2,787 research outputs found
Leakage of public resources in the health sector : an empirical investigation of Chad
In the public sector in developing countries, leakage of public resources could prove detrimental to users and affect the well-being of the population. This paper empirically examines the importance of leakage of government resources in the health sector in Chad, and its effects on the prices of drugs. The analysis uses data collected inChad as part of a Health Facilities Survey organized by the World Bank in 2004. The survey covered 281 primary health care centers and contained information on the provision of medical material, financial resources, and medicines allocated by the Ministry of Health to the regional administration and primary health centers. Although the regional administration is officially allocated 60 percent of the ministry's non-wage recurrent expenditures, the share of the resources that actually reach the regions is estimated to be only 18 percent. The health centers, which are the frontline providers and the entry point for the population, receive less than 1 percent of the ministry's non-wage recurrent expenditures. Accounting for the endogeneity of the level of competition among health centers, the leakage of government resources has a significant and negative impact on the price mark-up that health centers charge patients for drugs.Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Health Systems Development&Reform,Public Sector Expenditure Analysis&Management,Health Economics&Finance,Population Policies
Leakage of Public Resources in the Health Sector: An Empirical Investigation of Chad
In the public sector in developing countries, leakage of public resources could prove detrimental to users and affect the well-being of the population. In this paper, we empirically examine the importance of leakage of government resources in the health sector in Chad and its effects on medication mark-up. We make use of data collected in Chad as part of a Health Facilities Survey organized by the World Bank in 2004. The survey covers 281 primary health care centers and hospitals and contains information on the provision of medical material, financial resources and medication allocated by the Ministry of Health (MoH) to the regional administration and primary health centers. While the regional administration is officially allocated 60% of the MoHâs non-wage recurrent expenditures, the share of the resources that actually reach the regions is estimated to be 18%. The health centers, which are the frontline providers and the entry point for the population, receive less than 1% of the MoHâs non-wage recurrent expenditures. Accounting for the endogeneity of the level of competition among health centers, we observe that leakage of government resources has a significant and negative impact on the mark-up health centers charge patients on drugs sales. Furthermore, it is estimated that had public resources earmarked for frontline providers reached them in their entirety, the number of patients seeking primary health care in Chad would have more than doubled.Corruption, public expenditure, primary health care
Shifting tax burdens through exemptions and evasion - an empirical investigation of Uganda
The authors look at how prevalent tax exemptions, and evasion are among businesses in Uganda, how they translate into actual tax burdens for firms of different sizes, and how the tax administration attempts to ensure compliance. Despite tax reforms undertaken in 1995-97 to increase the efficiency, and equity of the tax system, and its administration, exemptions, and evasion during this three-year period remained widespread, and the dispersion of the tax burden did not decrease. The analysis shows that tax evasion is more prevalent among smaller firms, that taxexemptions are more common among larger firms, and that medium-size firms tend to shoulder a disproportionate share of the total tax burden.Small Scale Enterprise,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Tax Policy and Administration,Small and Medium Size Enterprises,Microfinance,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Tax Policy and Administration,National Governance,Taxation&Subsidies,Small Scale Enterprise
A firm's-eye view of policy and fiscal reforms in Cameroon
