The governors of school markets? : Local education authorities, school choice and equity in Finland and Sweden

As one of the key elements of the Nordic welfare model, education systems are based on the idea of providing equal educational opportunities, regardless of gender, social class and geographic origin. Since the 1990s, Nordic welfare states have undergone a gradual but wide-ranging transformation towards a more market-based mode of public service delivery. Along this trajectory, the advent of school choice policy and the growing variation in the between-school achievement results have diversified the previously homogenous Nordic education systems. The aim of our paper is to analyse how Finnish and Swedish local education authorities comprehend and respond to the intertwinement of the market logic of school choice and the ideology of equality. The data consist of two sets of in-depth thematic interviews with staff from the local providers of education, municipal education authorities. The analysis discloses the ways in which national legislation has authorized municipal authorities to govern the provision of education.Peer reviewe

Deregulation, Privatisation and Marketisation of Nordic Comprehensive Education : Social Changes Reflected in Schooling

Peer reviewe

Spatial model of dairy farm management, nutrient runoff and greenhouse gas emissions: Private and social optima

We provide a comprehensive theoretical analysis of private and social optimum in dairy production when society accounts for greenhouse gas emissions and nutrient runoff to waterways. The private farmer maximizes revenue from milk production by choosing herd size, diet, fertilization and land allocation between crops. Changes in the diet impact milk production, manure composition, and land allocation between crops. A critical radius emerges for the choices of crops and fertilizer type (mineral and manure); it is independent of the chosen crops in the private optimum but not in the social optimum. Fertilizer intensity is higher in the manure fertilized fields than in the fields where mineral fertilizer is used. Moreover, manure application rate decreases in distance to the farm centre. In contrast to what has generally been thought, the socially optimal fertilizer application follows the same spatial pattern than the private fertilization but at a lower level of intensity. A simulation model applied to the Finnish agriculture is used to further examine the features of the model. Acknowledgement : The work presented is part of the BONUS GO4BALTIC project: . The BONUS GO4BALTIC project is supported by BONUS (Art 185), funded jointly by the EU and national funding institutions in Denmark (the Innovation Fund), Estonia (Estonian Research Council ETAG ), Finland (Academy of Finland), Poland (NCBR) and Sweden (FORMAS). The work has also received funding from Stockholm University Baltic Sea Center project Baltic Eye

Development and evaluation of evidence-based patient information handbooks about multiple sclerosis immunotherapies

Background: Multiple sclerosis treatment options are increasing. Evidence-based patient information (EBPI) are therefore crucial to enable patient involvement in decision making. Based on earlier work on decision support, patient information handbooks on 8 MS immunotherapies were developed, piloted and evaluated with support from the German Clinical Competence Network MS and the German MS Society. Methods: Handbooks were structured according to EBPI concepts. Drafts were commented by patient representatives and neurologists with an MS expertise. Executive boards of the German MS Society and the Competence Network as well as pharmaceutical companies' feedback was included. Handbooks were distributed among MS neurologists by the German MS Society. Evaluation followed applying a mixed methods approach with interviews, focus groups and surveys. One survey addressed persons with MS (pwMS) based on a questionnaire included in each handbook. Neurologists who received printed patient handbooks were invited to give feedback in a second survey. Results: Eight handbooks were developed providing absolute and relative risk information in numbers and figures as well as monitoring needs and drug fact boxes. Despite the high amount of information and the display of low absolute risk reduction rates of treatments, handbooks were overall appreciated by pwMS (n=107) and mostly also by physicians (n=24). For more than 70% of the pwMS the information was new, understandable and supportive for decision making. But patients felt uncomfortable with relative risk information. However, response rates in the evaluation were low, exposing the challenges when implementing EBPI into clinical care. Therefore, conclusions must be considered preliminary. Conclusion: EBPI on immunotherapies for MS seem feasible and are appreciated by patients and treating neurologists but more implementation research is needed