Renationalization of the Common Agricultural Policy: Mission Impossible?

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the EU does not currently meet the different needs of diverse agricultural conditions of different member countries in a just and equal way. To meet this challenge has become inevitably more difficult as new and diverse Central and Eastern European countries have entered the Community. Several commentators and economists have thus suggested that a renationalization of the CAP would be an applicable way to proceed in an attempt to pursue a policy sensitive enough to national and regional or local needs and priorities. Renationalization mainly deals with two issues: (i) should member states have more power and freedom on decisions of agricultural policy, and (ii) should there be a shift from common financing back to national funds? This paper discusses these issues from a political-economy perspective.CAP, Renationalization, Regionalization, Subsidiary, Agricultural and Food Policy,

Towards a Theory of Policy Making

The paper presents a theory of policy timing that relies on uncertainty and transaction costs to explain the optimal timing and length of policy reforms. Delaying reforms resolves some uncertainty by gaining valuable information and saves transaction costs. Implementing reforms without waiting increases welfare by adjusting domestic policies to changed market parameters. Optimal policy timing is found by balancing the trade-off between delaying reforms and implementing reforms without waiting. Our theory offers an explanation of why countries differ with respect to the length of their policy reforms, and why applied studies often judge agricultural policies to be inefficient.Policy analysis, Uncertainty, Dynamic model, Transaction costs, Agricultural and Food Policy,

The Economics of Delaying Policy Change: An Application to the 1992 CAP Reform

Positive political economy is usually concerned with economic explanations of observed policy choices, while the timing of a policy reform has not gained similar attention. This is somewhat surprising since policy makers most often are free to decide both the design and timing of a policy reform. Drawing on insights from recent developments in the finance literature on investment under uncertainty, here we apply the idea of option value to the analysis of government policy making. Common political-economic explanations of the 1992 CAP reform are that policymakers felt domestic political pressure to make the CAP more efficient, and also international political pressure and to bring the CAP in line with treaty obligations. Although these arguments are sound, they fail to explain why policy-makers did not enact the reform earlier, especially during times of decreasing world market prices prior to 1992. We address this question using the theory of option value, which is the value of being able to wait in decisionmaking. Commonly governments are free to decide when to reform policy. Waiting to reform policy can improve government decisions. For while waiting decision-makers may observe market parameter changes as they occur. (For example, they may obtain better information about changes in world prices.) This reduces their uncertainty about the effects of their decisions. Giving up the option to wait incurs a cost which has to be taken into account in policy decisions. We illustrate the option value concept using a political-economy model of the 1992 CAP reform. We show empirically that if decision-makers had not had the option to wait to reform policy, it would have been more efficient to implement the 1992 CAP reform in the mid 1980s.Agricultural and Food Policy,

THE SECURITY OF HEALTH CARE IN ALBANIA AS A COMBINATION OF “BISMARK” MODEL AND “BEVERIDGE” MODEL

One of the most important social insurance program is health care program. Initially we will present the program of health care insurance in Europe and in the U.S. After this we will get to know with the program of health care insurance in our country, and also we will analyze the financial problems of this program. Eventhough this social program dates later in Albania, the role that have health care insurance in the daily life of people is very important. The program of health care insurance in our country is a combination between Bismarck's model and Beveridge model. The first one, was born in Germany, while the second in Great Britain. The article is finalized with the composition, financing and running of the health care insurance program in Albania. At the end, there are presented conclusions and recommendations over the effective operation of the program of health care insurance in Albania

Gender differences and correlates of extreme dieting behaviours in US adolescents.

This article examined correlates of and gender differences in extreme dieting behaviours among 15,425 US adolescents from the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Suicidal thoughts and plans and binge drinking were related to extreme dieting behaviours in females, but not in males. Suicide attempts, daily smoking and marijuana use were related to extreme dieting behaviours in males, but not females. Results suggest extreme dieting behaviours are associated with a range of negative psychosocial factors and substance use behaviours, and that these differ for boys and girls. Additional research is required to elucidate these relationships, and these results provide a focus for future research, prevention and intervention efforts

Criminal social identity and suicide ideation among Pakistani young prisoners.

© Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Purpose: Suicidal behaviour is a common in prisoners, yet little is known about the factors that may protect against thoughts of ending one's life. The purpose of this paper is to specify and test a structural model to examine the relationship between three criminal social identity (CSI) dimensions (in-group affect, in-group ties, and cognitive centrality) and suicide ideation while controlling for period of confinement, age, criminal friends, and offense type (violent vs non-violent). Design/methodology/approach: Participants were 415 male juvenile offenders incarcerated in prisons in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan. A structural model was specified and tested using Mplus to examine the relationships between the three factors of CSI and suicidal thoughts, while controlling for age, offender type, period of confinement, and substance dependence. Findings: The model provided an adequate fit for the data, explaining 22 per cent of variance in suicidal thoughts. In-group affect (the level of personal bonding with other criminals) was found to exert a strong protective effect against suicide ideation. Originality/value: The research contributes important information on suicide ideation in Pakistan, an Islamic country in which suicide is considered a sin and subsequently a criminal offence. Results indicate that Juvenile offenders' sense of shared identity may help to prevent the development of thoughts of death by suicide. Consequently, separating and isolating young prisoners may be ill advised

Latent classes of delinquent behaviour associated with criminal social identity among juvenile offenders in Pakistan

© Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the number and nature of latent classes of delinquency that exist among male juvenile offenders incarcerated in prisons in Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach – The sample consisted of 415 young male offenders incarcerated in prisons in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) Pakistan. Latent class analysis was employed to determine the number and nature of delinquency latent classes. Multinomial logistic regression was used to estimate the associations between latent classes and the three factors of criminal social identity (cognitive centrality, in-group affect, and in-group ties) whilst controlling for criminal friends, period of confinement, addiction, age, and location. Findings – The best fitting latent class model was a three-class solution. The classes were labelled: “minor delinquents” (the baseline/normative class; Class 3), “major delinquents” (Class 1), and “moderate delinquents” (Class 2). Class membership was predicted by differing external variables. Specifically, Class 1 membership was related to having more criminal friends; while Class 2 membership was related to lower levels of in-group affect and higher levels of in-group ties. Practical implications – Findings are discussed in relation to refining current taxonomic arguments regarding the structure of delinquency and implications for prevention of juvenile delinquent behaviour. Originality/value – First, most previous studies have focused on school children, whereas, this paper focuses on incarcerated juvenile offenders. Second, this research includes delinquents from Pakistan, whereas, most previous research has examined delinquent behaviour in western cultures

Psychopathy, Gang membership, And moral disengagement among juvenile offenders

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of psychopathy factors and gang membership on moral disengagement while controlling for age, ethnicity, having run away from home, family member and/or friend arrests, substance misuse, parental physical fights, violence exposure (victimization and witnessing), and maternal warmth and hostility. Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on data collected from serious juvenile offenders (n=769) as part of the Pathways to Desistance Study. Findings – Six independent variables made a unique statistically significant contribution to the model: gang membership, age, gender, violence exposure, and psychopathy Factors 1 and 2. Psychopathy Factor 1 was the strongest predictor of moral disengagement. Originality/value – Results indicate that youth with heightened psychopathic traits make greater use of strategies to rationalize and justify their harmful behaviour against others. Implications in relation to theory and previous studies are discussed

Live outflow imaging in porcine eyes

Purpose: Although outflow of aqueous humor can be estimated using fluorophotometry and tonography, no method exists to assess segmental outflow directly. This has hindered investigations into outflow resistance elements that are downstream of the trabecular meshwork and into causes of failure of canal-based minimally invasive glaucoma surgeries (MIGS). Here, we describe a method to observe and quantify conventional outflow directly in ex vivo whole eyes and an organotypic culture model using standard fluorescence visualization equipment. Results: Aqueous outflow paths could be distinguished from venous and arterial vessels. Intricate vascular tree filling patterns were observed down to estimated 50 micrometer diameter. Whole eyes demonstrated significantly earlier filling of the nasal (SN, IN) than of the temporal quadrants (ST, IT). The fastest, superonasal quadrant filled 1.6 times faster than the slowest, superotemporal quadrant (p≤0.05). The inferotemporal quadrant also filled faster than the superotemporal quadrant. In contrast, perfused anterior segment cultures had lost these characteristic filling time differences (p>0.05). One eye showed no outflow after 20 minutes of pressurization. After three days of culture, the same quadrant that was the fastest in whole eyes (SN), was 2.2 times as fast as the slowest (ST) but this did not reach statistical significance with the number of eyes tested. The eye without flow at 20 minutes did not recuperate during 3 days of culture. Reverse filling was occasionally seen in d3 anterior segments (bottom row, red arrowhead). Whole eyes could not be reliably cultured for 3 days. Discussion: Canalograms using a green fluorescent chromophore can be obtained with standard visualization equipment to estimate the local outflow function. Regionally different outflow patterns and filling times can be observed that match channel size equivalents in human eyes. Outflow is impaired in fresh anterior segment cultures but then normalizes to the pattern seen in whole eyes. The nasally increased flow may have implications for placement and study of MIGS

Longer-term Baerveldt to Trabectome glaucoma surgery comparison using propensity score matching

Purpose: To apply propensity score matching to compare Baerveldt glaucoma drainage implant (BGI) to Trabectome-mediated ab interno trabeculectomy (AIT). Recent data suggests that AIT can produce results similar to BGI which is traditionally reserved for more severe glaucoma. Methods: BGI and AIT patients with at least 1 year of follow-up were included. The primary outcome measures were intraocular pressure (IOP), number of glaucoma medications, and a Glaucoma Index (GI) score. GI reflected glaucoma severity based on visual field, the number of preoperative medications, and preoperative IOP. Score matching used a genetic algorithm consisting of age, gender, type of glaucoma, concurrent phacoemulsification, baseline number of medications, and baseline IOP. Patients with neovascular glaucoma, with prior glaucoma surgery, or without a close match were excluded. Results: Of 353 patients, 30 AIT patients were matched to 29 BGI patients. Baseline characteristics including, IOP, the number of glaucoma medications, type of glaucoma, the degree of VF loss and GI were not significantly different between AIT and BGI. BGI had a preoperative IOP of 21.6 ± 6.3 mmHg compared to 21.5 ± 7.4 for AIT on 2.8 ± 1.1 medications and 2.5 ± 2.3 respectively. At 30 months, the mean IOP was 15.0 ± 3.9 mmHg for AIT versus 15.0 ± 5.7 mmHg for BGI (p > 0.05), while the number of drops was 1.5 ± 1.3 for AIT (change: p = 0.001) versus 2.4 ± 1.2 for BGI (change: p = 0.17; AIT vs BGI: 0.007). Success, defined as IOP  0.05) and 50% versus 52% at 2.5 years. Conclusions: A propensity score matched comparison of AIT and BGI demonstrated a similar IOP reduction through 1 year. AIT required fewer medications