Suchergebnisse

Who designs? : power and the design of the General Agreement -- Critical moments and institutional resilience -- Power and politics in the GATT : the effects on trade, 1950-1994 / with Joanne Gowa -- A matter of timing : WTO accession and international trade

In this paper, which is largely personal and retrospective, the author shares his memories of his encounters with the works of Yuri Lotman and takes the opportunity for a reconside­ration of his semiotics as a specific reflection on the history of Russia. Beginning with me­mories of the first encounter with Lotman's work more than thirty years ago in Korea, the author describes his experiences studying Lotman in Russia under the supervision of Pro­fessor Boris Fedorovich Egorov and, after returning to his native country, intensively explor­ing Lotman's last years (the so-called 'Lotmanian explosion'). In particular, the author at­tempts to reconceptualize the intriguing concept of the 'mechanism of Smuta' that Lotman developed in his later years in terms of the "unpredictability of the past" and to highlight its profound implications for Lotman, who, the author argues, should be seen not only as a theo­rist but also as a (Russian) thinker.

AbstractThis paper analyzes the impact of investment commitments in preferential trade agreements (PTAs) on multinational firms' production networks. The analysis tests the hypothesis that strong investment commitments in PTAs encourage multinational firms to locate affiliates in agreement partners. Agreement countries are desirable locations for MNCS' production networks because PTAs reduce the costs of information concerning the host countries, provide a common regulatory framework for investment by way of the PTA, and embed investment in a larger package of trade liberalization that facilitates cross‐border movement of intermediate goods. The study employs an original dataset of investment provisions in PTAs that measures the liberalization, protection, and integration in investment activities, and another on the location of multinational firms' subsidiaries. An analysis of 317 PTAs supports the main hypothesis: strong investment commitments in PTAs are associated with a higher number of common MNC affiliates among partner countries, controlling for a host of political and economic factors. This paper contributes to the scholarship on multinational firms' behavior in the post‐agreement phase of PTAs and more broadly on the mapping of trade agreement provisions in key areas of global production.

Fentanyl is prescribed to patients suffering from severe chronic pain. Transdermal patches are the best mode of delivery for patients who have developed tolerance for opioids. However, used patches still contain fentanyl that can be extracted and misused, with potentially severe consequences. To address this issue, patients who are prescribed fentanyl patches in Ontario are now required to return previously dispensed patches to receive new patches under the Safeguarding Our Communities Act: Patch for Patch (P4P) Return Policy. The problem is significant in Ontario because the province has the largest annual dispense rate of high-dose prescription fentanyl (112 units per 1,000 population) in Canada even though the prevalence rate of chronic pain is lower than the national reported range (16.6% in Ontario versus 19.6 to 21.9% in other provinces, according to Gomes et al. 2014). The primary goal of this reform is to instill responsible use of fentanyl patches, and to improve safety for patients and the public by having a central disposal process. The reform was modeled after a community initiative that was pioneered in North Bay after receiving great support from health professional colleges and communities that voluntarily integrated the program prior to the introduction of Bill 33. Preliminary data suggest that the P4P policy is positively received by health professionals, although ongoing evaluation is needed to assess the effectiveness of the policy in reducing misuse and abuse of prescribed fentanyl patches. Le fentanyl est prescrit aux patients souffrant de douleur chronique sévère. Le meilleur mode de délivrance pour les patients ayant développé une tolérance importante aux opioïdes est le timbre transdermique. Le problème est que les timbres usagés contiennent un résidu de fentanyl qui peut être extrait et réutilisé à mauvais escient, ce qui peut entraîner des conséquences graves. Pour y remédier, les patients à qui des timbres de fentanyl ont été prescrits en Ontario doivent rapporter les timbres utilisés pour recevoir les nouveaux, en vertu de la,/em> Loi pour protéger nos collectivités(politique d'échange de timbres, PET). Il s'agit d'un problème significatif en Ontario car cette province affiche le taux le plus élevé de prescription de fentanyl fortement dosé au Canada, avec 112 doses pour 1,000 habitants, alors pourtant que la prévalence de douleur chronique sévère est plus faible que dans les autres provinces (16,6% en Ontario contre 19,6 à 21,9%, d'après Gomes et al. 2014). L'objectif principal de la réforme est de rendre l'utilisation des timbres au fentanyl plus sûre et d'améliorer la sécurité pour les patients et la population en établissant un protocole d'élimination centralisé. La réforme s'inspire d'une initiative communautaire développée à North Bay, initiative approuvée par les collèges des professions de santé ainsi que par les communautés qui s'y sont volontairement associées avant même le vote de la Loi numéro 33. Les données préliminaires suggèrent que la politique PET est bien accueillie par les professionnels de santé, même si une évaluation est nécessaire pour mesurer l'efficacité de la politique en termes de réduction de la mes-utilisation et de l'abus des timbres au fentanyl.

This study investigated how traditional and new social risks have emerged in South Korea and how policies have coped with them, focusing on the public pension program. Using national statistics data and publicly published government reports, factors such as marital status, economic activity, and the insurance trend of the public pension by age and gender for the last decade were examined. Main results are as follows. Women's labor force participation has slightly increased; however, career discontinuity remains and new family risks have increased. Second, women's public pension coverage as a percentage of the employment rate has substantially increased, implying that old labor market risks have largely been reduced for female workers. Third, the public pension insured rate among male workers has decreased to a small degree, which implies that new labor market risks are increasing for male workers. Consequently, the gender gap in risk has been reduced; however, policies established to deal with new risks have introduced some gender effects

This article examined the theoretical meanings of pension rights and analyzed their effects on women's economic risks in developed countries. First, based on the status of a citizen, worker, parent, and spouse, this study investigated how pension benefits are guaranteed as a citizen regardless of work history, the degree to which women's disadvantageous situations in the labor market and unpaid work are compensated by public pension as workers and parents, and how marital status is treated in the different pension systems. Second, analysis of the effect of pension rights showed that individual rights is a significant factor to prevent economic risks of elderly women. Derived rights did not seem to secure the economic welfare of elderly women, at least in a comparative context. This finding suggested that developing individual rights, rather than derived rights, is the way to guarantee long‐term elderly women's economic welfare.