Individual and Country-level Institutional Trust and Public Attitude to Welfare Expenditures in 24 Transitional Countries

Does institutional trust on the individual and on the country level influence public attitudes to state social welfare expenditures in transitional countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia? To answer this question, this study draws on a comparative survey conducted in 24 countries. Multilevel binomial logit regression was used to allow for the simultaneous inclusion of variables at the individual- and country-levels of analysis. Institutional trust is associated with positive attitudes to welfare expenditures on the individual level, but not on the country level. Women, older individuals, those who are less educated, and those of low-income are associated with more positive attitudes to social welfare investments. Ideology is another important factor influencing public attitudes to welfare expenditures. By contrast, no significant effect of country level poverty, inequality, and gross domestic product was found

Evaluation of the Inter-repair Operation Period of Electric Submersible Pump Units

In recent years, in the oil and gas industry of Azerbaijan, the use of electric submersible pumps (SEP) as one of the effective way to increase the level of production of well products. Currently, electric centrifugal pumping units (ECPU) are widely used both on land and in offshore fields. Currently, a total of about 15 % of SOCAR\u27s oil wells are produced using electric submersible pumping units.ECPU effectiveness is largely determined by both the period of their operation and the frequency of repair and restoration work.It is established that the use of ECPUs contributes to an increase in the service life of equipment and the effectiveness of a mechanized method of oil production. To assess the benefits of the latter, the most important factor is the inter-repair period (Tir) of the equipment.Existing methods for determining the inter-repair period of oilfield equipment are accompanied by large errors, which significantly reduce their reliability.In this regard, the article is tasked with developing a more practical and reliable method for determining the inter-repair period, where the point of change in the nature of the failure rate is adopted as the determining paramete

Unequal Access to Healthcare and Unofficial Under-the-Table Out-of-Pocket Payments

In this study we analyse the unequal access to healthcare services in post-communist transitional Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. More specifically, we focus on how unequal access to healthcare services has caused unofficial under-the-table out-of-pocket payments. Herein, we review both the existing theoretical literature and empirical evidence on how unofficial under-the-table out-of-pocket payments lead to unequal access to healthcare services. We then analyse the precursors of paying such payments. Finally, we discuss three possible strategies to address these payments in the context of post-communist transitional countries

Towards a Common Framework of Performance Measurement for Social Assistance Programs in Low-Income Countries in Transition: Rationale and Potential Structure

After the dissolution of the former Soviet Union, low-income countries in transition: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan have faced challenges of widespread poverty and sharp inequality. To reduce poverty and inequality, this group of countries, also known as CIS-7, has committed to rapid reforms in social assistance programs. This article proposes a new Common Framework of Performance Measurement for social assistance programs in CIS-7 countries that allows social administrators and policymakers to assess the performance of social assistance programs for the purposes of management improvement, encouraging accountability, and promoting benchmarking. Combining efficiency, quality, and effectiveness perspectives into a framework is a practical approach to assess the achievements of social assistance programs in CIS-7 towards poverty and inequality reduction

A Gender-Based Comparison of Levels and Determinants of Adolescent Well-Being: Results from a Canadian National Survey

Using data from Canada’s National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, the authors compared the levels of well-being between female and male adolescents and examined the specific determinants of well-being for each gender. The authors determined that a higher proportion of female youth reported doing well in school whereas the male youth reported higher levels of self-esteem and physical aggression. For both genders, the number of children living in the home and level of parental education were associated with their school performance. The self-esteem of female youth was apparently influenced by various parental factors such as home ownership status, level of education, and depression, whereas family dysfunction was associated with the self-esteem of male youth. Living in poverty, family dysfunction and parental age were all associated with the physical aggression levels of male youth, while for females, physical aggression was seemingly influenced by the level of parental education

Social Assistance and the Challenges of Poverty and Inequality in Azerbaijan, a low-income country in transition

Although low-income countries in transition are facing the challenges of poverty and inequality, evidence on the performance of safety nets in these countries is scarce. This article uses micro-file data from a nationally representative household budget survey to analyze the existing social assistance programs in Azerbaijan, a low income country in transition, from the perspectives of poverty and inequality reduction. The empirical evidence presented in this paper indicates that the poverty and inequality reduction effectiveness of social assistance programs is inadequate. First, the benefits are very modest and the poor receive only a small proportion of them. Second, some programs are not aimed at poverty reduction by design. Third, the heterogeneous nature of poverty and the significant scale of shadow economy during transition make the identification of the poor complicated. Finally, the existing patchwork of numerous programs with small-scale benefits is costly and administratively demanding. A consolidated and better designed social assistance program is needed to effectively tackle the challenges of poverty and inequality in Azerbaijan

A Comparison of Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Knowledge Among Women Across Seven Post-Soviet Countries

