Does Active Labour Market Policy Work? Lessons from the Swedish Experiences

The Swedish experiences of the 1990s provide a unique example of how large-scale active labour market programmes (ALMPs) have been used as a means to fight high unemployment. This paper discusses the mechanisms through which ALMPs affect (un)employment and surveys the empirical studies of the effects of ALMPs in Sweden. The main conclusions are: (i) there is hardly any evidence for a positive effect on matching efficiency; (ii) there are some indications of positive effects on labour force participation; (iii) subsidised employment seems to cause displacement of regular employment, whereas this appears not to be the case for labour market training; (iv) it is unclear whether or not ALMPs raise aggregate wage pressure in the economy; (v) in the 1990s, training programmes seem not to have enhanced the employment probabilities of participants, whereas some forms of subsidised employment seem to have had such effects; and (vi) youth programmes seem to have caused substantial displacement effects at the same time as the gains for participants appear uncertain. On the whole, ALMPs have probably reduced open unemployment, but also reduced regular employment. The overall policy conclusion is that ALMPs of the scale used in Sweden in the 1990s are not an efficient means of employment policy. To be effective, ALMPs should be used on a smaller scale. There should be a greater emphasis on holding down long-term unemployment in general and a smaller emphasis on youth programmes. ALMPs should not be used as a means to renew unemployment benefit eligibility.Active; Labour; Market; Policy

Does Active Labour Market Policy Work? Lessons from the Swedish Experiences

The Swedish experiences of the 1990s provide a unique example of how large-scale active labour market programmes (ALMPs) have been used as a means to fight high unemployment. This paper surveys the empirical studies of the effects of ALMPs in Sweden. On the whole, ALMPs have probably reduced open unemployment, but also reduced regular employment. The overall policy conclusion is that ALMPs of the scale used in Sweden in the 1990s are not an efficient means of employment policy. To be effective, ALMPs should be used on a smaller scale.

Om självsvältens diskurs

Med anledning av anorexidiagnosens relativt dåliga prognos för tillfrisknande samt höga dödlighetsfrekvens tycks det angeläget att undersöka vetenskapens förståelse av fenomenet. Självsvält utgör anorexidiagnosens centrala element och dess drivkrafter definieras i detalj i den psykiatriska diagnosmanualen DSM-5. Syftet med denna uppsats är att vidga perspektivet och kartlägga den vidare diskursiva kamp som alstrar vetenskapens kunskap om självsvält samt betänka diskursens sociala konsekvenser. Vetenskapens självsvältsdiskurs tolkas med utgångspunkt i Michel Foucaults teoretiska begrepp diskurs och makt. Diskursens sociala konsekvenser analyseras med utgångspunkt i Gregory Batesons koncept dubbelbindning och Thomas Brantes reflektioner om öppenheten hos ontologiska modeller. En diskursanalys har gjorts på 14 vetenskapliga artiklar från olika akademiska discipliner. Samtliga artiklar syftar till att begripliggöra självsvält. En tematisk analys har genomförts med avsikt att reflektera över relationen mellan diskursens språkliga framställningar och självsvältens praktiska uttryck. Analysen visar en ontologiskt oredig diskurs där psykiatrins individualiserande och patologiserande utgör en stark diskursiv norm för vad som är möjligt att formulera. Normen tycks så orubblig att den omöjliggör för kritiker att fullfölja initiala ifrågasättanden av individualiseringen av samhällsproblem. Politiska åtgärdsförslag på makronivå och uppmaningar om maktutjämnande insatser är märkligt frånvarande. Diskursen härleder i huvudsak svältens mening ur en av dess konsekvenser: den avmagrade kroppen. Bantningens normalisering och självsvältens patologisering bildar en språklig dubbelbindning som så gott som raderar gråzonen mellan friskt och sjukt. Slutligen tycks dubbelbindande budskap om skenbara sociala möjligheter och tillgångar till makt ligga till grund för en upplevelse av vanmakt och socialt omöjliggörande hos många unga kvinnor. Självsvält tycks för vissa kvinnor utgöra ett sätt att uttrycka denna upplevda icke-position

