Cost of Services and Incentives in the UK Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) Demonstration: Preliminary Analysis

This report presents a preliminary analysis of the cost of operating Britain's Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) demonstration, which is being evaluated though a large-scale randomised control trial. This assessment of costs will become an important element of the full cost-benefit analysis to be presented in future ERA reports. Aimed at helping low-income individuals sustain employment and progress in work, ERA is distinguished by a combination of job coaching and financial incentives that it offers to participants once they are working. The ERA demonstration project began operations in late 2003 as a pilot programme administered by Jobcentre Plus in six regions of the country

The Value of Multimethod Qualitative/Quantitative Research Methodology in an Educational Program Evaluation: A Case Study

This paper presents the case of an evaluation of a literacy-based public school classroom intervention that had been implemented without initial regard for subsequent evaluation, to examine the value of a multimethod qualitative and quantitative approach. We show how this evaluation challenge was ad-dressed using both techniques, and how they complement each other to create richer understandings. Given the small number of participants in and the brevity of the intervention, the finding of quantitative results that support the very positive qualitative results is encouraging. Thus, the multimethod qualitative/ quantitative approach appears to have been a useful and informative one in such an applied setting

WELFARE: THE NEGATIVE SOCIETAL EFFECTS

Sustav socijalne države uveden je, navodno, s ciljem smanjenja stope siromaštva, povećanja bogatstva i blagostanja siromašnih. Paradoksalno, njegov učinak bio je obrnut. Kako se dogodio ovaj bumerang u javnoj politici? Odgovor je jednostavan. Socijalna davanja potpomogla su razdoru obitelji, nesrazmjerno u crnačkoj zajednici. No obitelj sa samohranim roditeljem jedan je od najučinkovitijih uzročnika siromaštva. Stoga, program kojim se siromašnim ljudima daje ogromna količina novaca upravo smanjuje stupanj njihovog ekonomskog blagostanja, ne povećava ga.The welfare system was instituted, presumably, to decrease poverty, increase the wealth and well-being of the poor. Paradoxically, it has had just about the opposite effect. How did this boomerang in public policy occur? It is simple. Welfare payments helped break up the family, disproportionately in the black community. But a non-intact family is one of the most effective causal agents in impoverishment. Hence, a program that throws massive amounts of money at poor people reduces their economic wellbeing, does not increase it

Transient hypercapnia reveals an underlying cerebrovascular pathology in a murine model for HIV-1 associated neuroinflammation: role of NO-cGMP signaling and normalization by inhibition of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase-5

Cerebral blood flow (CBF) is known to be dysregulated in persons with human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1), for uncertain reasons. This is an important issue because impaired vasoreactivity has been associated with increased risk of ischemic stroke, elevated overall cardiovascular risk and cognitive impairment

What Makes an Ex-Combatant Happy? A Micro-Analysis of Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration in South Sudan

Successful management of combatants through disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) remains one of the main challenges of post-conflict peacebuilding. While DDR is meant to contribute to a secure post-conflict environment conducive to economic and political development, the success of DDR efforts remains mixed. Unlike previous work focusing on procedural aspects or post-conflict reconstruction and development, we shift the focus to understand microlevel conditions—economic, security, and ethnic concerns—that influence ex-combatants' satisfaction with DDR. We argue that ex-combatant satisfaction with DDR should increase as individual-level economic conditions increase, as security situations improve, and as ethnic tensions decrease. We test our expectations using an original data set collected with field interviews and surveys from 122 ex-combatants in South Sudan in 2011–2012. We find that participants are more satisfied when their income-generating activity is based on DDR job training and when the UN has a large presence in their area. Concerns about political instability and an abundance of firearms make ex-combatants less satisfied with DDR

Socioeconomic gradient in mortality of working age and older adults with multiple long-term conditions in England and Ontario, Canada.

Objectives There is mixed evidence on the influence of number of conditions on inequalities in mortality, we explored the association between number of conditions and deprivation on mortality whilst assessing the difference between working age and older adults. We replicated the analysis in England and Ontario, to provide a cross-jurisdiction comparison. Approach We used individual level-linked data from primary care activity, secondary care and mortality data in England and Ontario. For both jurisdictions, we took a random sample of 600,000 adults from 1 January 2015 and followed them up till 31 December 2019. We used cox proportional hazard to test the influence of deprivation (measured using area-level deprivation in deciles) and number of conditions (measured at baseline and capped at six conditions) on survival. Age and sex were also measured at baseline. Analyses were stratified by working age (18-64 years) and older adults (65+ years) and were repeated for England and Ontario. Results Deprivation gradient in mortality rate was steeper in working age than older adults in both jurisdictions. Number of conditions was associated with increased mortality rate, this was stronger for working age than older adults, in England (working age HR = 1.60, 95% CI 1.56,1.64 and older adults HR= 1.26, 95% CI 1.25,1.27) and Canada (working age HR=1.69, 95% CI 1.66,1.72 and older adults HR= 1.39, 95% CI 1.38,1.40). After accounting for number of conditions, the mortality rate associated with deprivation decreased but remained significant. The interaction between number of conditions and deprivation showed that adults with more conditions have a higher mortality rate and those living in deprived areas also have a higher mortality rate but having more conditions attenuates the deprivation gradient in mortality. Conclusion Number of conditions contribute to higher mortality rate and inequalities in morality, this is stronger for working age than older adults in England and Ontario. The fragmented health-care system may be contributing to poorer outcomes, further research should help identify which part of the pathway is driving these inequalities further

Effect of market orientation, network capability and entrepreneurial orientation on international performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs)

ABSTRACT: This study contributes to literature on the internationalization of SMEs by analysing the influence of International Market Orientation, Network Capability, and International Entrepreneurial Orientation on the International Performance of this kind of businesses. Particularly, both the direct effects of explanatory variables of international Performance and interdependence relations between them are analysed. Results obtained from a sample of 161 Mexican SMEs using SEM-PLS analysis show that the International Performance of this kind of businesses is favourably influenced by their Network Capability and International Entrepreneurial Orientation, but not by their International Market Orientation. Similarly, it is verified that interdependence relations exist among the explanatory variables of International Performance of SMEs, where positive impact of International Entrepreneurial Orientation is observed on Network Capability and the International Market Orientation of SMEs