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This short paper presents an overview of the French policy mix towards labour market inequalities, consisting of a high minimum wage together with targeted payroll tax cuts around the minimum wage. It reviews the recent literature documenting the impact of that policy mix on employment and wage inequality. The main takeaways are that pre‐tax wage inequality has been increasing in France rather like it has in the UK and the US, while net wage inequality has decreased and then remained stable. The employment experience for the middle age group is also very close in France to the one in the UK and the US, while it differs markedly at young and older ages. The paper offers two more general thoughts on how to make progress in comparing policy options. First, most studies tend to give too much weight to tax and benefit reforms in being able to reduce inequality as they disregard incidence mechanisms, and fail to incorporate properly longer‐term effects of other policies on pre‐tax inequality. Second, the design of effective policy should always incorporate simplicity and salience. Failure to do so is likely to lead to little expected impact of such policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents several researches related to veterinary medicine. A four-point photographic scale was used to assess footpad dermatitis in broiler chickens at two processing plants in Great Britain. An investigation on the purported bias system in France that may lead to inaccurate estimates of the prevalence of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy in sheep and goats in European countries has been done. A research on the lesion found in the oral mucosa of sheep is also conducted.

In the context of increasing attention on museum sustainability, this research adopts a dictionary‐based, content‐analysis approach to measure the degree of sustainability disclosed in European museum annual reports and similar documents. The analysis is carried out through the lens of institutional theory, assuming that the presence of formal and informal regulations positively affects the level of sustainability in annual reporting practices. Furthermore, the paper discusses the level of sustainability disclosed by different types of museums and the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on the extent of sustainability‐oriented reporting. The article compares top public museums in the UK and France, the European countries where accountability practices are most deeply rooted for legal and cultural reasons, and where the most visited museums in the world are located. The findings show that the type of museum and the country significantly affect the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) score, whereas mentioning COVID‐19 or the year of publication does not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the determinants of wealth inequality, measured as the share of wealth owned by the top 1 percent wealthiest individuals. We find that labor's bargaining power is a significant and important determinant of top wealth shares. Using a semi‐structural vector autoregression (SVAR) model for the period 1970–2019, we estimate that shocks to labor's bargaining power explain 32 percent, 8 percent and 32 percent of the variation around the long‐term trend in wealth inequality in the UK, USA and France, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence is accumulating of the negative impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic and related public health measures on mental health. In this emergent field, there has been little research into the role of risk perception on depressive symptoms and the contribution of health‐care resources to model risk perception and mental health. The aim of this paper is to describe the relationship between individual‐level perception of risk and depression, controlling for a set of confounders and for country‐level heterogeneity. A cross‐sectional and observational online survey was conducted using a non‐probability snowball sampling technique. We use data on 11,340 respondents, living in six European countries (Italy, Sweden, United Kingdom, France, Poland, Czech Republic) who completed survey questionnaires during the first months of the pandemic. We used a fixed‐effect approach, which included individual and macro‐level variables. The findings suggest that a high proportion of people suffering from depression and heightened risk perception is positively associated with reporting depressive symptoms, even if this relationship varies significantly between countries. Moreover, the association is moderated by contextual factors including health‐care expenditure as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product, hospital beds for acute care, and number of medical specialists per head of population. Investment in health care offers a concrete means of protecting the mental health of a population living under pandemic restrictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of family farming is approached from different angles in three empirical studies on the Great Britain, Norway, and a village in the south of France. The three studies all describes the survival and revival of the family farm in a period of capitalist and industrial development. In the first paper Michael Winter examines the Milk Marketing Board in the Great Britain as a particular aspect of policy management by the state. Using Panitch' theory of corporatism, Winter shows that the MMB is a state-induced collaboration between different classes of agricultural producers, acting as a powerful agent in the implementation of state policy. The third paper by koel Puijk has a different perspective. It starts with a review of some French theories of agricultural development and capitalism. Puijk criticizes these theories for not taking into account the internal dynamics of the agricultural production unit. The failure or success to adapt to changing circumstances depends on the familial situation, personal factors and desired standards of living. Puijk develops a framework based on Chayanov's consumer/producer ratio and uses this to analyse the survival strategies of winegrowers. In his paper Puijk touches upon an important point, which is neglected in the sociology of agriculture. The reproduction of family farmers has often been seen in purely economic, technical and physical terms.

