Though with abundant water resources in China, unevenly geographical and temporal distribution of water resources have constantly resulted in many severe water issues in various cities, such as ...inundation, drought, urban flooding, water shortage, water pollution, and inaccessibility of safe drinking water, in addition to the negative impacts of climate change. Intensive industrialization, fast urbanization, and prompt modernization have aggravated the water conflicts between different stakeholders. Furthermore, nearly 60% of Chinese population is agglomerated in urban area to exacerbate the water stress in cities, especially in megacities. In order to evaluate the performance of the integrated water resources management (IWRM) in major cities in China, and to reveal the key obstacles and challenges to the IWRM in these cities for future improvement, the modified City Blueprint® Approach, in combining with the hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), were applied to examine the efficiency, effectiveness, and capability of the IWRM in 32 selected major cities in China, including 4 municipalities directly under the Central Government, 27 provincial capitals, and Shenzhen (a fast-emerging city located on the Pearl River Delta). The City Blueprint® Approach, consisting of three complementary frameworks, is a systematic analytic and diagnostic tool to assess the major challenges to cities (Trends and Pressures Framework, TPF), to appraise the management of urban water cycle (City Blueprint Framework, CBF), and to identify the paths of water governance improvement (Governance Capacity Framework, GCF). Significant differences have been observed between various districts and different cities. For TPF, in general, environmental pressures increase as the city scale expands, where river peak discharges and urban drainage flood are two common environmental challenges encountered by all cities. Social pressures decline and the financial pressures slightly decrease as city scale enlarged, where economic pressure and education rate are dominant indicators within each city category, respectively. For CBF, all cities have realized a great achievement in providing good basic water services, in addition to excellent performance of five indicators, drinking water quality, access to drinking water, access to sanitation, wastewater treatment, and management and action plans. In contrast, nutrient and energy recovery, public participation, and solid waste recycling, are the most critical issues to be resolved by all cities. For GCF, higher score in Enabling symbolizes the good performance of governance capacity to result in well management and action plans. Unfortunately, low score in Knowing, especially in the condition of useful knowledge, has caused the poor performance of public participation. Through HCA, the similarities and disparities between cities within diverse city categories were also revealed. In order to enhance the IWRM in major cities in China, various recommendations for future improvement were then provided, accordingly.
•River peak discharges & urban drainage flood are two key environmental challenges.•Good basic water services have been realized in all major China’s cities.•Waste resources recycling & energy recovery are critical issues to be resolved.•Excellent governance capacity leads to well management and action plans.•Poor performance of public participation is caused by deficient useful knowledge.
In this paper, we study the impact of labor unions on product quality failures. We use a product recall as our measure of quality failure because it is an objective metric that is applicable to a ...broad cross-section of industries. Our analysis employs a union panel setting and close union elections in a regression discontinuity design framework to overcome identification issues. In the panel regressions, we find that firms that are unionized and those that have higher unionization rates experience a greater frequency of quality failures. The results obtain even at a more granular establishment level in a subsample in which we can identify the manufacturing establishment associated with the recalled product. When comparing firms in close elections, we find that firms with close union wins are followed by significantly worse product quality outcomes than those with close union losses. These results are amplified in non–right-to-work states, where unions have a relatively greater influence on the workforce. We find that unionization increases firms’ costs and operating leverage and, consequently, crowds out investments that potentially impact quality. We also find some suggestive evidence that unions may compromise quality by hurting employee morale and by resisting technological upgrades in the firm. Overall, our results suggest that unions have an adverse impact on product recalls, and thus, product quality is an important dimension along which unions impact businesses.
This paper was accepted by Gustavo Manso, finance.
Internal governance is the process by which vice presidents (VPs) use their influence with the chief executive officer (CEO) to impact the firm's direction and policy. This study examines the effect ...of internal governance on corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance. Based on a large sample of US firms and after controlling for various CEO incentives, corporate governance and other determinants of CSR performance, we find that more effective internal governance is associated with a better CSR performance. These results are robust to alternative internal governance and CSR measures, alternative samples and various approaches that mitigate potential endogeneity problems. Further analysis shows that the effect of internal governance on CSR performance is more pronounced when (a) the CEO is subject to more intensive monitoring, (b) VPs are more powerful, (c) firms experience less short‐term financial performance pressure and (d) they face stronger product market competition. This study advances our understanding of corporate governance's effect on CSR by showing the importance of internal governance.
The reduction of income inequality is important for poverty alleviation. We manually collect the data of the local minimum wage standard of the 254 prefectural cities of 31 provinces in China. The ...results show that higher minimum wage attributes to the rise of firm productivity. Minimum wage hikes force the enterprises to optimize internal production, reduce redundant employees, and develop innovations. Moreover, the enterprises with higher sensitivity in labor cost, less governmental support, and stronger financial pressures are more intensive to higher minimum wage. It is robust when choosing alternative measurements, an IV strategy, and a DID analysis. It is implicated that an appropriate minimum wage system plays a positive role in achieving balance between poverty alleviation and economic growth, and the improvement in compensation can stimulate high-quality development in practice.
