China’s economic inequalities between rural and urban regions were high but stable during the centrally planned period. Since the inception of reforms in 1978, the disparities have exhibited a marked cyclical pattern: the declines in early years were followed by a period of increases and then by renewed declines. We find that the sharp sectoral divide in the planning episode was a result of ind...

The objective of the Air Force’s Launch Programs System Program Office (SPO) was to develop and improve the acquisition process. Realizing that the cycle time for contract proposals was an area that needed reform, the Launch Programs SPO set out to reengineer the process. By developing a contractor and government integrated product team that worked together to define a new streamlined approach ...

This article examines similarities and differences in the way that hospital staff in Australia and New Zealand are evaluating efforts to improve quality, clinical effectiveness and service integration, and to strengthen clinical accountability. We draw on data from a cross-national study of hospital staff in Australia and New Zealand. The results highlight the way in which respondents' views ab...

since 1984 iranian banks has been operating under islamic principles. this paper investigates dynamics of loans and the difficulties that iranian banking system was facing. during the period of islamic banking in iran, banks experienced a significant increase in the supply of loans. many factors have affected the behavior of banks in lending operations, the most important of which include rate ...

Non-performing loans (NPLs) are essentially a product of the irrational allocation of resources. Different from other Asian countries, China's NPL issue resulted primarily from a transitioning economy dominated by the triangular relations of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), state-owned commercial banks (SOBs) and the fiscal system. Even though the total amount of NPLs in 1999 was estimated to be...