On the apparent benefits of higher productivity: An arithmetical illustration

This paper seeks to show, by an arithmetical example, that increased productivity through mechanization can lead to results which make a country worse off. The example shows that the installation of an imported labour‐saving machine will appear not only to have increased productivity, but also to have raised the proportion of investment in G.N.P. and the proportion of capital goods in total imports. All the indications, therefore, lead one to expect a rise in welfare. What the figures hide is that people for whom there are no other opportunities of earning a living have lost their jobs and that consumer goods imports have fallen because both the unemployed and others can no longer afford them. It is not even as if these welfare losses were temporary and bearable because they might ultimately lead to faster economic growth. The example shows that there is no reason to expect that to happen. The paper does not, of course, say that mechanization is invariably harmful—that would be ludicrous—but seeks merely to warn against mechanization in particular circumstances, which arise, however, only too often in underdeveloped countries.     

On the apparent benefits of higher productivity: An arithmetical illustration a comment

During the 1980s, like many other developing countries Nepal attempted actively to attract direct foreign investment. This article reports the results of a survey of the foreign‐owned firms in operation at the end of the 1980s. The motives of firms for their investment decisions in Nepal are summarised. The impact of foreign investment is assessed quantitatively using both financial and economic cost‐benefit criteria. In general, it appears that foreign investment has been beneficial to both the foreign investors and the national economy. Foreign investors from India have played a particularly important role. However, much of the national returns from foreign investment is derived from the payment of taxes, so that an excessively generous policy of tax incentives may not maximise national returns.     

Measuring public service productivity: case study from thailand

This case study, measuring the productivity of garbage collection and disposal in Thailand, is an example of public service productivity assessment. It suggests that variations in the productivity of garbage services in the localities studied are explained by such factors as local politics and administration, popular participation, service production volume, central control measures, local fiscal stress, local physical conditions and program management. Amongst these factors local politics and administration are the most significant.     

Public accountability in higher education and health: an international perspective

Hospitals and universities in British Columbia (BC), and indeed in Canada generally, face a serious loss of faith in the self-regulatory model of funding and external governance whereby, essentially, they are given resources and the autonomy to use them as they see fit. Generally, the last two decades in Canada have been a period of scarce resources, loss of external confidence, general funding limitations, some additional pressures in the form of increased controls and accountability requirements, but little evidence that hospitals and universities are willing to respond positively to these new pressures. The argument of the paper is that responding to pressures for improved accountability reporting may be the price of preserving autonomy and relative funding levels. An active, cooperative response to external concerns about information will enable hospitals and universities to shape the information agenda to their advantage--at the very least, having it reflect reasonably accurately their circumstances and performance. The paper argues further that hospitals should begin by addressing patient care measures and universities should begin by dealing with measures of teaching performance.     

Farm tractorisation,productivity and labour employment: A case study of Indian Punjab

The objective of this paper is to determine the effects of farm tractorisation on output and human labour employment on Punjab farms in India. The residts seem to suggest that, this far, the use of tractors has resulted in higher output and more employment. The authors believe that the threat from farm tractorisation is not all that great; the use of tractors is likely to be confined to certain areas only, and there too, any displacement of labour should be possible to control through appropriate public policies.     

德国医疗体制面临新变革

有关全民健康的医疗卫生事业涉及到每个国民的切身利益,因而也是各国政府最重要的任务之一.尽管发达国家与发展中国家对此所面临的问题与困难有所不同,但这并不妨碍彼此学习和相互借鉴.     

Policy entrepreneurship in the development of public sector strategy: the case of London health reform

The development of health policy is recognized as complex; however, there has been little development of the role of agency in this process. Kingdon developed the concept of policy entrepreneur (PE) within his ‘windows’ model. He argued inter-related ‘policy streams' must coincide for important issues to become addressed. The conjoining of these streams may be aided by a policy entrepreneur. We contribute by clarifying the role of the policy entrepreneur and highlighting the translational processes of key actors in creating and aligning policy windows. We analyse the work in London of Professor Sir Ara Darzi as a policy entrepreneur. An important aspect of Darzi's approach was to align a number of important institutional networks to conjoin related problems. Our findings highlight how a policy entrepreneur not only opens policy windows but also yokes together a network to make policy agendas happen. Our contribution reveals the role of clinical leadership in health reform.     

New Labour's modernization in the public sector: a neo-Durkheimian approach and the case of mental health services

Five accounts of New Labour's style of public management reform can be identified in the recent academic literature. Although each has merits, none is wholly convincing. After a discussion of their scope and limits, this article offers a distinctive account, grounded in wider social theory, which also synthesizes the most valuable elements in the five mainstream accounts. The article then uses the case of New Labour's reforms of the mental health system to support this account, showing how it exemplifies each of the 15 major strands of reform activity that have together been the hallmark of what in practice New Labour has meant by 'modernization'. This provides the basis for a critique of the limits and dangers of the New Labour style.     

世界社区卫生服务体系的典型模式

随着人民生活水平的提高,人群疾病谱发生了改变,慢性病护理的需求量增加;人们在重视身心健康的同时,对疾病预防和自我保健意识也不断增强,社区医疗保健工作面临着难得的机遇.2006年2月21日《国务院关于发展城市社区卫生服务的指导意见》的出台,更加大了完善社区卫生服务体系的力度.在社区卫生服务体系建设方面,英国、澳大利亚以及亚洲部分国家和我国香港积累了丰富的经验,值得我们借鉴学习.     

Public management and productivity towards an appraisal of the productivity of alternative forms of public service delivery

Although independent administrative units are used worldwide as alternate forms of public service delivery, only limited systematic knowledge is available as how to apply these organisational forms with the maximum positive effects. This paper aims to explore the productivity gains achieved by administrative units increasing their degrees of independence, shifting from organisational independence to budgetary and legal independence. Focusing on self-operating decentralised units, on public law enterprises and on publicly owned private law enterprises, this appraisal reveals that continuously increasing independence is accompanied by productivity gains, but, depending on varying service delivery conditions--in terms of divergent service concepts or notions of productivity--this may be in terms of quality of output, technical efficiency or allocative efficiency.

Consequently, in order to make the best possible organisational choice, a contingency model has to take into consideration that alternative forms of service delivery find their maximum positive effects not only under varying task contexts but equally in the pursuit of different productivity targets.     

Historical constraints to privatization: The case of the nationalized chilean copper industry

The military regime that came to power in 1973 made no attempt to hide its intentions to drastically restructure the state. Because of Chile’s historical economic dependence on its copper industry, which had been nationalized at high political and economic cost, many feared that the nationalization process would be reverted and that the gains won against dependency would be lost. The article examines why the efforts to privatize the Chilean National Copper Corporation (CODELCO) were not successful. This failure must be attributed to the country’s long experience with external economic dependence, which produced a deep-seated national awareness of the drawbacks of foreign control, and to the benefits that the industry brings to powerful groups in the regime, above all the Chilean Army.