Academic literature on the topic 'England, general'

“Young England: Part One” pursues central questions for juvenilia studies: how did the turn-of-the-century juvenile tradition influence succeeding generations of Victorian writers, and what new questions does scholarly understanding of juvenile writing in Britain allow literary critics to ask now? The Romantic-era juvenile tradition gets reconstituted through its influence on the 1840s Tory splinter movement, Young England. I argue that this contradictory, conservative group of titled young writers paradoxically reveals how the marginalized juvenile tradition calls its writers into being—and asks us to revise our ideas of literary traditions and of history in general. The young Romantics Byron and Shelley symbolized youthful writing to Young Englanders, but so did another lesser-known juvenile writer, Percy Smythe, Sixth Lord Strangford. That Strangford was father to a prominent Young Englander: George Smythe, later Seventh Lord Strangford. In recovering both Strangfords’ literary juvenilia, Part One considers the rethinking of genealogy and succession within writing by young authors—arguing it underlies Young England as youth movement, especially its sense of history as ultimately inaccessible but vital nonetheless in its construction. Part Two (JJS 3.2, June 2020) will look more closely at how Young England’s shaping fantasy of history depends on youth. It focuses on the self-fashioning within its contradictions of one-time juvenile writer and Young England’s mentor, Benjamin Disraeli (later Prime Minister and Earl of Beaconsfield)—contradictions employing signifiers of youth that were generative of his virtuoso performance as writer, celebrity, and statesman.

Objectives Improving dementia diagnosis rates in England has been a key strategic aim of the UK Government but the variation and low diagnosis rates are poorly understood. The aim of this study was to explore the variation in actual versus expected diagnosis of dementia across England, and how these variations were associated with general practice characteristics. Method A cross-sectional, ecological study design using secondary data sources and median regression modelling was used. Data from the year 2011 for 7711 of the GP practices in England (92.7%). Associations of dementia diagnosis rates (%) per practice, calculated using National Health Service England’s ‘Dementia Prevalence Calculator’ and various practice characteristics were explored using a regression model. Results The median dementia diagnosis rate was 41.6% and the interquartile range was 31.2–53.9%. Multivariable regression analysis demonstrated positive associations between dementia diagnosis rates and deprivation of the population, overall Quality and Outcomes Framework performance, type of primary care contract and size of practice list. Negative associations were found between dementia diagnosis rates and average experience of GPs in the practice and the proportion of the practice caseload over 65 years old. Conclusion Dementia diagnosis rates vary greatly across GP practices in England. This study has found independent associations between dementia diagnosis rates and a number of patient and practice characteristics. Consideration of these factors locally may provide targets for case-finding interventions and so facilitate timely diagnosis.

Раскрытию проблемы разрушения цивилизации посвящена новелла Д. Г. Лоуренса “England, My England”. Поиск направлений самоопределения в литературе встречается довольно часто: личностного самоопределения, себя в этом мире и идеального общества. Новелла Д. Г. Лоуренса “England, My England” была написана автором в тяжелые времена Британской истории: Первая мировая война, разруха и бедность населения, формирование Соединенного Королевства Великобритании и Северной Ирландии. Все эти процессы волновали не только историков и политологов, а также нашли свое отражение в литературе этого периода. D. H. Lawrence's short story "England, My England" considers the problem of the civilization destruction. The search for directions of self-determination in literature is quite common: personal self-determination, finding oneself in this world and an ideal society. D. H. Lawrence's short story "England, My England" was written by the author during the difficult times of British history: the First World War, devastation and poverty of the population, the formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. All these processes were of concern not only to historians and political scientists, but were also reflected in the literature of this period.

General surgery training in England ceased to run through to completion of training from specialty training level one (ST1) as of August 2010. Instead, a second competitive interview to enter ST3 has been introduced. As a result, up to 180 ST3 vacancies in general surgery should become available for recruitment each year in England, according to figures obtained from Medical Specialty Training (England), the successor to Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) (personal communication). The general surgery specialist advisory committee (SAC) was asked in 2008 by MMC to consider how best to appoint to these ST3 posts. Experience from other surgical specialties has shown that a national selection process offers the potential to recruit the best core surgical trainees.

My doctoral thesis examines the intellectual and political relationship between England and the general councils of the Church from the Council of Pisa until the Council of Trent. It illuminates the hitherto unexplored features of the revolution that was the end of universal papal authority. With the transfer of spiritual authority to Henry VIII, the heads of England’s Protestant regimes inherited the papacy’s distrust of the general council, which had the potential to interfere with the course of the reformation in England. At the same time, the thesis examines the changing nature of public commitment to universal decision-making in the Church in the face of resistance by hierarchs (papal or royal). It finds a widespread support for the general council over the period, but also a plurality of views about how conciliar government could be reconciled with monarchical rule in the Church. In the fifteenth century, conciliarism had to contend with the suspicions of those who wished to shore up the Church hierarchy against Wycliffite attacks. In the sixteenth century, there was still competition between the establishment’s defence of an hierarchical Church, directed by the monarchy, and theories which stressed the importance of conciliar government. These arguments took different shapes when used by popular rebels in favour of traditional religion grounded on conciliar consent, or by Protestants in favour of synodal government by the godly. But they were both outcomes of enduring instabilities in the ideology of Church government, which had their roots in the fifteenth century.