This paper traces the labour processes and working conditions of wood engravers in France and England during the 19th century as the process of production of the illustrated periodicals became increasingly industrialized. It argues that the bulk of 19th century wood engravers should be considered as one of the first classes of proletarians in the mass media industry. The paper first looks at the general socio-economic conditions from which 19th century wood engravers emerged as proletarians. Second, it examines wood engraving workshops, wood engravers' working conditions, their training and type of production. Lastly, it discusses the hierarchical relations between editors-publishers and wood engravers, the wood engravers economic conditions, their socio-cultural attitudes towards their work and the control exercised on them in the labour process. With the industrialization of the production of illustrated periodicals, wood engravers formed a class of waged workers who owned no means of production, had little autonomy or creativity in their work and sold their labour power to fabricate illustrations. Workshops operated as factories, training apprentices to mechanically reproduce fragmented segments of illustrations in an assembly-line type of labour and based on a rigid hierarchy in which engraver-apprentices were at the bottom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines a series of English-language newspaper ventures produced in revolutionary France and largely aimed at export to Britain. These enterprises, chief among which was the Paris Mercury (1792), sought to profit from heightened British interest in French events by dispatching ready-printed newspapers directly from Paris, thus achieving news priority over the domestic British press. New French press freedoms also enabled claims to be made about the superior editorial qualities of such extraterritorial newspapers. This article reconstructs these newspapers' publication history, reviews their contents, discusses their commercial and political rationale and their precursors, and offers explanations for their failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at the current challenge facing higher education by exploring the historical relationship between higher education funding and long economic cycles in the UK, USA and France. It examines the consequence of the transformation of public-private income in higher education that followed the 1970s downturn, questioning whether the rise of private resources acted as additional or substitutive resources for public spending. The paper suggests that there is a risk that the cost-sharing strategy could be turned into a policy of public-private substitution of funding and provision, leading to a transfer rather than an increase of resources with strong implications on quality and equity. However, the Kondratiev cycle suggests an alternative route by designating the impact of the 1970s economic downturn on education as unique. Previous economic crises were contemporary of accelerations of public funding towards education which in fact contributed to economic recovery. The current crisis could represent an opportunity to revive counter-cyclical policy by looking not only at efficient public spending but also at developing fairer taxation. A revival of public funding complemented by an additional rather than substitutive diversification of income would rebalance the public-private structure of funding and drive a sustainable higher education system capable of playing a key part in these counter-cyclical transformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of a range of management science methodologies (MSMs) such as ‘soft’ operational research (OR) has been a feature of the UK OR practice over the last decades. This paper suggests that the increasing number of soft approaches developed in the UK is a direct consequence of the pragmatism in management education and management practice in Britain; and of the development of a robust British systems movement that has been engaged with the British OR community. Rationalism prevalent in French management education has kept OR/MS practice biased towards the hard end of MSM. We explore the usage of hard and soft methods and present results of a mailed survey administered to a small sample of British and French MBA graduates working in consultancy. Results reflect features of British and French business culture and management education; and indicate the different directions taken by the MS/OR movements in these two countries. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we analyse the conditions under which the COVID‐19 pandemic will lead either to social order (adherence to measures put in place by authorities to control the pandemic) or to social disorder (resistance to such measures and the emergence of open conflict). Using examples from different countries (principally the United Kingdom, the United States, and France), we first isolate three factors which determine whether people accept or reject control measures. These are the historical context of state‐public relations, the nature of leadership during the pandemic and procedural justice in the development and operation of these measures. Second, we analyse the way the crisis is policed and how forms of policing determine whether dissent will escalate into open conflict. We conclude by considering the prospects for order/disorder as the pandemic unfolds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the pricing behaviour of cross channel ferry companies in the eight year period between awarding the Channel Tunnel franchise and the completion of the construction of the Tunnel. The ferry companies appear to have ‘made hay’ by significantly increasing some published prices for car ferry journeys in real terms over the period. The paper presents a model of regulatory intervention which can account for increasing prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article compares the efficiency of the coal-fired steam-generated electricity in Great Britain, the U.S. and France in 1970. The authors selected this industry for close examination because it had experienced rapid technological progress, its output is homogeneous and the data available are comparatively good. They found that the average level and rate of growth of fuel productivity in Great Britain industry were less than in France and in the U.S. The authors were careful to state, however, that technological backwardness was not the only interpretation of this result. They were aware that partial productivity measures could be very misleading because the contribution of other inputs, particularly capital, is ignored. Furthermore, this paper shows that the percentage increase in output in Great Britain from 1949-63 was higher than that in France and in the U.S., while the percentage increase in capital, measured by generating capacity, was much lower than in France or the US. This difference could be interpreted as implying that the productivity of capital in Great Britain industry was rising relatively to that in France and in the U.S. and thus that the industry in Great Britain was technologically forward. However, there are other interpretations, because capital productivity is also a partial measure of productivity. Thus, this paper suggests that there is a need a measure of productivity which reflects the simultaneous influence of all inputs and output and a production function provides such a measure. This article also estimates production functions for this industry.