Introduction: Post-Soviet countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia have witnessed a recent growth of HIV infection through heterosexual transmission. Women’s low levels of knowledge about HIV prevention and transmission methods have been found to account for the higher female-to-male ratio among cases infected through the heterosexual route. This cross national comparison study assessed comprehensive HIV/AIDS knowledge and its key determinants among women of seven post-Soviet countries and identified which countries face the highest levels of risk due to the low levels of HIV/AIDS awareness.Methods: Study data were obtained from the third wave of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS3) (conducted in 2005 and 2006), nationally representative samples of women aged 15-49 years. Data on HIV/AIDS knowledge were analyzed for women in Kazakhstan (N=14,310), Kyrgyzstan (N=6,493), Tajikistan (N=4,676), Uzbekistan (N=13,376), Belarus (N=5,884), Ukraine (N=6,066), and Georgia (N=7,727) using descriptive statistics and ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions.Results: We found that the percentage of women who could correctly identify all five modes of HIV/AIDS transmission and prevention was highest in Eastern European countries of Belarus (34.98%) and Ukraine (31.67%). Across all countries, the strongest predictors of comprehensive HIV/AIDS knowledge were age, education, and region of residence. Marital status, area of residence (urban vs. rural), and household wealth were significant predictors for several countries.Conclusion: High rates of comprehensive HIV/AIDS knowledge were found among women of Belarus and Ukraine. To reduce the spread of HIV in the region, programs promoting comprehensive HIV/AIDS knowledge for women of younger ages and with lower education are recommended

Social Capital, Human Capital, and Economic Well-Being in the Knowledge Economy: Results from Canada\u27s General Social Survey

Beginning in the mid-1990s, the Canadian welfare state\u27s devolutionary transformation ushered in an era which potentially increased the importance of social capital and human capital as mechanisms for promoting socio-economic advancement. In this study, the authors analyze data from Canada\u27s General Social Survey to assess how social capital and human capital influence the reported incomes of the Canadian population. The primaryfindings were that both social and human capital influenced income and that human capital had a larger effect on economic mobility than did social capital. The implications the study\u27s findings have for policy and programmatic interventions within the 21st century knowledge-based economy are discussed, and future studies which can further understanding in the area of social and human capital are also proposed

Statistical analysis of the relative position of the rod hanger and the wellhead

One of the leading methods of exploitation of oil fields is oil production with the help of downhole rod pumping units (DRPU). Over 80 % of the operating well stock of Azneft PA is equipped with deep well pumps and about 30 % of oil is produced in the country with their help. The widespread use of DRPU is associated with a fairly high maturity of installations, simplicity of its design and maintenance, repair in field conditions, ease of adjustment, the possibility of servicing the installation by unskilled workers, a small effect on the operation of DRPU of the physical and chemical properties of the pumped liquid, as well as high efficiency. However, along with the high efficiency of the applied DRPU, there are also complaints regarding the need to increase the reliability and resource of wellhead equipment, including in order to improve the environmental situation in the oil fields. One of the conditions for ensuring high reliability of the ground equipment of the DRPU is to ensure the tightness of the wellhead rod-wellhead stuffing box assembly, the violation of which is not only a failure of the installation, but also leads to environmental pollution. This is facilitated by inaccuracies in the assembly and installation of DRPU at the wellhead. When mounting the pumping unit, for many reasons, the tolerance of the wellhead rod with the suspension point of the rod string to the balancer head is not ensured. In this regard, in the requirements for the accuracy of mounting the pumping unit at the point of application, a certain mismatch of the axes within the circular coordinates is allowed. So, for widely used pumping units of the CK8 type, the permissible mismatch between the axis of the wellhead rod and the suspension point of the rods is determined by the conditions under which the projection of the suspension point of the rods onto the plane of the base of the pumping unit at any position of the balancer is allowed within a circle with a diameter of 25 mm

Social Assistance and the Challenges of Poverty and Inequality in Azerbaijan, a Low-Income Country in Transition Special Issue with Coping with Poverty

Although low-income countries in transition are facing the challenges of poverty and inequality, evidence on the performance of safety nets in these countries is scarce. This article uses micro-file data from a nationally representative household budget survey to analyze the existing social assistance programs in Azerbaijan, a low income country in transition, from the perspectives of poverty and inequality reduction. The empirical evidence presented in this paper indicates that the poverty and inequality reduction effectiveness of social assistance programs is inadequate. First, the benefits are very modest and the poor receive only a small proportion of them. Second, some programs are not aimed at poverty reduction by design. Third, the heterogeneous nature of poverty and the significant scale of shadow economy during transition make the identification of the poor complicated. Finally, the existing patchwork of numerous programs with small-scale benefits is costly and administratively demanding. A consolidated and better designed social assistance program is needed to effectively tackle the challenges of poverty and inequality in Azerbaijan