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Resumen La Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) define la salud como un estado de completo bienestar físico, mental y social, no solamente la ausencia de afecciones o enfermedades. Wermuth dedujo que 56% de las variaciones en estado de salud son explicadas por factores sociales y ecológicos, comportamientos de salud en un 21%, la calidad de los cuidados médicos y los sistemas de salud pública en 19% y sólo 4% por genes y agentes biológicos. Muy pocos gobiernos han legislado políticas explícitas con el objetivo de eliminar las inequidades de salud determinadas por factores sociales. Legisladores en los países en vías desarrollo enfrentan una plétora de problemáticas con limitados recursos para resolverlas, así mismo en un contexto de conflictos en las imperativas políticas. Las metas diseñadas para mejorar la salud pública deben competir para atraer la atención política y los recursos, bajo estas difíciles circunstancias políticas. Palabras claves: Factores sociales, salud pública, iniquidades de salud. Abstract The World Health Organization (OMS) defines health as a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing, not just the absence of disease and illness. Wermuth inferred that 56% of health status variations could be explained by social and ecological factors, 21% by health behaviors, 19% by the quality of health services and public health systems, and only 4% by genes and biological agents. Few governments have designed policies to eradicate health disparities with direct correlation to social factors. Legislators in under developed countries face a plethora of national and local issues with limited resources to solve them within challenging political juncture to prioritize. The goals designed to improve the public's health must compete to raise political awareness and obtain resources within those political circumstances. Key words: Social factors, Public Health, Health disparities.

This article offers an overview of the range of Asian-Australian writers, within the context of changing historical and political conditions, as well as the complexity of defining a single category of literature written by Australians of Asian heritage. Such a category is difficult to define in strictly nationalistic terms as 'Asian Australian literature': where Australian literature is the controlling noun and 'Asian' functions as an adjective. Some Asian Australian writers are Australian-born, others trace their Asian heritage through several generations; some write in English, others do not. For reasons of space, this essay deals only with anglophone Asian Australian writers. The 'Asia' encompassed by Asian Australian writers is protean, changing as patterns of Asian immigration to Australia changes. 'Asia' in an Australian context is generally taken to refer to the Far East or to Southeast Asia but increasingly migration from South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka) has broadened that image. Ethnic Chinese accounts for the largest Asian immigrant group in Australia but 'ethnic Chinese' is not a simple category. Some migrants of Chinese heritage come to Australia direct from the mainland (this is particularly true of the post-1989 generation of migrants) but others migrate out of the Southeast Asian Chinese diaspora and come to Australia via such countries as Singapore, Malaysia, or Indonesia. For these diasporic writers, 'Chineseness' can be a term to which they relate with difficulty. Despite the dominance of Chinese migrants within the Australian understanding of Asia, this essay takes a broad view of what kinds of ethnic background constitute Asianness. The ascription of 'Asianness', regardless of individual background or national inheritance, is an expression of Australia's enduring anti-Asian racism, and we should be keenly aware of this problem when approaching Australian writers of Asian heritage.