This thesis is based on an eighteen-month period of fieldwork with a group of general practitioners in the North East of England. Changing patterns in the practice of primary health care are examined alongside a detailed discussion of the role of the practice nurse in order to set general practice in its cultural and historical context. The thesis takes issue with the positioning of primary health care practitioners squarely within Kleinman's 'professional' sector. Within this context, three major themes relating to the primary health care setting are identified as being of major relevance to the enquiry 1. the use of narratives by patients and practitioners, both clinical and therapeutic 2. The role of the general practitioner and practice nurse in mediation between the patient and the secondary health care sector and the role of the practice nurse in mediation between the general practitioner and the patient3. the similarities in practice between healers in primary health care settings and ethnomedicine in traditional and developed societies These themes are illustrated by the use of fieldwork material and are discussed with reference to current anthropological theory concerning narrative, mediation, dialogics, the placebo effect and the practice of shamanism, as an example of ethnomedicine. On the basis of an examination of the similarities between primary care practitioners and ethnomedical practitioners, namely: quality of practitioner-patient relationship based on narrative understanding, shared cultural explanatory models, and shared mediatory role, this thesis concludes that a shared philosophy underlines the two, and that general practice is in itself a system of ethnomedicine practised within the Western context.

An analysis of the commercial letters of credit in England and Greece. Contents include the types of letters of credit, the legal relationships, shipping documents tendered under a letter of credit, transfer of the letter of credit, and the banker's security.

Despite the expansion of the literature on the implications that different inputs have on the educational outcomes of students, empirical research has so far lacked the full capacity to provide unequivocal findings. Essentially, this deficiency is mainly attributed to two main factors; the lack of reliable data and the lack of full dimensionality in the theoretical model adopted to explain such data (Levaččićć and Vignoles, 2002; Knoeppel, Verstegen, and Rinehart, 2007). This dissertation aims to fill those gaps by first building a unique large dataset that covers all aspects of the educational process and second by adopting an integrated theoretical model and advanced quantitative methodological approaches to analyze it. With the fulfillment of such aim the dissertation manages to fill some of the gaps identified in the Education Economics literature related to the relationships between the cognitive and affective educational outcomes of English adolescents on one hand and three main inputs representing each of the three indentified factors in the theoretical model on the other hand controlling for other possible heterogeneities. Specifically, the thesis examines the effect of school process inputs in Chapter 2, family structure as a key family background input in Chapter 3 and finally religion and religiosity as a key adolescent’s personal input in Chapter 4.

