The Human Development Index revisited

The emergence of the Human Development Index has stimulated wide-ranging debate about its usefulness and ability to measure human development adequately¹ This article discusses whether the HDI should be rejected in view of the criticism it has attracted, or improved, refined and more widely used.     

Adoption and impacts of sustainable intensification practices in Ghana

Sustainable agricultural intensification requires the use of multiple agricultural technologies in an integrated manner to enhance productivity while conserving the natural resource base. This study analyses the adoption and impacts of sustainable intensification practices (SIPs) using a dataset from Ghana. A multivariate probit (MVP) model was estimated to assess the adoption of multiple SIPs. Moreover, we used a multivalued semi-parametric treatment effect (MVTE) model to estimate the effects of adopting multiple SIPs on maize productivity. The MVP model results show, among others, that access to market, capital, and information/knowledge would enhance the adoption of SIPs. The MVTE model results show that a higher number of SIPs is associated with higher productivity which is more visible when commercial inputs are used in combination with cultural practices. These results have the following policy implications. First, they imply that good rural infrastructure and agricultural services such as rural road network, village-level input delivery system, input credit, and multiple information/knowledge sharing approach (instead of the conventional singular formal information/knowledge sharing approach) can enhance adoption. Second, the results suggest that promoting an integrated use of technologies, instead of a single technology, would have a positive impact on farm productivity and farm household income.     

Ethik – ein Kompass für den Pflegealltag?

Pflege im Dilemma – Ob im Krankenhaus, in Alteneinrichtungen oder im ambulanten Sektor, moralische Fragen stellen sich in der Pflege überall. Dazu tragen die Fortschritte der Medizin ebenso bei wie eine kulturell differenzierter und ?lter werdende Gesellschaft, begrenzte finanzielle Ressourcen und wachsende Personalknappheit. Welche Hilfestellung kann die Ethik im beruflichen Alltag leisten?     

Selbstbeteiligung und Arzneimittelnachfrage: Zuzahlungsneuregelungen und ihre Folgen für die gesetzlichen Krankenkassen

The article deals with the reform of the cost sharing principles for drug spending in the German social health insurance. For this, the new co-payment regulations due to the GKV-Modernisierungsgesetz are empirically investigated with reference to both the financial and the use effects. It is shown that this reorganization of the demand for pharmaceuticals has just small financial consequences and a low impact on the use of drugs. An important reason for this result is based on the particularized elaboration of the rules for co-payment, especially on the exclusion of some persons from cost sharing because of social or health reasons.