School Desegregation and Community Social Change

Through a review of current research, this article analyzes the dynamic process in which the community and the schools interact during school desegregation

Monitoring of trends in socioeconomic inequalities in mortality

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Separation of Oligosaccharides from Lotus Seeds via Medium-pressure Liquid Chromatography Coupled with ELSD and DAD

peer-reviewedLotus seeds were identified by the Ministry of Public Health of China as both food and medicine. One general function of lotus seeds is to improve intestinal health. However, to date, studies evaluating the relationship between bioactive compounds in lotus seeds and the physiological activity of the intestine are limited. In the present study, by using medium pressure liquid chromatography coupled with evaporative light-scattering detector and diode-array detector, five oligosaccharides were isolated and their structures were further characterized by electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. In vitro testing determined that LOS3-1 and LOS4 elicited relatively good proliferative effects on Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus. These results indicated a structure-function relationship between the physiological activity of oligosaccharides in lotus seeds and the number of probiotics applied, thus providing room for improvement of this particular feature. Intestinal probiotics may potentially become a new effective drug target for the regulation of immunity

Trends in absolute socioeconomic inequalities in mortality in Sweden and New Zealand. A 20-year gender perspective

BACKGROUND: Both trends in socioeconomic inequalities in mortality, and cross-country comparisons, may give more information about the causes of health inequalities. We analysed trends in socioeconomic differentials by mortality from early 1980s to late 1990s, comparing Sweden with New Zealand. METHODS: The New Zealand Census Mortality Study (NZCMS) consisting of over 2 million individuals and the Swedish Survey of Living Conditions (ULF) comprising over 100, 000 individuals were used for analyses. Education and household income were used as measures of socioeconomic position (SEP). The slope index of inequality (SII) was calculated to estimate absolute inequalities in mortality. Analyses were based on 3–5 year follow-up and limited to individuals aged 25–77 years. Age standardised mortality rates were calculated using the European population standard. RESULTS: Absolute inequalities in mortality on average over the 1980s and 1990s for both men and women by education were similar in Sweden and New Zealand, but by income were greater in Sweden. Comparing trends in absolute inequalities over the 1980s and 1990s, men's absolute inequalities by education decreased by 66% in Sweden and by 17% in New Zealand (p for trend <0.01 in both countries). Women's absolute inequalities by education decreased by 19% in Sweden (p = 0.03) and by 8% in New Zealand (p = 0.53). Men's absolute inequalities by income decreased by 51% in Sweden (p for trend = 0.06), but increased by 16% in New Zealand (p = 0.13). Women's absolute inequalities by income increased in both countries: 12% in Sweden (p = 0.03) and 21% in New Zealand (p = 0.04). CONCLUSION: Trends in socioeconomic inequalities in mortality were clearly most favourable for men in Sweden. Trends also seemed to be more favourable for men than women in New Zealand. Assuming the trends in male inequalities in Sweden were not a statistical chance finding, it is not clear what the substantive reason(s) was for the pronounced decrease. Further gender comparisons are required

Evaluating the use of HILIC in large-scale, multi dimensional proteomics:horses for courses?

AbstractDespite many recent advances in instrumentation, the sheer complexity of biological samples remains a major challenge in large-scale proteomics experiments, reflecting both the large number of protein isoforms and the wide dynamic range of their expression levels. However, while the dynamic range of expression levels for different components of the proteome is estimated to be ∼107–8, the equivalent dynamic range of LC–MS is currently limited to ∼106. Sample pre-fractionation has therefore become routinely used in large-scale proteomics to reduce sample complexity during MS analysis and thus alleviate the problem of ion suppression and undersampling. There is currently a wide range of chromatographic techniques that can be applied as a first dimension separation. Here, we systematically evaluated the use of hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC), in comparison with hSAX, as a first dimension for peptide fractionation in a bottom-up proteomics workflow. The data indicate that in addition to its role as a useful pre-enrichment method for PTM analysis, HILIC can provide a robust, orthogonal and high-resolution method for increasing the depth of proteome coverage in large-scale proteomics experiments. The data also indicate that the choice of using either HILIC, hSAX, or other methods, is best made taking into account the specific types of biological analyses being performed