The use of peri-urban fenlands for agriculture usmg urban waste as manorial treatments is increasingly common worldwide, particularly in developing countries. The risk to human health from the use of these contaminated materials for crop production has been studied using two historically contaminated fenlands in NW England. The GBASE survey carried out by the British Geological Survey identified two areas of metal contaminated fenland; west of Manchester (Chat Moss) and north of Liverpool (Halsall Moss). The two areas are used for arable agriculture, and current demand for locally sourced food is increasing pressure on farmers to move to vegetable horticulture. The effect of the metal contamination on the soils and crops is of key importance to monitor any risk to the food chain. Historical research identified the two mossland areas as contaminated with urban wastes, Halsall Moss contaminated with urban organic wastes such as manure and Chat Moss contaminated with urban organic and mineral wastes. Waste disposal on Chat Moss was carried out by the Manchester Corporation to dispose of city waste and generate farmland from the peat. During the drainage up to 1.92 Mt of waste was incorporated into the soil, representing 38% of the topsoil today. Profiles of contaminated and control sites on Chat Moss and a contaminated site on Halsall Moss were collected, with pH, organic matter content and trace metal content measured. Trace metal content was elevated over subsoil levels in the topsoil of all sites, for example arsenic showed topsoil concentrations of 45 mg kg-I in the most contaminated site (CM-3) compared to 3 mg kg-I in the subsoil. The elevation of trace metals in the historically uncontaminated sites indicated possible atmospheric deposition of metals at the control site. Contamination levels were found to be less than originally identified in the GBASE survey, possibly due to differing sample preparation methods and survey size. The GBASE survey measured an average lead concentration in contaminated sites of 1985 mg kg-I compared to 378 mg kg-I measured by the current study. Arsenic and cadmium concentrations exceeded Soil Guideline Values in the most contaminated site, 43 mg kg-I and 1.8 mg kg-I respectively, but all other metals were within guideline limits. Halsall Moss was found to be less contaminated than Chat Moss, due to the mainly organic nature of the waste disposed at Halsall Moss. The mobility and fractionation of the contamination at the most contaminated site on Chat Moss were studied to understand the behaviour of the metals and assess potential risk to ecological or human health. Using sequential extractions, most metals were identified as hosted by organic, Fe/Mn oxide or residual phases. There was no difference observed in fractionation between control and contaminated sites, indicating that soil properties such as organic matter and Fe/Mn oxide content were more important in controlling fractionation than the source of metals. A comparison of Chat Moss with three soils of known contamination history also identified soil properties as key in controlling fractionation. Lability of Pb in the contaminated Chat Moss soil was assessed using 204Pb stable isotope dilution, it was found that 65% of lead was labile. This was the highest out of the four soils studied, and again most likely controlled by soil properties such as organic matter content and pH. The impact of flooding events on the Chat Moss soils was assessed, and it was found that under redox conditions of -200 mY, large quantities of arsenic, lead, molybdenum and manganese were released to soil solution, and drinking water limits for these metals were violated, for example As solution concentration reached 308 J.1g L-1 and the drinking water limit is 10 Ilg L-1. Environmental quality standards for freshwater were also violated by arsenic, copper, lead and zinc showing potential ecological hazard under these reducing conditions, with lead concentrations reaching 137 J.1g L-1 in contrast to the environmental quality standard of 4 - 20 J.1g L-1. The effect of soil contamination on vegetables grown on Chat Moss was also investigated, EU limits for Cd were exceeded by lettuce and onion, and EU limits for Pb were exceeded by parsley, carrot, radish and onion. Hazard Quotients used to assess the impact of plant contamination in the context of human intake showed that only cadmium and molybdenum were potentially hazardous. Thus it is not recommended to grow lettuce (high Cd), parsley, cabbage, radish and onion (all high molybdenum) at contaminated sites on Chat Moss. To minimise risk, conducting liming to raise the pH and immobilise the metals could be used, and careful selection of cultivars that do not accumulate metals is recommended.

This study aims to clarify the nature of the theatrical way of Henry Caldwell Cook who was the first to introduce theatre into education for English as a first language. This study critically examines the content of his original teaching method, Play Way, and attempts to appropriately place its context in the history of drama education in England in order to explore how effectively drama can be used in language education. The use of theatre for education has a long history. Commencing in ancient Greece and Rome, it has continued until the present time. However, modern drama education has no more than about a hundred years of history. It was Cook and Harriet Finlay-Johnson who opened the history of this theatrical education. Finlay-Johnson had persistently used theatre to teach all subjects, mainly because of her educational stance as an elementary school teacher. She is closely associated with the leaders of DIE (Drama-in-Education) who adhere to the same educational policy. While Cook also used theatre as a means for language education and did his best to maintain a theatrical framework, there is a fundamental difference between Cook's educational method and that of DIE. His Play Way seems to closely resemble TIE (Theatre-in-Education) in that both bring in theatre for school education. However, this similarity is superficial. In the TIE method, while the autonomy of theatre has always been maintained, theatre in Cook's method was used as a means for education to the end, although concurrently he had been able to properly grasp the nature of theatre. Behind such a view of theatre as an educational end in itself is Cook's recognition of the theatricality of human beings. His theatrical teaching tells us that when using theatre as a tool for language education, we must first correctly understand its intrinsic qualities.

AbstractThis was another period of churn for the NHS. First, the service endured another restructuring exercise, reducing hierarchical layers to a less rigid bureaucratic structure. Area Health Authorities (AHAs) were abolished in 1982 and replaced by 192 District Health Authorities (DHAs). Second, there was a move away from ‘consensus’ style management towards ‘general management’ following the publication of the influential Griffiths Report in 1983. This marked an important phase in the NHS in which a clearly defined management function was implemented to improve efficiency, planning and accountability but bought shifting sands to the way community nursing services were managed. A review of community nursing services in a similar vein, The Cumberlege Report (1986), also proved significant. We focus on the recommendations of this report for improving the role and function of district nursing services and their geographical deployment to strengthen the concept of a localised, neighbourhood nursing structure. Whilst this was a period of change in terms of the organisation and management of Community Health Services and indeed the NHS as a whole, the core role of community or district nurses remained as one of care in the community but with an emphasis on greater multi-disciplinary team working.

This analysis reviews attempts to tackle inequities in the supply of general practice services in England over the past 30 years. The report looks at policies on general practice funding, workforce, premises, contracts and commissioning. It provides several recommendations for national policymakers, including: a new equity test for all new policies in general practice; an independent review of general practice funding allocations; and a long-term workforce strategy for general practice that should consider stronger central coordination and oversight of GP distribution.

