Gaps in social protection for health care and long‐term care in Europe: Are the elderly faced with financial ruin?

While public expenditure on health care and long‐term care (LTC) has been monitored for many years in European countries, far less attention has been paid to the financial consequences for older people of private out‐of‐pocket (OOP) expenditure necessary to access such care. Employing representative cross‐sectional data on the elderly populations of 11 European countries in 2004 from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we find that OOP payments for health care and LTC are very common among the elderly across European countries and such expenditures impact significantly on disposable income: up to 95 per cent of the elderly make OOP payments for health care and 5 per cent for LTC, resulting in income reductions of between 5 and 10 per cent, respectively. Failure to prevent financial ruin, as a consequence of excessive OOP payments, is evident in 0.7 per cent of elderly households utilizing health care and 0.5 per cent of elderly households utilizing LTC. Those particularly concerned are the poor, women and the very old.     

The Food Crisis and its Impacts on Poverty in Senegal and Mali: Crossed Destinies

This article uses two CGE macro‐micro models to analyse the distributional impact of the food crisis and policy responses in two neighbouring African countries, both of which are strongly dependent on agriculture. The approach captures structural differences at both the macro and micro level for household income and expenditure structures, and the results reveal differences for poverty impact at the national and sub‐group levels, as well as for inequality and pro‐poor analysis. The importance of country‐specific analysis and the risk of extrapolating conclusions from one country to another are also highlighted.     

Getting Real About Food Prices

The 2008 spike in world grain prices is widely recognised to have had serious impacts on food security and poverty, but these high grain prices are commonly described as low in historical terms – an inconsistency resulting from the use of advanced‐ and global‐economy price indices in calculating real prices. This ignores the high share of food in poor people's expenditures and the indirect effects of income growth on expenditure patterns of rich consumers. Poor consumers have not experienced the same falls in real food prices and are more vulnerable to price shocks. Different price indices must be developed to take account of differences between consumer groups.     

论消费在国际传媒生产总过程中的地位

在国际传媒生产贸易中，传媒产品消费的本质就是价值认可式的精神性消费，在自愿获得消费物的消费中，得到精神与心灵上的满足，实现对一国传媒产品的最优化接受。由此本质出发，总结了消费的六种类型，在分析梳理其逻辑关系的基础上，论证了消费在国际传媒生产总过程中的主导地位。     

德莱塞笔下的新女性形象——嘉莉妹妹的个性分析

在美国文学史上,德莱塞塑造的嘉莉妹妹一直是个有争议的人物形象.本文从19世纪末20世纪初美国新兴消费文化和新女性崛起这一特定社会历史背景出发,从自我实现、自主选择、自我塑造三个方面尝试解读嘉莉妹妹这一形象在个性上表现出的新女性内涵.     

消费文化转型的激励机制与“两型社会”的构建

消费文化具有引导、凝聚和激励的社会效应,实现消费文化由传统向现代的转型,对于"资源节约型、环境友好型"社会的构建有着不可或缺的作用.因此,有必要在明确"两型社会"消费文化转型取向的基础上,探求消费文化转型的激励机制,以期对推动"两型社会"的构建进程有所裨益.     

农村地区食品安全监管配套制度的完善与落实

自2009年《食品安全法》颁布至今,我国农村地区的食品安全事件依旧频发,《食品安全法》在农村地区的实施效果远不如城市。造成这种状况的原因除长期以来存在的城乡二元结构和农村居民自身生活习惯等问题外,更主要的是《食品安全法》作为一部在全国范围内统一实施的法律,其明显缺乏专门针对农村食品经营主体的监管配套制度,从而使该法在广大农村地区实施的过程中监管能力明显不足。据此,提出构建食品安全监管在农村地区的配套制度,加强技术监管和信息化管理以及充分发挥社会共治等建议。     

非常时期列宁关于粮食生产和农村工作的思想及其当代意义

苏俄非常时期,列宁在解决粮食危机的过程中提出了十分丰富的发展粮食生产及农村工作的思想。他提出,“粮食问题是一切问题的基础”,进行国内战争、发展工业以及各项事业,无不依赖于充足的粮食;发展粮食生产必须重视对农业生产的投入,采用新机器和新技术;必须帮助农民获得足够的种子,以利于他们完成播种的任务。他还提出,发展粮食生产需要调动农民的生产积极性,依赖有效的农村工作。他的这些思想对于中国特色社会主义农村建设具有积极的借鉴意义。     

论食品安全事件中的良性媒体应对

食品安全事件是近年来全球公共安全问题中的热点,由于食品安全的重要性、食品安全事件的公众效应以及基于传媒的属性,媒体常将其作为关注的热点。媒体在食品安全事件中发挥着监测预警、沟通信息、舆论引导等功能,同时也存在关注视角的选择性和职业自律的松懈等不足。作为一种社会公共资源和社会监督力量,基于传媒良知和职业操守,媒体在食品安全事件中必须形成一套良性的应对机制,包括建立信息有效传播机制、建立食品安全事件相关方的沟通协调机制、建立媒体自律机制等。     

WTO巴厘一揽子协定粮食安全条款谈判:背景、进展与对策

巴厘一揽子协定为中国保障粮食安全带来了新局面。从关税及贸易总协定、乌拉圭至多哈回合时期,粮食安全关注越来越成为谈判的重点,多哈回合谈判中各大利益集团也就其自身情况表明不同的谈判立场及利益诉求。协定的达成,在确认粮食安全等非贸易关注的重要意义、公共储备计划的"和平条款"、关税配额制度改革等方面实现突破的同时,又存在文件约束力低下、取消发达国家农产品补贴目标失败、利好政策实施程序及条件复杂等缺憾。对于中国而言,应分析此次协定为增强中国的粮食获取能力带来的政策利好,继续在后续谈判中加强对粮食安全的关注,同时及时地修改中国的粮食安全相关法律法规。