Christian Van Stolk

Silent professionalization: EU integration and the professional socialization of public officials in Central and Eastern Europe

This paper applies theories of international socialization to examine the impact of European Union contact on the professional socialization of public officials in Central and Eastern Europe. Based on a survey of officials in seven new member states, the paper finds that daily work on European Union issues is associated with favourable attitudes towards merit-based civil service governance. The distinction between types of European Union contact shows that officials dealing with ‘reception’-related European Union activities such as the transposition and implementation of European Union policies develop more meritocratic attitudes. By contrast, ‘projection’-related activities that involve personal contact with European Union officials have no effect. The paper concludes that the small but consistent impact of European Union contact on professional socialization promotes the silent professionalization of public administration in Central and Eastern Europe.

The impact of the National Minimum Wage on employment: A meta-analysis

This report includes the findings from a meta-analysis of the empirical UK national minimum wage literature. Similar to a previous UK minimum wage study by de Linde Leonard et al. (2014), this study finds no statistically significant aggregate adverse employment effect of the NMW and also no publication bias in the NMW literature. However, estimates for different sub-groups suggest some relative larger adverse employment effects for some labour market groups like part-time employees.

Civic Engagement: How can digital technologies underpin citizen-powered democracy?

The report provides an overview of an expert consultation on how digital technologies can be used to support citizen-powered democracy. The report focuses on collective aspirations for the future, presenting what a digitally-supported citizen-powered democracy might look like, and what its characteristics might be. The reports conclusion focuses in particular on the role of different actors and stakeholders in contributing to this vision.

The return of investment for preventive healthcare programmes: A calculation framework for GSK's Partnership for Prevention (P4P)

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Review of computerised cognitive behavioural therapies: Products and outcomes for people with mental health needs

Common mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, and other disorders, affect many people and incur increasing costs to individuals, employers, and government. Several challenges have been identified in the provision of public services for people with common mental health problems. A previous study by RAND Europe suggested that providing access to online mental health assessment and support and building on computerised cognitive behavioural therapy (cCBT) interventions could help reach out to the general population and, in particular, those less likely to seek help elsewhere. This study explores online platforms and mobile applications that offer cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for people with mental health needs. Overall, this review shows that a variety of cCBT products exist which differ both in terms of the conditions products aim to address and the ways in which platforms are designed. The tools offer support through a varying number of modules (or lessons) clustered around specific issues that need to be addressed. The number of modules offered by the tools differs slightly by condition: platforms for anxiety disorders and insomnia are on average lengthier, with a median number of modules of 9 and 8 respectively, compared to those for depression in which the median is 6.5. The majority of tools use a linear structure and offer at least some additional guidance, although the intensity of this extra support is typically low.

La convergence sans diffusion ? Analyse comparative du choix des indicateurs de performance dans l'administration fiscale et la sécurité sociale

Dans cet article, nous comparons, sur un plan transnational, le choix des indicateurs de performance dans deux secteurs fondamentaux de l’activite de l’Etat, a savoir l’administration fiscale et la securite sociale. Nous avons examine le choix des indicateurs de performance dans six pays (Australie, Canada, Pays-Bas, Suede, RU et Etats-Unis) pour analyser les principaux facteurs qui motivent le choix d’indicateurs donnes dans le contexte des traditions administratives nationales et des programmes de reforme plus recents, d’une part, et des evolutions vers les echanges et les « analyses comparatives » internationaux, d’autre part. Nous etudions l’importance et l’interaction relatives des differents facteurs a l’origine des choix ainsi que leur influence sur le developpement et l’application des indicateurs de performance. A cette fin, nous avons associe les approches institutionnalistes a la litterature sur les mecanismes et les effets des echanges internationaux et de la diffusion des politiques. Notre analyse indique que les grandes similarites qui existent sont liees a des similarites dans les activites et les valeurs fondamentales a la base des reformes contemporaines du service public. Les variations dans le choix des indicateurs de performance (IP) sont l’expression de facteurs locaux, comme les modalites de gouvernance, qui determinent les grandes tendances de reforme. Ces modalites influencent aussi les eventuels apprentissages internationaux.Resume a l’intention des praticiensLe present article vise a contribuer au debat sur les moyens pour les organisations de tirer des enseignements de l’experience des autres dans la definition des indicateurs de performance et des systemes de gestion. Les possibilites d’apprentissage transnational et transversal sont particulierement nombreuses dans les categories ou une organisation donnee n’a pas encore mis au point d’indicateurs de performance mais ou d’autres l’ont deja fait. Cependant, toute lecture croisee a partir des choix realises par d’autres pays doit tenir compte du fait que la definition et l’usage d’indicateurs de performance sont, dans une large mesure, determines par des traditions institutionnelles et des modalites de gouvernance nationales, ainsi que par des approches nationales plus larges en matiere de gestion de la performance. Dans la mise au point d’indicateurs de performance, il convient de tenir notamment compte des rapports de responsabilite dans le cadre desquels les agences sont organisees.