Small business economics: A perspective from The Netherlands

In the analysis of economic phenomena either within or across industries there is room for integrating the role of small business. This contribution can be made by aggregation or generalization of the findings at the meso level, which again are partly based upon analyses at the micro level. The Netherlands has a long history in macro model building. A recent discussion among Dutch macro-economists considered the future of econometric model building at the macro level, and considered how best to improve this model building. The explicit integration of scale effects, however, was not mentioned. I am convinced that improvements in this respect are possible. In particular, I have in mind the role which small businesses play in certain areas such as wage structure, employment or investments. The dissection of macro prognoses into a small business component and a remaining component is a traditional practice in The Netherlands.1 Finally, there is much concern in The Netherlands for the calculation of regulatory effects, decomposed into effects for small and large businesses. If anywhere in the world there is a solid foundation for studying scale effects in both macro and sectoral models, it most certainly has been in The Netherlands. There is a strong tradition of macro-econometric model building; groups of econometricians specialized in small business research exist; Dutch policymakers show concern and the required research apparatus is available

Improving Access to Mental Health Care in an Orthodox Jewish Community: A Critical Reflection Upon the Accommodation of Otherness

The English National Health Service (NHS) has significantly extended the supply of evidence based psychological interventions in primary care for people experiencing common mental health problems. Yet despite the extra resources, the accessibility of services for ‘under-served’ ethnic and religious minority groups, is considerably short of the levels of access that may be necessary to offset the health inequalities created by their different exposure to services, resulting in negative health outcomes. This paper offers a critical reflection upon an initiative that sought to improve access to an NHS funded primary care mental health service to one ‘under-served’ population, an Orthodox Jewish community in the North West of England

Banken combineren rendement en risico in RAROC

Risicomanagement bij banken staat meer dan ooit in de belangstelling door enkele opzienbarende incidenten en door het recentelijk definitief geworden Bazel II Akkoord. Beide ontwikkelingen hebben een grote invloed op het vakgebied risicomanagement bij banken. Dit artikel beschrijft de wijze waarop banken risico meten en beheersen met behulp van de methodieken economic capital en Risk-Adjusted Return-on- Capital (RAROC). Deze methodiek ligt in het verlengde van de vernieuwde Bazel II regelgeving en zal de komende jaren steeds belangrijker worden voor de bancaire besturing. De auteurs beschrijven de methodes in hoofdlijnen en benadrukken het belang van kwalitatieve informatie over risico’s. Het concept RAROC zal sterker aan kracht winnen als ook deze informatie een plaats krijgt dan bij verdere verfijning van statistische methoden en historische data

Nerve-sparing radical hysterectomy: local recurrence rate, feasibility, and safety in cervical cancer patients stage IA to IIA

To clarify the debate about the possible threat of sparing the pelvic autonomic nerves in radical hysterectomy for cervical cancer to radicality, comparative studies of nerve-sparing and conventional surgery are necessary. The aim of his study was to analyze and compare local recurrence rate, feasibility, and safety of nerve-sparing and non-nerve-sparing radical hysterectomy. METHODS: In a cohort study with 2 years of follow-up, 246 patients with cervical cancer of stages IA to IIA were analyzed: 124 in the non-nerve-sparing group (1994-1999) and 122 in the group where nerve-sparing was the intention-to-treat (2001-2005). Local recurrence rate, local recurrence-free survival, feasibility, and safety were analyzed and compared. RESULTS: The clinical characteristics of the treatment groups were comparable. Sparing the nerves unilaterally or bilaterally was possible in 80% of cases of the nerve-sparing group. Local recurrence rates in the non-nerve-sparing (4.9%) and nerve-sparing (8.3%) group were not significantly different. Mean local recurrence-free survival within 2 years were 22.7 and 22.0 months, respectively. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses showed that nerve-sparing treatment was not a significant prognostic factor for local recurrence. With respect to perioperative and postoperative parameters, operating time and blood loss were less in the nerve-sparing group and mortality was equal (1 patient); the postoperative course of the nerve-sparing group was similar to the state-of-the-art of conventional radical hysterectomy. CONCLUSIONS: On the basis of the results of our study, we consider the nerve-sparing technique for cervical cancer stages IA to IIA feasible and saf

The economic effects of works councils: channels and conditions. Using secondary data to test a new theoretical model

German studies already have supported the existing positive economic effects of works councils, but failed to explain how these effects are produced. New case study based research from the Netherlands has provided a theory consisting of three channels to create economic impact, also including a set of necessary conditions. This article presents a secondary analysis of this theory with the use of a large data set. This quantitative analysis further supports the theory and contains interesting nuances about how the channels work, in particular about the role of the availability of sufficient works council candidates at elections