Crisis intervention after the Tsunami in Phuket and Khao Lak

After the Tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia, India, Sri Lanka, and Africa, the German government set up a crisis task force that implemented crisis-intervention teams covering Thailand (Phuket and Khao Lak), Sri Lanka, and Sumatra. Two crisis teams were sent to Phuket; the first one on 28 December 2004, and the second one on 3 January 2005, each for an average of 1 week. This intervention was primarily for the benefit of German citizens and their expatriates and relatives caught up in a major catastrophe as well as the German helpers. This article describes the organizational structures of the German crisis intervention, protective factors for the helpers, psychiatric syndromes--often acute traumata, the problems of the identification process for relatives, and crisis intervention itself. Consequences for further crisis intervention after natural disasters are discussed.     

Transitions and models of intervention

All transitions are associated with change. People, basically conservative by nature, tend to resist change. Any intervention needs to consider that reactions to a transition are affected by prior experience, by the way transitions are viewed in an individual's social network, and by what learning opportunities are available. Responses can be viewed as typical under the circumstances, with rites of passage and helpers available to guide people in coping; or they can be viewed as a result of deficits in the individual for which treatment is prescribed. To facilitate change, seen as an expected event, individuals need to be linked to resources and information. They need role models and legitimation of their feelings. Learning, at such times of stress, seems to be facilitated by the availability of a peer, in the sense that the helper has had a similar experience. This help is available in mutual help groups. However, many kinds of help need to be available. The goal of any help is to empower the individual to cope in ways that promote growth and change.     

Empirical inflation models in developing countries: Sensitivity to the definition of inflation

Previous developing country inflation studies have demonstrated that the Harberger (monetarist) model's explanatory power may be quite sensitive to the time period or explanatory variables used. In this study, the model's sensitivity to the definition of the inflation rate variable itself ‐ the dependent variable ‐ is investigated. Using a cross‐section, time‐series data set of 19 developing nations, it is shown that the Harberger model is sensitive to the manner in which inflation is defined. Then, a similar investigation is conducted for another, more recently developed, model of the inflationary process (the Hanson model). This model exhibits less sensitivity to the choice of inflation variable.     

老欧洲遇上新问题--发展模式改革引发欧洲一些国家社会动荡

近一段时间以来,以反对政府改革传统福利政策为主要内容的抗议风潮在多个欧洲国家同时爆发并持续升级、激化,并有引发国内政治危机的可能,这引起欧洲各界及世界各国的极大震动.法国政府的"首次雇佣合同"法案招致全国持续不断的抗议活动,且愈演愈烈,学生和工会组织已经两次发动上百万人参加抗议活动,这是法国去年10月经历了1968年以来最严重的社会骚乱后的又一次社会危机.     

Slovene commercial diplomacy in the Western Balkan countries

The aim of the article is to present activities of Slovene commercial diplomacy in the Western Balkan markets. The result of the analysis proves that Slovene commercial diplomacy in the Western Balkan markets followed enterprise preferences. Thus, in the first decade of transition (1991–2000) commercial diplomacy focused only on ex-Yugoslav markets, while non-ex-YU (Western Balkan) markets became interesting only after the year 2000. The article argues that this can be explained by the reactiveness (instead of proactiveness) of Slovene enterprises, which stems from the Slovene national character.     

Teenage fertility in developing countries

Perhaps one of the most pervasive phenomena among teenaged females today is “teenage fertility”. The purpose of this article is to describe teenage fertility as it relates to developing countries. The study attempts to pose the problem by considering a large number of developing nations for which data are available and by describing the levels and trends in teen fertility rates.     

Financial liberalization in developing countries

This article shows that higher interest rates increase the extent of financial intermediation while increased financial intermediation raises the rate of economic growth. Further, increases in interest rates have favorable effects on investment efficiency and on economic growth. It is noted, however, that excessively high interest rates will have unfavorable economic effects. Such a situation can be avoided if the liberalization of the banking system takes place under conditions of monetary stability accompanied by the government supervision of banks. Bela Balassa has been professor of political economy at the Johns Hopkins University and consultant at the World Bank since 1966. His recent books includeNew Directions in the World Economy (Macmillan, 1989) andComparative Advantage, Trade Policy and Economic Development (Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1989).     

Price control in underdeveloped countries

In addition to the classical criteria of logic and relevance, development studies can also be judged in terms of their interdisciplinary consistency. Slavish adherence to behavioural findings in the other social sciences which tend to corroborate the conventional assumptions of micro‐economic theory, however, should be discounted where their own logic and relevance remain controversial.

Micro‐economic studies of ‘industrial organization’ in Thailand have widely adopted the social anthropological thesis that Thai society is ‘loosely structured’, implying that the Thai behave as typical economic entrepreneurs. Analyses of Thai economic history subscribe to this view for the peasantry but not for the elite. An alternative model of Thai ‘industrial organization’ which dispenses with the purported market orientation of Thai peasants provides greater explanatory value than the conventional interpretation.

