Energy and the economy— A reply to Smil and Kuz

In the June 1976 edition of this journal Smil and Kuz discussed the case for saying that there are quite firm relationships between energy consumption and GDP. They argued broadly that there was no general relationship, but, instead, the individual countries are locked into individual patterns of energy consumption. The proponents of the ‘there is a relationship’ school of thought include the author of this reply who is employed in the Economics and Programmes Branch of the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority.     

Child Welfare in the United States: Policy, Practice and Innovations in Service Delivery

Child welfare in the United States is characterized by numerous and complex problems. By reviewing child welfare policy and trends in the United States, this article aims to stimulate discussion about innovative approaches that could allow child welfare professionals, both in the US and internationally, to better meet the needs of children and families.     

Energy resources and world economic growth

Must we opt for zero growth as the alternative to catastrophic exhaustion of the world's natural resources? Can energy come to the rescue? The author attempts to assess the various quantities involved and discusses the prospects of finding solutions to the problems.     

Enclosure,writing, and resistance: revisiting the prose of Daniil Kharms

The author argues that discipline – operating through the distribution of individuals by means of enclosure and surveillance – is crucial to understanding Daniil Kharms’s prose of the 1930s. The author focuses on three of his mini-stories, first looking at mechanisms of surveillance in “Dream,” examining their effects upon the psyche that have material impacts on the body of the individual. Then he turns to a trajectory of enclosure that operates from the urban commons (“Trial by Lynching”) to the home (“An Unexpected Drinking Party”). The centripetal trajectory of enclosure ends in all cases at the body as the endpoint of discipline and, ultimately, the site of Kharms’s “grotesque resistance,” challenging the enclosure of the body from the point of its confinement. He also looks to how paper – as theme in and medium of Kharms’s work – operates within these spatial dynamics. He draws upon Harold Innis, who associated the rise of print in the United States with the “space bias” of communication. Reading Foucault and Innis together, Kharms’s short prose works can be understood as a contestation of the space bias of print media in the Stalinist era, prompting Kharms’s retreat to the contours of the body as a site of struggle.     

Changing Policy Environments in Europe and the Resilience of the Third Sector

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - In the article, we analyse the impact of changing policy environments on the development of the third sector in Europe....     

Comparisons in Gender Wage Differentials and Discrimination between Germany and the United Kingdom

Due to the lack of consistent data, direct and robust comparisons of cross‐country labour markets have been virtually impossible. This study uses a new panel data series that controls for inconsistencies, thus overcoming this problem. This study estimates gender wage differentials and gender discrimination in the German and UK labour markets. Panel estimates are used to identify general wage differences between the two countries, with cross‐sectional comparisons undertaken to identify changes that have occurred between 1991 and 1993, that are consistent with known labour market policies. It is found that gender wage differentials are greater in the UK than Germany with employer discrimination against females attributed with the majority of the difference in both countries.     

The need to improve communication about scope changes: frustration as an indicator of operational inefficiencies

Early and timely sharing of information can provide a sustainable competitive advantage. However, even if lean information management aims to improve this information flow, it has mainly been investigated in ‘operations-based’ companies. This paper fills this gap, drawing upon the experience of the authors working within a large project-based company engaged in the ‘engineer and manufacture to order’ of a complex piece of equipment costing millions of dollars, for its strategic long-term client, both working in the same industrial field, i.e. nuclear decommissioning. This research investigates the information flow regarding scope changes between the project-based company and the long-term client adapting and applying a five-step framework to highlight operational inefficiencies, reduce the corresponding transaction costs and increase the overall company’s competitiveness. This is exemplified through a particular case, but can be applied to other project-based companies dealing with strategic clients involved in long-term relationships.     

Implementation of a Community-Based Approach to Dementia Care in England: Understanding the Experiences of Staff

ABSTRACT

Given the increasing numbers of people living with dementia, it is imperative that new, practical solutions are found to the issues faced by this group of people and their families. This article draws on findings from a qualitative study that explored the implementation of a community-based project to support people living with dementia in one local area in England. This approach has different names; in the United Kingdom it is Shared Lives or adult placement, which would be most comparable to family care in Europe and adult foster care in the United States. Interviews were conducted with 14 staff connected to the Shared Lives project. Interview data were coded using the normalization process theory constructs of coherence, cognitive participation, and collective action. Supportive program factors identified were a dedicated staff member and resources, and the availability of specialist knowledge and skills. Detriments to program success included lack of understanding about the service, perceptions it was a poor fit with existing practice, and wider organizational issues that negatively affected normalization of the intervention. Suggestions for future research go beyond staff opinions, stressing the importance of using a wider range of stakeholders and incorporating measurement of outcomes for people using the service.     

Similarity,Isomorphism or Duality? Recent Survey Evidence on the Human Resource Management Policies of Multinational Corporations

There is considerable debate as to the determinants of the human resource policies of human resource management: do they reflect national institutional or cultural realities, emerging common global practices, parent country effects or the dual effects of transnational and national realities? We use an extensive international database to explore these differences, assessing variations in a range of human resource practices. We find new evidence of national differences in the manner in which indigenous firms manage their people, but also evidence of a similarity in practice amongst multinational corporations. In other words, multinational corporations tend to manage their human resources in ways that are distinct from those of their host country; at the same time, country of origin effects seem relatively weak. Whilst there is some evidence of common global practices, sufficient diversity in practice persists to suggest that duality theories may provide the most appropriate explanation.