Housing Allowance and the Rent of Low‐income Households

This paper analyses the effect of a housing allowance programme on the rent paid by assisted low‐income households. The data consist of 12,000 rental households in the free‐market and municipal sectors. The effect is estimated using the programme reform of 2002 as an instrument. The reform increased the allowance of the assisted households depending on housing characteristics, but it had little effect on the eligibility. Results suggest that in the private sector, one additional euro of allowance increases the rent of claimants by 60–70 cents. The effect is zero in the municipal sector, as rents are tied to the housing costs.     

Dynamic capabilities and firm performance in a financial crisis

In this study, an organization means an active actor that can, at least to some extent, adapt to the environment, mainly within the limits of its resources and capabilities. The article enhances understanding of and explains organizational adaptive behavior in weathering the storm in the business environment resulting from the global financial crisis of 2008. The literature on dynamic capabilities, organizational change, and innovation in the context of organizational performance and survival captures this kind of adaptive behavior. The empirical study builds on a quantitative survey and a qualitative case study covering the food processing, maritime, and media industries. Structural equation modeling, group analysis, and qualitative case comparisons shed light on the connection between the constructs in question. Implications for theory and practice culminate in suggestions for future research.     

World Futures Studies Federation in 1993-1997

This paper provides an overview of the WFSF during its ‘Finnish’ period of 1993-1997. During this time the WFSF organized and co-organized many conferences, symposiums, courses, summer schools, etc. In 1993, the XIII World Conference of WFSF was held in Turku, Finland; in 1995 the XIV World Conference was in Nairobi, Kenya; and in 1997, the XV World Conference was in Brisbane, Australia. These and many other events are outlined. Much is left unwritten, however, because there were and are many other activities inspired by the WFSF and its members. The information collected here is mainly derived from the WFSF Biannual Report 1995-1997, World Conference Selections and WFSF Newsletters and Bulletins.     

Febuxostat in the management of gout: a cost-effectiveness analysis

Objective:

To determine the cost-effectiveness of febuxostat vs allopurinol for the management of gout.

Methods:

A stochastic microsimulation cost-effectiveness model with a US private-payer perspective and 5-year time horizon was developed. Model flow based on guideline and real-world treatment paradigms incorporated gout flare, serum uric acid (sUA) testing, treatment titration, discontinuation, and adverse events, chronic kidney disease (CKD) incidence and progression, and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) incidence. Outcomes were estimated for the general gout population and for gout patients with CKD stages 3/4. Modeled treatment interventions were daily oral febuxostat 40–80?mg and allopurinol 100–300?mg. Baseline patient characteristics were taken from epidemiologic studies, efficacy data from randomized controlled trials, adverse event rates from package inserts, and costs from the literature, government sources, and expert opinion. Eight clinically-relevant incremental cost-effectiveness ratios were estimated: per patient reaching target sUA, per flare avoided, per CKD incidence, progression, stages 3/4 progression, and stage 5 progression avoided, per incident T2DM avoided, and per death avoided.

Results:

Five-year incremental cost-effectiveness ratios for the general gout population were $5377 per patient reaching target sUA, $1773 per flare avoided, $221,795 per incident CKD avoided, $29,063 per CKD progression avoided, $36,018 per progression to CKD 3/4 avoided, $71,426 per progression to CKD 5 avoided, $214,277 per incident T2DM avoided, and $217,971 per death avoided. In patients with CKD 3/4, febuxostat dominated allopurinol for all cost-effectiveness outcome measures.

Conclusions:

Febuxostat may be a cost-effective alternative to allopurinol, especially for patients with CKD stages 3 or 4.     

