Continental Western Europe

2021 ◽  
pp. 825-843
Author(s):  
Bruno Palier

The chapter analyses the commonalities and transformations of the Bismarckian welfare systems of continental Western Europe. In these systems, social insurance is the primary delivery mechanism, access to benefits is mainly based on work and contribution record, benefits are mainly in cash and calculated as a proportion of past earnings, the biggest share of the financing comes from social contributions paid by employers and employees, and the governance and management of these systems is partly run by collective, compulsory social insurance funds. These features dominate the welfare systems of Germany, France, Belgium, Austria, and, to a lesser degree, the Netherlands. The first part of the chapter focuses on the origins of these systems, the main goals they tried to achieve through their historical development, and the specific principles on which they rely. The second part shows how these systems developed and functioned during their Golden Age, emphasizing their institutional traits and complementarities with certain forms of industrial capitalism. The third part analyses the specificities of the crises these systems are facing, especially the cost of labour. The final part presents the various sequences of welfare reform that have led these systems to adopt structural reforms, especially. The conclusion focuses on the dualization processes that characterize the main changes of Bismarckian welfare systems.

Author(s):  
Lyudmila A. Migranova ◽  
◽  
Valentin D. Roik ◽  

The article deals with the issues of functioning of the social insurance institution, the organizational-legal and financial forms of which are presented by the state extrabudgetary social funds - Pension Fund of Russia, Mandatory Social Insurance Fund and Mandatory Health Insurance Fund. It considers the main characteristics of social insurance: a) scope of covering the employed population by insurance protection; b) contribution rates as related to wages; c) level of protection of population incomes (pensions and benefits as related to wages and subsistence minimum); d) availability of quality medical assistance and rehabilitation services. There are analyzed the present social risks and problems of the RF insurance system. The main problem is that the amount of financial expenditures on all types of social insurance per beneficiary is about half that of most developed and developing countries. The primary cause is lacking motivation of both employees and employers to participate in the mandatory social insurance and to legalize their earnings. In the conclusion there are formulated a number of proposals for improvement of the institution of social insurance in Russia. It is proposed to expand the range of insurance cases concerning unemployment insurance and care for elderly people, to increase the total amount of compulsory contributions to extrabudgetary insurance funds from 30.2% up to 42.5% from three sources - employees, employers and the state.


Author(s):  
Samuel Andrew Hardy

Abstract Rescue has long been a defense for the removal of cultural property. Since the explosion of iconoclasm in West Asia, North Africa, and West Africa, there has been a growing demand for cultural property in danger zones to be “rescued” by being purchased and given “asylum” in “safe zones” (typically, in the market countries of Western Europe and North America). This article reviews evidence from natural experiments with the “rescue” of looted antiquities and stolen artifacts from across Asia and Europe. Unsurprisingly, the evidence reaffirms that “rescue” incentivizes looting, smuggling, and corruption, as well as forgery, and the accompanying destruction of knowledge. More significantly, “rescue” facilitates the laundering of “ordinary” illicit assets and may contribute to revenue streams of criminal organizations and violent political organizations; it may even weaken international support for insecure democracies. Ultimately, “rescue” by purchase appears incoherent, counter-productive, and dangerous for the victimized communities that it purports to support.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 2263
Author(s):  
Mahmood Ebadian ◽  
Shahab Sokhansanj ◽  
David Lee ◽  
Alyssa Klein ◽  
Lawrence Townley-Smith

In this study, an inter-continental agricultural pellet supply chain is modeled, and the production cost and price of agricultural pellets are estimated and compared against the recent cost and price of wood pellets in the global marketplace. The inter-continental supply chain is verified and validated using an integration of an interactive mapping application and a simulation platform. The integrated model is applied to a case study in which agricultural pellets are produced in six locations in Canada and shipped and discharged at the three major ports in Western Europe. The cost of agricultural pellets in the six locations is estimated to be in the range of EUR 92–95/tonne (CAD 138–142/tonne), which is comparable with the recent cost of wood pellets produced in small-scale pellet plants (EUR 99–109/tonne). The average agricultural pellet price shipped from the six plants to the three ports in Western Europe is estimated to be in a range of EUR 183–204 (CAD 274–305/tonne), 29–42% more expensive that the average recent price of wood pellets (EUR 143/tonne) at the same ports. There are several potential areas in the agricultural pellet supply chains that can reduce the pellet production and distribution costs in the mid and long terms, making them affordable supplement to the existing wood pellet markets. Potential economic activities generated by the production of pellets in farm communities can be significant. The generated annual revenue in the biomass logistics system in all six locations is estimated to be about CAD 21.80 million. In addition, the logistics equipment fleet needs 176 local operators with a potential annual income of CAD 2.18 million.


