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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 24 October 2023

Barbara Gösenbauer

The comment addresses the idea of substituting professional elder care with informal care provided by early retirees to save economic costs.

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Abstract

Purpose

The comment addresses the idea of substituting professional elder care with informal care provided by early retirees to save economic costs.

Design/methodology/approach

The comment arose from reading “How to handle gerontocracy”, scientific research and critical, analytical thinking.

Findings

While having early pensioners deliver elderly care has positive implications, substituting professional with informal care must be challenged. First, the “unused reservoir” of early pensioners might be overestimated, as they often already have care responsibilities. Second, the substitution of professional services is already happening due to staff shortages. Third, untrained caregivers might struggle to provide the needed care quality, resulting in worse health outcomes (and higher follow-up costs). Finally, there are concerns of social sustainability: because of role expectations, mainly women may take on care tasks, reinforcing social inequality. Also, the third sector might lose hours of volunteer work.

Originality/value

The comment appeals to a critically rethinking of the idea of substituting professional services with informal care provision and argues for differentiated and well-tailored policy measures, taking into account the complex nature of (informal) caregiving.

Details

Journal of Integrated Care, vol. 31 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1476-9018

Keywords

Expert briefing
Publication date: 7 February 2024

The country’s system of pension funds has long been close to bankruptcy, but awareness of the urgency of the issue has increased over the past year. Nonetheless, proposed pension…

Details

DOI: 10.1108/OXAN-DB285075

ISSN: 2633-304X

Keywords

Geographic
Topical
Open Access
Article
Publication date: 9 August 2021

Neil Bernard Boyle and Maddy Power

Background: Rising food bank usage in the UK suggests a growing prevalence of food insecurity. However, a formalised, representative measure of food insecurity was not collected…

Abstract

Background: Rising food bank usage in the UK suggests a growing prevalence of food insecurity. However, a formalised, representative measure of food insecurity was not collected in the UK until 2019, over a decade after the initial proliferation of food bank demand. In the absence of a direct measure of food insecurity, this article identifies and summarises longitudinal proxy indicators of UK food insecurity to gain insight into the growth of insecure access to food in the 21st century.

Methods: A rapid evidence synthesis of academic and grey literature (2005–present) identified candidate proxy longitudinal markers of food insecurity. These were assessed to gain insight into the prevalence of, or conditions associated with, food insecurity.

Results: Food bank data clearly demonstrates increased food insecurity. However, this data reflects an unrepresentative, fractional proportion of the food insecure population without accounting for mild/moderate insecurity, or those in need not accessing provision. Economic indicators demonstrate that a period of poor overall UK growth since 2005 has disproportionately impacted the poorest households, likely increasing vulnerability and incidence of food insecurity. This vulnerability has been exacerbated by welfare reform for some households. The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically intensified vulnerabilities and food insecurity. Diet-related health outcomes suggest a reduction in diet quantity/quality. The causes of diet-related disease are complex and diverse; however, evidence of socio-economic inequalities in their incidence suggests poverty, and by extension, food insecurity, as key determinants.

Conclusion: Proxy measures of food insecurity suggest a significant increase since 2005, particularly for severe food insecurity. Proxy measures are inadequate to robustly assess the prevalence of food insecurity in the UK. Failure to collect standardised, representative data at the point at which food bank usage increased significantly impairs attempts to determine the full prevalence of food insecurity, understand the causes, and identify those most at risk.

Details

Emerald Open Research, vol. 1 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2631-3952

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 5 February 2024

Katrina Pritchard, Rebecca Whiting and Cara Reed

Retiring from work used to signify the end of paid employment and a transition to focus on life outside the workplace. From this perspective, the work-life interface may have no…

Abstract

Retiring from work used to signify the end of paid employment and a transition to focus on life outside the workplace. From this perspective, the work-life interface may have no relevance for the retired. However, recent changes, particularly resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, suggest that conceptualizations of both retirement and the work-life interface are more fluid, ambiguous, and complex. In this chapter, we first set the scene, reviewing how and why the traditional concept of retirement has changed so dramatically. Drawing on empirical data from contemporary media, we then consider how the current experience of the older worker and retiree are being reframed in neoliberal terms, emphasizing individual responsibility to remain not just fit and healthy but also productive, through a wide range of activities. We then focus on the impact of COVID-19, highlighting how pre-pandemic structural inequalities have been exacerbated, resulting in a range of responses in both levels of retirement and work by older people. We conclude by suggesting that retirement and its work-life interface need to recognize lived experience as dynamic, messy, and varied and implicated in wider structural features of both the economy and society.

Details

Work-Life Inclusion: Broadening Perspectives Across the Life-Course
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80382-219-8

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 29 December 2023

M. P. Sukumaran Nair

Providing public healthcare to people is a major challenge for governments. In this sector, public-funded systems are grossly inadequate in India, and excessive commercialization…

Abstract

Providing public healthcare to people is a major challenge for governments. In this sector, public-funded systems are grossly inadequate in India, and excessive commercialization and exploitation by the private sector are a stark reality. The cooperative healthcare model is emerging as an alternate system in Kerala with its strong service objective to challenge the woes of private healthcare. The cooperative hospitals in the state worked round the clock to serve the poor and needy during the devastating COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has also badly exposed the weakness of our healthcare system in the wake of challenges posed by an increase in demand for health services, especially in rural areas. The resultant rise in the cost of treatment has put severe strains on the people at a time when even their day to day jobs were in peril. India has a strong cooperative movement and world-class institutions to serve as models in each sector. The Thrikkakara Municipal Co-operative Hospital, located at Cochin in the Kerala State of India on which this case study is written was established by the Hospital Society Ltd. in 1999, as a project under the People’s Planning Programme of the Government. Today, it has grown into a medium-sized healthcare establishment with the prime objective ‘Modern healthcare to all at affordable costs’ and cater to an average of 700 outpatients a day. This case study reveals the inception, development over years, facilities available, operations, management, public interface, and outlook for the hospital to become a modern healthcare institution to serve the people still better.