Purpose & Significance: Despite the popularity of lottery and scratchcards and some evidence of gambling problems among players, limited research focuses on the risks of lottery and scratchcard play and predictors of problems, especially among young people. The purpose of this project is to examine whether lottery and scratchcard participation is related to gambling problems among 16-24 year olds in Great Britain and whether general and mental health and gambling behaviours explain this relationship. Methodology: Samples of 16-24 year olds were pooled from the 2012, 2015, and 2016 Gambling in England and Scotland: Combined Data from the Health Survey for England and the Scottish Health Survey (n=3,454). Bivariate analyses and Firth method logistic regression were used to examine the relationship between past-year lottery and scratchcard participation and gambling problems, assessing the attenuating role of mental wellbeing, mental health disorders, self-assessed general health, and playing other games in past year. Results: There is a significant association between scratchcard play and gambling problems. The association somewhat attenuated but remained significant after taking into account wellbeing, mental health disorders, general health, and engagement in other gambling activities. Findings also show that gambling problems are further predicted by age (20-24 years), gender (male), lower wellbeing, and playing any other gambling games. Implications: Results are valuable for informing youth-focused education, decisions around the legal age for National Lottery products, and the development of safer gambling initiatives for high risk groups and behaviours, such as scratchcard play.

This OpenSAFELY report is a routine update of our peer-review paper published in the British Journal of General Practice on the Clinical coding of long COVID in English primary care: a federated analysis of 58 million patient records in situ using OpenSAFELY. It is a routine update of the analysis described in the paper. The data requires careful interpretation and there are a number of caveats. Please read the full detail about our methods and discussionis and the full analytical methods on this routine report are available on GitHub. OpenSAFELY is a new secure analytics platform for electronic patient records built on behalf of NHS England to deliver urgent academic and operational research during the pandemic. You can read more about OpenSAFELY on our website.

This report presents findings drawn from qualitative remote ethnography research with 24 UK participants conducted during July and August 2021, plus nine peer-to-peer interviews conducted by main sample participants with their friends and family. This research aimed to build on existing evidence in this area to fill gaps and provide an up-to-date snapshot of UK public experiences. Areas of focus included: Motivations for dietary choices Any gaps between consumer intention and behaviour Trade-offs and contextual differences (e.g. in vs. out-of home behaviours) The roles of specialist diets, substitution approaches, alternatives and ‘imitations’, locally/UK sourced meat and dairy, socio-demographics, culture and family Impact and role of food labelling and terminology The sample represented a range of variables including age, gender, nationality (England, Wales, Northern Ireland), urbanity/rurality, lifestage and household composition - and dietary profile (carnivore, ‘cutting down,’ vegetarian, vegan). This report was informed by an evidence review by the University of Bath on the factors underpinning the consumption of meat and dairy among the general public.

This report summarises the findings from qualitative research exploring public attitudes towards regulatory divergence related to food products. The research was conducted with 78 participants from England, Wales and Northern Ireland, who took part in four online workshops between 26 January and 7 February 2023. Each workshop lasted three hours. Previous research for the Food Standards Agency (FSA) captured general consumer views towards regulatory divergence in the meat industry. Attitudes were influenced by three key factors including the scale of the change, perceptions of whether an erosion of standards could increase the risk of food becoming unsafe and the perceived motivations behind making changes. This study was designed to explore whether findings were applicable across other food sectors, product types, and regulated activities, and to understand what factors influence consumer views of regulatory divergence. Reflecting the complexity of the subject matter, our methodology was designed to introduce the public to the context for change and the concept of regulatory divergence, provide them with an opportunity to ask the FSA questions and used hypothetical scenarios to draw out views on regulatory divergence in practice.

The Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill is currently going through Parliament. Although this bill is ‘England only’ and food and feed safety and hygiene is a devolved issue, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) will introduce a separate regulatory framework for precision bred organisms (PBOs), should the Bill become law. The FSA will also work with stakeholders in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to ensure consumers’ interests are protected in relation to PBOs. The FSA / Food Standard Scotland (FSS) is science and evidence led. In August 2022, the FSA and FSS commissioned Ipsos UK to conduct a two-phase social research project on precision breeding. Phase One, now complete, involved a survey of 4,177 UK residents with robust samples in each UK nation to allow comparisons between and within nations. Phase Two, scheduled to start in September 2022 and report in early 2023, will comprise a series of Citizens’ Forums in England, Wales and Northern Ireland(footnote 1). The overall aims of this project are to: explore consumer attitudes towards precision breeding gather consumer views on the FSA’s proposed regulatory framework understand consumer information needs inform how to communicate with consumers about precision breeding. This document presents interim findings for this project, reporting descriptive data from Phase One. Phase One’s core aims were to provide a snapshot of consumers’ awareness and self-assessed knowledge of precision breeding, its perceived acceptability, risks and benefits, and consumer appetite for information about this production method. These data show that awareness of precision breeding is very low, something which should be borne in mind when considering these findings. While these data reveal that there is a general openness to trying precision bred foods across the UK, with more people anticipating benefits than disbenefits from the use of precision breeding, there is a large degree of uncertainty about what impact precision bred foods may have on the different parts of the food system. This is reflected in the relatively large proportions of people taking a neutral stance or indicating they do not know enough to answer survey questions and in the strong appetite expressed for information about precision breeding to be provided. The next phase of this project will be essential for the FSA’s ability to interpret these findings’ implications, and to understand what is informing consumers’ views. The purpose of Phase One has always been to let the FSA know ‘what’ consumers think about precision breeding; Phase Two’s purpose is to build our understanding ‘why’ they think it. This will allow the FSA to develop a more nuanced understanding of consumers’ needs and incorporate this into the design of the future regulatory framework and any engagement with consumers on precision breeding. FSS will be carrying out further research in Scotland.

