A very British state capitalism: Variegation, political connections and bailouts during the COVID-19 crisis.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in governments playing increasingly prominent roles as active economic agents. However, state capitalism does not necessarily serve broad developmental purposes, and rather can be directed to supporting sectional and private interests. As the literature on variegated capitalism alerts us, governments and other actors regularly devise fixes in response to a systemic crisis, but the focus, scale, and scope of the interventions vary considerably, according to the constellation of interests. Rapid progress with vaccines notwithstanding, the UK government's response to COVID-19 has been associated with much controversy, not only because of an extraordinarily high death rate, but also because of allegations of cronyism around the granting of government contracts and bailouts. We focus on the latter, investigating more closely who got bailed out. We find that badly affected sectors (e.g. hospitality, transportation) and larger employers were more likely to get bailouts. However, the latter also favored the politically influential and those who had run up debt profligately. Although, as with state capitalism, crony capitalism is most often associated with emerging markets, we conclude that the two have coalesced into a peculiarly British variety, but one that has some common features with other major liberal markets. This might suggest that the eco-systemic dominance of the latter is coming to an end, or, at the least, that this model is drifting towards one that assumes many of the features commonly associated with developing nations.

A review of the internationalization of state-owned firms and sovereign wealth funds: Governments' nonbusiness objectives and discreet power.

We review and bridge the literature on the internationalization of state-owned firms and sovereign wealth funds to provide a novel understanding of how government ownership affects foreign investments in three ways. First, we explain how state-owned firms and funds behave differently from private ones because they need to balance governments' nonbusiness objectives and firms' business goals. This results in competing predictions on whether government ownership helps or hinders internationalization due to particular nonbusiness objectives. Second, building on the review, we provide suggestions on how to extend research topics and theories of the firm by incorporating these nonbusiness objectives in the internationalization decisions in four areas: home government's endowments, characteristics, and attitudes; host-country expansion's support, influence, and impact; home- and host-country relationship conflicts, mediation, and disguising; and management's orientation, opacity, and arbitrage. Third, we capture how governments may use state-owned multinationals and sovereign wealth funds to nudge host-country governments by introducing the concept of discreet power and the use of four strategies (recognition, values, development, and supremacy) to achieve it. This helps to outline the beginning of a unified approach to how governments use their foreign investments to achieve nonbusiness goals. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1057/s41267-022-00522-w.

Nous passons en revue et rapprochons la littérature de l'internationalisation des entreprises publiques et celle des fonds souverains afin d'apporter une nouvelle compréhension de la façon dont la propriété gouvernementale influence les investissements étrangers. Cette contribution se concrétise de trois manières. Premièrement, nous expliquons comment les entreprises et les fonds publics se comportent différemment des entreprises privées, parce qu'ils doivent trouver un équilibre entre les objectifs non commerciaux des gouvernements et les objectifs commerciaux des entreprises. Ce qui génère les prédictions opposées sur le rôle que joue la propriété gouvernementale: est-ce qu'elle aide ou entrave l'internationalisation en raison d'objectifs non commerciaux particuliers? Deuxièmement, nous appuyant sur la revue des littératures, nous élaborons les suggestions sur la manière d'étendre, via l'incorporation des objectifs non commerciaux aux décisions d'internationalisation, les thèmes de recherche et les théories de l'entreprise dans quatre domaines: les dotations, les caractéristiques et les attitudes du gouvernement du pays d'origine; le soutien, l'influence et l'impact de l'expansion du pays d'accueil; les conflits, la médiation et le déguisement dans les relations entre pays d'origine et pays d'accueil; et l'orientation, l'opacité et l'arbitrage de la direction. Troisièmement, nous essayons de saisir la manière dont les gouvernements peuvent utiliser les multinationales publiques et les fonds souverains pour influencer les gouvernements des pays d'accueil, et ce en introduisant le concept de pouvoir discret et l'utilisation de quatre stratégies (reconnaissance, valeurs, développement et suprématie) pour y parvenir. Cela permet d'esquisser le début d'une approche unifiée de la manière dont les gouvernements utilisent leurs investissements étrangers pour atteindre des objectifs non commerciaux.