Die Unternehmensbesteuerung ist eines der Instrumentarien das im Wettbewerb um den mobilen Faktor Kapital von den Industriestaaten eingesetzt wird. Hinsichtlich der wissenschaftlichen Forschung, die den Zusammenhang zwischen der Unternehmensbesteuerung und dem unternehmerischen Kapitalstock untersucht, ist mittlerweile eine beträchtliche Zahl von Literatur entstanden. Aus der vorhandenen Literatur sind jedoch zwei Schwächen zu erkennen. Erstens basieren viele der empirischen Analysen auf makroökonomischen Zeitreihendaten und zweitens finden vor allem Reduzierte-Form-Modelle Anwendung. Die vorliegende Dissertation gliedert sich in die Reihe empirischer Arbeiten unter Verwendung von Mikrodaten ein, die Aspekte der Unternehmensbesteuerung untersuchen. Die Arbeiten liefern einen Beitrag zum tieferen Verständnis aus den Teilbereichen der Finanzierunkstruktur, der gemeinsamen Bemessungsgrundlage sowie der Messung der marginalen Steuerbelastung. Dabei konzentrieren sich die Analysen auf die Aktivitäten deutscher Unternehmen im In- und Ausland sowie ausländischer Unternehmen in Deutschland. Grundlage der empirischen Untersuchungen sind vor allem vertrauliche Mikrodaten der Deutschen Bundesbank. Im Rahmen der deskriptiven und multivariaten Analyse werden Hinweise für den Zusammenhang zwischen der Besteuerung und dem unternehmerischen verhalten nachgewiesen. Damit dienen die Resultate auch als Diskussionsgrundlage für die Ausgestaltung künftiger Steuerpolitik in Deutschland und der EU. ; Corporate taxation is an instrument in the competition on the mobile factor capital which industrial countries using. Regarding the research, which examines the nexus between the corporate taxation and the firm's capital stock, meanwhile a considerable number of literatures developed. From the existing literature however two weaknesses are to be recognised. First of all many of the empirical analyses based on macro-economic time series data and secondly typically reduced from models were used. The present dissertation is integrated into the number of empirical work using micro data sets, which aspects of the corporate taxation examine. The analysis provides a contribution to the deeper understanding of the financial structure, the common tax base as well as the measurement of the marginal tax burden. The analyses concentrate on the activities of German companies (domestic and foreign direct investment) as well as foreign companies in Germany. The empirical investigations based mostly on confidential micro data sets of the German Central Bank. The descriptive and multivariate analysis show some hints for the nexus between corporate taxation and firm's behaviour. All results provide a discussion basis for the tax policy in Germany and the EU.

summary: This work finds that the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) acquis negatively affects growth. The result is based on a model that incorporates the contractionary effect of the repatriation of surplus foreign companies that in the medium term contributes to discouraging investment and growth. The model captures both the Keynesian emphasis on demand stimulation and the neolastic tradition in the initial financial contribution of FDI. The hypothesis was empirically tested for the Argentinian economy by looking at the causal link in the Granger direction between growth and a simple variable, the share of the economy controlled by foreign companies. This variable makes it possible to perceive the structural changes induced by FDI, which go beyond the initial financial impulse. It is suggested that the difficulty of empirically checking a significant correlation between FDI and growth in the literature on the topic may be due to the fact that it looks at flows rather than concentrating on the FDI acquis. The results also show that FDI shifts domestic investment, suggesting that this can be a channel explaining the negative effect. ; Resumen: Este trabajo encuentra que el acervo de inversión extranjera directa (IED) afecta negativamente el crecimiento. El resultado se fundamenta en un modelo que incorpora el efecto contractivo de la repatriación del excedente de las empresas extranjeras que a mediano plazo contribuye a desalentar la inversión y el crecimiento. El modelo capta tanto el hincapié keynesiano en el estímulo de la demanda como el de la tradición neoclásica en la aportación financiera inicial de la IED. La hipótesis se comprobó empíricamente para la economía argentina examinando la relación de causalidad en el sentido de Granger entre el crecimiento y una variable sencilla, la proporción de la economía controlada por empresas extranjeras. Esta variable permite percibir los cambios estructurales inducidos por la IED, que trascienden el impulso financiero inicial. Se sugiere que la dificultad que enfrenta ...

With China's entry into the World Trade Organization ('WTO'), the gradual opening of previously closed industry sectors to foreign investment and the continued strong growth of the Chinese economy, merger and acquisition ('M&A') activity has become an increasingly attractive alternative to greenfield investment to foreign investors. In the 1980s, the first wave of foreign direct investment ('FDI') in China mostly took the form of joint ventures, including equity joint venture enterprises ('EJV') and contractual joint venture enterprises ('CJV'). A second wave followed in the 1990s in the form of wholly foreign-owned enterprises ('WFOE'). Now a third wave – cross-border M&A – is gaining strength. Foreign investors are becoming more inclined to invest in China by merging or acquiring existing Chinese companies, particularly the leading players in the fields, because M&A transactions offer foreign investors immediate market access with minimal business risk and the acquired business can be converted to foreign-invested enterprises ('FIE') for favourable treatment. The increased pace of foreign M&A activity has contributed to restructuring of the foreign M&A regime in China. On 8 August 2006, six Chinese government agencies, led by the Ministry of Commerce ('MOFCOM') of the People's Republic of China ('PRC'), jointly promulgated the Provisions on the Takeover of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors ('2006 Regulation'). This Regulation became effective on 8 September 2006, replacing the previous Tentative Provisions on the Takeover of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors ('2003 Tentative Regulation'), which were in force since 12 April 2003. The 2006 Regulation, taken together with several other instruments issued either before or after its promulgation, constitutes a systematic regulatory framework governing foreign M&A activity in China. This paper considers the central features of this newly introduced 2006 Regulation and then analyses the factors responsible for its adoption. ...

