The Success Story of the Eurozone Crisis? Ireland's Austerity Measures

This paper examines the response of the Irish government to the Eurozone fiscal crisis. This paper discusses the external financial assistance programme sought and implemented, economic recovery to date, and the impacts of austerity in Ireland. As Ireland nears the end of the Programme of Support' from Europe the contention that Ireland is a success story is explored. The paper reveals the primacy of financial cutbacks in the Irish response and the limited efforts at public management reforms

Incorporating concepts of inequality and inequity into health benefits analysis

BACKGROUND: Although environmental policy decisions are often based in part on both risk assessment information and environmental justice concerns, formalized approaches for addressing inequality or inequity when estimating the health benefits of pollution control have been lacking. Inequality indicators that fulfill basic axioms and agree with relevant definitions and concepts in health benefits analysis and environmental justice analysis can allow for quantitative examination of efficiency-equality tradeoffs in pollution control policies. METHODS: To develop appropriate inequality indicators for health benefits analysis, we provide relevant definitions from the fields of risk assessment and environmental justice and consider the implications. We evaluate axioms proposed in past studies of inequality indicators and develop additional axioms relevant to this context. We survey the literature on previous applications of inequality indicators and evaluate five candidate indicators in reference to our proposed axioms. We present an illustrative pollution control example to determine whether our selected indicators provide interpretable information. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that an inequality indicator for health benefits analysis should not decrease when risk is transferred from a low-risk to high-risk person, and that it should decrease when risk is transferred from a high-risk to low-risk person (Pigou-Dalton transfer principle), and that it should be able to have total inequality divided into its constituent parts (subgroup decomposability). We additionally propose that an ideal indicator should avoid value judgments about the relative importance of transfers at different percentiles of the risk distribution, incorporate health risk with evidence about differential susceptibility, include baseline distributions of risk, use appropriate geographic resolution and scope, and consider multiple competing policy alternatives. Given these criteria, we select the Atkinson index as the single indicator most appropriate for health benefits analysis, with other indicators useful for sensitivity analysis. Our illustrative pollution control example demonstrates how these indices can help a policy maker determine control strategies that are dominated from an efficiency and equality standpoint, those that are dominated for some but not all societal viewpoints on inequality averseness, and those that are on the optimal efficiency-equality frontier, allowing for more informed pollution control policies

Inhabitants Survey, Part 1, 2009

This data set is taken from the Inhabitants Survey, Part 1, 2009. The survey was carried out by the Agency for Public Management and eGovernment in the summer and autumn of 2009. The second part will be carried out in 2010. The intention of the survey is to give a better insight into the inhabitants understanding and experience in service areas such as health and caring, education, knowledge, inclusion in the community, safety, support, economy, transport, culture and communication. The Inhabitants Survey is one of the largest surveys of the administration in Norway. To ensure a robust and professional survey, there was appointed a professional committee for the Inhabitants Survey. The comittee consisted of Styringsgruppen Ottar Hellevik, professor at the University of Oslo, Inger Johanne Pettersen, Professor II at the Bodø Graduate School of Business and the Sør-Trøndelag University College, Hanne Marthe Narud, professor at the University of Oslo, Tor Busch, professor at the Sør-Trøndelag University College, Asle Rolland, senior researcher at Statistics Norway, Tor Wallin Andreassen, professor at the BI Norwegian School of Management, Vivi Lassen, director of Difi, Tore M. Bredal, assistant director general of the Ministry of Defence, and Geir Leo Sedler, senior counsellor at the Ministry of Government Administration and Reform. The group has in cooperation with the Ministry of Government Administration and Reform and the Agency for Public Management and eGovernment been responsible for developing the method, structure, questions and prepating the results. Statistics Norway, TNS Gallup, Synovate, KS and others have been assisted in guidance and quality control