The article reports on the effects of accounting diversity on the financial ratios and stock market valuation of the accounting data given by companies in France, Germany, and Great Britain. Also, the effectiveness of the European Union's efforts to lower diversity in accounting standards is looked at. Using a capital markets strategy and creating capital-markets-based measures for diversity in the accounting measurement practices the effects of measurement differences are discussed. The EU directives include minimizing the choices in accounting measurement principles, requirement of a specified set of annual report disclosures, and emphasis of the true and fair view in comparability and transparency.

ABSTRACT Research on ideological attitudes has identified two main dimensions that refer to two fundamental features of group organization: social solidarity and social control. In response to prior research that has studied their relationship mainly from a correlational perspective, this paper introduces a social reality model based on psychological functionality of ideological attitudes. Social position variables (education, income and material vulnerability) and insecurity variables (fear of crime and distrust) are used to predict the interplay between ideological attitudes towards social solidarity and social control. Using K-means cluster analysis, a typology with four patterns of support for solidarity and control ('socials', 'repressives', 'minimalists' and 'social-repressives') was created, on the basis of representative survey data for the UK, France and Germany ( N = 7034). Results from logistic regression analyses show that the proposed social reality model explains membership in typology categories, with similar results across the three countries. Overall, the model underscores the social origins of ideological attitudes as functional responses to perceived social reality. The paper illustrates how the social psychological study of ideological attitudes may be enriched by a typological approach that examines patterns of attitudes rather than single dimensions. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT European labour markets have undergone several important innovations over the last three decades. Most countries have reformed their labour markets since the mid-1990s, with the liberalization of fixed-term contracts and temporary work agencies being the common elements to such reforms. This paper investigates the existence of a change in the dynamic behaviour of the aggregate employment for major European Union countries - France, Germany, Italy and Spain. According to our results, partial labour market reforms have made the response of the aggregate employment to output shocks larger and quite comparable to that found for the UK - the most flexible labour market in Europe since the Thatcher reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Materials defined as pornographic have always been subject to regulation because of the potential of such items to ‘corrupt and deprave’. Yet the state and law has rarely sought to ban such materials, attempting instead to restrict their accessibility. The outcomes of such interventions have, however, rarely been predictable, an issue we explore with reference to the changing regulation of sex shops in Britain and France since the 1970s. Noting ambiguities in the legal definitions of spaces of sex retailing, this paper traces how diverse forms of control have combined to restrict the location of sex shops, simultaneously shaping their design, management, and marketing. Describing the emergence of gentrified and ‘designer’ stores, this paper demonstrates that regulation has been complicit in a process of neo-liberalization that has favoured more corporate sex shops – without this having ever been an explicit aim of those who have argued for the regulation of sex retailing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

These days the secret ballot is taken for granted and it is often seen as the natural complement of universal, democratic suffrage. Its emergence, however, was just as contested and varied as the franchise and raised similar issues concerning the nature and practice of citizenship. This article focuses on the emergence of the secret ballot in Britain and France, two countries with a long history of parliamentary and local elections. In Britain, the secret ballot was introduced in 1872, while in France, which introduced universal male suffrage in 1848, it was as late as 1913 before envelope and polling booth rendered the vote completely secure. This study documents the varied polling practices employed in both countries prior to the onset of the secret ballot. It also highlights the contentious nature of polling reform. For some, the secret ballot was regarded as a means of safeguarding electoral independence and eliminating corruption. Others, including radicals, argued quite the opposite: that secret voting was an affront to honourable, public-spirited citizenship. In the end, full secrecy was achieved as part of the broader process of domesticating and disciplining the exercise of a mass franchise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a unique sample of 444 entrepreneurial IPOs in the UK and France, this paper analyses the investment patterns and the stock-market performance effects of two types of early stage investors: venture capitalists (VCs) and business angels (BAs). Extending existing research, we identify important endogeneity and institutional effects. Our findings indicate that UK IPOs have a higher retained ownership and lower participation ratio by BAs, but a lower retained ownership and participation ratio by VCs than in France. BA and VC investments are substitutes, and they are endogenously determined by a number of firm- and founder-related factors, such as founder ownership and external board ‘interlocks’, and underwriter reputation. UK VCs are effective third-party certifying agents who reduce underpricing in UK IPOs, whereas in French IPOs they increase it by appearing to engage in grandstanding. This certification effect is more significant in UK IPOs involving both high VC and BA ownership. Finally, underpricing increases with VC participation ratio, where the higher exit of VCs seems to increase the risk premium required by outside investors, in particular in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of a comparative organizational assessment of the behaviour and organization of the British and French managers who constructed the Channel Tunnel. In the context of a common adhocratic organization, a principal components analysis of the survey results differentiates the British and French respondents on five dimensions: