This paper explores the procurement of public buildings in local authorities in the UK under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and its consequences for small and medium sized enterprises. Following an outline of the development of PFI in the UK, the paper explains the peculiarities of local...

This article by Raynauld Letourneau and Martine Lajoie of Industry Canada provides a detailed regional analysis of levels of living standards, measured as output per capita, and productivity (output per worker) for the 1995-97 period, the most recent data currently available. They find that all...

To improve patient safety, hospitals have implemented interventions to change their culture. Although there is great enthusiasm for these interventions at policy and management levels, we know little about how clinicians talk about “culture” as they do the work of quality and safety...

Estimates produced by the OECD indicate that labour productivity levels are higher in a number of European countries than in the United States, implying that Europe and not the United States is the world technological leader. The author argues that a structural measure of labour productivity,...

This tenth issue of the International Productivity Monitor produced by the Centre for the Study of Living Standards contains six articles. Topics covered are: the puzzling recent behaviour of labour productivity in Canada; an international perspective on Canada's productivity performance since the...

The ninth issue of the International Productivity Monitor published by the Centre for the Study of Living Standards contains six articles. Topics covered are: the magnitude of the Canada-U.S. productivity gap at the industry level; productivity puzzles facing researchers; the link between...

Individuen und Haushalte verlagern ihren Lebensmittelpunkt neben sozialen Komponenten vor allem aufgrund ökonomischer Überlegungen. Ostdeutschland sieht sich seit Jahren einer kontinuierlichen, oft wirtschaftlich induzierten, Abwanderung gen Westen gegenüber. Am Beispiel Sachsens wird...