Liberalization Agreements in the GATT/WTO and the Terms‐of‐trade Externality Theory: Evidence from Three Developing Countries

The terms‐of‐trade theory suggests that governments engage in trade negotiations with their trade partners in an effort to escape from a terms‐of‐trade prisoner's dilemma by mutually internalizing externalities that they impose on each other. In this paper, I use predictions of the terms‐of‐trade relationship to provide support for the theory based on the negotiating patterns of three developing countries during the Uruguay Round of the Generalized Agreements on Tariff and Trade. I use industry level import value as well as tariff schedules from these contracting party states that were graduated from the US Generalized System of Preferences list during the Uruguay Round. I exploit the rapid change in their tariff schedules from the best response to the optimal level within a single negotiation round to empirically test the terms‐of‐trade theory. I find that my estimates are consistent with the predictions of the theory as applied to these three developing countries that were compelled to negotiate for tariff concessions during the Uruguay Round.     

Trading with a common agent under complete information: A characterization of Nash equilibria

We analyze an abstract model of trading where N principals submit quantity-payment schedules that describe the contracts they offer to an agent, and the agent then chooses how much to trade with every principal. This represents a special class of common agency games with complete information. We study all the subgame perfect Nash equilibria of these games, not only truthful ones, providing a complete characterization of equilibrium payoffs. In particular, we show that the equilibrium that is Pareto-dominant for the principals is not truthful when there are more than two of them. We also provide a partial characterization of equilibrium strategies.     

Beyond busyness: creating slack in the organization

Human beings are not machines. The patient safety literature documents the price we pay for excessive overtime, long hours, and no breaks. Disengaged staff, high vacancy rates, and turnover are the products of cultures that do not support a professional environment where nurses are seen as knowledge workers. At his retirement dinner, a factory worker accepted accolades for his years of dedicated service. In his farewell speech, he noted that for 40 years the factory used his hands but never his brains. His expertise and knowledge were never acknowledged or solicited. Consequently he watched in silence for years as directives came down from managers and leaders that were totally unrealistic and bore no relevance to the reality in which he worked. And he watched the initiatives fail. Unfortunately we in health care can create that exact situation if we do not incorporate time (slack) into the schedules of our knowledge workers so they can unleash their genius, reinvent health care, and fix health care from the inside out. Nurse leaders must be the architects of participation and allow this to happen.     

Infratechnologies and the role of government

Government support of technological change is a complex issue because barriers resulting in underinvestment exist to some degree in most industries, so difficult allocation decisions for limited government resources are necessary. The structure and timing of government support is further complicated because in any one technological area, the nature and severity of underinvestment phenomena vary during the evolution or life cycles of the relevant industries. This paper focuses on the methods and rationale for government support of two elements in industrial technology: generic technology, from which specific products and processes (i.e., innovations) are derived, and “infratechnologies,” which are necessary for the evolution of the generic technology and its applications. Particular emphasis is given to infratechnologies because they are largely supplied by sources outside the industry and have consequently been largely overlooked in previous discussions of industrial policy. A case study of one major source of infratechnology, including quantitative estimates of industry impacts, is presented.     

Measures of cost containment, impact of the economical crisis, and the effects perceived in nursing daily practice: an Italian crossover study

A qualitative/quantitative study in two phases was undertaken to describe the economical crisis intensity, cost-containment interventions adopted locally, and their effects perceived in daily practice by Italian nurses. The main economic crisis effects reported by nurses were (a) the staff stress level has increased, (b) patients with social problems have increased, and (c) the workload has increased. Overall, nurses perceived moderate disadvantages due to the economical crisis; several cost-containment measures have been adopted at different levels of the National Health Service. atients in general seem frailer and nurses working in the community centers also seem frailer compared with nurses working at the hospital level. Changes in daily nursing practice both at the hospital and community levels are warning signs that should be monitored carefully for both their short and long-term negative impacts on patients, nurses, and the National Health Service.     