Details

World Healthcare Cooperatives: Challenges and Opportunities
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80455-775-4

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 15 April 2024

Larisa Mistrean

Introduction: The Republic of Moldova’s economy faces risks caused by the war in Ukraine and the economic crisis, proving that citizens’ prosperity is essential for national…

Abstract

Introduction: The Republic of Moldova’s economy faces risks caused by the war in Ukraine and the economic crisis, proving that citizens’ prosperity is essential for national stability and that financial knowledge influences the standard of living. A minimum financial education provides information, knowledge, and tools to make correct decisions based on informed consent in an increasingly complex financial system. In the financial-banking and academic environment, in-depth research of consumers’ financial education level helps to optimise, streamline, and balance bank–client relations with fairness. This work is the consequence of studying the level of financial education among consumers of financial-banking services, with direct implications for their financial well-being.

Purpose: The main aim of this research is to measure the financial knowledge of consumers of financial-banking services, developing recommendations for measures to improve the situation.

Methodology: To explain the factors of influence, the following research techniques were used: analysis and synthesis of conceptual approaches to financial education; deduction and induction; analysis of the findings of sociological research on the level of financial education of users of financial-banking services; and recommendation synthesis.

Findings: The research validates that enhancing financial education has a positive effect on individuals and the economy, reinstates confidence in financial markets, makes an innovative contribution to accurately assessing consumers’ financial knowledge enabling the implementation of proactive measures.

Implications: This chapter provides insights into consumers’ financial education level, serving as a crucial indicator for institutions and public authorities in formulating and promoting effective educational initiatives to ensure minimal skill gaps.

Details

Contemporary Challenges in Social Science Management: Skills Gaps and Shortages in the Labour Market
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83753-170-7

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 12 March 2024

G. Philip Rutledge

Abstract

Details

Journal of Financial Crime, vol. 31 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1359-0790

Article
Publication date: 16 January 2024

Ralitza Nikolaeva, Sean Field and Aliya Tskhay

The study examines the diversity of ethical motivations for investments in fossil fuels amid growing calls to decarbonize. Faced with the dilemma between energy needs and net-zero…

Abstract

Purpose

The study examines the diversity of ethical motivations for investments in fossil fuels amid growing calls to decarbonize. Faced with the dilemma between energy needs and net-zero commitments, managers need to reconcile seemingly irreconcilable external pressures. The purpose is to provide insights into the ethics justifying their investment decisions.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors draw on ethnographic research, participant observation and interviews with oil and gas executives, private equity partners, managing directors, bankers, lawyers, consultants and engineers in the US and the UK.

Findings

The findings show how managers in the oil and gas ecosystem motivate their actions in response to external pressures for decarbonization. The leitmotif is that they do the right thing even if they acknowledge that not all stakeholders agree. The findings provide insights into why net-zero pledges have failed to stem the flow of capital into fossil fuels.

Practical implications

The authors propose a nuanced engagement with stakeholders that goes beyond risk-return calculations on investments in hydrocarbons. Recognizing the diversity of ethical perspectives, money managers have the opportunity to engage institutional constituents as owners of the collective pools of capital rather than just as beneficiaries in making investment decisions.

Social implications

Money managers should be more engaged with stakeholders whose well-being depends on the funds' investments. They could facilitate the creation of partnerships with public and private organizations such as banks, national funds, city governments, pension funds, foundations, universities and religious organizations. It would be beneficial to all stakeholders to understand the nuanced and varied ethical frameworks that inform hydrocarbon investment and divestment decisions.

Originality/value

The article uses timely in-depth interview data on an issue of existential importance. The authors contribute a better understanding of how and why institutional investor capital is flowing into hydrocarbons at a time when calls to divest are louder than ever.

Details

Management Decision, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0025-1747

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Family Carers and Caring
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80043-346-5

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 21 June 2023

Colin David Reddy

This article conceptualises how the economic well-being of an entrepreneurial household affects its members' mental accounting process to establish its affordable loss for a…

Abstract

Purpose

This article conceptualises how the economic well-being of an entrepreneurial household affects its members' mental accounting process to establish its affordable loss for a plunge decision.

Design/methodology/approach

The article used research literature to analyze the resources available for entrepreneurial endeavours against a household's ability to maintain acceptable minimum material living standards, juxtaposing income and wealth against competing consumption and investment opportunities.

Findings

Mentally accounting for whether household resources can meet minimum material living standards is central to entrepreneurs' ability to raise affordable loss and decide to invest in a new venture. The article proposes that entrepreneurial households establish affordable loss by availing their money exceeding that required to maintain acceptable minimum material living standards. In low-income households, the author assumes that members are not employed and can thus avail their time (versus money) towards affordable loss.

Originality/value

Economic well-being introduces mental accounts of income and wealth and a hedonic reference outcome in the material living standards of households required to meet basic needs. The article introduces the tension entrepreneurial households face between using their income and wealth towards investing in a new business and maintaining their material living standards. It introduces the idea that a loss can be “affordable” according to an entrepreneurial household's ability to remain above its acceptable minimum material living standard. This view prompts scholars to consider a household unit of analysis and avoid assuming an entrepreneur makes the plunge decision in isolation.

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. 29 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

Keywords

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