Older consumers’ perceptions of functional foods and non‐edible health‐enhancing innovations

Increasing interest in health and well‐being is likely to drive a growth in demand for products that have positive effects on health. Consumers’ acceptance of and willingness to buy functional foods has been widely studied, but there has not been research on consumers’ attitudes towards innovative non‐edible products with health effects. This study examines how older consumers perceive functional foods and novel non‐edible health‐enhancing products, how willing they are to purchase such products, and how health orientation influences their views. As an example of a ‘radical’ innovation, consumers’ acceptance of rubbing their hands in a specific soil‐based mixture to modulate the immune system is explored. The research material, 13 thematic interviews, was collected in Lahti region, Finland, in 2015. The study indicates that the older consumers’ market is not homogeneous. Based on a qualitative, in‐depth approach, the study distinguishes four consumer segments with different lay understandings of health and attitudes towards health‐enhancing products, which influence people's willingness to purchase such products. The segments are health‐seeking consumers, cautious consumers, critical consumers and natural health consumers. Various motives and barriers for using products with health claims are also identified. The case of rubbing hands in organic soil‐based mixture indicates the difficulty of predicting which consumer segment will first adopt this kind of ‘radical’ innovation. The results highlight that the credence qualities of a novel product must be communicated and advertised before entering the market while also taking into account the sensory properties of the product. ‘Radical innovations’ must be in a form that consumers can easily accept.     

Risk perceptions across the current political spectrum in Finland: a study of party members

Political party member perceptions of risk continue to attract a great deal of attention in current public discourse and media coverage, yet little research exists in terms of a comparative analysis of Finnish political parties’ views on the issue. Party members are in many ways a highly significant social group, one that exercises a great deal of decision-making power in modern civil societies. This article provides a novel and up-to-date look into the key areas of perceived risk held by the members of Finland’s political parties, in addition to a comparison of inter-party differences and similarities. The analysis is based on a unique survey data-set of the members of Finland’s six major political parties (N = 12,427). Included are the Finns Party, Centre Party, Left Alliance, Social Democratic Party, Green League and National Coalition Party. Together, these represent the political spectrum in Finland. Risk factors included primary categories dealing with various national, institutional, cultural and economic issues. Also included in the analysis was a look into whether length of party membership affects risk concern for the included issues. Findings showed that national and external risks were more of a concern for the Finns Party, while the Left and the Social Democrats considered economic issues a greater risk than did others. Furthermore, economic risk was most concerning to the left while external risks were generally viewed in line with the current centre-right administration. Some notable differences between old and new party members were also found. Findings emphasize the importance of understanding how political party members differ in their views of various societal risks while providing new points of comparison between those parties toward improved clarity of the national political landscape.     

Conversational use of genres in managerial meetings

This article addresses the question of how the concept of genre, defined as a linguistically realized activity type, can be applied to the study of organizational discourse. In particular, the authors show how and for what practical purposes managers invoke genres in meetings. The data of the study consist of video-recorded company-internal meetings and the methodology is based on ethnomethodological conversation analysis. In the empirical analysis the authors show how genres are used as resources for joint understanding and for conducting a particular conversational action in a meeting, namely proposing a solution to a problem. The study highlights the importance of genre knowledge in managerial meetings and the practical nature of this knowledge.     

Predicting autonomous and controlled motivation to transfer training

In spite of a broad consensus on the importance of motivation for the transfer of learning from training to the job in work organizations, studies investigating motivation to transfer are limited. This study combines the self‐determination theory, the expectancy theory and the theory of planned behaviour to provide a theoretical framework for investigating attitudes towards training content, relatedness and instructional satisfaction as predictors of two dimensions of transfer motivation: autonomous motivation to transfer and controlled motivation to transfer. A total of 444 subjects, trained in 23 occupational health and safety training courses, completed multi‐item questionnaires immediately following training. Structural equation modelling procedures indicate that controlled motivation to transfer was affected by attitudes towards training content and that autonomous motivation to transfer was affected by attitudes, relatedness and instructional satisfaction. The results are discussed in terms of theoretical and practical implications for training effectiveness associated with the interplay of motivation and transfer in professional training.     

Entrepreneurial Opportunities of Refugees in Germany,France, and Ireland: Multiple Embeddedness Framework

International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal - Recently, the entrepreneurial potential of refugees has received growing attention from scholars and policymakers. However, the literature on...