Organizational characteristics and their effect on health

There is a complex relationship between work, employee health, and successful business results. At the individual level, multiple factors including physical, psychological, and social aspects of the work environment affect workers' health and well-being. At the organizational level, the consequences of unhealthy work environments may be traced to a decrease in the quality of service and products, and a loss in productivity. A brief overview of the contemporary literature on workplace stressors is presented to help identify future research directions.     

The relevance of personal characteristics in health care rationing: what the Australian public thinks and why

This article examines the preferences of the general public in Australia regarding health care resource allocation. While previous studies have revealed that the public is willing to give priority to particular groups of patients based on their personal characteristics, the present article goes beyond previous efforts in attempting to explain these results. In the present study, there was strong support among respondents for giving “equal priority” to people regardless of their personal characteristics. However, respondents did reveal a preference for married patients over single, for children over adults, for carers of children and the elderly, sole breadwinners, and good community contributors. Further, they would give a lower priority to those perceived as “self-harmers”—smokers, individuals with unhealthy diets, and those who rarely exercise. Variation in the answers according to broad economic and social beliefs across seven different categories (“factors”) influenced the pattern of the public's attitudes towards rationing. The Principal Components Analysis (PCA) indicated that most of the items in our survey are associated with seven factors that explain or capture much of the variation. These relate to a patient's avoidance of self-harm behaviors (Safe Living), their Life Style (diet, exercise, etc.), their contribution to the community through caring for others (Caring), their talents (Gifted), their sexual behavior (Sexuality), their age and marital status (Family), and whether they are an Australian citizen or employed (Citizen). The strength of social preferences—e.g., how strongly respondents would “discriminate” against a recreational drug user or preference a person with a healthy diet—is related to the particular class of preferences.     

减少汽车业的浪费

汽车制造商和零件供应商可以节省巨大开支，但前提是双方要更为紧密地合作在一起麦肯锡的研究表明，北美汽车业每年在产品开发和组装过程中由于汽车生产商与供应商缺乏良好的计划和协调不当，造成了超过100亿美元的浪费。事实上．这只是较为保守的估算。因为我们的研究仅涵盖了供应商发生的成本，如：附加设计、生产工具最后改型和零件自身的附加成本。这还不包括因设计问题生产商需额外支付的改型费用、生产问题引发的车辆最终成本的增加或质保支出。这几项每年给汽车行业带来的浪费约为120亿美元。     

全球化与WTO：利益分析及争端解决

一、引言“全球化”这一说法是最近才开始流行的,而我们这些贸易经济学家对它的研究历史却有几十年甚至上百年了;世界贸易组织(WTO)也是最近才成立的,而国际贸易方面的法律专家对它和它的前身--GATT的研究也已近五十年了。在前面的两种情况中,国际贸易方面的专家都会强调世界经     

美国地方政府创新的影响因素分析

本文研究了促进或妨碍地方政府管理创新的各项因素。研究结果表明,领导公信力既对地方政府创新的发起和实施起到了重要的作用,也是决定具体政府改革成败的重要因素;议会冲突对地方政府改革的成败不起关键作用;议会—行政机关关系的融洽有利于地方政府创新的成功开展。     

Building the dream team: don't make it a nightmare

This article covers the often overlooked area of team management concepts through a discussion of what many companies have done to implement these new concepts successfully. It describes the basics of how to and also explains why people resist the process of implementation. The main topics are (1) team formation, (2) pitfalls to avoid, and (3) team measurement.     

积极条文主义：WTO规则与日本新兴贸易战略

一、引子 日本贸易战略在过去十年中最显著的趋势之一很不幸地遭到了大多数观察家的无意忽视或有意掩盖。一方面这是由于学术界和媒体都把注意力集中在日本经济混乱的阴影或其政局的频繁变更之上,而更重要的是因为日本政府至今仍特意地对此事保持低调。 对于这一新兴战略,其核心并不是我们常说的双边争端解决机制与多边争端解决机制的