Chaire de l'UNESCO - Conférences publiques 2006/2007 - Université de Fribourg. ; International audience ; La protection sociale aux Etats-Unis est fortement clivée. Dans ce pays, le système social a été bâti sur une dualisation entre ceux qui peuvent travailler et ceux qui ne le peuvent pas. Les premiers, par l'imposition, financent des programmes sociaux qui sont ciblés en priorité sur les seconds. C'est vrai par exemple avec le General Assistance programs pour les pauvres et le Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, ex Aid to Families with Dependant Children connu comme étant le programme phare de la politique volontariste du président Lincoln Johnson, au nom évocateur de War against poverty. De nombreux auteurs ont analysé cette dualisation comme l'effet direct du principe libéral de sélectivité des populations destinataires. La norme du ciblage (targeting) des individus ou des groupes bénéficiaires a toujours donné lieu à d'importants débats politiques. Par exemple, les Républicains ont parlé de folie universaliste (universal fallacy) pour dénigrer les tentatives de programmes d'assurance maladie universels, qu'un plaidoyer de gauche s'est efforcé de défendre. Certains observateurs ont même expliqué le basculement à droite de l'Amérique au cours des années 1980 par la concentration accrue des aides sur les segments les plus défavorisés de la population. Peut-être que la mémoire douloureuse de la Grande dépression des années 1920-1930 hante encore les esprits. A l'époque, le système fondé sur l'assistance avait déstabilisé les finances publiques et acculé bien des États américains à la faillite, mettant ainsi en péril le crédit financier de l'État fédéral. Ce modèle sélectif inspire la plupart des pays de l'OCDE. A comparer les réformes des systèmes de protection fondés sur des principes d'universalité ou de contributivité, on s'aperçoit qu'elles intègrent de plus en plus de sélectivité, en développant en particulier des normes de ciblage des prestations sur des populations données, à partir notamment de ...

This paper focuses on the switching behaviour of sickness fund enrolees in the Swiss health insurance system. Even though the new Federal Law on Social Health Insurance (LAMal) was implemented in 1996 to promote competition among health insurers in basic insurance, there still remains large premium variations within cantons. This indicates that competition has not been able so far to lead to a single price, and reveals some inertia among consumers who seem reluctant to switch to less expensive funds. We investigate one possible barrier to switching behaviour, namely the influence of the supplementary insurance. Our aim is to analyse two decisions (switching decision in basic insurance, subscription to supplementary insurance contracts). We use survey data on health plan choice and import some market data related to the sickness funds (number of enrollees, premiums). The decision to switch and the decision to subscribe to a supplementary contract are estimated both separately and jointly. The results suggest that holding a supplementary insurance contract substantially decreases the propensity to switch. However the impact of supplementary insurance is not significant when the individual assesses his/her health as "very good" ; to the contrary, holding a supplementary contract significantly reduces the propensity to switch when the indivual's subjective health status deteriorates. Futhermore, the switching decision is positively influenced by the expected gain of switching. In comparison with the range of the premium difference, the limitations to switch due to the supplementary insurance is moderate, though non negligible. As for the decision to subscribe a supplementary contract, the results show that the income level has a direct positive influence on the propensity to buy a supplementary insurance. Our results suggest that a major mechanism is going on in relation to supplementary insurance: holding a supplementary contract might stop individuals from switching when the individual thinks that she/he could be ...