Inhabitants Survey, Part 2, 2010

The Inhabitants Survey, Part 2, 2010 was conducted by the Agency for Public Management and eGovernment (DIFI) from April to June 2010. Part 1 was carried out the summer and fall of 2009. In Part 1, the inhabitants were asked about their views on important public services, how they like living in Norway and their municipality, and how they view democracy and the welfare state. Of the 12 659 respondents in part 1, 11 135 had concrete experience with on or more services the last 12 months and they got he questionnaires for part 2. The respondents received a maximum of five questionnaires. The 23 services in the survey were: - kindergarten - public library - family doctors - primary and secondary school - home care, home nursing care - university colleges - the Norwegian church - the Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund - public health centres - the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration - care homes/retirement homes - Agency for Planning and Building Services - the police - skolefritidsordningen (arrangement for children to be under supervision at school after school hours) - Inland Revenue Service - nursing homes - hospitals - Norwegian Customs - Universities - Norwegian Public Roads Administration - Emergency room - Upper secondary schools Similar studies have been conducted previously. The Inhabitants Survey has similarities with both the national municipality survey made by TNS Gallup and the Inhabitant Survey made by KS (The Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities). Synovate Norway and other agencies have made surveys which can be compared with this study

The Citizen Survey - The Citizens' Part, 2017

The Citizen Survey is conducted by the Public Management and eGovernment (DIFI) and is one of the largest surveys of public administration in Norway. It will provide a better knowledge base for assessing the development of public services across sectors, and provide knowledge that can contribute to the further development of public enterprises in the long term. The population survey says something about how satisfied residents and users are with their municipality and with the large services / businesses in the administration. The results from the survey provide increased insight into users' perceptions of companies in the areas of education and culture, health, care and government agencies. Kantar TNS is responsible for data collection in 2017. The 2017 population survey consists of a population section and a user section. The population section provides an overall picture of the inhabitants' view of the municipality of residence, including an assessment of the municipal services and trust in politicians and the administration. The user section maps experiences with 22 selected public services in the areas of education and culture, health, care and government agencies

Citizen Survey 2013, User Part, Domestic Helper

Citizen Survey is one of the largest user surveys of the civil service in Norway. It provides a better knowledge base for assessing performance of public services across sectors and provide insights that can help to develop the public sector in the long term. Citizen Survey says something about how satisfied residents and users are with their municipality and with the major services / activities of the government. The survey results provide greater insight into user perceptions of businesses in the areas of education and culture, health care and government agencies. Citizen Survey 2013 comprises a innbyggerdel and user part. The citizen part is answered by residents with and without user experience while the user part is only answered by them with user experience of the various businesses. The questions in our user section is specifically aimed at measuring usage and experience with various aspects of the business and the employees. In the 2013 survey a series of questions is continued from 2010. In addition, a number of new questions are included. Respondents who answered the continued 2010-questions are included in 2013 files. The questions from 2010 that wasn't continued to 2013 is not included in 2013 files. The questions in 2013 divided into these categories: - Total Satisfaction and Confidence - Availability and physical conditions - Employee service - Employee competence - Information and communication - Digital services - Procedural and complaints File review:: NSD1965-1 - Citizen part NSD1965-2-24: User part (see list below) NSD1965-2 - Kindergarten NSD1965-3 - The Norwegian Church NSD1965-4 - Regular GP NSD1965-5 - Public library NSD1965-6 - Primary school NSD1965-7 - Health clinic NSD1965-8 - Domestic Helper NSD1965-9 - Home nursing NSD1965-10 - University College NSD1965-11 - Emergency NSD1965-12 - The Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund NSD1965-13 - The Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) NSD1965-14 - Sheltered accommodation NSD1965-15 - Planning and Construction Office NSD1965-16 - Police NSD1965-17 - Norwegian Tax Administration NSD1965-18 - school-based extra-curricular activities (SFO) NSD1965-19 - Norwegian Public Roads Administration NSD1965-20 - Nursing NSD1965-21 - Hospital NSD1965-22 - Customs NSD1965-23 - University NSD1965-24 - High Schoo