fonceur/procedural; competitive/collegial; involved/distanced; individualistic/supportive; and stress. These quantitative results are supported by qualitative data from interviews and open-ended questions. A preliminary explanation of the results in terms of a configurational analysis of the differences between the British and French managers surveyed is then offered. The paper argues that an organizational assessment methodology is compatible with societal approaches which attempt to understand nationally distinctive configurations of organization and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The governments of Britain, France, and the United States are seeking to promote renewed investment in nuclear power through metagovernance. Metagovernance describes the way governments can leverage state power and resources to shape the behavior of networked actors to advance policy goals. To metagovern, governments use a variety of policy tools but the factors shaping the design of these policy tools remains unclear. Grid-group cultural theory is used to show that the design of the policy tools used in metagovernance reflects both an underlying cultural bias within government and prevailing institutional circumstances. The paper demonstrates the utility of cultural theory in the study of metagovernance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper constructs estimates of labour productivity in three broad service sectors including distribution, transport and communication and financial and business services and for ten sub-sectors within these broad categories. It compares Great Britain with the U.S., Germany and France. These sectors are referred to as market services, cover most private service activities with the exception of personal services and domestic service. Defining market services as distribution, hotels and catering, transport and communications and financial and business services accounted for 34-43 percent of total employment in the four countries studied and 36-43 percent of GDP. For labour productivity in market services as a whole, France led Great Britain by 36 percent in 1993, Germany led Great Britain by 34 percent and the U.S. led Great Britain by 38 percent. There is a considerable difference between the ranking of countries in terms of living standards and in terms of productivity. The main reason is that there is a marked variation in the proportions of the population who work.

This paper looks at the French equivalent of the British health visitor — the puéricultrice. Through consideration of the role of the State in child surveillance and official social policy regarding children, it explores the hypothesis that the work of these two sets of workers (and hence their perspectives) is to a large extent socially constructed. The paper is based on an exploratory study conducted in 1987 and funded by the Institute of Education, London. Data on health visitors are drawn from a recent research project at Thomas Coram Research Unit, ‘Parents and Professionals — perspectives on child health care’ carried out by the author together with Berry Mayall. The Economic and Social Research Council funded the study from 1985–1988. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using two unique confidential datasets summarizing the cross‐border lending of banks in France and the UK, we examine whether recipient‐country prudential policies can help to reduce the spillover effects of euro‐area (EA) monetary policy. We address this question from a novel angle, focused on the role of international financial centres, by considering differences in bank size and location (lending from French headquarters vs. from French affiliates located in the UK). For small French banks that lack a presence in international financial centres, the response of direct cross‐border lending from France to EA monetary policy is partially offset by recipient‐country prudential policy. For larger banks, however, the offsetting effect applies only to lending that passes through foreign affiliates located in London. This suggests the existence of a "London Bridge": banks adapt their flows to the UK conditional on EA monetary policy and global prudential policies; and from their UK affiliates to third‐party countries in a manner that depends on local prudential settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Heart failure is a chronic progressive condition, with considerable burden on patients' quality of life and economic burden for the healthcare systems. Before the approval of empagliflozin, there were no proven effective treatments for patients with heart failure with left ventricular ejection fraction (HF LVEF) > 40%. The aim of this study was to evaluate the cost‐effectiveness of empagliflozin + standard of care (SoC) compared with SoC alone for patients with HF LVEF > 40%, from the perspective of the healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK), Spain, and France, and to quantify the healthcare costs for these patients. Methods and results: A lifetime Markov cohort state‐transition model was developed based on discrete health states defined by Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire‐Clinical Summary Score quartiles to track disease severity. Model inputs relied primarily on the EMPEROR‐Preserved trial data or obtained from published literature or country‐specific databases, as well as local guidelines for the requirements for the conduct of the economic evaluation of healthcare technologies. The total lifetime cost of receiving SoC per patient was £10 092, €15 765, and €14 958 in the UK, Spain, and France, respectively, which increased by £1407, €1148, and €1485, respectively, with the addition of empagliflozin to the SoC. Empagliflozin + SoC was associated with significantly reduced number of hospitalization for HF or cardiovascular death compared with SoC alone, which was a key driver offsetting its drug acquisition costs. The incremental cost‐effectiveness ratio per quality‐adjusted life year (QALY) gained was consistently favourable at £14 851, €11 706, and €15 447 in the UK, Spain, and France, respectively. Scenario analysis using the New York Heart Association functional class showed similar results. Probabilistic sensitivity analyses showed more than 50% probability for cost‐effectiveness for a willingness‐to‐pay (WTP) threshold of £/€20 000/QALY for the three countries. Conclusions: Empagliflozin was found to be the first targeted treatment option that is clinically effective and cost‐effective for patients with HF LVEF > 40%. Prescribing empagliflozin with SoC to patients with HF LVEF > 40% is expected to improve clinical outcomes and patients' quality of life and substantially below accepted WTP threshold for the healthcare systems in the UK, Spain, and France. