Les enjeux de l'évaluation de la performance : Dépasser les mythes

Since the 1990s, most Western countries have equipped themselves with frameworks and tools to measure health organizations and systems' performance. Paradoxically, several theoretical, methodological and usage issues remain unresolved. Conceptually, the notion of performance is vague and not well rooted in theory. From a methodological perspective, we are faced with numerous measures that don't always meet reliability, validity and usefulness criteria and don't help to grasp the complexity of the concept. Finally, the assessment results are not fully used to continuously improve performance. This article focuses on analyzing these issues by deconstructing the myths that slow down the development of better‐suited frameworks to meet decision‐makers' needs. It also proposes innovations based on the global and integrated assessment model of health systems.     

Changing Turkish foreign policy towards Iraq: new tools of engagement

This article proposes that Turkey's foreign policy towards Iraq changed radically after 2007, in response to external challenges and domestic developments. The article analyses how Turkey's role in Iraq has changed on two different levels: firstly, in terms of increased activism and diplomatic engagement, and secondly, in terms of its increased economic involvement, using trade and foreign direct investment as foreign policy tools. These two different modes of engagement have transformed Turkey into a visible player in Iraq.     

Implementing national food policies to promote local family agriculture: Belo Horizonte's story

Policies in Brazil promoting family agriculture such as the Food Acquisition Programme (PAA) and the 30% minimum procurement law for the National School Meals Programme have had varying success across the country. To understand why these policies work effectively only in some areas, the implementation processes must be clarified. This exploratory, ethnographic study identifies the causal mechanisms involved in implementing PAA and the 30% law in the city of Belo Horizonte. The findings reveal that although beneficial, large supply volumes and transportation costs are challenges faced by farmers in the implementation process.     

Exploring the survival of patent licensing: some evidence from French foreign agreements

This paper aims to determine the factors that impact on the duration of technology licensing contracts. Using a transaction costs framework, we derive some propositions related to the influence of the contractual safeguards and of institutions on the failure rate of such agreements. We conduct an empirical investigation based on a new dataset of 250 contracts from the French National Institute of Intellectual Property. We show that the actual duration of licensing agreements (a) is positively associated to their profitability and to the level of technological competition, (b) is positively associated to the presence of a renegotiation clause, and (c) is independent of other contractual or institutional safeguards.     

Schooling Opportunities and Intergenerational Educational Mobility in Turkey: An IV Estimation Using Census Data

We estimate the intergenerational transmission of education in Turkey using micro-data from the 1990 and 2000 censuses and an instrumental variable (IV) approach. We construct a historical series of provincial enrolment rates by gender to isolate the environmental effect on parental education. The results reveal that intergenerational educational mobility increases over time through a stronger decrease in the transmission of paternal education. The improvement is larger for boys, and the transmission is higher for mother-daughter pairs and in the case of poorer educated parents.