After decades of heavy trade restrictions, fiscal distortions, and currency overvaluation, Cameroon implemented important commercial and fiscal policy reforms. Almost simultaneously, a major CFA devaluation cut the international price of Cameroon's currency in half. The authors examine the effects of these reforms on the incentive structure that manufacturing firms face. Did they create a coherent set of new signals? Was the net effect to stimulate the production of tradable goods? Was the dispersion of tax burdens lessened? They address each of these questions using a cost function decomposition applied to detailed firm-level panel data. They observe that Cameroon's reforms appear to have sent clear new signals to manufacturers, as the effective rate of protection fell by between 80 and 120 percentage points. Unlike trade liberalization, neither tax reforms nor the CFA devaluation had a major systemic effect on profit margins. But the CFA devaluation did twist relative prices dramatically in favor of exportable goods, so export-oriented firms exhibited rapid output growth.Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Labor Policies,Markets and Market Access,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT,Markets and Market Access,Access to Markets
The Effect of Fiscal Policy and Corruption Control Mechanisms on Firm Growth and Social Welfare: Theory and Evidence
The paper investigates the conflict that arises between the government, its bureaucrats and businesses in the tax collection process. We examine the effect of fiscal policy and corruption control mechanisms on the prevalence of tax evasion and corruption behaviour, and their impact on firm growth and social welfare. We first model a situation where bureaucrats are homogeneous and have complete negotiating power over the firms with which they interact. We show that in such a situation the government can set an optimal tax rate and put in place a corruption control mechanism involving detection of corrupt bureaucrats within the framework of a no-corruption equilibrium. However, when the public administration is composed of heterogeneous types of bureaucrats with the specific ability to impose red tape costs on firms, we show, like Acemoglu and Verdier (2000), that it might be best for the government to allow a certain level of corruption, given the cost of monitoring activities. We also show that the government could face lose-lose as well as win-win situations in the conduct of its fiscal policies. We then verify the predictions of the model using firm-level data collected from 243 businesses in Uganda. We test the effect of monitoring on bribe and tax payments. We also test the effect of tax rates and corruption control mechanisms on firm growth. We compare the effect of actual corruption (as measured by bribe payments) with the effect of government corruption expectations on firmsâ growth.Corruption, Tax evasion, Tax administration, Firm growth
The Impact of Trade Liberalisation on Enterprises in Small Backward Economies: The Case of Chad and Gabon
This paper examines the impact of trade and fiscal reforms and of the 1994 devaluation of the CFA franc on enterprise development in Chad and Gabon. These reforms provide a natural experiment to assess the impact of trade liberalisation in countries with a small and backward manufacturing sector. The empirical analysis is based on a new panel data base covering virtually the whole population of manufacturing firms in Chad and Gabon, and containing data spanning from the year before to two years after the reforms. The paper finds that although firmsâ response to changing incentives was non-negligible, with a shift of output from non tradable to tradable and an increase in productivity, the reform process was unable to generate a virtuous and self-sustained circle, where export expansion brings a generalized productivity increase which in turn feeds on further export growth.trade liberalization; enterprise development; output, productivity and export performance
DĂ©veloppement et radiosynthĂšse de ligands du rĂ©cepteur tyrosine kinase neurotrophique type 2 (TrkB) marquĂ©s aux carbone-11 et fluor-18 pour lâimagerie cĂ©rĂ©brale par tomographie dâĂ©mission de positons
Ce mĂ©moire prĂ©sente mes travaux ayant menĂ©s au dĂ©veloppement dâune premiĂšre gĂ©nĂ©ration de radioligands marquĂ©s au fluor-18 (t1/2 = 110 min) et au carbone-11 (t1/2 = 20.4 min) destinĂ©s Ă lâimagerie cĂ©rĂ©brale in vivo du rĂ©cepteur tyrosine kinase neurotrophique de type 2 (TrkB) en tomographie par Ă©mission de positons (TEP). Ces travaux reposent sur lâidentification rĂ©cente de ligands de TrkB non peptidiques Ă hautes affinitĂ©s dĂ©rivĂ©s du 7,8-dihydroxyflavone.
La synthĂšse dâune sĂ©rie de dĂ©rivĂ©s du 7,8-dihydroxyflavone non-radioactifs de mĂȘme que des prĂ©cuseurs Ă lâincorporation du fluro-18 et du carbone-11 a dâabord Ă©tĂ© effectuĂ©e. Partant des prĂ©curseurs adĂ©quats synthĂ©tisĂ©s, la radiosynthĂšse de deux radioligands, lâun marquĂ© au fluor-18 et lâautre au carbone-11, a Ă©tĂ© dĂ©veloppĂ©e. Ces radiosynthĂšses reposent respectivement sur une 18F-radiofluorination nuclĂ©ophile aromatique nouvelle et hautement efficace et sur une 11C-mĂ©thylation N-sĂ©lective. Les radiotraceurs de TrkB ainsi obtenus ont ensuite Ă©tĂ© Ă©valuĂ©s in vitro en autoradiographie et in vivo en tant que traceurs TEP dans des rats. LâĂ©valuation des propriĂ©tĂ©s physico-chimique de mĂȘme que de la stabilitĂ© in vitro des radiotraceurs sont prĂ©sentĂ©es.