The entourage model of ‘industrial organization’ views the Thai economy as a hierarchy of relationships within which each participant is patron to associates of lower rank, and client to one of higher rank. Each entourage, composed of a patron and a coterie of clients, is integrated by a web of functionally and temporally diffuse economic‐social‐political reciprocities. Furthermore, mobility within the system follows rank enhancement opportunities rather than pecuniary incentives.

Thai economic development over the past century can be satisfactorily explained in terms of the entourage model, which deals directly with problems (such as the role of the Chinese and the decline of human bondage) not readily explained in the conventional context. Application of the entourage model, in conclusion, suggests that Thailand's development prospects under guidelines geared to the market model may be seriously misleading.     

一些国家应急管理的做法

近年来，全球突发事件频发，中国近期5月12日发生的汶川8级地震、“2008雪灾”、2003年的烈性传染病SARS，美国的“9·11”和“卡特里娜飓风”，印度洋的海啸……这些灾害对人类的生命财产造成了巨大损失，使社会稳定和经济发展受到了严重阻碍和影响，也使得突发事件的应急管理（Emergency Management，简写为EM）日益引起各国政府的高度重视。     

金融危机中的蒙古国经济

近5年来,蒙古国的GDP年均增速约为9％。2008年蒙国民经济的基础即农牧业喜获丰收,其他各项经济指标亦均好。但是,席卷全球的金融危机并没有绕过这个内陆小国,使其照样遭受了严重的负面影响。面对金融危机和经济危机,蒙古国政府正在积极采取应对危机的各种措施,并寻求国际社会的广泛合作和援助,特别是仰赖与中国的合作。     

世界一些国家的医疗保险制度

人的一生可以躲过失业风险,躲过意外伤害风险,但谁也躲不过生老和病死.由政府组织实施覆盖全体人民的基本医疗保险,是各现代国家的通行制度.     

关于全球金融经济危机的若干思考

由美国次贷危机引发的世界金融危机和经济危机表明了美国金融霸权的衰落。这是美国经济霸权的危机,也是美国大力推行的市场原教旨主义即新自由主义的危机。这场经济危机显示出当代资本主义的最新特点,即金融产业脱离实体经济片面畸形发展,全球经济过分金融化,因而被称作“全球金融市场资本主义”。目前经济危机还在持续,与此同时,世界政治也开始进入一个动荡不安的高风险的历史阶段。     

金融危机的时代特征

2008年美国次贷危机引发的金融危机,正在从虚拟经济到实体经济、从经济领域到社会领域向全球蔓延扩散,阻断了世界经济持续发展进程,致使世界历经了20世纪30年代“大萧条”以来最为严重的经济危机。探讨这次危机的时代特征,对于我们更好地认识这次危机的根源和性质,更好地认识当代资本主义有着重要的意义。     

Measuring tax effort in developing countries

The traditional methodology, as established by the International Monetary Fund, for measuring tax effort over time and in relation to estimated taxable capacity, is based on the tax ratio. The objects of the article are: (a) to demonstrate that government policy can not be deduced from the buoyancy of tax revenue as reflected in the observed rates of growth or relative magnitudes of the tax ratio; and (b) to propose an alternative measure based directly on policy determined discretionary changes in tax structures, with which the IMF taxable capacity measure, correctly interpreted, could be complementary.     

各国公务员怎么招?

近年来,公务员成为很多大学毕业生的就业选择,他们通过参加国家以及地方的公务员考试加入到公务员队伍中来.多年以来,我国就已经实行了正规的公务员考录制度;近年随着《公务员法》的颁布实施,我国的公务员制度进一步规范化、法制化.那么,其他国家的公务员招考制度和相关情况又是怎样的呢?     

国外增强自主创新能力的主要做法

自主创新能力是一个国家的核心竞争力,是综合国力的重要组成部分。如何顺应当今世界发展趋势,建立和完善国家创新体系,提升国家的自主创新能力是世界各国面临的重要任务。发达国家和新兴工业化国家在增强自主创新能力方面已进行了较长时间的探索和实践,这些国家的做法和经验值得研究和借鉴。     

Inflation and the savings ratio across countries

Using cross section data, the paper develops and tests the hypothesis that the savings ratio is positively related to the rate of domestic inflation as long as inflation is mild, but negatively related if inflation is excessive. ‘Optimum’ rates for inflation can be derived, but the point estimates in many samples are not significantly different from zero. The model developed tries to capture any distorting effect that foreign capital inflows may have on the inflation‐saving relation, and also tries to distinguish the inflation hypothesis from other traditional hypotheses such as the life‐cycle hypothesis and the Keynesian ‘absolute’ income hypothesis.