Kazakhstan's economic development has been rather impressive in recent years, but the country has very justified concerns about how long it can keep these dynamics up. Many experts are inclined to explain the stable growth rates not by the government's intelligent economic policy, but by the economy's reverse motion after the slump reached its peak, and also by national currency devaluation and increasing oil prices. The high price of raw material resources in recent years is indeed ensuring high growth rates of Kazakhstan's GDP. But the amount of revenue coming into the country from these sources is extremely unstable and unpredictable and can hardly be viewed as a firm foundation for long-term economic growth. What is more, as many research studies indicate, this revenue may even hinder successful development to a certain extent. The Kazakhstan economy is not unique in this respect. Nearly all resource-rich countries are encountering the same problem-how to diversify industrial production and export so that they depend less on resource factors. The question economists are trying to answer is whether abundant resources are a boon or bane for the economy. At first glace, it seems strange that a country's natural supplies of valuable resources might be a reason for economic failures. But, as often happens in economic systems, various indirect negative effects can outweigh the direct positive effect of supplementary wealth, so in terms of economic development as a whole, the overall effect of possessing natural resources could be negative. Several mechanisms can be singled out that are responsible for the negative effects of a country's natural resources on its economic development. First, the percussions of the "Dutch disease." Second, the unproductive activity of economic agents, stimulated by the high rent related to natural resources, leads to poor management of economic institutions, which, in turn, slows down economic growth.

Many regional governments in developed countries design programs to improve the competitiveness of local firms. In this paper, we evaluate the effectiveness of public programs whose aim is to enhance the performance of firms located in Catalonia (Spain). We compare the performance of publicly subsidised companies (treated) with that of similar, but unsubsidised companies (non-treated). We use the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) methodology to construct a control group which, with respect to its observable characteristics, is as similar as possible to the treated group, and that allows us to identify firms which retain the same propensity to receive public subsidies. Once a valid comparison group has been established, we compare the respective performance of each firm. As a result, we find that recipient firms, on average, change their business practices, improve their performance, and increase their value added as a direct result of public subsidy programs. ; - Muchos gobiernos regionales en los países desarrollados diseñan programas para mejorar la competitividad de las empresas locales. En este papel, evaluamos la efectividad de programas públicos cuyo objetivo es reforzar la actuación de las empresas localizada en Cataluña (España). Se compara la actuación de empresas subvencionadas (tratadas) con empresas similares, pero no subvencionadas (no tratadas). Se utiliza el Propensity Score Matching (PSM) para construir un grupo de control que, con respecto a las principales características, es muy similar al grupo tratado, lo que permite identificar empresas que presentan la misma propensión a recibir subvenciones. Una vez se ha establecido un grupo de comparación válido, se comparan los resultados de cada empresa. Como resultado se encuentra que, en promedio, las empresas tratadas cambian sus prácticas comerciales, mejoran su actuación, y aumentan su valor añadido como resultado directo de los programas públicos.

International audience ; Face to search a supranational activism : the case of the Union of European Federalists Europe has always provoked bitter debates about the best way to build it : federalist vs Unionists, first wanting to build an integrated European Community, the latter anxious to preserve national identity and independence. This debate continues before our eyes, appears repeatedly since the post-war years. The European utopia was then carried by a large number of movements, including the European Union of Federalists (UEF), always intended as a pioneer. It seemed interesting to us to direct our research about the history of the UEF, whose doctrine was intended original, even revolutionary. Struck by the helplessness of the old United Nations to prevent the conflagration of 1939-45, the activists of the UEF, which related mainly to the various currents of the Resistance, wanted to work towards a new political ideal, which would be common to the 'wider Europe'. ; L'Europe a toujours suscité d'âpres débats autour de la meilleure manière de la construire : fédéralistes contres unionistes, les premiers désireux de construire une Europe communautaire et intégrée, les seconds soucieux de préserver les identités nationales et les indépendances. Ce débat, qui se prolonge encore sous nos yeux, apparaît de façon récurrente dès les années d'après-guerre. Car l'utopie européenne a alors été portée par un grand nombre de mouvements, parmi lesquels l'Union Européenne des Fédéralistes (UEF) s'est toujours voulue comme pionnière. Il nous a paru intéressant d'orienter nos recherches autour de l'histoire de cette UEF dont la doctrine se voulait originale, voire révolutionnaire. Frappés par l'impuissance des vieux Etats-Nations à empêcher la conflagration de 1939-45, les militants de l'UEF, qui se rattachent majoritairement aux divers courants de la Résistance, voulaient œuvrer en faveur d'un nouvel idéal politique, qui fût commun à la " grande Europe ".

