Mortality analysis of persons with disabilities in Argentina by age,sex and duration of benefit, 2015–16

This article describes the differential mortality of Argentina’s disability pension beneficiaries during the 2015–16 period, based on National Social Security Administration (Administración Nacional de la Seguridad Social – ANSES) payment records. It compares data for those with an assessed disability with overall population data, as well as with available international data (from Canada, Chile, Mexico, and the United States of America). In addition to breaking down mortality rates for people with disabilities by age and sex, it also factors in duration of benefit, establishing an inverse correlation between benefit duration and mortality.     

From industrial restructuring to the financial crisis: Mainstream nationalism and minimum income in the Basque Country

The uneven development of minimum incomes in Spain is one of the factors that explain the significant differences in the poverty indicators that characterize the Spanish regions, generally in favour of the territories most committed to these policies (Basque Country, Navarra and Asturias). However, there are other aspects that deserve some consideration when interpreting the specific method of developing minimum incomes in southern Europe. One aspect has to do with the differing dynamics of countries, such as Spain and Italy, which have opted for a decentralized regional model. In this regard, the regional autonomous initiative of the Basque Country played a decisive role in promoting minimum income programs in the late 1980s. Without its leadership in the launch of the regional minimum income policy, Spanish trade unions would probably not have opted for this method as a mechanism for combating poverty in the 1990s. No Italian region went on to play this driving role at that time. This article analyses the ideological foundations of the Basque minimum income policy introduced in the late 1980s and which grew significantly before and during the crisis that started in 2007-2008. It examines the dominant political narrative on this issue by analysing the discourse of some of the key nationalist leaders involved in the birth and development of the minimum income scheme. The approach shows that the experience of social decline linked to industrial restructuring processes was instrumental in the construction of the nationalist narrative.     

The moral hazard of conditionality: Restoring the integrity of social security law

This article examines the extent to which the Australian and UK social security systems meet their legal obligations to provide basic relief to citizens in need. Conditionality and “mutual obligation” are at the core of both the UK and Australian social security systems and are based on the concept of moral hazard, the goal being to ensure that claimants do not consider living on benefits to be preferable to engaging in paid work. Yet, we argue that the element of “mutuality” is missing in both systems; welfare claimants are subject to myriad conditions and obligations, whilst the state operates free of any legal responsibility to provide even basic relief to those in need, to prevent or alleviate extreme poverty and destitution. We outline the extent to which Australian and UK social security laws require governments to relieve destitution, examining both domestic and human rights law. We conclude that legal protections are weak and that both systems fail to meet the basic conditions of humanity toward their citizens. On this basis, we argue that such failings demonstrate a lack of integrity which undermines the standing of both the UK and Australia to invoke a claim of moral hazard to defend claimant conditionality.     

Inequality Assessment by Probabilistic Development Indices

Social Indicators Research - This paper analyses the Human Development Index (HDI) time series from 2010 to 2017. An alternative index is studied, which combines the same components of the HDI by...     

Analysis of the non-native flora of Ensenada, a fast growing city in northwestern Baja California

Urbanized areas show a high proportion of non-native plants and can work as dispersal points to the surrounding areas. Ensenada is a fast growing city located in the northwestern peninsula of Baja California (Mexico). It is the southern extreme of a bi-national, coastal urban corridor that extends from Los Angeles, California south to Ensenada. This corridor is part of the biodiversity hotspot of the California Floristic Province. The aim of this study was to analyze the composition and distribution of the spontaneous flora in the city of Ensenada. We systematically sampled two differentiated urban environments, vacant lots and arroyos, in 2006 and 2007. We found a total of 158 plant species, 61% of them were non-native species. Arroyo areas showed higher non-native species richness than vacant lots (21.9 vs. 13.6 species/transect) and could be potential dispersal vectors for non-native species to natural areas outside of the city, or in the reverse direction also.     

Who performs a stronger response to whom? Detecting individual competitive actions and reactions

This study analyzes the degree of competition through individual actions and reactions. Empirical support for this analysis has derived mainly from structural econometric models describing the nature of competition. This analysis extends the existing literature by empirically considering a direct measurement of competition through the analysis of the competitive actions and responses, and describing how firms compete within and between strategic groups. We estimate the firms’ conduct in the Spanish deposits market with 146 firms and 18,888 observations. This is a specially compelling context for the banking industry, in which a deregulation process gives rise to the adoption of aggressive strategies seeking to increase the market shares of deposit accounts; thus, producing a turbulent situation of increasing rivalry. Our results offer a deeper understanding of the firms’ competitive behavior, since we identify different patterns of actions and reactions depending upon the strategic group the firm belongs to.     

Structure,power, and discourses of development in Spanish NGOs

Because of its recent and rapid growth, the Spanish development apparatus provides an appropriate arena for studying nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). This article uses case studies of three NGOs—Manos Unidas, Intermón Oxfam, and Madre Coraje—to explore the tension between the internal and external dynamics that affect these organizations. Although powerful external forces promote structural isomorphism with its attendant bureaucratization and professionalization, several internal factors—youth, small size, certain ideologies, charismatic leaders, and privileging identification with the organization rather than expertise when recruiting participants—resist these homogenizing processes. DiMaggio and Powell's iron cage hypothesis (1983) therefore can be only partially confirmed. We suggest an intriguing, intimate connection between charisma and democracy.     

Healthcare 4.0: trends,challenges and research directions

Abstract

This paper aims at examining the trends, challenges and theoretical gaps in the implementation of Healthcare 4.0 (H4.0) based on a scoping review of the literature. For that, we searched journal articles in four widely known databases and screened the retrieved articles to obtain a publications’ portfolio. Our findings indicate that, despite the recency of the subject, research in H4.0 has been conducted in an interdisciplinary way with a diversified set of applications and functionalities. In terms of its implementation, H4.0 has been more commonly found in hospitals’ information flows, especially the ones related to healthcare treatments. The identified implementation trends, however, neglect a more holistic approach for H4.0, which originated three main research directions for this topic. Although identified as a trending topic in the area of healthcare operations management, literature on H4.0 may be viewed as randomly conceived, lacking academic alignment and practical orientation based on a grounded theory, which we aim at providing with the present study.     

Multivariate log-Birnbaum–Saunders regression models

In this paper, we present a multivariate version of the skewed log-Birnbaum–Saunders regression model. This new family of distributions holds good properties such as marginal variables following univariate skewed log-Birnbaum–Saunders distributions, besides presenting the usual log-Birnbaum–Saunders distribution as a particular case. Furthermore, the model parameters are estimated through maximum-likelihood methods, a closed-form expression for the Fisher’s information matrix is presented, and testing hypothesis for model parameters is performed. Two real datasets are analyzed and results are discussed.