Garbage‐can Policy‐making Meets Neo‐liberal Ideology: Twenty Five Years of Redundant Reform of the English National Health Service

The garbage‐can theory of decision‐making (Cohen et al. 1972), has been adapted into a perspective on policy‐making, with adaptations of the approach placing notable emphasis upon the health sector (Kingdon 2006; Paton 2006). This article creates an adapted ‘garbage‐can’ framework to help explain each stage of the reform of the English National Health Service (NHS) over the last 25 years. The emergence of the key idea and resultant policy at each stage of reform of the English NHS has been arational and indeed sometimes irrational. Policy has reflected advocacy by policy‐salesmen (Kingdon 2002), proffering ‘solutions’ to ill‐defined problems and answers to unasked questions, and politicians' short‐termist responses at each decision‐point. Yet the garbage‐can alone is not enough: if arationality rules in policy‐making day to day, this does not mean that there is not an overall ideological context, trend or bias in reform. The article also posits that ‘market reform’ has derived from the ideological hegemony of a naive anti‐statism (hostility to a misleadingly defined and often mythological ‘centralist state’) in public services and enthusiasm for market competition rather than any evidence‐based application of pro‐market ideas to health policy. A question arises: how are these two approaches (short‐term arationality and longer‐term ideological bias) combined in explanation of how policy over time is biased in a particular direction while seemingly arbitrary and directionless at each messy decision‐point. The article attempts to combine the insights of a garbage‐can approach with wider explanations of ideological hegemony.     

From pension funds to piggy banks: (Perverse) consequences of the Stability and Growth Pact since the crisis

As part of their strategy for economic and monetary union, European governments committed themselves to fiscal discipline – particularly by placing limits on annual deficits and on public debt. Subsequently, and as they sought to respond to the “current crisis”, they embraced the view that only if public finances were kept under control would sustainable recovery be possible. Rules of fiscal governance were strengthened. To help them meet these rules, the governments of many member States of the European Union made changes to their pension systems or to funds they had established specifically to pay the costs of population ageing. The intention was not to cut retirement benefits or to improve the efficiency of the relevant pension schemes and institutions. Rather, it was to free up resources immediately. Funded pension schemes and pension funds were treated like “piggy banks” that were raided when times became hard. Moreover, the policies pursued succeeded in meeting their objectives only because the system of national accounts according to which outcomes are judged does not recognize the way in which most of the fiscal gains are matched by future fiscal liabilities.     

Moments of Order Statistics from Weibull Distribution in the Presence of Multiple Outliers

In this article, we derive exact expressions for the single and product moments of order statistics from Weibull distribution under the contamination model. We assume that X₁, X₂, …, X_{n ? p} are independent with density function f(x) while the remaining, p observations (outliers) X_{n ? p + 1}, …, X_n are independent with density function arises from some modified version of f(x), which is called g(x), in which the location and/or scale parameters have been shifted in value. Next, we investigate the effect of the outliers on the BLUE of the scale parameter. Finally, we deduce some special cases.     

市场状态依存的套期保值策略研究

最小方差套保策略没有考虑均值信息,没有考虑套保的成本和收益,不能区分买入套保和卖出套保。针对这一缺陷,本文在最小VaR套保策略框架下,提出了市场状态依存的套保策略,以区分买入套保和卖出套保,利用市场状态的信息来改善套保的财务表现。论文首先在理论上比较了市场状态依存策略与最小方差策略的套保比、套保的成本或收益,进一步基于铜期货市场、原油期货市场的数据实证比较了这两种策略的财务表现。理论和实证结果均表明：相对于最小方差套保策略,市场状态依存的买入套保策略的成本更低,卖出套保策略的收益更高;论文最后讨论了此策略的应用范围和局限性。     

论欧盟在欧元区主权债务危机中的改革与发展

2009-2010年的希腊主权债务危机引发了欧元区集体危机,这被认为是自1999年EMU成立以来遭遇的最大挑战。继希腊之后,爱尔兰和葡萄牙先后向欧盟提出了金融救助申请。2011年7月,欧盟达成了对希腊进行第二轮金融援助的方案。尽管欧元区主权债务危机形势不容乐观,但此次危机也促使欧盟及其成员国加快了自身改革。     

欧债危机背景下我国通货膨胀治理研究

改革开放30年以来,我国经济取得了举世瞩目的成绩,但也出现了四次大的通货膨胀,目前欧债危机越演越烈,对世界经济包括我国经济必将带来巨大的影响,极有可能助推我国已经出现的通货膨胀。文章通过对我国历次通货膨胀原因的探悉和成功治理对策的研究,认为要充分发挥市场调控功能,加快经济增长方式的转变,合理运用国家宏观调控政策治理我国可能出现的复合式通货膨胀。     

天使抑或魔鬼:私募股权基金之于创业板市场的发展

自创业板市场开启以来,我国私募股权基金与创业板市场双双得到长足发展。相对于创业板市场,私募股权基金无疑是天使,促进了创业板市场的发展与完善。然而,行业的无序竞争、普通合伙人融资困难、基金投资短视等弊端暴露了我国私募股权基金行业法制建设落后、监管制度不健全、配套机制建设滞后等问题,中国私募股权基金第一弊案正是这些问题的集中反映。天使在某种情况下也会变成魔鬼,不健全的私募股权基金将会严重损害创业板市场的发展。对此,我国应当通过构建完备的法律体系、强化监管制度、推动配套机制建设等多种方式,促使私募股权基金与创业板市场的协调发展。     

康拉德·阿登纳欧洲联合的理念与实践

二战后,康拉德·阿登纳审时度势,大力提倡欧洲联合,促进了欧洲统一的理念向现实的转变。他高度重视德法关系,把法德两国之间的谅解与合作作为欧洲一体化的核心与基石,启动了早期欧洲的一体化,为其在以后的不断深化和扩大奠定了坚实的基础。     

Social Inclusion or Market Competitiveness? A Comparison of Rural Development Policies in the European Union and the United States

The language of EU rural development policy appears more interested in social inclusion and that of US policy more interested in market competitiveness. We seek to determine why policies directed at rural development in the EU and the USA differ. In both contexts new rural development policies emphasize partnership and participation but we find local participation is used to promote social inclusion in the EU and market competitiveness in the USA. An examination of these dimensions illustrates important transcontinental differences and similarities in rural development policies. We explore the socio‐historical reasons for differences in the commitment to social inclusion, while also noting similarities in the priority of market competitiveness.     

信息公开在欧盟法的发展与实践——以欧盟法院判决为解读文本

欧盟条约将获取欧盟议会、理事会、委员会等欧盟机构文件的权利确立为基本权利。欧盟法院在审理获取欧盟机构信息的案件中坚持获取欧盟机构文件是基本的条约权利、严格限制例外条件的适用、强调欧盟机构的举证责任等做法,可以为我国法院审理政府信息公开案件所借鉴。