England and Wales have the highest per capita prison population in Western Europe. In October 2023, over 88,000 people were imprisoned, in an estate with a maximum capacity of 88,890. This was the highest number recorded. 94% of people in prison are adult men and the adult male prison estate is almost full. The prison estate is operating at 99% of its usable operational capacity and over 60% of prisons are overcrowded. Drivers of the current prison population growth include changes in sentencing policy (including increased sentence lengths). Other factors include remand, recall, reoffending and policing. The number of people given immediate custodial sentences has fallen from 98,044 in 2012, to 67,812 in 2022. This suggests that the prison population increase is not driven by more convictions. Nearing capacity can have negative implications for the safe operation of prisons, and for the health, wellbeing and rehabilitation of people in prison. Government action to avoid exceeding capacity includes expanding the prison estate and releasing some prisoners up to 18 days early. As of December 2023, three relevant bills are progressing through Parliament: the Sentencing Bill 2023, the Criminal Justice Bill 2023, and the Victims and Prisoners Bill 2023. Each contains a range of measures, with some likely to reduce the prison population and others likely to increase it. Various stakeholders have proposed additional policy options, such as the greater use of non-custodial sentences, and interventions to reduce the remand and recall populations. Some experts in this field have highlighted the role of public opinion in relation to sentencing policy and the relationship between prisons and the wider justice system. Evidence suggests that the public generally overestimate crime rates and underestimate sentence lengths, and that better-informed members of the public are less likely to view sentences as lenient. More high-quality research is needed to better understand the drivers of increased sentence length and to evaluate health and rehabilitation programmes in the prison context.

We believe the climate crisis will be resolved in cities. Today, while cities occupy only 2% of the Earth's surface, 57% of the world's population lives in cities, and by 2050, it will jump to 68% (UN, 2018). Currently, cities consume over 75% of natural resources, accumulate 50% of the global waste and emit up to 80% of greenhouse gases (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2017). Cities generate 70% of the global gross domestic product and are significant drivers of economic growth (UN-Habitat III, 2016). At the same time, cities sit on the frontline of natural disasters such as floods, storms and droughts (De Sherbinin et al., 2007; Major et al., 2011; Rockström et al., 2021). One of the sustainability pathways to reduce the environmental consequences of the current extract-make-dispose model (or the "linear economy") is a circular economy (CE) model. A CE is defined as "an economic system that is based on business models which replace the 'end-of-life' concept with reducing, alternatively reusing, recycling and recovering materials in production/distribution and consumption processes" (Kirchherr et al., 2017, p. 224). By redesigning production processes and thereby extending the lifespan of goods and materials, researchers suggest that CE approaches reduce waste and increase employment and resource security while sustaining business competitiveness (Korhonen et al., 2018; Niskanen et al., 2020; Stahel, 2012; Winans et al., 2017). Organizations such as the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and Circle Economy help steer businesses toward CE strategies. The CE is also a political priority in countries and municipalities globally. For instance, the CE Action Plan, launched by the European Commission in 2015 and reconfirmed in 2020, is a central pillar of the European Green Deal (European Commission, 2015, 2020). Additionally, more governments are implementing national CE strategies in China (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2018), Colombia (Government of the Republic of Colombia, 2019), Finland (Sitra, 2016), Sweden (Government Offices of Sweden, 2020) and the US (Metabolic, 2018, 2019), to name a few. Meanwhile, more cities worldwide are adopting CE models to achieve more resource-efficient urban management systems, thereby advancing their environmental ambitions (Petit-Boix & Leipold, 2018; Turcu & Gillie, 2020; Vanhuyse, Haddaway, et al., 2021). Cities with CE ambitions include, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Paris, Toronto, Peterborough (England) and Umeå (Sweden) (OECD, 2020a). In Europe, over 60 cities signed the European Circular Cities Declaration (2020) to harmonize the transition towards a CE in the region. In this policy brief, we provide insights into common challenges local governments face in implementing their CE plans and suggest recommendations for overcoming these. It aims to answer the question: How can the CE agenda be governed in cities? It is based on the results of the Urban Circularity Assessment Framework (UCAF) project, building on findings from 25 interviews, focus group discussions and workshops held with different stakeholder groups in Umeå, as well as research on Stockholm's urban circularity potential, including findings from 11 expert interviews (Rezaie, 2021). Our findings were complemented by the Circular Economy Lab project (Rezaie et al., 2022) and experiences from working with municipal governments in Sweden, Belgium, France and the UK, on CE and environmental and social sustainability.

