THE IMPACT OF FUNDHOLDING ON PRIMARY HEALTH CARE: ACCOUNTS FROM SCOTTISH GPS

At the inception of the internal market in health care GP fundholding was seen rather as a 'sidesho' to the main reforms. But as the reforms have worked through, GP fundholding has emerged as pivotal to the purchaserlprovider agenda and the changes now associated with GP fundholding will be major issues in directing future health care policy initiatives. Drawing on empirical data from three Scottish regions, this paper argues that fundholding is now significant because GPs perceive benefits for primary health care. The paper uses the data collected from the case studies in the regions to assess these gains on two levels: the 'micro' impact of fundholding on primary health care processes and the 'macro' issues raised for health care policy by involving GPs more closely in resource management. Some GPs wish to use resource management as a vehicle for enhancing equity within the NHS, others are more concerned to manage resources so as to expand their practices into sites which combine primary, secondary and community health care, still others envisage developing the market to include monetary rewards for 'efficient' practices.     

In Art we trust

Culture is an experience good and has strong externalities. Culture has social value, option value, existence value, innovation value, and intergenerational value. None of these are internalised by the market. One should avoid that culture appeals to a small elite. It is thus crucial to invest in cultural education, to bring culture to places where the people are, and to put a greater emphasis on demand-side rather than supply-side cultural subsidies. One should try to avoid that high culture becomes marginalised in a multicultural society with many demands on leisure time. The government should avoid deadweight losses, but should also minimise the potential for rent seeking and lobbying. It is crucial that the government stays at arm's length and leaves artistic judgements to independent experts and interested laymen.     

The Oxford Handbook of Work & Organization – Edited by Stephen Ackroyd,Rosemary Batt,Paul Thompson and Pamela S.

Books reviewed: The Oxford Handbook of Work & Organization edited by Stephen Ackroyd, Rosemary Batt, Paul Thompson and Pamela S. Tolbert. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2005, xiii + 655 pp., ISBN 0 19 926992 0, £75.00.     

Modelling employment durations of NHL head coaches: turnover and post‐succession performance

Match‐level National Hockey League (NHL) data are used to identify factors likely to trigger the departure of a team's coach, and to measure the short‐term impact on subsequent match results. There is a statistically significant link between individual match results and the job departure hazard for up to 15 games prior to the point of departure. The hazard depends on the team's current standing within its conference relative to a pre‐season forecast, recent performance in the Stanley Cup, the coach's age and previous employment with his present team as a player. After controlling for a mean‐reversion effect, teams that changed their coach within‐season are found to perform worse subsequently than those that did not, but the negative effect is short‐lived. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the Use and Abuse of Thorstein Veblen in Modern American Sociology, II: Daniel Bell and the 'Utopianizing' of Veblen's Contribution and Its Integration by Robert Merton and C. W. Mills

A bstract . The analyses and applications of Thorstein Veblen's social theory by Daniel Bell, Robert Merton , and C. Wright Mills are criticized. Bell's analysis is deficient because it distorts Veblen's proposal for economic reconstruction and because it treats him as a hopelessly Utopian theorist. Merton's use of Veblen's theory of status emulation by linking it with latent and manifest functions is a noteworthy accomplishment; yet Merton's utilization of Veblenian concepts is too sparing and essentially apolitical. Only the treatment of Veblen's theories by Mills is theoretically systematic and sufficiently political in tone. The significant import of Veblen's work for an indigenous critical theory resides in his theories of social value , status emulation, conflict and cultural lag.     

Gentrification and Blight: Relationship to Involuntary Displacement

Because homelessness is visible in cities with high levels of gentrification, the media have linked the two phenomena. But the displacement taking place in most American cities is due more to blight than to gentrification. This article examines both sources of displacement and traces them to the same source: land speculation. In declining cities, land speculation causes parcels to be held vacant in prime locations, leading to disinvestment and an inadequate supply of affordable commercial and residential buildings. In cities with booming economies, land speculation leads to redevelopment of entire neighborhoods where land appreciates in value due to new commercial or residential demand. The solution to gentrification and blight as sources of displacement is to increase land value return and recycling to stabilize urban economies and avoid the boom-bust cycles that are so detrimental to cities.