Generalizing the Stolper–Samuelson Theorem: A Tale of Two Matrices

Past attempts to generalize the Stolper–Samuelson theorem have used a matrix of real income terms which are sufficient but not necessary to define a change in utility. One can define a second matrix of terms which are necessary and sufficient for a change in indirect utility. Using this matrix, the paper extends the Stolper–Samuelson theorem to a model of any dimensions and to households which have diversified ownership of factors. The theorem states that there is a positive and a negative element in every row and every column of the matrix showing household responses to changes in goods prices.     

Predictors of registered nurses' willingness to remain in nursing

A major question about the adequacy of the future supply of nurses is how many will stay in the profession. The relationship between scheduling and propensity to stay or leave the nursing profession was examined in this study. This analysis suggests there are definite characteristics of the work schedules that can influence a nurse's inclination to stay or leave the profession. This is not simply a question of "overwork," but of matching work schedules and hours as closely as possible to employee expectations. This suggests management needs to find a way to pay attention when nurses request changes in hours. The mere fact of changing schedules will not solve the nursing shortage, but it is one action within the management control of any organization employing nurses that could have a positive effect on retention.     

Registered nurses' perspectives on health care and the 2008 presidential election

As this historic presidential election draws near, what do RNs think of our nation's priorities? Which candidates do they think will be most effective in shaping our health care system and addressing the most pressing issues of our time? The results of this survey show that RNs do not identify overwhelmingly with one political ideology or party and, in fact, they closely resemble the public on these political dimensions. The data also show that RNs identify health care issues as the most important problem facing the nation. RNs who believe that it is the responsibility of the government to provide health insurance to those without it, have more confidence in the government to achieve this outcome, and are more likely to be Democrats than Republicans. The presidential election is expected to be highly contested and could be determined by a relatively small margin of votes and, thus, nurses should recognize their chances of influencing the outcome of the election. The data from this survey provide baseline information potentially useful to increasing the political influence of the nursing profession, informing other organizations about where they might align with nurses, and helping candidates and the political parties compete more effectively in seeking the support of roughly 3 million RN voters.     

Navajo nation public health nurses inspire thoughts on health care reform

The wisdom and experience of pubic health nurses serving on a Navajo Reservation, who work far from the typical hospital setting, may well hold some of the keys to how we can successfully plan for and navigate the future of our shifting health care system. As more of the nursing workforce moves outside the walls of the hospital, competencies in autonomy, clinical judgment, decision making, and communication will increase in importance. long with safety and quality implications, this may also influence changes in nursing education, job requirements, hiring, and measuring performance. In addition, there may be implications around how new nurses are oriented and how they get the experience needed to function in more independent roles. Within their routine days, the conditions they work in, the situations they face, and the many ways public health nurses find to meet the needs of the people they serve, is a wealth of knowledge that may well translate into solutions for some of the challenges our nation's health care system is facing.     

On the Popular Support for Progressive Taxation

The “popular support for progressive taxation theorem” ( Marhuenda and Ortuño‐Ortín, 1995 ) provides an important formalization of the intuition that a majority of relatively poor voters over rich ones leads to progressive income taxation. Yet the theorem does not provide an equilibrium outcome. In addition, it assumes an overly restrictive domain of tax schedules and no incentive effects of income taxation. This paper shows that none of these assumptions of the theorem can be relaxed completely. Most notably, it is shown that a majority of poor voters does not imply progressive taxation in a more general policy space and that a regressive tax schedule may obtain a majority over a progressive one when individuals' income is endogenous.     

On leadership organizational intelligence/organizational stupidity: the leader's challenge

Creating organizations with a high IQ or creating organizations without the necessary intelligence guarantees success or failure of the organization. Without structures such as shared leadership and other forms of participative management, the organization or unit cannot access and use the available information and wisdom in the organization. When nurses and other health care professionals do not feel like they have a shared stake and do not feel like citizens of the organization, they lack passion for the organization's work. When nurses feel a sense of share ownnership and autonomy for the clinical practice, terrific outcomes are achieved. Leaders must accept the challenge to build the infrastructure that leads to excellence in organizational IQ.     

