In unserem Land werden viele soziale Leistungen durch freiwillig Engagierte erbracht, sei es in der Erziehung, der Pflege oder der Hilfe für Geflüchtete. Was auf der einen Seite ein positives Signal für die Hilfsbereitschaft und den Zusammenhalt in der Gesellschaft ist,...

Die Haushalte der Kommunen werden wesentlich durch das soziodemographische Umfeld (wirtschaftliche und soziale

Lage) und landesrechtliche Bestimmungen (Aufgabenkatalog, Finanzausgleich, Haushaltsrecht) geprägt. Gleichwohl sind gesunde oder krisenhafte Haushalte kein...

Industry 4.0 can be described as the fourth industrial revolution, a mega‑Trend that affects every company around the world. A recent Input-Paper published by the Bertelsmann Stiftung and carried out by the Fraunhofer Institute analyses the potentials and challenges for...

The Eurozone countries are economically different. The crisis has rendered some of these differences more acute and this could destabilize the currency union. The Eurozone countries therefore need to agree on which type of convergence is most important to them and the best...

Public reporting can clearly help improve patient care. But what exactly does this mean in terms of the outpatient sector? What role do other patients’ experiences play in the context of reporting on the quality of a physician’s practice?

Since April 1, 2017, outpatient psychotherapeutic care in Germany has been subject to a new regulation. The reform, however, does not change the fact that there are far too few psychotherapeutic practices in rural areas.

The European Union’s budget is relatively small but how it is financed and for what purpose it is used is controversial. The debate around this issue is coming to a head with the pending departure of the United Kingdom. Where does the EU get its money from? Who benefits from...

The euro crisis was, besides an economic and sovereign debt crisis, a full-blown banking crisis. The Banking Union was thus created precisely to break the vicious circle of ailing banks and weak government finances in the Eurozone. For the moment, it consists of a European...

Since 2013, inflation in the euro area has been too low. In order to revive the economy and bring inflation back to target, the European Central Bank has implemented a low interest-rate policy which includes a bond-buying programme known as quantitative easing or QE. The...

High levels of sovereign debt have become a serious issue in the Eurozone. This does not just affect the individual member states: The European debt crisis has shown that difficulties in one euro-area country can spread to the entire currency union. What strategies are being...