Health Care Developments in EU Member States: Regressing Trensds and Institutional Similarity?

Due to various structural pressures predictions of retrenchment and conformity of social policies have been legion, both in terms of expenditure and institutional set-up. Recent research has focused on changes in cash benefits. Comparative analyses of changes in services, the other pillar of social policy, have however so far been limited to a few countries. The purpose of this paper is to perform a diachronical cross-national analysis of health care services. We thus raise questions of decline and convergence of European health care systems. Contrary to previous claims we find that European health care systems are not particularly hit by retrenchment and convergence is absent in key health care dimensions, namely coverage, financing and provision. The empirical analysis is based on institutional indicators rather than expenditure levels. We utilize OECD Health Data and provide both a descriptive analysis and multi-level regressions.Health care; Citizenship rights; EU; welfare

Development in the Indonesia-Malaysia-Singapore Growth Triangle

In this article, we explore whether regional economic cooperation in the form of growth triangle, made popular during the late 1980s, can continue to be relevant in the face of more formal arrangements as in free trade agreements (FTAs) and other bilateral ‘closer economic partnerships’ (CEPs) initiatives in the recent years. In particular, the discussion is focussed on the Indonesia-Malaysia-Singapore growth triangle (IMS-GT) which is the pioneering arrangement in Southeast Asia. IMS-GT continues to be a successful mode of cooperation among the three countries and will remain a key and subtle framework for regional economic collaboration amidst the plethora of initiatives relating to FTAs and CEPs. This paper put forth a thesis that GT is part of a spectrum of regional cooperation efforts with convergence interest to be in synchrony with the global value chain. As long as the formation and implementation of GT contribute to the creation of value, it can co-exist with more formal arrangements like the FTAs and CEPs.

Enhancing the movement of natural persons in the ASEAN region: Opportunities and constraints

The overall objective of the movement of natural persons (MNP) in the ASEAN region is to contribute to expanding trade in services and to deepening economic integration. However, the regional movement of human resources has proceeded beyond the expansion of trade and has persisted in response to labor market imbalances.Movement of Natural Persons (MNP),ASEAN Framework Agreements on Services (AFAS)

Volunteer tourism and architecture students: what motivates and can best prepare them

This paper explores student attitudes toward volunteering in the context of university-led building development programs, raising questions about the practice of volunteering and its contribution to community development. Focusing on students undertaking tertiary education in Western countries, this literature-based study firstly explores the perceptions and motivations behind volunteering, and secondly discusses its developmental impact on low-income communities

New Trends in Development of Services in the Modern Economy

The services sector strategic development unites a multitude of economic and managerial aspects and is one of the most important problems of economic management. Many researches devoted to this industry study are available. Most of them are performed in the traditional aspect of the voluminous calendar approach to strategic management, characteristic of the national scientific school. Such an approach seems archaic, forming false strategic benchmarks. The services sector is of special scientific interest in this context due to the fact that the social production structure to the services development model attraction in many countries suggests transition to postindustrial economy type where the services sector is a system-supporting sector of the economy. Actively influencing the economy, the services sector in the developed countries dominates in the GDP formation, primary capital accumulation, labor, households final consumption and, finally, citizens comfort of living. However, a clear understanding of the services sector as a hyper-sector permeating all spheres of human activity has not yet been fully developed, although interest in this issue continues to grow among many authors. Target of strategic management of the industry development setting requires substantive content and the services sector target value assessment

BUDGETARY CONSOLIDATIONS IN EU-12

This article treats on the behaviour of fiscal autorities of the twelve new state members of the EU during the post-adhesion period. We analyze the factors which determined the fiscal consolidations of the new member states, identifying two groups of stastability pact, budgetary deficit, excessive deficit procedure

The Proposed U.S.-Panama Free Trade Agreement

On April 26, 2004, the United States began negotiating a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) with Panama. By building on the U.S.-Dominican RepublicCentral America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) text, the negotiations have moved quickly and many chapters are nearly completed. This report discusses The Proposed U.S.-Panama Free Trade Agreement