Non-western work organization

In Chapter I, the Japanese setting is described: industrial society and industrial employment. Chapter II presents the Japanese work organization as organic with the appropriate value system and practices. Chapter III is about the man-machine relationships: operator and equipment, production system, and quality control. In Chapter IV, the man-man relationship is considered under two aspects: personnel management and decision-making. Finally the conclusion stresses once more the originality of Japanese model versus the Western model of work organization.     

Policies for economic growth

Summary The old growth theory of the 1950s led to certain conclusions about the sorts of economic policies that would promote economic growth, and also about their limitations. The new growth theory of the 1980s makes much stronger assumptions and leads to correspondingly stronger conclusions about the scope of growth-promoting policy. This article argues that: (1) empirical work so far has neither confirmed nor denied the strong assumptions underlying the new theory; (2) the theory is worth pursuing because of its intrinsic interest and the possibilities it opens up; (3) whatever the final verdict on the new theory, both theory and evidence support the belief that significant long-run gains, even if not permanent changes in the growth rate, can be achieved by increased investment in the broadest sense, including human capital, technological knowledge, and industrial plant and equipment.Fifth Tinbergen Lecture delivered on October 4, 1991, in Amersfoort for the Royal Netherlands Economic Association     

Pediatric liver transplant recipients: mortality analysis over 20 years

Orthotropic liver transplantation (OLT) has become standard and accepted care for pediatric patients with end-stage liver disease. Two large pediatric OLT series are analyzed to determine excess death rates (EDR) over 20 years. The EDR decreases over time and is lower with more recent transplant recipients who have benefited from improved tacrolimus-based immunosuppression and transplant techniques. Fifteen- to 20-year EDR is 5 deaths/1000. Biliary atresia is the most common pediatric indication, and these recipients do better than those with other types of liver disease. Most deaths occur in the first post-transplant year, with infection being the largest cause.