The direct and systematic assault on people's lives and livelihood in the context of slum demolitions and forcible evictions form part of a continuing drive to restructure the economy as well as the city. The 'cleansing and beautification' of the city has drastically changed the lives and livelihood resources of the working class. The urban poor are not only continually relocated to the margins of the city, but are also subjected to loss of dignity and exploitative labour for survival. Labelled outsiders by the judiciary, media and policy makers, and being pushed out of the electoral process, the question of citizenship becomes poignantly questionable for evicted slum dwellers. The impact on both housing and livelihood affects women in multifarious ways, including repression by the state machinery and constant police surveillance, increasing their vulnerability. This article is an attempt to re-examine settled notions of citizenship and rights as they unfold in the context of a metropolis like Delhi, focusing specifically on the manner in which citizenship for the working class is experienced in terms of continual 'relocation' to the margins of the city.1 While examining the processes of this relocation, the article shows how the institutions of state, including the judiciary, the police, as well as political representatives, construe the working poor as anomalous to what the city signifies, namely, beauty and civility. The construction of the working class as citizen-outsiders is imbued with a strange paradox. While the city requires them to sustain and reproduce itself in a manifestation of what has been termed as the masked nature of modern citizenship, it also pushes them out, physically and metaphorically, as incongruous and inconsistent with the life that the city promises—of sprawling malls and gated communities.

In this essay, I contend that one can understand neither the development of mass action among contemporary immigrants, nor the sporadic nature of that action, without attending to the historic role of parties and community-based organizations in shaping immigrants' political mobilization. I draw connections between the mass immigrant-rights demonstrations that took place during the spring of 2006 and what we know about how immigrants' political participation in the United States is structured by (1) the declining influence of political parties, and (2) the critical function of community-based organizations. These organizations were the focus of my recent book,Democracy's Promise: Immigrants and American Civic Institutions(2006). Why haven't activists been able to sustain the momentum that brought hundreds of thousands of immigrants and their supporters out into the streets during the spring of 2006? Although they, along with the Spanish-language media, played a critical role in organizing mass demonstrations against punitive immigration legislation in early 2006, labor organizations, workers' centers, advocacy and social service organizations, ethnic voluntary associations, and religious institutions face severe constraints in terms of engaging in sustained, consistent political mobilization and, therefore, mainly achieve limited mobilization. However, voter registration data from the National Association of Latino Elected Officials suggest that the demonstrations may have spurred interest in more traditional types of political participation among immigrants and their supporters. Thus, while it is true that, for the most part, political participation does not take place overnight, there may be ways for U.S. civic institutions to speed up that process through direct mobilization and the provision of information that helps immigrants to feel more comfortable and confident taking part in the political system. Trusted community-based institutions represent a vital potential force in promoting political inclusion for immigrant newcomers who contribute to so many other aspects of American life.