Revisamos y unimos la literatura sobre la internacionalización de las empresas de propiedad estatal y los fondos soberanos para proporcionar una comprensión novedosa de cómo la propiedad gubernamental afecta las inversiones extranjeras de tres maneras. Primero, explicamos cómo las empresas y los fondos estatales se comportan de manera diferente a los privados porque necesitan equilibrar los objetivos no comerciales de los gobiernos y los objetivos comerciales de las empresas. Esto da lugar a predicciones contradictorias sobre si la propiedad gubernamental ayuda o dificulta la internacionalización debido a objetivos particulares no comerciales. En segundo lugar, sobre la base de la revisión, proporcionamos sugerencias sobre cómo ampliar los temas de investigación y las teorías de la empresa mediante la incorporación de estos objetivos no comerciales en las decisiones de internacionalización en cuatro áreas: recursos, características y actitudes del gobierno local; el apoyo, la influencia y el impacto de la expansión del país anfitrión; conflictos, mediación y encubrimiento de las relaciones entre el país de origen y el país anfitrión; y la orientación, opacidad y arbitraje de la gestión. En tercer lugar, capturamos cómo los gobiernos pueden usar multinacionales estatales y fondos soberanos para empujar a los gobiernos de los países anfitriones mediante la introducción del concepto de poder discreto y el uso de cuatro estrategias (reconocimiento, valores, desarrollo y supremacía) para lograrlo. Esto ayuda a delinear el comienzo de un enfoque unificado sobre cómo los gobiernos utilizan sus inversiones extranjeras para lograr objetivos no comerciales.

Revisamos e ligamos a literatura sobre a internacionalização de empresas estatais e fundos soberanos para fornecer uma nova compreensão de como a propriedade do governo afeta investimentos estrangeiros de três formas. Em primeiro lugar, explicamos como empresas e fundos estatais se comportam de maneira diferente de entidades privadas porque precisam equilibrar objetivos não comerciais de governos e metas de negócios das empresas. Isso resulta em previsões antagônicas sobre se a propriedade do governo ajuda ou atrapalha a internacionalização devido a certos objetivos não comerciais. Em segundo lugar, com base na revisão, fornecemos sugestões sobre como estender tópicos de pesquisa e teorias da firma incorporando esses objetivos não comerciais nas decisões de internacionalização em quatro áreas: dotações, características e atitudes do governo local; apoio, influência e impacto da expansão do país anfitrião; conflitos, mediação e disfarce nas relações entre país de origem e anfitrião; e orientação, opacidade e arbitragem da administração. Em terceiro lugar, capturamos como governos podem usar multinacionais e fundos soberanos estatais para estimular governos de países anfitriões, introduzindo o conceito de poder discreto e o uso de quatro estratégias (reconhecimento, valores, desenvolvimento e supremacia) para alcançá-lo. Isso ajuda a delinear o início de uma abordagem unificada de como governos usam seus investimentos estrangeiros para atingir objetivos não comerciais.

National asthma observational survey of severe asthmatics in Israel: the no-air study.

BACKGROUND: Asthma is considered a global public health issue requiring a significant medical expenditure as a result of its high prevalence and the low rate of disease control. OBJECTIVE: This is the first nationwide survey of severe asthma patients carried out in Israel. In this study we aimed to assess health resources utilization, compliance with treatment and disease-control in a subgroup of patients with severe asthma in Israel. MATERIAL AND METHOD: One hundred and twenty-three patients with a diagnosis of asthma for more then one year, as well as a hospitalization during the last 12 months due to asthma exacerbation or maintenance systemic steroids therapy, were included in this non-interventional observational study. RESULTS: Asthma was uncontrolled in 43.9%, partly controlled in 50.4% and well controlled in only 5.7%. The majority of the patients (83%) were compliant with drug treatment. CONCLUSION: The fact that 83% of the asthma patients included in this study were compliant with their asthma therapy was not manifested in asthma control. Therefore concrete tools are required for achieving and maintaining asthma control, especially in the treatment of the most severe asthmatic patients.