Banco de la República is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2023. This is a very significant anniversary and one that provides an opportunity to highlight the contribution the Bank has made to the country’s development. Its track record as guarantor of monetary stability has established it as the one independent state institution that generates the greatest confidence among Colombians due to its transparency, management capabilities, and effective compliance with the central banking and cultural responsibilities entrusted to it by the Constitution and the Law. On a date as important as this, the Board of Directors of Banco de la República (BDBR) pays tribute to the generations of governors and officers whose commitment and dedication have contributed to the growth of this institution.1 Banco de la República’s mandate was confirmed in the National Constitutional Assembly of 1991 where the citizens had the opportunity to elect the seventy people who would have the task of drafting a new constitution. The leaders of the three political movements with the most votes were elected as chairs to the Assembly, and this tripartite presidency reflected the plurality and the need for consensus among the different political groups to move the reform forward. Among the issues considered, the National Constitutional Assembly gave special importance to monetary stability. That is why they decided to include central banking and to provide Banco de la República with the necessary autonomy to use the instruments for which they are responsible without interference from other authorities. The constituent members understood that ensuring price stability is a state duty and that the entity responsible for this task must be enshrined in the Constitution and have the technical capability and institutional autonomy necessary to adopt the decisions they deem appropriate to achieve this fundamental objective in coordination with the general economic policy. In particular, Article 373 established that “the State, through Banco de la República, shall ensure the maintenance of the purchasing power of the currency,” a provision that coincided with the central banking system adopted by countries that have been successful in controlling inflation. In 1999, in Ruling 481, the Constitutional Court stated that “the duty to maintain the purchasing power of the currency applies to not only the monetary, credit, and exchange authority, i.e., the Board of Banco de la República, but also those who have responsibilities in the formulation and implementation of the general economic policy of the country” and that “the basic constitutional purpose of Banco de la República is the protection of a sound currency. However, this authority must take the other economic objectives of state intervention such as full employment into consideration in their decisions since these functions must be coordinated with the general economic policy.” The reforms to Banco de la República agreed upon in the Constitutional Assembly of 1991 and in Act 31/1992 can be summarized in the following aspects: i) the Bank was assigned a specific mandate: to maintain the purchasing power of the currency in coordination with the general economic policy; ii) the BDBR was designatedas the monetary, foreign exchange, and credit authority; iii) the Bank and its Board of Directors were granted a significant degree of independence from the government; iv) the Bank was prohibited from granting credit to the private sector except in the case of the financial sector; v) established that in order to grant credit to the government, the unanimous vote of its Board of Directors was required except in the case of open market transactions; vi) determined that the legislature may, in no case, order credit quotas in favor of the State or individuals; vii) Congress was appointed, on behalf of society, as the main addressee of the Bank’s reporting exercise; and viii) the responsibility for inspection, surveillance, and control over Banco de la República was delegated to the President of the Republic. The members of the National Constitutional Assembly clearly understood that the benefits of low and stable inflation extend to the whole of society and contribute mto the smooth functioning of the economic system. Among the most important of these is that low inflation promotes the efficient use of productive resources by allowing relative prices to better guide the allocation of resources since this promotes economic growth and increases the welfare of the population. Likewise, low inflation reduces uncertainty about the expected return on investment and future asset prices. This increases the confidence of economic agents, facilitates long-term financing, and stimulates investment. Since the low-income population is unable to protect itself from inflation by diversifying its assets, and a high proportion of its income is concentrated in the purchase of food and other basic goods that are generally the most affected by inflationary shocks, low inflation avoids arbitrary redistribution of income and wealth.2 Moreover, low inflation facilitates wage negotiations, creates a good labor climate, and reduces the volatility of employment levels. Finally, low inflation helps to make the tax system more transparent and equitable by avoiding the distortions that inflation introduces into the value of assets and income that make up the tax base. From the monetary authority’s point of view, one of the most relevant benefits of low inflation is the credibility that economic agents acquire in inflation targeting, which turns it into an effective nominal anchor on price levels. Upon receiving its mandate, and using its autonomy, Banco de la República began to announce specific annual inflation targets as of 1992. Although the proposed inflation targets were not met precisely during this first stage, a downward trend in inflation was achieved that took it from 32.4% in 1990 to 16.7% in 1998. At that time, the exchange rate was kept within a band. This limited the effectiveness of monetary policy, which simultaneously sought to meet an inflation target and an exchange rate target. The Asian crisis spread to emerging economies and significantly affected