120 research outputs found
Post-crisis social democratic policy capacity in France and the United Kingdom : a lesson from the globalisation and social democracy debate
Two decades ago many commentators suggested that economic globalisation had eroded social democratic economic policy capacity. Although this argument has largely been discredited, the global financial crisis has revived the state-market debate. As governments succumb to fiscal consolidation, a similar theory of declining state capacity now challenges social democrats. This article redresses the contemporary situation by using the economic globalisation debate from the mid-1990s to 2005 as a lens through which to comparatively analyse the current fiscal policy positions of the Parti Socialiste and the Labour Party. It draws similarities between the two situations and illustrates how contested notions of the contemporary political economy constrain social democratic fiscal policy capacity, suggesting that greater capacity exists than is currently acknowledged
Britain’s productivity problem reaches well beyond the plans set out by either Labour or the Conservatives
The Conservatives’ plan for addressing Britain’s productivity problem seems to be to funnel limited spending into established areas of manufacturing and to create mini tax havens. At the same time, Labour are being too cautious to articulate a coherent alternative. Neither approach is good enough, writes Sean McDaniel
The young today may be the first cohort to experience large-scale precarity
The 2008 crisis crystallised the trend towards ‘precarious’ labour market conditions – stagnation in earnings growth, skills under-utilisation, labour market ‘hollowing out’, and the emergence of ‘gig economy’ practices – which disproportionately affect young people. Insecure employment is not new, especially in lower-skilled occupations, although it may have reached a new peak since the crisis. Indeed, two decades ago, Richard Sennett warned of ‘flexible capitalism’, wherein uncertainty and instability were becoming ‘woven into the everyday practices of a vigorous capitalism’
Britain’s productivity puzzle reflects not individual failings of workers, but dysfunctionalities in Britain’s model of capitalism and the politics that upholds it
Ben Clift and Sean McDaniel discuss the overlapping problems of British productivity. They explain why any analysis that foregrounds the supposed laziness of British workers only serves to let politicians, institutions, and the state off the hook
Young people and the post-crisis precarity: the abnormality of the 'new normal'
Craig Berry and Sean McDaniel draw upon research with focus groups and an online community exercise to examine the attitudes of young people in relation to the apparent 'normalisation' of precarity in the post-2008 economy. They find that although young people recognise the abnormality of labour market conditions, they nevertheless fail to see value in conventional forms of trade union organisation
United States Medicaid and Pharmacy Fraud: An Unintended Consequence of the Affordable Care Act
Introduction: The Affordable Care Act (ACA) increased access to health insurance throughout the United States. To date, an estimated 20 million previously uninsured individuals have gained access to coverage since the expansion. As a result, the number of fraudulent schemes reported has been on the rise. Among the many fraudulent activities in the healthcare sector, abuse of pharmacy benefits has been the most prevalent. The misuse and abuse of opioids, and opioid related overdoses has created a widespread epidemic throughout the country, thus extending opportunities for potential fraud within the pharmaceutical industry.
Purpose of the Study: The purpose of the study was to determine if healthcare fraud has increased as an unintended consequence of ACA. Operating with the assumption that with greater access could have created an unintended incentive and greater opportunities for fraud. The focus was on provider and pharmacy fraud because they are the principal gatekeepers that control access to the supply that manufacturers must meet.
Methodology: The methodology for this qualitative study utilized a literature review. Eight databases were used to collect 1427 articles, studies, or abstracts. These sources were reviewed and reduced to 39 sources which were included in the written research. Of these, 20 were used in the results section.
Results: The results indicated that along with the expansion of Medicaid, outpatient prescriptions from Medicaid patients had risen. In order to deal with the influx of participants, a variety of changes in Medicaid programs have been considered or enacted to respond to the challenges arising.