Non-indigenous animal species threaten biodiversity and ecosystem stability by damaging or transforming habitats, killing or out-competing native species and spreading disease. We use World Heritage Area Kakadu National Park, northern Australia, as a focal region to illustrate the current and potential threats posed by non-indigenous animal species to internationally and nationally recognised natural and cultural values. Available evidence suggests that large feral herbivores such as Asian swamp buffalo, pigs and horses are the most ecologically threatening species in this region. This may reflect the inherent research bias, because these species are highly visible and impact primary production; consequently, their control has attracted the strongest research and management efforts. Burgeoning threats, such as the already established cane toad and crazy ant, and potentially non-indigenous freshwater fish, marine invertebrates and pathogens, may cause severe problems for native biodiversity. To counter these threats, management agencies must apply an ongoing, planned and practical approach using scientifically based and well funded control measures; however, many stakeholders require direct evidence of the damage caused by non-indigenous species before agreeing to implement control. To demonstrate the increasing priority of non-indigenous species research in Australia and to quantify taxonomic and habitat biases in research focus, we compiled an extensive biography of peer-reviewed articles published between 1950 and 2005. Approximately 1000 scientific papers have been published on the impact and control of exotic animals in Australia, with a strong bias towards terrestrial systems and mammals. Despite the sheer quantity of research on non-indigenous species and their effects, management responses remain largely ad hoc and poorly evaluated, especially in northern Australia and in high-value areas such as Kakadu National Park. We argue that improved management in relatively isolated and susceptible tropical regions requires (1) robust quantification of density–damage relationships, and (2) the delivery of research findings that stimulate land managers to develop cost-effective control and monitoring programs.

PurposeThis study surveys a broad spectrum of new product development (NPD) projects from the biochemistry industry in the USA, Canada, Germany, the UK, and Belgium with the purpose of exploring the role of the organizational activity factors in the NPD success.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on the resource‐based view of the firm, the authors present a set of hypotheses concerning the relationship between the people resources, development resources, testing resources, and launch resources committed to NPD projects and their financial success. In addition, the effect of the firm's international market involvement on the NPD project success is considered. In this study, testing of the hypothesized relationship is accomplished through linear probability model, binary probit model, and binary logit model.FindingsEmpirical results generally support the predictions from the theory. Specifically, the findings of this study show that: the involvement of a strong champion, use of a multi‐disciplinary team, and focus of a dedicated team are key factors for NPD project success among the people resources; the detailed market research has a significant impact on the project success in the development phase of the NPD process; the allocation of resources to the testing of the product with the final customer, market testing, and production start‐up positively influences the NPD project success; advertising quality plays a key role in the NPD project success during its launch; and the NPD project success is positively associated with the degree of a firm's diversification into international markets.Originality/valueThis study provides several guidelines for product managers seeking to launch new products. It offers critical insights into the identification of firm resources that influence the NPD project success. This study also has important implications for firms that consider diversifying or have already diversified into international markets. Understanding the role of market diversification in the NPD project success advances the ability of managers to direct their efforts in international market involvement.

This article sheds light on the rhetoric of cross-cultural letters of request in the Thai business context. The focus is on the contrastive analysis of 80 authentic letters of request written in English by Thai speakers and native English speakers. The corpus consists of 38 Thai (TH) letters, and 42 Non-Thai (NT) letters. The cross-cultural variation is investigated both quantitatively and qualitatively from the perspectives of contrastive text linguistics and pragmatic. The quantitative analysis explores the lengths of the TH and NT letters in relation to the distribution and position of requests. Contrastive text linguistics was used in this study to examine the rhetorical structures (e.g. structural representation) in letters of request and their linguistic realisations (e.g. linguistic features). From a pragmatic perspective, the analytical focus was on persuasive strategies (i.e. rhetorical appeals — logos, ethos, pathos), and politeness strategies, some of which are culture-bound.


The overall investigation manifests the diversity in language use which distinguishes Thai-style business requests from western-style ones. What Hinds (1990) calls a quasi-inductive style of writing or delayed introduction of purpose is a unique hedging strategy found exclusively in the TH letters. The NT requests tend to be more direct, often involving a 'baldly on record' strategy. In contrast in a similarly formal context, the TH request letters typically use more negative politeness in that they include more indirect, deferential and self-effacing strategies. According to the Aristotelian concept of persuasive rhetoric, the TH letters generally use a combination of logos, ethos and pathos whereas the NT letters tend to predominantly use a strong logos. These three rhetorical appeals can be regarded as persuasive strategies; the findings reveal some culture-specific differences in the persuasive strategies used in TH and NT letters of request.