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale, aims and objectives Differences in the performance of medical care may be due to variation in the introduction and diffusion of medical innovations. The objective of this paper is to compare seven European countries ( United Kingdom, the Netherlands, West Germany, France, Spain, Estonia and Sweden) with regard to the year of introduction of six specific pharmaceutical innovations (antiretroviral drugs, cimetidine, tamoxifen, cisplatin, oxalaplatin and cyclosporin) that may have had important population health impacts. Methods We collected information on introduction and further diffusion of drugs using searches in the national and international literature, and questionnaires to national informants. We combined various sources of information, both official years of registration and other indicators of introduction (clinical trials, guidelines, evaluation reports, sales statistics). Results and conclusions The total length of the period between first and last introduction varied between 8 years for antiretroviral drugs and 22 years for cisplatin. Introduction in Estonia was generally delayed until the 1990s. The average time lags were smallest in France (2.2 years), United Kingdom (2.8 years) and the Netherlands (3.5 years). Similar rank orders were seen for year of registration suggesting that introduction lags are not only explained by differences in the process of registration. We discuss possible reasons for these between-country differences and implications for the evaluation of medical care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares technical aspects of accrual-based budgeting and accounting reforms of the national governments of France, Germany, the UK and the US. It shows that there is no consensus among the four countries about the complete package of technical reform possibilities that is most appropriate; there is also no consensus among the four countries about each one of the possibilities that is most appropriate. What is clear is the resilience of traditional budgetary accounting systems. It is also clear that, in the fundamental context and content of the reforms, the UK is the striking exception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Total water intake is seldom reported in dietary surveys and hydration status is rarely measured. Although adequate intake (AI) levels have been suggested by the European Food Safety Authority, the World Health Organization and the Institute of Medicine, uncertainties and confused messages abound regarding optimum intake. This paper reviews data on water intake internationally and examines associations with beverage consumption habits of adults in the UK, as determined from secondary analysis of individual diet records. On average, total water intake among British adults was equivalent to the European AI (2 l/day for women, 2.5 l/day for men) and 75% of this was derived from beverages. Factors that correlated with high total water intake included the consumption of a variety of beverages and drinking in the evening. Total water intake (and the contribution from soft drinks) is markedly higher in the USA than in Europe. Beverage consumption habits and trends were also reviewed. In the past 10 years, water beverages have become more popular and as such the overall energy contribution from beverages has declined slightly. Most people could be encouraged to drink a variety of beverages to maintain adequate hydration and to balance the energy content according to their needs. However, further work is needed to refine recommendations for water intake, as basing these on observational epidemiological data is essentially a circular argument. A standardized measurement tool, validated against biomarkers of hydration status, would be a step forward in assessing the adequacy of water intakes at a population level. Research may also be warranted to explore the context of drinking occasions (including time of day, weekdays weekends, lifestyle and meal patterns) as these may have an impact on water intake, hydration and also energy balance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Internet has radically transformed society - although its diffusion has been uneven. Various studies of digital inequality have been undertaken in Anglo-Saxon communities. Few studies have investigated digital inequality from a socio-spatial perspective (urban vs. suburban, rather than urban vs. rural) in a French setting. This absence underscores a gap in knowledge and methodology. It highlights the complexities of gathering comparable data on Internet user behaviour beyond national borders. This paper takes a multidisciplinary approach to investigate emerging trends in Internet use across different territories (inner-city and suburban, as opposed to urban vs. rural) by means of in-depth interviews with Internet users aged 13-15 years old in France and Britain. The aim is to provide a broad understanding of the way in which teenage Internet users behave online in different territories. The investigation reveals a number of converging trends that are common to both France and Britain and some unexpected disparity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As of 2008, surrogacy is legal and openly practised in various places; Japan, however, has no regulations or laws regarding surrogacy. This paper reports the situation of surrogacy in Japan and in five other regions (the USA, the UK, Taiwan, Korea and France) to clarify the pros and cons of prohibiting surrogacy, along with the problems and issues relating to surrogacy compensation. Not only in a country such as France that completely prohibits surrogacy within the country, but also in a country such as the UK that allows non-commercial surrogacy, infertile couples travel overseas for the purpose of surrogacy. In addition, some couples might seek underground surrogacy if the government prohibits surrogacy. If an intended parent couple and a surrogate make an agreement among themselves and then a problem occurs, they cannot ask for support from professionals or bring a case to court, as can be observed in South Korea and Taiwan. We also conclude that there is little difference between commercial surrogacy and non-commercial surrogacy in the absence of a clear definition of ‘reasonable expenses.’ In the UK, the law does not allow surrogates to receive compensation. However, in reality, there may be little difference between the amounts paid to surrogates for profit in the US and those paid to surrogates for reasonable expenses in the UK. We conclude that the issue of surrogacy demands further discussion in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides evidence about the effects of possible reforms of the Spanish direct redistribution system. We perform an ex-ante evaluation of the impact upon efficiency, income distribution, and polarization of the replacement of the Spanish system with the ones enforced in France, the U.K., and Denmark (corporatist, liberal, and social-democratic model respectively). The analysis is performed using microsimulation models in which labor supply is explicitly taken into account. The results show that the simulated scenarios have little impact on the efficiency of the economy. We find that each of the new systems would reduce income inequality. However, when we take into consideration income polarization, the effects of the reforms are ambiguous: in some cases we observe a tendency toward an increased polarization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article references a study by J. M. García, B. García Osma and A. Mora in the 2005 issue of the Journal of Business Finance & Accounting. In their paper, the authors provide empirical evidence that earnings management may have a significant influence on the level of conservatism in reported earnings, that is, on the rate at which costs are anticipated and revenues deferred, and their results shed light on a paradoxical situation. The results showed that Great Britain-based firms are more likely to measure their unmanaged earnings conservatively than their counterparts based in France and Germany. For the pooled data, reported earnings showed no discernible response to positive market news. On the other hand, when market news is negative, reported earnings decrease by 24 percent of the fall in market value if companies are domiciled in Britain, by 22 percent in Germany and 16 percent in France. The authors argued that, in countries such as France and Germany, managers have greater incentives to engage in earnings management. In fact, with regard to the regulatory environment underpinning accounting practices, the main difference between these three countries in the recent past relates more to their approaches to standard setting than to their pre-unification legal systems.

This paper assesses economic, political and national institutional explanations for continued resistance to the multidivisional form in France, Germany and the United Kingdom during the 1980s and 1990s. It finds that the economics of different diversification strategies play a significant but changing role in the structural choices of large corporations. The political interests of personal, banking and government owners are exercised variably. There remain strong national influences on structural choices, with resistance to the multidivisional form particularly pronounced in Germany. Overall, our results call for an increased contextual sensitivity in management research while acknowledging the possibility of convergent processes in business organization, represented here by the slow progress of the multidivisional firm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

France and the UK are markedly different welfare states, both in terms of regime type and in terms of the varying degree of state responsibility for reconciling work and family life. One recent theoretical strand suggests that welfare states will tend to grow more similar since they face broadly similar pressures. This paper discusses the policy responses in France and the UK to labour market pressures resulting from enhanced international competition, technological development and family change during the past decade. These responses are set in the context of European debates about the desirability of greater flexibility, up-skilling and the activation of unemployed people, about the childcare needs of women workers and about the importance of paid work in reducing poverty and inequality. The analysis shows that trends to convergence are limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the UK has grown considerably in recent years. US, French, German and Japanese companies have generally accounted for the largest share of this FDI. In addition to greenfield and expansion investment, a major vehicle for inward FDI has been the acquisition of UK companies. This paper examines whether nationally distinct approaches to management were introduced, following acquisition, among a sample of 201 UK subsidiaries of French, German, Japanese, US and UK companies. It provides data on the extent of changes and the post-acquisition influence of the new parent, comparing changes between the four foreign nationalities and a UK control group. The study indicates that the process of being acquired and controlled by a foreign parent company was often followed by significant changes in management practice. Some changes were common to all acquisitions, including those by UK companies. A shift towards performance-related rewards and a stronger quality emphasis in operations are two examples. In addition, there was also evidence of effects which differed between nationalities. These conformed to accepted characterizations of national management practice in the case of Japanese and US acquirers, but less so in the case of French and German acquisitions. The findings suggest that present views of French and German management practice require further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing number of businesses is funding tree planting. Several intermediaries intervene between the funding company and those planting trees, each playing a specific role. To ensure quality tree planting, intervention and leverage points need to be identified. We aim to understand the chain between the corporations that finance tree planting and those planting trees. We reviewed 61 multinational companies from France, Switzerland and the UK, involved in tree planting, and identified the partners with whom they work to attempt to characterise this chain. Our results show that there are at least eight different functions starting with the multinational company, then financiers, regulators, quality controllers, enablers, project developers, brokers and finally, implementers. Most corporations mobilise three to four actors or levels to carry out tree planting. The multiplicity of actors is both positive (e.g., quality assurance) and negative (e.g., adds costs). Growing pressure for corporations to demonstrate social and environmental responsibility signifies that more tree planting is likely. Yet, many challenges exist in this sector, which we aim to describe. Critical challenges we identify include transparency, equity and quality. In conclusion, this booming multilayer sector should be better structured; understanding the actors and their respective roles provides a first step in this direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electoral and census data from Great Britain and France are used in a comparative analysis of the levels and determinants of local election turnout in the two countries. First, nine simple propositions about variations in turnout are tested using as similar as possible variables for each country. These variables are then used as the bases for multi-variate regression analyses. The residual cases in each country are compared in order to explore the more qualitative factors which may explain why some localities have a level of participation so much above or below that expected statistically. The paper ends with an attempt to specify an explanatory model of local electoral turnout applicable to both countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question as to whether crime rates are rising or falling has both important public policy implications, in the law and order debate, and academic, in tests of etiological theories. This paper contends that official crime rates were falling in the two major industrial countries of the nineteenth century, Britain and France. Yet the major sociologists, lawyers, judges and so forth continued to discuss ‘rising crime’, and to develop theories to explain why. The reasons for increases differed between schools (biological, psychological, mainstream sociological and Marxist). But as diverse, and eminent a lot of theorists as Durkheim, Ferri, Tarde, Engels and Bonger were united in insisting that crime was rising. This paper explores the contradictions between theory and evidence in these various writers. Empirical evidence available at the time is re-examined, along with the results of recent re-analyses of the data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we extend the traditional price change hedge ratio estimation method by applying the theory of cointegration to hedging with stock index futures contracts for France (CAC 40), the United Kingdom (FTSE 100), Germany (DAX), and Japan (NIKKEI). Previous studies ignore the last period's equilibrium error and short-run deviations. The findings of this study indicate that the hedge ratios obtained from the error correction method are superior to those obtained from the traditional method as evidenced by the likelihood ratio test and out-of-sample forecasts. Using the procedures developed in this paper, hedgers can control the risk of their portfolios more effectively at a lower cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the emergence of management education and training in the UK, France, Germany, USA, Japan, USSR, and China. It argues that given kinds of environmental changes may lead to a wide variety of training responses, depending on the industrial and cultural contexts in which they take place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Implementation of any inclusive policy is dependent on longstanding conceptions, beliefs, and public discourses on schooling, learning, and including children in mainstream schooling. The adoption of inclusive education in education policies in France and the United Kingdom requires discursive support to reshape the meaning and content of teachers' work, duties and practices. Although inclusive education is widely debated, analyses of the variations in policy narratives promoting inclusive teaching in Europe are lacking. This article reports on comparative and international analysis of discourses and policies for empowering teachers for continuous professional development and inclusive school practices. The analysis focuses on an exploration of varieties of articulations, resources, and conceptual dynamics in the UK and France. These elements are discussed within the broader scheme of the teaching profession, with reference to the inclusive education paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a detailed account of how surgeons perceived and used a device‐procedure that caused widespread patient harm: transvaginal mesh for the treatment of pelvic floor disorders in women. Drawing from interviews with 27 surgeons in Canada, the UK, the United States and France and observations of major international medical conferences in North America and Europe between 2015 and 2018, we describe the commercially driven array of operative variations in the use of transvaginal mesh and show that surgeons' understanding of their hands‐on, sensory experience with these variations is central to explaining patient harm. Surgeons often developed preferences for how to manage actual and anticipated dangers of transvaginal mesh procedures through embodied operative adjustments, but collectively the meaning of these preferences was fragmented, contested and deferred. We critically reflect on surgeons' understandings of their operative experience, including the view that such experience is not evidence. The harm in this case poses a challenge to some ways of thinking about uncertainty and errors in medical sociology, and calls for attention to a specific feature of surgical work: the extent and persistence of operative practices that elude classification as right or wrong but are still most certainly better and worse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and purpose: Social engagement is an important active aging strategy to promote older adults' mental health. The purposes of this study were to compare social engagement in older populations around the world and explore associations with mental health outcomes. Materials and methods: An international cross‐sectional survey was conducted from 2017 to 2019. Data were retrieved from The International Social Survey Programme for a secondary data analysis across 30 countries. This study applied the Taxonomy of Social Activities and its six levels as operational definitions for a consistent concept of social engagement for international comparisons. Results: In total, 9403 older adults with a mean age of 72.85 ± 6.40 years responded. The highest levels of older adults' social engagement were found in Switzerland, Thailand, and New Zealand. Older adults of a higher age, with a lower educational level, who were permanently sick or disabled, who had no partner, who were widowed or whose civil partner had died, who lived alone, and who had lower self‐placement in society had significantly lower social engagement than did their counterparts. In the regression model, older adults' social engagement positively predicted general health, self‐accomplishment, and life satisfaction, but negatively predicted loneliness and depression. Conclusions: In aging societies worldwide, encouraging older adults' social engagement would be beneficial to promote mental health. Implications for nursing practice and health policies: Community