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Over the past three decades the economic reasoning embodied in the term 'moral hazard' has entered the lexicon of public health policy. What has been its impact? This commentary sketches three core points where we lack information about the impact of economic reasoning on the current and future direction of health policy.

Agriculture played a major role in the development of society since old times. The new paradigm of sustainable growth emphasizes the role of agriculture in economic growth, in ensuring food security, in poverty reduction, in the reduction of income disparities, in the development of the rural area and environmental protection. Fiscal policy is the means by which the government of a country interferes within the economy to stimulate or soothe its growth. Because the application of tax policy affects consumer demand of the society, it is considered that the fiscal policy operates on the market of goods and services units. Romanian Government's vision fiscal policy is focused on ensuring a stimulating role of taxes in order to increase the economic growth, to fiscal consolidation and to development and strengthening the middle class. The purpose of this article is to identify and highlight the impact of fiscal policy on sustainable rural economic development of Romania, in the context of Romanian rural economy realities and needs of the economic and social environment to become competitive on the European market. In order to reach our objective, we have used fundamental research methods consisting in reading of the specialized literature in this field and some articles and studies covering this topic. One of the most important decisions to make is that individual entities become legal entities with legal personality. There are necessary internal and external financing in agriculture based on investment (investment projects), involving agricultural companies and agricultural associations (not individuals bodies). Last but not least, we appreciate that the taxation of agricultural incomes is still a necessity, given the principle of universality tax, leaving it to the experts to determine the dimensions of income rules.

Cover -- Contents -- 1 Introduction -- 2 How Crises Change Political Values -- 3 Micropolitics and Macropolitical Consequences in Mexico -- 4 Micropolitics and Macropolitical Consequences in Canada -- 5 Mexico's Energy Policies in the Seventies and Eighties: an Analysis -- 6 Canada's Energy Policies in the Seventies and Eighties: an Analysis -- 7 Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y.

The Barcelona Summit of March 2002 provided the catalyst for further coordination and synchronisation between the social and economic dimensions of the Lisbon Strategy framework. The definition of the 'European Social Model' as 'good economic performance, a high level of social protection and education and social dialogue' has become a working definition underpinning the direction of social policy in official publications.1 The Barcelona Presidency also led to the adoption of a streamlined set of Employment Guidelines, Recommendations to the Member States and Broad Economic Policy Guidelines on the same day, heralded as an 'instrument for economic governance' by the Commission.2 The reform of the European Employment Strategy (EES) concentrates upon the problems and weaknesses of the EES identified in the evaluation of the first 5 years of the Strategy.3 The Commission identified four central issues for reform, focusing upon the need to set clear objectives (which include priorities and targets), the need to simplify the policy guidelines, the need to improve governance and ensure greater consistency and complementarity with other EU processes. A new development on the eve of the Spring Council (the Brussels Summit) on 20–21 March 2003 was a 'Social Summit' attended by a troika of the Heads of State/Government of the past, current and future Presidencies, the Commission and the Social Partners. One outcome of this Summit was the creation of a new eight-member task force, chaired by Wim Kok.4 The aim of the European Employment Task Force is to investigate practical steps to prompt the Member States to implement the new revised EES endorsed at the Spring Summit. The Task Force will report to the Commission in time to draft the Joint Employment Report for the annual Spring Summits.

This paper approaches the question if and how think tanks still matter, i.e. if they can make a difference, by looking at the contribution of American and German think tanks with a thematic focus on economic and social policy (broadly defined) to policy-advice in general and at their role in emphasizing advice relevant to the world of work and to a workforce/employee perspective in particular. The epistemological interest focuses on think tanks's understanding of policy-making and advisory activities - including questions about the perceived influence and success of their advisory activities, the target groups of their consulting activities and the demand think tanks see for distinctive forms of policy advice, and in the question which consulting channels and instruments are utilized and how effective they are. In its second part, the paper addresses the question, how think tanks can advance and support policy research and policy advice around issues of the world of work and the employee/worker persepective.

"This fascinating book investigates the strategic importance of the production and dissemination of expertise in the activities of the international organizations (IOs) that have come to symbolise the dominance of the Western political and economic order. Analyzing IOs as semi-autonomous policy agenda shapers, chapters explore how they use economic frameworks to interpret the 'problems' and 'solutions' of wider, non-economic policy domains. Examining a diverse range of policy domains, such as education, global care chains, chemical safety and participatory development, this book illustrates the knowledge authority of IOs on a micro-political scale, revealing the routes and trajectories of international power. Featuring contributions from experts in the field of agenda shaping and international politics, this book is critical reading for political scientists and researchers exploring the growing influence of IOs around the world. Policymakers will also benefit from its insights into the micro-politics of IO policy agendas"--

Quel est le meilleur régime de change pour l'Europe ? Les changes flexibles induisent une forte instabilité des taux de change et comportent des risques d'inefficacité des politiques économiques du fait de leur non-coordination. Le SME permet à tous les pays européens de bénéficier de la crédibilité de la Bundesbank mais leur impose en contrepartie une politique monétaire dictée par la seule situation allemande et la stratégie de la Bundesbank. L 'UEM favorise l'intégration économique européenne mais les pays perdent toute indépendance monétaire et l'organisation des politiques budgétaires pose problème. L 'article présente les problèmes de méthodes que pose la comparaison des régimes de change (définition et fonctionnement, influence sur la dynamique des salaires, organisation et rôle des politiques monétaire et budgétaire). Il examine et discute les quelques études empiriques qui ont comparé la stabilité des économies européennes selon le régime de change. Enfin, une maquette fournit une illustration chiffrée des avantages et des défauts de chacun des régimes de change selon le type de choc qui frappe l'économie mondiale ; elle met en évidence les problèmes qu'ils posent quant à l'organisation et à la coopération des politiques économiques. Quand tous les pays européens sont frappés par un choc similaire, le SME ou I'UEM permettent de limiter les réactions erronées des politiques monétaires en Europe, mais cette coordination reste nettement moins efficace que ne le serait une coordination mondiale. En cas de choc spécifique à un pays, le SME et l'UEM peuvent devenir très inefficaces, en particulier pour les chocs spéculatifs ou pour les pays dominés (dans les deux cas) ; pour les chocs de balance commerciale (dans le cas du SME). L'utilisation des politiques budgétaires à des fins de stabilisation, de façon indépendante ou mieux de façon coordonnée, rend moins grave la perte de liberté qu'entraîne la fixité des changes.