•Higher minimum wage urges firms enhancing productivity, the positive effect remains in long term.•The short-term hike of minimum wage drives internal optimizations of local enterprises in labor and innovation factors.•Firms with higher labor elasticity, financial pressures, and less external support acutely respond to higher minimum wage.
Although high PhD attrition rates are a matter of international concern, the factors that lead doctoral researchers to leave their programmes are not well understood. The present study addresses that ...issue by exploring factors that prompted thoughts of discontinuing among 1017 PhD researchers (PhDRs) at a public, research-intensive Australian university. We analyse the prevalence, strength and clustering of the most frequently identified factors, including mental health difficulties, financial pressures, and problems with supervision. The investigated factors were all strongly associated with thoughts of discontinuing; mental health difficulties were among the strongest factors, and financial stress was the most prevalent. An exploratory cluster analysis revealed that the risk factors co-present in distinctive ways such that six discrete groups of PhDRs are identifiable with varying risk profiles and socio-demographic characteristics. We discuss the research, policy and practice implications of these findings.
Iraq is characterized by the capacity of its economic resource base, whether natural or human. whether natural or human, and despite the abundance of these resources, the Iraqi economy has suffered ...from real economic problems such as unemployment, inflation, imbalance in productive structures due to long-term dependence on crude oil imports. This imbalance is evident through the imbalance in the gross domestic product, in which the oil sector constitutes the largest proportion. And that this imbalance was reflected in one way or another on the imbalance of the structure of exports, and then the transmission of this imbalance to the structure of the general budget. As Iraq still, despite the huge size of its budgets, lacks a fiscal policy in the real sense and in a way in which it is able to deal with shocks and imbalances, not to mention the financial pressures that Iraq endured during the period (2014-2017) due to the terrorist attack of ISIS and the huge military spending and the subsequent endurance. Additional spending pressure to rebuild the provinces that were affected by that attack. Based on the above, this study will address in its three axes the reality of the Iraqi public budget structure by analyzing the most prominent components of that structure, and then researching the real causes of the public budget imbalance, leading to scenarios that explain the paths of the public budget deficit, especially in light of the global Corona (Covid-19) pandemic.
Counselors who work in a college environment are aware that financial aid is available to help students with college costs, but they may not be aware of all the financial pressures on students that ...may influence a student's psychological well-being. This article gives an overview of financial aid programs and financial factors affecting students, and explores practical ways that counseling centers and financial aid offices may interact.
Hewison A. (2010) Journal of Nursing Management18, 520–525 Feeling the cold: implications for nurse managers arising from the financial pressures in health care in England
Aim The purpose of this ...short paper is to identify some of the implications and opportunities nurse managers in England face as a result of the current global economic recession.
Background Government borrowing and poor global economic conditions have combined to create a £175 billion budget deficit in the UK. The National Health Service in England will be required to make substantial savings in order to help offset this shortfall.
Key issues This is a brief critical commentary which examines some of the challenges and opportunities for nurse managers in England. It draws on a number of sources to identify key issues concerning nursing management arising from the financial pressures facing health care.
Conclusion The next few years are going to be very difficult for nurses and their managers, however, the current situation also presents opportunities to advance the contribution and influence of nursing and nursing management.
Implications for nursing management What nurse managers do next will be crucial in shaping the NHS response to the financial storm and the future nature of health care in England.
The Future of the Academy Peat, F. David
On the horizon,
01/2001, Letnik:
9, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Presents a preliminary report of a meeting held in the village of Pari, Tusony in September 2000 of a group of scientists, economists, humanists and philosophers to debate the issues surrounding the ...future of the academy. Provides a summary of the broad and far-reaching discussions, including the themes of: Elites, authorities and influence; Working definitions on the role of knowledge; Commonalities across disciplines; Ways of learning; Ethical issues; Distance learning; Compatibility of democracy and scholarship; Competition and the University; and Holistic education for the whole person. Concludes that there is need to continue these discussions.
During the late 1970s, the cost of energy in the average health care institution, which at one time was rarely more than 1% of the total budget, had reached 3% to 5% or more of the budget. As society ...gradually adjusted to higher energy costs, the urgency for energy conservation felt in the late 1970s faded. True energy management, briefly a high priority, fell by the wayside. However, recent years' occurrences have made it evident that higher energy costs are here to stay and energy supplies are becoming more limited, in some areas, alarmingly so, at the same time that other financial concerns are making themselves felt. Therefore, energy management must be taken on as an active management concern. Much of energy management at the department level is a matter of awareness and attitude, and an energy-conscious manager can influence the staff toward energy consciousness.
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