because of the large burden they impose, but also because they have been subject to more change than virtually any other type of health service over the past four decades. Although both the US and UK have taken to ‘deinstitutionalisation’ with enthusiasm, the US has so far proceeded somewhat further down that road than the UK. While both countries face similar problems, the NHS and Community Care Act 1990 may now lead to considerable further changes in the UK.

scholarly journals Mini Cooper: Marketing Strategy, Digital Marketing, Brand & Ethics

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-113
Author(s):  
Mariia Moiseieva
Keyword(s):  
Marketing Strategy ◽  
Digital Marketing ◽  
Ethical Values ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Social Trends ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Us ◽  
Iconic Image ◽  
International Marketing Strategy ◽  
The Uk

Abstract The report is designed to examine, analyse, and evaluate where appropriately the current Mini Cooper’s marketing strategy, its digital marketing initiative, branding, and the importance of ethical values in Mini Cooper as well as other organisations. That is important for understanding of the practical applications of marketing is achieved by applying theory to them. It is determined that Mini’s marketing strategy has shifted in terms of targeting and brand positioning. As previously it was an affordable iconic British car, now it has become a cool luxury car dominantly for a young segment. Its international marketing strategy is differentiated in a way that a brand is built up on the historical iconic image of Mini for the UK and associated market, but it is not associated with any values in the past for the US customers. Overall, Mini’s marketing strategy is considered to be innovative, creative, and sometimes ‘silly’, which is of great value for its young energetic target audience. Digital marketing initiative also corresponds to the latest IT and social trends worldwide by ‘digitalising’ marketing initiatives and active social networking with the consumers. Brand is a core competence and ‘everything’ for Mini. Marketing is centered on its brand, not vice versa. An analysis of the Mini’s strategy shows that it is efficient in terms of its branding strategy. Ethical values also play an important role for Mini as well as the other organisations. It is important to pursue them nowadays as it helps to support the communities and the organisations both in the same direction and with dynamic progress.

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