This paper analyses the evolution of the welfare states in the majority of OECD countries during the pre-globalisation (1946--80) and globalisation (1980--2000) periods. Our purpose is to find out whether globalisation has produced a convergence towards a smaller welfare state, funded...

This two-part article analyzes the nature of political power in Western capitalist societies and its implications in medicine. Part I presents a Marxist theory of the role, nature and mode of state intervention. Part II focuses on the analysis of that mode of state intervention in the health...

This analysis reflects on the importance of political parties, and the policies they implement when in government, in determining the level of equalities/inequalities in a society, the extent of the welfare state (including the level of health care coverage by the state), the...

The conventional wisdom in many circles is that globalization and public expenditures are at odds with each other. The author shows that, historically speaking, this conflict has not been the case.

This article is a reply to Reidy's critique of my work, published under the title, 'Marxist Functionalism in Medicine: A Critique of the Work of Vicente Navarro'. The first part of Reidy's article contains a lengthy list of what she defines as "the symptoms of the disease" and the second part...

This article (1) analyzes the Willy Brandt Commission Report and the WHO Alma Ata Declaration within the socio-economic and political context that determined them, and (2) makes a critique of the ideological and political assumptions that both documents make. Through an assumingly apolitical and...

This article presents a discussion of why some capitalist developed countries have national health insurance schemes, others have national health services, and the U.S. has neither. The first section provides a critical analysis of some of the major answers given to these questions by authors...

Many observers argue that recent votes unfavorable to the European Union are the result of specific factors in each country. The authors argue there is a more central problem. The European social model has been seriously undermined, partly because of budgetary agreements of the EU and a zealous...

This report examines one major source of bias in the yearly Current Population Survey -- nonresponse rates. It shows evidence of systematic undercounting due to the disproportionately high nonresponse rate from individuals who are less likely to be employed than the general population.