1983 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 381-403
Author(s):  
Louise Buenger Robbert

Seventy-three years ago pioneer American medievalist Dana Carlton Munro (1911: 504) delivered a paper in Philadelphia to the American Philosophical Society entitled “The Cost of Living in the Twelfth Century.” He threw down the gauntlet by concluding that in this paper an attempt has been made to set forth only a few of the facts, merely to indicate the nature and importance of the problem. Every one of the subjects here discussed is susceptible of elaboration, and needs to be worked out in detail for each country of Western Europe and each period in the twelfth century. The material is voluminous…. This field, as a whole, offers a good opportunity for many monographs, and such work is essential before we can understand the economic history of the century which was most important in the advance of western Europe.This article takes up this challenge with new material on the cost of living in Italy in the twelfth century.


BMJ Open ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. e015594 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Mahon ◽  
Carlos Lifschitz ◽  
Thomas Ludwig ◽  
Nikhil Thapar ◽  
Julie Glanville ◽  
...  

ObjectivesTo estimate the cost of functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) and related signs and symptoms in infants to the third party payer and to parents.Study designTo estimate the cost of illness (COI) of infant FGIDs, a two-stage process was applied: a systematic literature review and a COI calculation. As no pertinent papers were found in the systematic literature review, a ‘de novo’ analysis was performed. For the latter, the potential costs for the third party payer (the National Health Service (NHS) in England) and for parents/carers for the treatment of FGIDs in infants were calculated, by using publicly available data. In constructing the calculation, estimates and assumptions (where necessary) were chosen to provide a lower bound (minimum) of the potential overall cost. In doing so, the interpretation of the calculation is that the true COI can be no lower than that estimated.ResultsOur calculation estimated that the total costs of treating FGIDs in infants in England were at least £72.3 million per year in 2014/2015 of which £49.1 million was NHS expenditure on prescriptions, community care and hospital treatment. Parents incurred £23.2 million in costs through purchase of over the counter remedies.ConclusionsThe total cost presented here is likely to be a significant underestimate as only lower bound estimates were used where applicable, and for example, costs of alternative therapies, inpatient treatments or diagnostic tests, and time off work by parents could not be adequately estimated and were omitted from the calculation. The number and kind of prescribed products and products sold over the counter to treat FGIDs suggest that there are gaps between treatment guidelines, which emphasise parental reassurance and nutritional advice, and their implementation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-63
Author(s):  
Panagiotis Liargovas ◽  
Nikolaos Apostolopoulos

Abstract The focus of this article is on the main aspects of economic governance in Greece during the period 2015–19 where the syriza-anel coalition party was in power. In August 2015, the syriza-anel government faced the dilemma either to accept a new agreement with the EU partners (as eventually happened) or go bankrupt and leave the Eurozone, becoming detached from EU solidarity mechanisms. A third program was agreed, offering Greece an additional €86 billion loan over a three-year period. The third programme was unnecessary considering that the syriza-anel governance inherited 0.8% growth rate and some progress in the structural reforms demanded during the first two agreements in 2010 and 2011. However, the political choices made had the consequence of Greece returning to recession in 2015 and 2016.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-219
Author(s):  
Wenni Syafitri ◽  
Muhamad Sadar ◽  
Eddisyah Putra Pane

