Circular 01/10 : reorganisations : further education corporation reorganisations and rationalisation fund support

"This circular confirms the arrangements for consideration by the Learning and Skills Council (the Council) of proposals for further education corporation reorganisations(including mergers), applications for support from the Council’s Rationalisation Fund 1999-2002, in 2001/02, and applications for name changes. It confirms the criteria and procedures for the dissolution and establishment of further education corporations, arrangements for transfer of further education corporations to the higher education sector, and the criteria and procedures for applying for financial support from the Rationalisation Fund" -- front cover

On the process of rationalisation of public expenditure

Cele niniejszego artykułu to pełne wyjaśnienie pojęcia racjonalizacji wydatków publicznych, ustalenie różnic między racjonalizacją wyborów a racjonalizacją kosztów, a ponadto ustalenie, czy każde działanie oszczędnościowe można określić mianem racjonalizacji wydatków publicznych. Autor w szczególności przeanalizował zwrot racjonalizacji w kontekście języka prawnego, prawniczego, potocznego i ekonomicznego oraz zaprezentował proces racjonalizacji wydatków publicznych.The aim of this paper is presentation of the term rationalisation of public expenditure, determination of the differences between rationalisation of choices and rationalisation of costs, and furthermore establishment whether each saving act equals to the rationalisation of public expenditure. The author has focused in particular on the analysis of the expression – rationalisation in terms of legal, legalese, colloquial and economic language and present the process of public expenditures rationalisation

Rationalisation in public dental care – impact on clinical work tasks and mechanical exposure for dentists – a prospective study

Swedish dentistry has been exposed to frequent rationalisation initiatives during the last half century. Previous research has shown that rationalisation often results in increased risk of developing work-related musculoskeletal disorders, thus reducing sustainability in the production system. In this prospective study, we assessed mechanical exposures among Swedish dentists in relation to specific rationalisations of clinical dental work during a six-year period. Body postures and movements of 12 dentists were assessed by inclinometry synchronised to video recordings of their work. No rationalisation effects could be shown in terms of a reduction in non-value-adding work (waste'), and at job level, no major differences in mechanical exposure could be shown between baseline and follow-up. Conclusion: The present rationalisation measures in dentistry do not seem to result in rationalisation at job level, but may potentially be more successful at the overall dental system level. Practitioner summary: In contrast to many previous investigations of the mechanical exposure implications of rationalisation, the present rationalisation measures did not increase the level of risk for dentists. It is highlighted that all occupations involved in the production system should be investigated to assess production system sustainability

Impact of industrial relatedness on manufacturing structural change: a panel data analysis for Chinese provinces

A large body of literature has explored the determinants of manufacturing structural change, but little has highlighted industrial relatedness. This study probes the impact of technological and vertical relatedness on manufacturing structural rationalisation and advancement by constructing a panel data model with province and year fixed effects using data of 30 Chinese provinces from 2000 to 2019. The empirical results show that manufacturing structural change differs based on industrial relatedness. Specifically, at the national level, technological relatedness can promote both structural rationalisation and advancement within manufacturing. Vertical relatedness holds a negative effect on structural rationalisation and no significant effect on structural advancement. Besides, the effects of industrial relatedness exhibit regional heterogeneity. In coastal China, technological relatedness can still promote structural rationalisation and advancement. Vertical relatedness has no significant effect on structural rationalisation and a negative effect on structural advancement. In inland China, governmental supports help break the dependency of regional manufacturing structural change on industrial relatedness, and the establishment of development zones restrains structural rationalisation within manufacturing. This study offers insights for policymakers to adopt different approaches to support local manufacturing development, depending on the characteristics of regional manufacturing structural evolution

Rationalisation of the biochemistry laboratory : which way forwards?

The eternal problem faced in service provision is that of coping with an ever-increasing work-load within the relative constraints of keeping costs down to a minimum. The reasons for the increase in the work-load are multiple and include the need to expand the repertoire of tests available if so justified. The justification in medical practice is not only limited to evidence-based proof of the use of medicinals, but is also extendable to the usage of laboratory tests. Regrettably, laboratory usage still appears to be rooted in the mentality that if the test is available, then its request may just be justified in the case that it throws up an abnormal result. This article aims to look at some commonly requested and possibly overrequested tests as well as discusses the value of emerging tests that may well help the rationalisation of other over-stretched medical services.peer-reviewe

In search of the hollow crown

The first volume in a series of comparative studies within the ESRC's Whitehall Programme focuses on core executives in five parliamentary democracies comparing the Westminster model as in Australia, Canada and Britain with the continental democracies of Germany and the Netherlands showing how political leadership is shackled by a vast array of constraints, from globalisation to internal fragmentation and rationalisation, making a heroic model of decisive political leadership hard to sustain

Nonparametric methods for the characteristic model

Characteristics models have been found to be useful in many areas of economics. However, their empirical implementation tends to rely heavily on functional form assumptions. In this paper we develop a revealed preference-based nonparametric approach to characteristics models. We derive the minimal necessary and sufficient empirical conditions under which data on the market behaviour of individual, heterogeneous, pricetaking consumers are nonparametrically consistent with the consumer characteristics model. Where these conditions hold, we show how information may be recovered on individual consumer’s marginal valuations of product attributes. In some cases marginal valuations are point identified and in other cases we can only recover bounds. Where the conditions fail we highlight the role which the introduction of unobserved product attributes can play in rationalising the data. We implement these ideas using consumer panel data on the Danish milk market

‘Public-spirited men’: economic unionist nationalism in inter-war Scotland

The prolonged economic slump which overshadowed much of the inter-war period encouraged a small number of Clydeside industrialists to intervene with bold plans to restructure and revive the Scottish economy. Key figures like Sir James Lithgow and Lord Weir exploited their business, banking and political connections, in Scotland and in London, to produce a uniquely Scottish response to the inter-war crisis. Championing the existing Union and imperial relationships, they nevertheless articulated a new sense of Scottish exceptionalism. Convinced that any revival in trade was dependent on rationalisation of the heavy industries and an ambitious programme of diversification, Lithgow, Weir and their associates promoted distinctive Scottish solutions. Building on the work of Graeme Morton, the article suggests that what emerged was an economic Unionist Nationalism which built alliances between business and civic Scotland to secure Scottish interests while acknowledging the primacy of Union. The mechanism used to achieve their aims was based upon the associational culture of Scottish business, ‘self-help’ voluntary bodies which carefully steered an independent path, avoiding, where possible, direct state involvement. Yet the depth and persistence of the global depression, and the urgency of the task at hand in Scotland itself, encouraged the business community to moderate its hostility to interventionism and economic planning and engage with new partners. The founding of the Scottish National Development Council in the early 1930s, bringing business and civil society together to help foster economic revival, was a crucial staging post on the journey towards corporatism. Motivated by a mix of public-spiritedness and self-interest, there was, however, a strong defensive element to their actions as the essentially conservative industrialists sought to ward off social, political and economic threats from within Scotland. Their willingness to step forward suggests a traditional sense of patrician responsibility, but there was also an acute awareness of the need to adapt; a progressive quality missing from other actors