Why do Politicians Delegate?

Opportunistic politicians maximize the probability of reelection and rents from office holding. Can it be optimal from their point of view to delegate policy choices to independent bureaucracies? The answer is yes: politicians will delegate some policy tasks, though in general not those that would be socially optimal to delegate. In particular, politicians tend not to delegate coalition forming redistributive policies and policies that create large rents or effective campaign contributions. Instead they prefer to delegate risky policies to shift risk (and blame) on bureaucracies.

Why Do Politicians Delegate?

Opportunistic politicians maximize the probability of reelection and rents from office holding. Can it be optimal from their point of view to delegate policy choices to independent bureaucracies? The answer is yes: politicians will delegate some policy tasks, though in general not those that would be socially optimal to delegate. In particular, politicians tend not to delegate coalition forming redistributive policies and policies that create large rents or effective campaign contributions. Instead they prefer to delegate risky policies to shift risk (and blame) on bureaucracies.

Young People, Entrepreneurship and Non-Formal Learning: A Work in Progress

[Excerpt] Often regarded as part of the solution for economic growth, entrepreneurship has reached a political momentum. Various universities now offer courses in entrepreneurship; there is an EU-wide policy on entrepreneurial learning in high schools, while the concept of the ‘enterprising child’ (Gribben, 2006) is likely to make the approach appealing to primary education and below. The potency of entrepreneurship in the policy agenda is able to reactivate discus- sions on the role of youth work in a way that other issues have not. Questions of if, and to what extent youth work could or should engage with entrepreneurial learning are beginning to arise. This book tries to contribute to this timely debate. In doing so, it formulates questions more than it is able to provide complete answers. The hope is to bring fresh perspectives into an old debate on the mission of youth work in changing social and economic times. It aims to open up an uncharted area that looks into the relationship between youth work (non-formal learning) and entrepreneur- ship. It explores the theoretical developments in the field, the dilemmas and tensions, and proposes practice-oriented information: illustrative examples, strategies for action and methods of non-formal education

Young children's understanding of fluid intake

BACKGROUND Coppinger and Howells’ (2019) previously completed an International comparison between primary schools in Ireland and England focusing on children’s understanding of fluid intake. They identified that children under 11 years did not understand the amount of fluid they need each day for good health. Within their sample there was only a limited number of children who were aged 4 – 5 years. This research focuses on this particular age phase and further questions if young children understand fluid intake. METHODS 130 children (63 boys and 67 girls, of which 83 were aged 4 and 47 were aged 5) from 4 elementary schools in the South East of England were questioned between January and April 2019 using an adapted version of Coppinger and Howells’ (2019) questionnaire on their understanding of fluid intake and how much they perceived they drank and who supported them in prompting them when to drink. The adaptions were to ensure the questionnaire was age appropriate for younger age range, and included physical visual representations to aid question comprehension. RESULTS 46.9% of children felt they consumed 500ml or under a day. Only 39.6% responded that they were supported by the teacher, also when children were thirsty, if given the option of playing or stopping rehydration and then playing 33.8% would continue to play without drinking. CONCLUSION Young children in England do not understand fluid recommendations, they were not supported within the school setting by their teacher and more effective resources and strategies are needed to support children’s knowledge

Limp, laced-case binding in parchment on sixteenth-century Mexican printed books

With the arrival of the Spaniards in the New World, the way of living of the indigenous population who habited Mesoamerica was blended with the traditions and customs of the European settlers who arrived as conquerors, and the emigrants from Europe that arrivedlater searching for fortune or a better kind of life from the one they had left behind in their land of origin. This encounter of cultures gave rise also to a technical and cultural exchange, and in the case of Mexico, this clash of cultures and techniques is well represented by the printing press, which was established in 1539 with the specific aim of accelerating the evangelisation and education of the Indians. As a consequence of this development, Mexico was turned into a centre of innovation, with the first printing press using movable metal type to be set up outside Europe, and other trades that support printing, such as bookbinding, were also developed. This thesis investigates the influence of the Spanish and other European bookbinding practices on sixteenth-century Mexican limp, laced-case parchment bindings by the analysis of the features of the bindings of Mexican printed books from that period. In addition, by the analysis of the materials and techniques used to bind these books, as well as the specific structural characteristics of the bindings, the patterns of work that could be described as typically Mexican in the sixteenth-century, are also identified. The research is divided into two parts: the first, theoretical, explains the historical context of Mexico during the sixteenth century when the printing press and bookbinding were developed. The second part concerns the archaeological study of the books as artefacts. For this purpose, thirty-nine sixteenth-century Mexican printed books bound in limp, laced caseparchment covers were analysed. The analysis of the features of these bindings, which form the majority of the whole sample, made possible the identification of Mexican patterns of work in the sixteenth century. Given the lack of information and of complete studies of the craft of bookbinding in Mexico in the sixteenth century, this thesis aims to enhance our current knowledge of the historyof bookbinding as well as of the booktrade and the market for books in Mexico

Improving the packaging efficiency and performance in Logistic Center Vaasa by using Lean

Logistics is one of the main pillars of supply chain management and improvement of packaging efficiency is necessary in logistics to enable the efficient operations. By meaning improving pack-aging efficiency, it is widely understood as only packaging of the products in general, but un-packing and unboxing of same products are sidelined or overseen. It is important to understand that packaging in logistics consists of both packing and unpacking of products. The main objec-tive of this thesis is to improve the packaging efficiency of the materials arriving from Italy to Logistic Center Vaasa (LCV) by utilizing lean principles. The thesis endeavors the area that can be improved for obtaining the packaging efficiency and thereby, could play important role in implementing the changes for further development. The case company chosen for this thesis is Wärtsilä Oy, Finland primarily located at Vaasa, Fin-land. Wärtsilä is a global leader in lifecycle solutions and innovative technologies for the energy and marine markets. The company is headed to transit 100% renewable energy future by providing efficient, reliable, safe and world- class environmental performance. The idea for the topic of thesis cultivated from Logistic Center Vaasa, part of Wärtsilä where most of the goods are received from different parts of globes. The aim of the thesis is to under-stand three key major questions: (1) How to improve the handling of packages coming from Italy for both supplier and LCV end by implementing the lean principles? (2) How to create ergonomical and safe work environment for warehouse workers in LCV? (3) How to uniform EUR-pallet for all inbound deliveries coming from Italy? The thesis uses literature review to understand the topics and all the important topics are demonstrated thoroughly. The data was collected with semi structured interviews carried out among seven workers working in “Goods Receiving Area”. The data collected from these valuable workers acts as the backbone for the analysis and implementation of the results. The results were obtained and analysed based on the interviews. The results manifest that all the three key questions can be improved to increase the packaging efficiency and performance. The results show that lean principles can be applied for the inbound packages, ergonomical as-pect can be improved and usage of EUR-pallet can be increased for many packages coming from Italy

Chinese Unprecedented Move Towards Its One-Belt –One- Road Initiative (OBOR): Unfolding the Mythic Realities of Chinese Sphere of Legal Influence in the International Legal Order

This article explores that while the ever registered vibrant economic development in China radiates from the legal system, the legal system has not been well cherished and praised. Therefore, the purpose of this essay is to unleash and enlighten the sphere of Chinese legal influence to the global legal order by taking OBOR as one particular example. It touches main conceptual frameworks to do with road jurisprudence and steps down to a conclusion by suggesting further deep investigation to be made. Keywords: One –Belt- One- Road Initiative, international legal order, China and Road jurisprudence DOI: 10.7176/IAGS/70-03 Publication date:March 31st 201