the Colombian economy. The exchange rate came under strong pressure to depreciate as access to foreign financing was cut off under conditions of a high foreign imbalance. This, together with the lack of exchange rate flexibility, prevented a countercyclical monetary policy and led to a 4.2% contraction in GDP that year. In this context of economic slowdown, annual inflation fell to 9.2% at the end of 1999, thus falling below the 15% target set for that year. This episode fully revealed how costly it could be, in terms of economic activity, to have inflation and exchange rate targets simultaneously. Towards the end of 1999, Banco de la República announced the adoption of a new monetary policy regime called the Inflation Targeting Plan. This regime, known internationally as ‘Inflation Targeting,’ has been gaining increasing acceptance in developed countries, having been adopted in 1991 by New Zealand, Canada, and England, among others, and has achieved significant advances in the management of inflation without incurring costs in terms of economic activity. In Latin America, Brazil and Chile also adopted it in 1999. In the case of Colombia, the last remaining requirement to be fulfilled in order to adopt said policy was exchange rate flexibility. This was realized around September 1999, when the BDBR decided to abandon the exchange-rate bands to allow the exchange rate to be freely determined in the market.Consistent with the constitutional mandate, the fundamental objective of this new policy approach was “the achievement of an inflation target that contributes to maintaining output growth around its potential.”3 This potential capacity was understood as the GDP growth that the economy can obtain if it fully utilizes its productive resources. To meet this objective, monetary policy must of necessity play a countercyclical role in the economy. This is because when economic activity is below its potential and there are idle resources, the monetary authority can reduce the interest rate in the absence of inflationary pressure to stimulate the economy and, when output exceeds its potential capacity, raise it. This policy principle, which is immersed in the models for guiding the monetary policy stance, makes the following two objectives fully compatible in the medium term: meeting the inflation target and achieving a level of economic activity that is consistent with its productive capacity. To achieve this purpose, the inflation targeting system uses the money market interest rate (at which the central bank supplies primary liquidity to commercial banks) as the primary policy instrument. This replaced the quantity of money as an intermediate monetary policy target that Banco de la República, like several other central banks, had used for a long time. In the case of Colombia, the objective of the new monetary policy approach implied, in practical terms, that the recovery of the economy after the 1999 contraction should be achieved while complying with the decreasing inflation targets established by the BDBR. The accomplishment of this purpose was remarkable. In the first half of the first decade of the 2000s, economic activity recovered significantly and reached a growth rate of 6.8% in 2006. Meanwhile, inflation gradually declined in line with inflation targets. That was how the inflation rate went from 9.2% in 1999 to 4.5% in 2006, thus meeting the inflation target established for that year while GDP reached its potential level. After this balance was achieved in 2006, inflation rebounded to 5.7% in 2007, above the 4.0% target for that year due to the fact that the 7.5% GDP growth exceeded the potential capacity of the economy.4 After proving the effectiveness of the inflation targeting system in its first years of operation, this policy regime continued to consolidate as the BDBR and the technical staff gained experience in its management and state-of-the-art economic models were incorporated to diagnose the present and future state of the economy and to assess the persistence of inflation deviations and expectations with respect to the inflation target. Beginning in 2010, the BDBR established the long-term 3.0% annual inflation target, which remains in effect today. Lower inflation has contributed to making the macroeconomic environment more stable, and this has favored sustained economic growth, financial stability, capital market development, and the functioning of payment systems. As a result, reductions in the inflationary risk premia and lower TES and credit interest rates were achieved. At the same time, the duration of public domestic debt increased significantly going from 2.27 years in December 2002 to 5.86 years in December 2022, and financial deepening, measured as the level of the portfolio as a percentage of GDP, went from around 20% in the mid-1990s to values above 45% in recent years in a healthy context for credit institutions.Having been granted autonomy by the Constitution to fulfill the mandate of preserving the purchasing power of the currency, the tangible achievements made by Banco de la República in managing inflation together with the significant benefits derived from the process of bringing inflation to its long-term target, make the BDBR’s current challenge to return inflation to the 3.0% target even more demanding and pressing. As is well known, starting in 2021, and especially in 2022, inflation in Colombia once again became a serious economic problem with high welfare costs. The inflationary phenomenon has not been exclusive to Colombia and many other developed and emerging countries have seen their inflation rates move away from the targets proposed by their central banks.5 The reasons for this phenomenon have been analyzed in recent Reports to Congress, and this new edition delves deeper into the subject with updated information. The solid institutional and technical base that supports the inflation targeting approach under which the monetary policy strategy operates gives the BDBR the necessary elements to face this difficult challenge with confidence. In this regard, the BDBR reiterated its commitment to the 3.0% inflation target in its November 25 communiqué and expects it to be reached by the end of 2024.6 Monetary