The Bridge to Practice Model: a collaborative program designed for clinical experiences in baccalaureate nursing

The Bridge to Practice Model provides undergraduate nursing students with continuity in medical-surgical education through placement in the same hospital for all medical-surgical clinical rotations. Hospitals that participate in the bridge model provide senior clinical nurse preceptors whose time is paid for by the university. The university provides an on-site nurse faculty member who works with nursing education to coordinate all clinical groups. Institutional continuity and university/hospital collaboration result in less orientation time for students and faculty, more involvement with clinical support services and care management, and more informed employment choices by senior students. Challenges include recruitment of interested senior clinical nurses, retention of clinical liaison faculty, and management of the trade-off between institutional stability offered by clinical site continuity and the variety of experiences offered by rotation across several clinical settings.     

以新农村建设为机遇促进新疆少数民族大学生就业

在新疆少数民族大学生就业形势严峻的状况下,少数民族大学生应认清形势,抓住新疆社会主义新农村建设的历史机遇,自觉调整就业期望,转变就业观念,积极参与到新疆社会主义新农村建设当中,进而实现人生价值。     

Evolution of the chronic care role of the registered nurse in primary care

High-quality, accessible, and efficient primary care is needed as the U.S. health care system undergoes significant change. Advancing the role of registered nurses in the primary care setting is important to the solution. A large academic health center implemented five initiatives to improve the care of chronically ill patients through the expanded role of RNs in the context of the health care team. Role evolution of nurses in the pilots required some continuing education and some additional nursing support to release the pilot nurses from their usual duties. These strategies allowed the nurses to apply interventions that enhanced the coordination of care and promoted patient self-management skills. Some short-term improvements in health status were realized and barriers to self-care were identified and resolved.     

Trends in the experiences of hospital-employed registered nurses: results from three national surveys

The comparative results of three national surveys provide the only known source of data describing the evolving state of the nursing workforce over time in this country. These national random sample surveys expose the harmful effects of a lingering shortage of nurses and make plain that much work remains to be done to improve the experiences of hospital-employed RNs. At the same time, nurses and others involved in hospital patient care should be encouraged by the improvements that have been made in recent years, despite the presence of a nursing shortage.     

The 'Parent Shift' program: incentives for nurses, rewards for nursing teams

To create new opportunities for nurses to reenter the workforce, a RN p.r.n. program must meet the needs of nurses who wish to make dual commitments to home and work. The Parent Shift program provides an innovative model of attracting and retaining nurses in a hospital workforce. Many nurses who joined the program were away from the field of nursing for many years and were drawn to the program because of the promise of flexible shifts and minimal requirements for participation. In this study, flexible shifts not only encouraged program entry, they were also a powerful motivator for continued program participation over time. Parent Shift nurse presence was perceived by nurse managers to decrease stressors and improve time efficiency of full-shift staff.     

A critical competency: determining and communicating the number of nurses you must hire

Nurse leaders must understand and articulate critical concepts of budgeting and staffing to provide credible leadership to our nursing organizations. Determining the ideal number of nurses to hire on any given unit is as much an art as it is a science. Understanding the relationship between hiring requirements and the budget can lead your nursing organization to achieve important results for your hospital.     

Intra-unit patient transports: time, motion, and cost impact on hospital efficiency

The costly and inefficient movement of patients within the hospital challenges health systems across the country as they strive to simultaneously contain rising costs and provide high-quality patient care. Solid evidence to support the improvement of hospital and patient care efficiency through the identification and suggested elimination of waste patterns within the transport process is presented.     

Single-crossing conditions in comparisons of tax progressivity

Statements to the effect that one tax is more progressive than another are frequently made, but seldom explained. Starting from a criterion of Lorenz domination, this paper shows how an intuitively appealing single-crossing condition on appropriately normalized tax schedules may be used in progressivity comparisons. This condition is closely related to, and illuminates, the necessary and sufficient condition derived by Jakobsson (1976) for the distributional implications of alternative taxes to be inferred from their schedules alone.     

Evaluation of a peer support program for staff nurses

IMPACT (Interactional Meetings--Peers Working And Caring Together) is a task-oriented, voluntary, peer-support program for staff nurses. Evaluation data suggest the program is a cost-effective method for developing and retaining nurses in the hospital.