Stimulating innovation in Russia: the role of institutions and policies

This paper examines the potential role of innovation policy in enhancing long-term productivity growth in Russia. It begins by exploring the role of framework conditions for business in encouraging innovative activities, particularly with respect to intellectual property rights and competition. Realising Russia’s innovation potential will also require reform of the large public science sector. This raises issues pertaining to the organisation and financing of public research bodies and, in particular, to the incentives and opportunities they face in commercialising the results of their research. Finally, the paper looks at the potential role of direct interventions, such as special economic zones and technoparks, as well as the scope for improving the tax regime for private-sector R&D

Strategies for Reining In Medicare Spending Through Delivery System Reforms: Assessing the Evidence and Opportunities

Outlines promising measures to achieve savings in Medicare costs by reducing the need for hospitalization and readmission and by reducing disparities across physicians and geographic areas in care delivery, utilization, and expenditures

Healthcare reform in Russia: problems and prospects

This paper examines the prospects for reform of Russia’s healthcare system. It begins by exploring a number of fundamental imbalances that characterise the current half-reformed system of healthcare provision before going on to assess the government’s plans for going ahead with healthcare reform over the medium term. The challenges it faces include strengthening primary care provision and reducing the current over-reliance on tertiary care; restructuring the incentives facing healthcare providers; and completing the reform of the system of mandatory medical insurance

School Choice, Incentives, and Academic Outcomes: Evidence from Chile

This paper examines the effects of inter-school competition on student outcomes by using exogenous variation in the availability of private schools in Chile. Given that naïve estimates of the effects of competition on student outcomes are biased by endogenous entry of schools, this paper uses variation in the number of Catholic priests per capita in different school markets, as an exogenous determinant of the supply of private schools. Results suggest that greater competition significantly raises both test scores and the productivity of schools. There is also evidence that the effects of school choice are significantly larger for students attending subsidized private schools, and insignificant or even negative for students attending public schools facing softer budget constraintsVouchers, School choice, incentives, Chile

Partial Privatization And Firm Performance: Evidence From India

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39810/3/wp426.pd

Housing Assistance Payment: Potential impacts on financial incentives to work. ESRI WP610, January 2019

Since March 2017, a new income-related housing support for those with a long-term housing need called Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) has been available throughout the state. This paper examines the potential impact on financial work incentives of transferring long-run Rent Supplement recipients onto HAP with tenants’ rental contributions assessed through a national Differential Rents scheme, initially proposed by the Housing Agency but yet to be implemented. While such a system would strengthen the financial incentive for most long-term Rent Supplement claimants to be in full-time paid work, a small minority would continue to face quite weak incentives. This is driven by the receipt of multiple means-tested benefits – in particular, jobseekers allowance and one-parent family payment – which results in some low-income individuals facing very high effective marginal tax rates from relatively low levels of earnings

Sustainability of healthcare financing in the Western Balkans : an overview of progress and challenges

This paper explores the major challenges to the sustainability of health sector financing in the countries of the Western Balkans - Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and the province of Kosovo. It focuses on how the incentives created by the different elements of the healthcare financing system affect the behavior of healthcare providers and individuals, and the resulting inefficiencies in revenue collection and expenditure containment. The paper analyzes patterns of healthcare expenditure, finding that there is some evidence of cost containment, but that current expenditure levels - while similar to that in EU countries as a share of GDP - are low in per capita terms and the fiscal space to increase expenditures is extremely limited. It also examines the key drivers of current healthcare expenditure and the most significant barriers to revenue generation, identifying some key health reforms that countries in the sub-region could consider in order to enhance the efficiency and sustainability of their health systems. Data are drawn from international databases, country institutions, and household surveys.Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Health Economics&Finance,Health Systems Development&Reform,Public Sector Expenditure Analysis&Management,Health Law