Essays on health care expenditures and preventions

This thesis examines the effect of managed care on health care expenditures and the utilization of preventive care. National level time series data on health care expenditures and prices for the years 1960 to 2003 are used to isolate the demand and supply effects of Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) penetration, controlling for other factors. Using state level panel data, the effect of HMO penetration on health care expenditures is examined for several health care sectors. Results show that HMO penetration has significantly increased health care prices and expenditures, but managed care has been more successful in containing utilization. Cross-section data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) for the year 1996 are used to compare the patterns of preventive care utilization by individuals covered by managed care versus those covered by non-managed care plans, taking the uninsured individuals as the benchmark and correcting for self-selection bias. The results indicate that, for most forms of prevention, managed care enrollees consume more services than do non-managed care enrollees.

Surplus Labor in Indian Manufacturing: Evidence from the Annual Survey of Industries

In this paper we analyze state level data for total manufacturing constructed from the Annual Survey of Industries for the period 1986-2000 using the nonparametric method of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). We assess the extent of surplus labor in the manufacturing sector in the individual states in India. The study also investigates whether the same states show the maximum incidence of surplus labor every year in the sample period and if there any evidence that the extent of surplus labor in manufacturing has been reduced or eliminated in the post-reform era. Our study shows the presence of considerable measure of surplus labor in all of the years in a majority of the states. Things have worsened rather than improved after the reform. Also, the regional distribution of surplus labor has remain fairly unchanged with the same states performing inefficiently both before and after the reform

Surplus Labor in Indian Manufacturing: Evidence from the Annual Survey of Industries

In this paper we analyze state level data for total manufacturing constructed from the Annual Survey of Industries for the period 1986-2000 using the nonparametric method of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). We assess the extent of surplus labor in the manufacturing sector in the individual states in India. The study also investigates whether the same states show the maximum incidence of surplus labor every year in the sample period and if there any evidence that the extent of surplus labor in manufacturing has been reduced or eliminated in the post-reform era. Our study shows the presence of considerable measure of surplus labor in all of the years in a majority of the states. Things have worsened rather than improved after the reform. Also, the regional distribution of surplus labor has remain fairly unchanged with the same states performing inefficiently both before and after the reform.

Surplus Labor in Indian Manufacturing: Evidence from the Annual Survey of Industries

In this paper we analyze state level data for total manufacturing constructed from the Annual Survey of Industries for the period 1986-2000 using the nonparametric method of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). We assess the extent of surplus labor in the manufacturing sector in the individual states in India. The study also investigates whether the same states show the maximum incidence of surplus labor every year in the sample period and if there any evidence that the extent of surplus labor in manufacturing has been reduced or eliminated in the post-reform era. Our study shows the presence of considerable measure of surplus labor in all of the years in a majority of the states. Things have worsened rather than improved after the reform. Also, the regional distribution of surplus labor has remain fairly unchanged with the same states performing inefficiently both before and after the reform