professional nurses can develop strategies of social engagement based on the needs and sociodemographic factors of older adults to improve their mental health. Developing efficient strategies and local policies by learning from successful experiences in other countries is important to promote social engagement in aging societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To compare the management and outcomes of women with placenta accreta spectrum (PAS) in France and the UK. Design: Two population‐based cohorts. Setting: All obstetrician‐led hospitals in the UK and maternity hospitals in eight French regions. Population: A cohort of 219 women with PAS in France and a cohort of 154 women with PAS in the UK. Methods: The management and outcomes of women with PAS were compared between the UK and France. Main outcome measures: Median blood loss, severe postpartum haemorrhage (≥3 l), postpartum infection and damage to surrounding organs. Results: The management of PAS differed between the two countries: a larger proportion of women with PAS in the UK had a caesarean hysterectomy compared with France (43% vs 26%, p < 0.001), whereas in France a larger proportion of women with PAS received a uterus‐preserving approach compared with the UK (36% vs 19%, p < 0.001). The total median blood loss in the UK was 3 l (IQR 1.7–6.5 l), compared with 1 l (IQR 0.5–2.5 l) in France; more women with PAS had a severe postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) in the UK compared with women with PAS in France (58% vs 21%, p < 0.001) [Correction added on 06 May 2022, after first online publication: '24 hour' has been changed to 'total' in the preceding sentence]. There was no difference between the UK and French populations for postpartum infection or organ damage. Conclusions: The UK and France have very different approaches to managing PAS, with more women in France receiving a uterine‐conserving approach and more women in the UK undergoing caesarean hysterectomy. A life‐threatening haemorrhage was more common in the UK than in France, which may be the result of differential management and/or the organisation of the healthcare systems. In women with placenta accreta spectrum, severe haemorrhage was more common in the UK than in France. In women with placenta accreta spectrum, severe haemorrhage was more common in the UK than in France. In women with placenta accreta spectrum, severe haemorrhage was more common in the UK than in France. Linked article: This article is commented on by Amarnath Bhide, pp. 1686 in this issue. To view this minicommentary visit https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0528.17170. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on cross‐national comparative research conducted in France and the United Kingdom, this article explores to what extent and under what conditions trade unions situated in different legal systems have turned to the courts to challenge discrimination at work. It investigates the interplay between a broad range of structural factors that offer specific opportunities, and the way in which trade unionists interpret contexts to promote legal mobilization in addition to or in place of other repertoires of action. In so doing, the article contributes to the understanding of anti‐discrimination law enforcement and the role of micro‐level actors in enabling litigation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compare distributions of body mass index (BMI) categories among genders in France, the United States, and the United Kingdom on the basis of efficiency and inequality considerations. The new normative criteria that we propose are well suited to the ordinal nature of this variable. Our empirical results, which are supported by robust statistical inference, are twofold. First, BMI categories for the two genders are better distributed in France than in the UK, and in the UK than in the US. Second, BMI categories happen to be more equally distributed among men than among women in all three countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some authors have suggested that deregulation of product and labour markets is responsible for the decline in Labour's share of GDP. A simple model predicts that privatization is associated with a lower labour share, due to job shedding. We test this hypothesis by focusing on privatization of network industries in the OECD. We find that, on average, privatization accounts for a fifth of the fall of Labour's share, and over half in Britain and France. This is due to lower employment, but it is partially offset by higher wages and falling barriers to entry, which dampen profit margins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers a discussion on venture capitalists, business angels, and the performance of entrepreneurial IPOs in both Great Britain and France. Particular attention is paid to the underpricing of IPOs and the role of risk capital providers in the underpricing, the first day returns of public offerings, as well as the differences in the levels of underpricing for firms with and without venture capital involvement. Additional article topics include ventures with prior risk capital financing, the quality of IPO firms, as well as the influence of financiers on IPOs.

In a series of studies written during the 1980s, Bob Gregory and his co-authors compared the gender wage gap in Australia with that found in other countries. They found it was not the difference in human capital endowments that explained different gender wage gaps but rather the rewards for these endowments. They concluded that country-specific factors, especially the institutional environment, were important in explaining the gender wage gap. This study updates Gregory's work by comparing the gender wage gap across four countries, Australia, France, Japan and Britain. Our results concord with those of Gregory: institutions are still important in explaining the relative size of the gender wage gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the pre-Euro exposure to exchange rate changes of large firms in the UK, France and Germany. We find that the exchange rate sensitivity is considerably stronger than previously thought. In all three countries, firms typically gain value when their local currency depreciates against the US dollar, yet most UK firms lose value when sterling depreciates against the European currency unit. We also document the existence of an intriguing intervalling effect in the measurement of exchange rate exposure, which suggests that share prices might exhibit a delayed response to information, and prevents us from making robust generalizations concerning other exchange rate sensitivities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]