Partant dâune sĂ©rie dâanalogues cristallisĂ©s de ces flavones synthĂ©tiques, une Ă©tude de relation structure-activitĂ© a Ă©tĂ© menĂ©e. La combinaison de cette Ă©tude, de pair avec lâĂ©valuation in vivo de la premiĂšre gĂ©nĂ©ration de radiotraceurs de TrkB a aussi permis dâinvestiguer les pharmacophores nĂ©cessaires Ă lâaffinitĂ© de ces ligands de mĂȘme que dâidentifier des fragments structurels associĂ©s au mĂ©tabolisme des radiotraceurs. La radiosynthĂšse dâun troisiĂšme radioligand de TrkB et son Ă©valuation TEP in vivo de mĂȘme que la mise en lumiĂšre des modifications structurelles utiles au dĂ©veloppement dâune seconde gĂ©nĂ©ration de radioligands de TrkB avec des propriĂ©tĂ©s optimisĂ©es pour fin dâimagerie TEP sont aussi dĂ©taillĂ©s.This thesis describes my contribution leading to the development of the first-generation positron emission tomography (PET) radioligands labeled with fluorine-18 (t1/2 = 110 min) or carbon-11 (t1/2 = 20.4 min) for the in vivo brain imaging of tropomyosin-related kinase B (TrkB). This research follows from the recent discovery of non-peptidic, high-affinity TrkB ligands derived from 7,8-dihydroxyflavone.
The synthesis of non-radioactive 7,8-dihydroxyflavone derivatives and radiolabeling precursors amenable to fluorine-18 and carbon-11 incorporation was performed. Two synthesized compounds have been brought forward as precursors for radiolabeling with either fluorine-18 or carbon-11. Radiosynthesis involved either a novel nucleophilic aromatic subsitution with [18F]fluoride, or N-methylation with [11C]methyl iodide or [11C] methyl triflate. The resulting radiotracers were assessed in vitro by autoradiography and in vivo by PET scans of rats. The physicochemical properties and serum stability of these tracers were also evaluated.
X-ray crystal structures of a series of synthetic flavone analogues were used as basis for structure-activity relationship (SAR) analysis. In combination with the above in vivo PET evaluation of these compounds, certain pharmacophores were shown essential for ligand binding affinity. In addition, some structural fragments were associated with in vivo ligand metabolism.
The development and radiosynthesis of a third TrkB radiotracer, along with its in vivo PET evaluation and structural analysis, is also described here. In all, better understanding of these tracers have led to the design of potential second-generation TrkB ligands with more optimal properties as PET radiotracers
Contract Flexibility and Dispute Resolution in African Manufacturing
This paper examines the contractual practices of African manufacturing firms using survey data collected in Burundi, Cameroon, CĂŽte dâIvoire, Kenya, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Descriptive statistics and econometric results are presented. They show that contractual flexibility is pervasive and that relational contracting is the norm between manufacturers, their suppliers, and their clients. The existence of long-term relations between firms helps them deal with contract non-performance through negotiation. Confrontational methods such as lawyers and courts are used only by large firms and when negotiations fail. Whenever confrontation can be avoided, business is resumed. Of the six studied countries, incidence of breach and the use of lawyers and courts are highest in Zimbabwe which is also the country with legal institutions that best support business. Our favored interpretation is that good legal institutions incite firms to take more chances, thereby encouraging trade and leading to more cases of breach and more recourse to courts and lawyers. A high frequency of contract non-compliance should thus not be interpreted as a sign of imperfect legal institutions.
Credit constraints in manufacturing enterprises in Africa
We investigate the question whether firms in the manufacturing sector in Africa are credit constrained. The fact that few firms obtain credit is not sufficient to prove constraints, since certain firms may not have a demand for credit while others may be refused credit as part of profit maximising behaviour by banks. To investigate this question, we use direct evidence on whether firms had a demand of credit and whether their demand was satisfied in the formal credit market, based on panel data on firms in the manufacturing sector from six African countries. More than half the firms in the sample had no demand for credit. Of those firms with a demand for credit, only a quarter obtained a formal sector loan. In line with expectations, our analysis suggests that banks allocate credit on the basis of expected profits. However, controlling for credit demand, outstanding debt is positively related with obtaining further lending while micro or small firms are less likely to get a loan than large firms. The latter effect is strong and present in the regression, despite including several variables typically referred to as explaining why small or âinformalâ firms do not get credit. The role of outstanding debt is likely to be a reflection of inefficiency in credit markets, while the fact that size matters is consistent with a bias as well, although we cannot totally exclude that they reflect transactions costs on the part of banks. Finally, we could not detect any differences between countries in the effects of these factors in the credit allocation rule, although financial deepening is found to explain most of the country-specific fixed effects, shifting the probability of obtaining credit across the firm distribution.
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