Integration and consolidation in EU banking - an unfinished business

The objective of this paper is to review the obstacles to cross-border integration and consolidation, which confront banks operating within the EU. Theoretical and empirical evidence supports the view that integration and consolidation in the banking sector can enhance overall economic performance via macroeconomic stabilisation, higher levels of efficiency and consumer welfare. While in recent years only slow progress has been recorded in EU cross-border banking integration, a substantial consolidation in the Member State's national banking sectors has occurred leading to rising domestic concentration ratios implying greater efficiency but potentially limiting welfare gains. The lack of progress in cross-border integration can be attributed to various factors, including national differences in market practices, regulation and taxation. A fairly comprehensive list of existing obstacles is provided and their impact on the main avenues for cross-border banking integration is examined, namely on (i) organic growth in the form of foreign branches and subsidiaries, (ii) cross-border mergers and acquisitions and (iii) cross-border provision of banking services. In addition, the role of institutional factors relating to the framework for prudential supervision is considered, notably in the context of the relationship of home and host country supervisors with each other and with market participants. While the highlighted issues are of general relevance in the context of EU financial integration, they might be of special significance in the context of the recently acceded Member States and their largely foreign owned banking system.Banking, banking integration, banking consolidation, cross-border banking, Walkner, Raes, intergation and consolidation in EU banking, EU banking

“You get old. You get invisible”: Social isolation and the challenge of communicating with aging women

Social isolation is a problem facing many older women. Isolation can contribute to poor health as adults age without social support. Increased and tailored communication offers service organizations more opportunities to provide social support to these adults. This research examines perceptions of aging to explore communication behaviors, barriers, and opportunities for improved communication and service provision for aging women. Using data from focus groups and interviews, this study finds that participants from community organizations rely on word of mouth and traditional media to communicate with their aging constituents, despite opportunities to use digital communication and to develop communication plans for this population

State of intervention: community stakeholder discourse on teen childbearing in Iowa

The state of teen childbearing in Iowa (USA) is positioned by community leaders as a discursive battleground for intervention. In 2015 meetings with community stakeholders, participants framed ‘culture’ (which they defined as ethnicity and religion) as a barrier in decreasing the state’s teen pregnancy rate and increasing girls’ economic self-sufficiency. The childbearing teen body was, unsurprisingly, portrayed as a public health problem in need of organizational intervention. But how participants linked ‘culture’ to neoliberal ideals was surprising and specific. Utilizing McRobbie’s concept of the ‘real self’ and Foucault’s explication of governmentality, this study draws out the role of neoliberal self-sufficiency in grooming teens to perform adolescent femininity and self-govern. In doing so, it considers community stakeholders’ meaning-making processes. Findings show the interventionist discourse does more than attempt to prevent early pregnancy: it reinforces acceptable and unacceptable pregnant bodies and compels community leaders and practitioners to govern childbearing teen bodies in precise ways

Adoption and Emerging Adult-Mother Relationship Quality: Is There an Association?

University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. July 2015. Major: Family Social Science. Advisor: Martha Rueter. 1 computer file (PDF); vi, 95 pages.Emerging adulthood is a developmental period in which family relationships are important, yet research provides evidence that adoptive families have lower relationship quality compared to their nonadoptive counterparts. Despite some support for a relationship between adoption and adoptee-adoptive mother relationships during emerging adulthood, no systematic investigation has occurred. Utilizing self-report and observational data from the Sibling Interaction and Behavior Study, two studies employed hierarchical regression analyses to extend knowledge of the relationship between adoption and adoptee-adoptive mother relationships during emerging adulthood. Study 1 investigated the association between adoptee-reported adoption-related variables and the self-reported and observed relationships adoptees have with their adoptive mothers during emerging adulthood. Emerging adult adoptees who felt more positively about adoption had higher closeness and relationship quality and lower conflict with adoptive mothers. Additionally, transracial emerging adult adoptees were found to have lower conflict and higher relationship quality with adoptive mothers compared to inracial adoptees. Study 2 investigated the association between adoptive mother-reported adoption-related variables and the self-reported and observed relationships adoptive mothers have with their adopted children during emerging adulthood. Findings suggest that adoptive mothers' attitudes about adoption and adoption type (inracial vs. transracial) had little association with the relationships they had with their emerging adult adoptees

Clinical Management of Food Allergy

Food allergies have become a growing public health concern. Currently the standard of care focuses on avoidance of trigger foods, education, and treatment of symptoms following accidental ingestions. Here we provide a framework for primary care physicians and allergists for the diagnosis, management, and treatment of pediatric food allergy

Observing Change Over Time in Strength-Based Parenting and Subjective Wellbeing for Pre-teens and Teens

The focus of this study was on adolescent mental health. More specifically, the relationship between strength-based parenting (SBP) and subjective wellbeing (SWB) during adolescence was examined at three time points over 14 months (N = 202, Mage = 12.97, SDage = 0.91, 48% female). SBP was positively related to life satisfaction and positive affect at each of the three time points, and was negatively related to negative affect. SBP and SWB both declined significantly over time. When examining the causal relationships between SBP and SWB, two different statistical models were applied: latent growth-curve models (LGM) and random-intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPM). The LGM revealed a strong positive relationship between changes in SBP and SWB. Specifically, this model showed that SBP at one time point predicted adolescent SWB at future time points. However, when the more stringent statistical test was completed through RI-CLPMs, no cross-lagged paths reached significance. Thus, while parenting is a significant predictor of wellbeing for pre-teens and teens in real time, it is not predictive of wellbeing at future time points. Parents, thus, cannot assume that their current levels of SBP are ‘banked’ by their children to support future wellbeing. Instead, SBP needs to be an ongoing, contemporary parenting practice. Furthermore, the fact that perceptions of SBP decline in this age bracket suggest that SBP interventions may be helpful in supporting adolescent mental health

Can we define a level of protection for allergic consumers that everyone can accept?

Substantial progress has been made in characterising the risk associated with exposure to allergens in food. However, absence of agreement on what risk is tolerable has made it difficult to set quantitative limits to manage that risk and protect allergic consumers effectively. This paper reviews scientific progress in the area and the diverse status of allergen management approaches and lack of common standards across different jurisdictions, including within the EU. This lack of regulation largely explains why allergic consumers find Precautionary Allergen Labelling confusing and cannot rely on it. We reviewed approaches to setting quantitative limits for a broad range of food safety hazards to identify the reasoning leading to their adoption. This revealed a diversity of approaches from pragmatic to risk-based, but we could not find clear evidence of the process leading to the decision on risk acceptability. We propose a framework built around the criteria suggested by Murphy and Gardoni (2008) for approaches to defining tolerable risks. Applying these criteria to food allergy, we concluded that sufficient knowledge exists to implement the framework, including sufficient expertise across the whole range of stakeholders to allow opinions to be heard and respected, and a consensus to be achieved

Best Practices and Protests: Toward Effective Use of Past Performance as a Criterion in Source Selections

Recent federal procurement policies require evaluations of offerors’ past performance as a way to reduce risk in selecting sources of supply. As past performance has grown in importance in source selections, however, the number of past performance-related contract award protests has also increased, indicating that firms are uncomfortable with the discretion exercised by procurement officials in this area. Two resources that can aid in the development of officials’ “competent discretion” are procurement agency’s best practice guides, which reflect practical wisdom and lessons learned from the experience of practitioners, and General Accounting Office (GAO) cases of past performance-related bid protests. This article provides a coordinated discussion of these resources, which together with applicable Federal Acquisition Regulation provisions, illuminate more effective use of past performance as an evaluation criterion