Discussion/ Conclusion: The research illustrated that both Medicaid fraud and opioid misuse has become more prevalent since the enactment of the ACA by providers and patients. Fraud, as well as opioid misuse and abuse in Medicaid has cost states billions of dollars each year. Moreover, there has been a concerted effort to increase vigilance in preventing drug diversion and fraud. Key Words: Medicaid, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), opioid, pharmacy, prescriptions, prescribers, Affordable Healthcare Act (ACA)
New geographies of European financial competition? Frankfurt, Paris and the political economy of Brexit
The UK’s exit from the EU is unlikely to challenge the City of London’s position as Europe’s leading international financial centre (IFC). However, Brexit does create opportunities for alternative financial centres located inside the remaining EU member states. In this article, we assess the strategic positioning of private and public actors within two European IFCs - Frankfurt and Paris - in the period following the Brexit vote. Agents within these centres are seeking to differentially benefit from Brexit in two distinct ways: by mobilising to attract ‘low hanging fruit’ – vulnerable financial sub-sectors – away from the City and by utilising Brexit as a ‘bargaining chip’ to leverage domestic and European regulatory reforms. In light of these findings we argue that existing approaches to financial centre relations - in particular ‘Globalisation and World Cities’ research - should engage with the ways in which political actors shape European financial relations. Whilst private actors inside financial ‘networks’ may agitate for continued ‘cooperation’ and regulatory convergence after Brexit, new competitive orientations are also in evidence as political actors seek to privilege their territories relative to rival spaces
French Socialism in crisis: The undoing of Hollande’s ‘anti-austerity’ programme
With the failure of President Hollande’s anti-austerity programme and promise of ‘le changement’, ahead of this year’s elections in France, the Parti Socialiste finds itself severely weakened and perhaps even at breaking point
Social democracy in the age of austerity: the cases of the UK Labour Party and France’s Parti Socialiste, 2010-17
This thesis’ core aim is to understand why the major social democratic parties in the UK and France – the Labour Party and the Parti Socialiste (PS), respectively – were unable and/or unwilling to articulate a social democratic economic alternative to austerity in the post-global financial crisis era. It engages with existing literatures that analytically prioritise either material economic (e.g. capital mobility) or institutional (e.g. European integration) constraints yet contends that these cannot sufficiently explain the absence of a social democratic alternative. Instead, this study advances a constructivist political economy perspective in order to develop a more dynamic conception of the relationship between interests, institutions and ideas. In doing so, it places crisis conceptualisations and the ‘postcrisis politics of austerity’ at the centre of its analysis.
Utilising ‘discursive institutionalism’ (Schmidt 2002; 2008a) as a tool to study the ideational foundations of Labour and the PS’s ‘statecraft’ (Bulpitt 1986), the research draws upon elite interviews and analysis of English and French language primary documentary material. I argue that we must view the failure of these parties to deliver a social democratic alternative, despite the fact that austerity was not a necessity post-crisis, as a consequence of their inability to challenge the dominant discourses concerning the crisis and ‘economic credibility’. Whilst recognising key material and institutional constraints across the two case, the thesis highlights the significance of three key political and ideational factors: weak ideational supply, the continued dominance of a ‘social liberal’ intellectual framework and organisational divisions within the parties. The absence of an alternative to austerity has, I argue, created a ‘crisis of social democratic party identity’. This, in turn, has significant implications for the wider ‘crisis of democratic representation’ in Europe (Mair 2006; 2009; 2013), which has enabled the rise of radical alternative parties and movements in recent years
Teacher Perceptions of Collective Faculty Trust in Charter Schools and Traditional Public Schools
Research dedicated to understanding the effects of charter schools on student outcomes has yielded mixed results. Some findings indicate increased levels of student achievement in charter schools as compared with traditional public schools and some findings indicate lower levels of student achievement in charter schools as compared to traditional public schools. What is not known is teacher perceptions of cultural conditions in charter schools that could potentially influence student outcomes. This exploratory study compared teacher perceptions of collective faculty trust in the charter school where they are currently teaching and their perceptions of collective faculty trust based on previous teaching experience in traditional public schools. Paired samples t-tests were conducted to compare the means of each paired sample. Findings included statistical significance (2-tailed) at .000 for all four paired samples that were analyzed. These findings support the hypotheses that teachers who have taught in both charter schools and traditional public schools perceive higher overall collective faculty trust in charter schools and that perceptions of collective faculty trust of the principal, colleagues and clients is also higher in charter schools than in traditional public schools where they have taught. These findings may provide a foundation for further research investigating why some charter schools are successful and others are not. Additionally, the study may guide policy makers, law makers, and state department officials as they contemplate charter school expansion.Education (all programs
- …