SMP IT Madani as one of the schools that apply the concept of islamic in its education practice. SMPIT Madani is a school formed by amil zakat self-supporting institution ummah Riau by using theconcept of free school. SMP IT stands in 2011 with a total of 20 students. Over time, the currentnumber of junior Madani IT students amounted to 75 students. The average students who attendjunior high school IT is the students who come from poor families.SMP IT Madani has received School Operational Assistance (BOS) a few years back. The BOSprogram uses a different approach than Special Assistance for Students (BKM) ie BOS funds are notgiven to poor students but are provided to schools and managed by schools. The mechanism forcalculating BOS funds is based on the number of students in each school. So the goal of this BOScan be achieved is to free the cost of education for poor students or not able and can alleviate forother students so they can get 9 years basic education services.The obligations of schools receiving BOS programs should report the realization of the use of theprogram to the government. Currently schools are having difficulties to make reporting realizationof BOS program to government and foundation. Differences in reporting formats to foundations andgovernments make the school experience serious problems. If it does not sync between reportingbetween the government and the foundation will cause many other questions and problems. Wheninterviewed, the school is very eager for this matter to be resolved immediately.Based on the problems of the partners, it can be concluded the solution of the problem is a reportinginformation system synchronized to the government and the foundation. So that SMP IT Madani nolonger experience obstacles to the reporting of BOS program activities. As a result the name ofUnilak increasingly fragrant in the eyes of society, especially SMP IT Madani.Method of implementation of activities used is direct observation to the location of partners toperform the first phase, this stage includes data collection and data processing. When this stage takesplace, we will get an overview of the Information Technology environment, and the partner's needfor the BOS program reporting mechanism. After the first phase is done, it will be held the secondphase of socialization, this stage to do the sosiasisasi about the benefits of synchronizing BOSreporting to the government and the foundation. Then in the third stage, the authors do the designand implementation of BOS reporting system based on information obtained from the foundation.Finally, the training phase: Each partner school sends its representative two people, to attend trainingon the use of reporting system that can synchronize BOS and foundation reporting.


Author(s):  
Paula J Dalley

Despite the ubiquity of agents in the modern world, agency law does not have a coherent explanation or unified theory. The Restatement (Third) of Agency updates and attempts to explain the law, but its explanations are limited in scope and at times unpersuasive. Like other contemporary commentary on agency law, the Third Restatement draws from contract and tort theory, an approach which ignores the unique features of agency law. Agency law enables principals to act through agents; it also ensures that principals using agents do not thereby escape liability or other consequences of their choices. This paper develops a theory to fit agency law. The "costbenefit internalization theory" is based on the simple premise that the principal, who has chosen to conduct her business through an agent, must bear the foreseeable consequences of that choice. Conversely, as the bearer of the risks, the principal is entitled to receive the benefits created by the agency relationship. The cost-benefit internalization theory explains and illuminates virtually all agency law doctrine.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Behnke ◽  
Diana Armbruster ◽  
Anja Strobel

Safeguarding the rights of minorities is crucial for just societies. However, there are conceivable situations were minority rights might seriously impede the rights of the majority. Favoring the minority in such cases constitutes a violation of utilitarian principles. To investigate the emotional, cognitive, and punitive responses of observers of such utilitarian rule transgressions, we conducted an online study with 1004 participants. Two moral scenarios (vaccine policy and epidemic) were rephrased in the third-party perspective. In both scenarios the protagonist opted against the utilitarian option which resulted in more fatalities in total, but avoided harm to a minority. The scenarios varied in whether the minority would have been harmed accidentally or deliberate. The majority of participants chose not to punish the scenarios’ protagonists at all. However, 30.5% judged that protecting the minority over the interests of the majority when only accidental harm would have occurred (vaccine policy) was worthy of punishment. In comparison, only 11.5% opted to punish a protagonist whose decision avoided deliberate harm to a minority at the cost of the majority (epidemic). Emotional responses and appropriateness ratings paralleled these results. Furthermore, complex personality × situation interactions revealed the influence of personality features, i.e., psychopathy, empathy, altruism, authoritarianism, need for cognition and faith in intuition, on participants’ responses. The results further underscore the need to consider the interaction of situational features and inter-individual differences in moral decisions and sense of justice.


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