policy will continue to focus on meeting this objective while ensuring the sustainability of economic activity, as mandated by the Constitution. Analyst surveys done in March showed a significant increase (from 32.3% in January to 48.5% in March) in the percentage of responses placing inflation expectations two years or more ahead in a range between 3.0% and 4.0%. This is a clear indication of the recovery of credibility in the medium-term inflation target and is consistent with the BDBR’s announcement made in November 2022. The moderation of the upward trend in inflation seen in January, and especially in February, will help to reinforce this revision of inflation expectations and will help to meet the proposed targets. After reaching 5.6% at the end of 2021, inflation maintained an upward trend throughout 2022 due to inflationary pressures from both external sources, associated with the aftermath of the pandemic and the consequences of the war in Ukraine, and domestic sources, resulting from: strengthening of local demand; price indexation processes stimulated by the increase in inflation expectations; the impact on food production caused by the mid-2021 strike; and the pass-through of depreciation to prices. The 10% increase in the minimum wage in 2021 and the 16% increase in 2022, both of which exceeded the actual inflation and the increase in productivity, accentuated the indexation processes by establishing a high nominal adjustment benchmark. Thus, total inflation went to 13.1% by the end of 2022. The annual change in food prices, which went from 17.2% to 27.8% between those two years, was the most influential factor in the surge in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Another segment that contributed significantly to price increases was regulated products, which saw the annual change go from 7.1% in December 2021 to 11.8% by the end of 2022. The measure of core inflation excluding food and regulated items, in turn, went from 2.5% to 9.5% between the end of 2021 and the end of 2022. The substantial increase in core inflation shows that inflationary pressure has spread to most of the items in the household basket, which is characteristic of inflationary processes with generalized price indexation as is the case in Colombia. Monetary policy began to react early to this inflationary pressure. Thus, starting with its September 2021 session, the BDBR began a progressive change in the monetary policy stance moving away from the historical low of a 1.75% policy rate that had intended to stimulate the recovery of the economy. This adjustment process continued without interruption throughout 2022 and into the beginning of 2023 when the monetary policy rate reached 12.75% last January, thus accumulating an increase of 11 percentage points (pp). The public and the markets have been surprised that inflation continued to rise despite significant interest rate increases. However, as the BDBR has explained in its various communiqués, monetary policy works with a lag. Just as in 2022 economic activity recovered to a level above the pre-pandemic level, driven, along with other factors, by the monetary stimulus granted during the pandemic period and subsequent months, so too the effects of the current restrictive monetary policy will gradually take effect. This will allow us to expect the inflation rate to converge to 3.0% by the end of 2024 as is the BDBR’s purpose.Inflation results for January and February of this year showed declining marginal increases (13 bp and 3 bp respectively) compared to the change seen in December (59 bp). This suggests that a turning point in the inflation trend is approaching. In other Latin American countries such as Chile, Brazil, Perú, and Mexico, inflation has peaked and has begun to decline slowly, albeit with some ups and downs. It is to be expected that a similar process will take place in Colombia in the coming months. The expected decline in inflation in 2023 will be due, along with other factors, to lower cost pressure from abroad as a result of the gradual normalization of supply chains, the overcoming of supply shocks caused by the weather, and road blockades in previous years. This will be reflected in lower adjustments in food prices, as has already been seen in the first two months of the year and, of course, the lagged effect of monetary policy. The process of inflation convergence to the target will be gradual and will extend beyond 2023. This process will be facilitated if devaluation pressure is reversed. To this end, it is essential to continue consolidating fiscal sustainability and avoid messages on different public policy fronts that generate uncertainty and distrust. 1 This Report to Congress includes Box 1, which summarizes the trajectory of Banco de la República over the past 100 years. In addition, under the Bank’s auspices, several books that delve into various aspects of the history of this institution have been published in recent years. See, for example: Historia del Banco de la República 1923-2015; Tres banqueros centrales; Junta Directiva del Banco de la República: grandes episodios en 30 años de historia; Banco de la República: 90 años de la banca central en Colombia. 2 This is why lower inflation has been reflected in a reduction of income inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient that went from 58.7 in 1998 to 51.3 in the year prior to the pandemic. 3 See Gómez Javier, Uribe José Darío, Vargas Hernando (2002). “The Implementation of Inflation Targeting in Colombia”. Borradores de Economía, No. 202, March, available at: https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/handle/20.500.12134/5220 4 See López-Enciso Enrique A.; Vargas-Herrera Hernando and Rodríguez-Niño Norberto (2016). “The inflation targeting strategy in Colombia. An historical view.” Borradores de Economía, No. 952. https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/handle/20.500.12134/6263 5 According to the IMF, the percentage change in consumer prices between 2021 and 2022 went from 3.1% to 7.3% for advanced economies, and from 5.9% to 9.9% for emerging market and developing economies. 6 https://www.banrep.gov.co/es/noticias/junta-directiva-banco-republica-reitera-meta-inflacion-3