Citizen Survey 2013, User Part, Nursing Home

Citizen Survey is one of the largest user surveys of the civil service in Norway. It provides a better knowledge base for assessing performance of public services across sectors and provide insights that can help to develop the public sector in the long term. Citizen Survey says something about how satisfied residents and users are with their municipality and with the major services / activities of the government. The survey results provide greater insight into user perceptions of businesses in the areas of education and culture, health care and government agencies. Citizen Survey 2013 comprises a innbyggerdel and user part. The citizen part is answered by residents with and without user experience while the user part is only answered by them with user experience of the various businesses. The questions in our user section is specifically aimed at measuring usage and experience with various aspects of the business and the employees. In the 2013 survey a series of questions is continued from 2010. In addition, a number of new questions are included. Respondents who answered the continued 2010-questions are included in 2013 files. The questions from 2010 that wasn't continued to 2013 is not included in 2013 files. The questions in 2013 divided into these categories: - Total Satisfaction and Confidence - Availability and physical conditions - Employee service - Employee competence - Information and communication - Digital services - Procedural and complaints File review:: NSD1965-1 - Citizen part NSD1965-2-24: User part (see list below) NSD1965-2 - Kindergarten NSD1965-3 - The Norwegian Church NSD1965-4 - Regular GP NSD1965-5 - Public library NSD1965-6 - Primary school NSD1965-7 - Health clinic NSD1965-8 - Domestic Helper NSD1965-9 - Home nursing NSD1965-10 - University College NSD1965-11 - Emergency NSD1965-12 - The Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund NSD1965-13 - The Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) NSD1965-14 - Sheltered accommodation NSD1965-15 - Planning and Construction Office NSD1965-16 - Police NSD1965-17 - Norwegian Tax Administration NSD1965-18 - school-based extra-curricular activities (SFO) NSD1965-19 - Norwegian Public Roads Administration NSD1965-20 - Nursing NSD1965-21 - Hospital NSD1965-22 - Customs NSD1965-23 - University NSD1965-24 - High Schoo

Citizen Survey 2015, User Part, Extra-Curricular Activities Programme (SFO)

Citizen Survey is one of the largest user surveys of the civil service in Norway. It provides a better knowledge base for assessing performance of public services across sectors and provide insights that can help to develop the public sector in the long term. Citizen Survey says something about how satisfied residents and users are with their municipality and with the major services / activities of the government. The survey results provide greater insight into user perceptions of businesses in the areas of education and culture, health care and government agencies. Citizen Survey 2015 comprises a innbyggerdel and user part. The citizen part is answered by residents with and without user experience while the user part is only answered by them with user experience of 23 different businesses. The questions in our user section is specifically aimed at measuring usage and experience with various aspects of the business and the employees. The questions in 2013 divided into these categories: - Total Satisfaction and Confidence - Availability and physical conditions - Employee service - Employee competence - Information and communication - Digital services - Procedural and complaints File review:: NSD2223-1 - Citizen part NSD2223-2-24: User part (see list below) NSD2223-2 - Kindergarten NSD2223-3 - The Norwegian Church NSD2223-4 - Regular GP NSD2223-5 - Public library NSD2223-6 - Primary school NSD2223-7 - Health clinic NSD2223-8 - Domestic Helper NSD2223-9 - Home nursing NSD2223-10 - University College NSD2223-11 - Emergency NSD2223-12 - The Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund NSD2223-13 - The Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) NSD2223-14 - Sheltered accommodation NSD2223-15 - Planning and Construction Office NSD2223-16 - Police NSD2223-17 - Norwegian Tax Administration NSD2223-18 - school-based extra-curricular activities (SFO) NSD2223-19 - Norwegian Public Roads Administration NSD2223-20 - Nursing NSD2223-21 - Hospital NSD2223-22 - Customs NSD2223-23 - University NSD2223-24 - High Schoo