Portsmouth College

<p>The paper focuses on the reforms in the wage-setting system in Greece in the context of a severe recession and against the backdrop of EU bailout agreements. The analysis reveals that the reforms are also contested among key actors, and that the fault lines between social partners are not fully consistent with the notion of a binary pro-reform (from business associations) vs. anti-reform stance (from labour associations). Instead, our interview data expose hitherto hidden fractures in the employers’ camp. Employers’ representatives express –in varying degrees– their scepticism towards the efficacy of the institutional changes and generally towards technocratic solutions. More broadly this analysis reflects on the contested and controversial nature of the policy reforms on wage setting, for which there is no consensus either in the academic or policy literature, and delves deeper into the views and perspectives of key actors on the efficacy and consequences of the main institutional changes in wage setting. </p>

Abstract During the late antique period, poetic epitaphs became a vital aspect of the epigraphic habit, reflecting the shifting religious and moral sentiments from Classical to Christian values. Epitaph authors constructed hope for a pleasant afterlife using verbs of individual agency and metaphors of astral immortality. This chapter analyzes three verse epitaphs for young women—Theodote, Rhode, and Regina (c. 400s–600s CE)—showing how authors implying agency for “ordinary” Christians foster hope in life after death for both saints and non-martyrs. The making and receiving of poetic inscriptions in late antique Rome aids in mitigating the despair of the bereaved while solidifying communal values, thus perpetuating and cataloging everyday practices of hope.

Le marché français des actions a été témoin de la montée en puissance des investisseurs institutionnels au cours des dernières années. Malgré cette montée en puissance, leur effet sur l’efficacité productive des entreprises reste complexe et mérite d’être approfondi et analysé empiriquement. Cet article tente de combler cette lacune en examinant l’influence des investisseurs institutionnels sur l’efficacité productive des entreprises à travers la dimension de leur horizon d’investissement. En utilisant un échantillon de 123 entreprises françaises cotées sur la période 2008-2018, nous utilisons des approches semi-paramétriques et non-paramétriques pour estimer l’efficacité productive des entreprises. Les résultats montrent une association positive entre la propriété des investisseurs institutionnels, en particulier ceux ayant un horizon d’investissement long, et l’efficacité productive de la firme. Ce résultat est tout à fait cohérent avec l’hypothèse d’un contrôle efficace. Une analyse plus poussée montre que cet effet positif est plus important dans les entreprises opérant dans un environnement peu concurrentiel, ou dans celles ayant une faible qualité de gouvernance. Ces résultats sont révélateurs de l’efficacité de la surveillance par les investisseurs institutionnels dans les pays de droit civil comme la France. Globalement, nos résultats sont robustes à plusieurs tests d’endogénéité et ont des implications politiques importantes.

A collection of essays about the Colonial Medical Service of Africa in which a group of distinguished colonial historians illustrate the diversity and active collaborations to be found in the untidy reality of government medical provision. The authors present important case studies in a series of essays covering former British colonial dependencies in Africa, including Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zanzibar. These studies reveal many new insights into the enactments of colonial policy and the ways in which colonial doctors negotiated the day-to-day reality during the height of Imperial rule in Africa. The book provides essential reading for scholars and students of colonial history, medical history and colonial administration.

This study seeks to investigate the sensitivity of stock returns to exchange rate, interest rate and oil price volatility in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. It employs both the multivariate ordinary least square (OLS) regression and the exponential generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedastic in mean (EGARCH-M) models to analyse the data collected from Bloomberg and DataStream on the GCC countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) for the period January 2007 to June 2012. The study shows that stock returns in GCC countries are influenced by the exchange rate risk, interest rate risk and oil price risk. However, the exposure is highest for exchange rate risk and lowest for interest rate risk. While the effects of these risks were mixed, overall, exchange rate risk and oil price risk showed a positive and significant relationship as compared to the interest rate risk that showed a negative significant effect on firm values. The level of the effect of these risks also differed from country to country. Further, foreign operations and firm size had a significant influence on the extent of the firms’ exposure to all three risks. The study findings suggest that the volatility of stock returns affected by changes in the risk factors could indicate non-prioritisation of risk management by firms. This has implications in terms of consideration of the long-term exposure of firms to these three risks and thus, the need for effective risk management strategies.

The human resources for health crisis has generated much debate as to the radical changes necessary to mitigate the risks to universal health coverage. Nurses can make a significant impact on global health, if only they feel empowered to take their seat at the political table. The aim of this paper was to outline nurse-led initiatives to enhance organizational culture and clinical processes at the Combined Military Hospital in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. These have been designed and implemented by the United Kingdom (UK) Defence Medical Services to empower the nursing workforce in Pakistan. An educational model has been developed that will build capacity, within a workforce constrained by numbers, by bridging the gap between nursing theory and practice. It is geared to actively engage Pakistani nurses in quality improvement to ensure care is based on best evidence that will enhance patient outcomes. The wider impact of the model has already been evidenced by nurses, country-wide, who are gaining the necessary skills and confidence to realize their true potential in influencing the patient care pathway and future policy. This is crucial to the recruitment and retention of nurses who might otherwise seek alternative career paths if they lack a sense of value within the profession. Their renewed sense of value will enable them to find their voice and ability to contribute to the sustainable development goals adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015.

ABSTRACTThis paper develops a framework for quantifying the cost of the lack of public goods spillovers from neighbouring municipalities for a geographically separated municipality. Parameter estimates from a spatial panel regression of local public expenditure in 205 municipalities in England, Scotland and Wales are used to identify the extra budget that a remote municipality would require in order to provide the same level of public goods as without separation. The approach is illustrated by applying it to the case of the Isle of Wight (UK) and to estimate its annual cost of foregone public goods spillover to be about one-quarter of the island’s actual annual local public spending.