The factors involved in sharing information between public agencies

With the increasing move to partnership working in the public sector this paper looks at the main barriers in place which reduce the chances of Public Agencies working together. Agencies such as the Police, Local Councils, Youth Services and Health Services would like to work closer to improve their ability to serve the public whilst reducing the costs associated with this. A review of the literature along with personal experience from talking to and working with these agencies has identified the key elements affecting data and information sharing. The paper has found that whilst the agencies themselves are able to work on many of the barriers to data and information sharing the Data Protection Act 1998 continues to act as a deterrent

Confronting Divergent Interests in Cross-Country Regulatory Arrangements

Although nation-based systems of financial regulation constitute a second-best approach to global welfare maximization, treacherous accountability problems must be acknowledged and resolved before regulatory cooperation can deal fairly and efficiently with cross-border issues. To track and control insolvency risk within and across any set of countries, officials must construct a partnership that allows regulators in every participating country to monitor and to influence counterpart regulators in partnering nations. Using efforts to harmonize the Australian and New Zealand regulatory systems as an example, this paper identifies characteristics by which regulatory systems differ and underscores particular features that make regulatory harmonization difficult to achieve.

THE CULTURAL POLITICS OF FETAL ALCOHOL SPECTRUM DISORDERS AND THE DIAGNOSIS OF DIFFERENCE

This dissertation is based on an ethnographic study of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) and the racial, cultural and political considerations that shape the meaning of diagnosis for Alaska Native individuals and families in Anchorage, Alaska. During the period from August 6, 2010 to through August 5, 2011, I worked with foster families and extended natural families living with and supporting individuals diagnosed with FASD. Documenting the experiences of families in their interactions with clinical, state, tribal and non-profit institutions, I sought to understand how a diagnosis of FASD structures opportunities, outcomes and everyday life experiences across several critical life domains, including health, education, employment, kinship and identity. Family narratives and experiences are highlighted to illustrate the ways in which difference is reproduced in everyday public understanding and clinical practice

The Law, Economics, and Governance of Generation COVID-19 Long-Haul

The SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus is an external shock to all societies with lasting impacts that have changed individual, political, and corporate decisions profoundly. Increasing evidence reveals that an estimated 10-50% of those previously infected with COVID-19 face a longer-term or long-term health impact and/or chronic debilitation that in many cases comes and goes in waves. This phenomenon has already been referred to as a pandemic within the pandemic. The broad-based and long-term impact of COVID Long Haulers have also holds the potential to change our world and modern society, lasting through the following three outlined speculative trends: (1) The coronavirus crisis has widened novel and already existing inequalities, of which the rather surprising finance performance versus real economy liquidity constraint gap led to unequal emotional and sociopsychological crisis fallout propensities. Corporate governance and political economy power dynamics may shift in the eye of Long Haulers’ relation to work and a healthy, productive environment. Employers will likely face pressure to create a safe and secure working environment but also have rising tort liability risks that may be mitigated by hiring health consulting agents. Proactive care for maintaining a healthy workforce and the overall long-term well-being of employees, including preventive care in teams, will become an essential corporate feature to attract qualified labor, whose bargaining power increased in the eye of labor shortages in direct contact industries and positions. (2) Long Haulers may initiate an artificial intelligence revolution of self-monitoring and constant health status tracking, but also democratization of healthcare information. Artificial intelligence, robotics, and big data offer essential complements to fill in for long-haul attention and productivity deficits that may occur in waves. Long Haulers have already found themselves in online self-help groups – such as Survivor Corps – for quick and unbureaucratic information exchange about an emerging group phenomenon. Social online media platforms served as an easy remedy during a time when a surge of severe COVID cases precluded COVID hospitalization. Nowadays, COVID long-haul patients have become – more than ever before – citizen scientists that bundle decentralized information on their health status and potential remedies in order to inform the medical profession about newly emerging trends. The rise in medical self-help and mutual support will have profound implications for the regulation of the medical profession and will likely stretch the medical remedy spectrum and boost alternative medicine. In the online exchange of sensitive information about one’s health status, citizen scientists are also particularly vulnerable in terms of their privacy, potentially even more susceptible to online marketing campaigns under medically impaired conditions, but also because of their sensitive information having been publicly disclosed online over time. (3) As historical precedents show, Generation COVID Long-Haul partially being recognized as a disability may result in increased pressures to reform social, healthcare, and retirement systems. Given waves of debilitation, the analysis of macroeconomic aggregates will have to change in order to reflect a more diversified and temporal view of social preferences. Future economic policy research may take inspiration from the legal concept of disparate impact. Behavioral insights on how to navigate the world with attention deficits and uncertainty may focus on developing an idea of the economic benefits of rest by incorporating preferences for minimalism in a turbulent world longing for recovery

Study of a Regional Approach for Delivering Special Education Programs and Services in Maine

A study of school districts’ use of a regional approach for delivering special education programs and services in Maine

Accessibility: Legislation and Implementation in Canada and China

This paper examines what China can learn from Canada regarding how to design and implement accessibility legislation, with a specific focus on Ontario. It analyzes accessibility laws and policy implementation in Canada and the existing problems in China’s accessibility policies based on a literature review, documentary research, case studies, and interviews. The findings reveal the following lessons that China can learn from Ontario: raising awareness about accessibility; making accessibility laws more comprehensive; enhancing the importance of accessibility on the government’s agenda; and improving legislative review mechanisms

Reforming the public pension scheme in Germany: The end of the traditional consensus?

The public pension scheme has been an important element of the successful model of 'Rhenish Capitalism' (social market economy) in post-war Germany. On the one hand, the promise to guarantee status maintenance during retirement sustained the incentives of the labor market in that it promoted individual effort and mobility. On the other hand, the public pension scheme definitely contributed to the legitimization of democratic politics because it corresponded to approved notions of social justice. Not the least for these reasons, in the end, this branch of the social insurance system developed with general approval from the governing parties, the party in opposition, and the social partners. After the legislation of the public pensions reform in 1989 (which became effective in 1992) it was assumed that in Germany no further structural reform should enter the political agenda during this century. Nevertheless, in 1997 another far-reaching reform proposal was enacted in 1997 (Rentenreform 1999). In the paper the background of the revived reform debate, the (disputed) elements of the reform proposal(s), and the process of compromise-building are analyzed. Special emphasis will be given to the question of whether the conflictuous reform process and the still ongoing debate indicate an end to the long-standing consensus between the large political parties and between the social partners which has prevailed in German pension politics so far and that would be, at the same time, an expression and result of notable changes of the politico-economical conditions in Germany. --

Research on approaches to public funding and development of tertiary education within selected OECD nations

No abstract available