How health insurance affects the delivery of health care in developing countries

Financial crisis is a common state of affairs in the government health sector of many developing countries, and an increasing number are considering implementing user charges and insurance programs to shift some of the financial burden for health services away from direct budget allocations by a health ministry. Although they are often implemented as ways of mobilizing additional resources, prices and insurance also affect the allocation of health resources by changing the signals sent to producers and consumers of health services. Changes in incentives engendered by these alternative financing programs, therefore, have implications for the efficiency and equity of health services delivery, in addition to their more obvious impact on revenues. This paper examines institutional aspects of insurance programs in four developing countries - Brazil, China, Korea, and Zaire - and assesses the impact of each on the efficiency and equity of the health sector. Much attention is given to insurance reimbursement of hospitals because these represent the largest component of national health expenditures and are the focal point for much of the activity in the sector. The case study countries were selected because their hospitals are financed largely, and in descriptions of their health financing systems exit. Understanding how alternative financing programs have distorted the allocation of health resources and how these distortions might be mitigated is important for these countries and others considering changes to their present system of health care financing.Health Systems Development&Reform,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Housing&Human Habitats,Insurance&Risk Mitigation,Health Economics&Finance

FACTORS AFFECTING CONTRACTOR AND GROWER SUCCESS IN HOG CONTRACTING

This study analyzes a national survey of U.S. hog producers within a principal-agent framework in order to examine factors affecting contractor and grower success in hog contracting. Several factors had differential impacts on contractor and grower returns. Results suggest that there may be a role for public policy in ensuring that contract arrangements are conducted fairly.Livestock Production/Industries,

Cost-benefit analysis and valuation uncertainty

This thesis addresses the economic trade-offs between hydropower and fish production, based on an empirical assessment of the costs and benefits of changing the water flow of the Ume/Vindel River in northern Sweden at a major hydropower plant in ways that would reduce its production of electricity but increase the number of wild salmon in the river. A theoretical framework for dynamic cost benefit analysis (CBA) is presented and applied to the salmon passage-hydropower production conflict. The approach has wider applicability than suggested here, and should be useful in other, similar contexts. To obtain estimates for the benefit of increasing the number of wild salmon the contingent valuation method (CVM) was applied. The CVM is a survey-based method developed for measuring values of non-market goods by using willingness to pay (WTP) questions. A new open-ended valuation question, the “classic and interval open-ended” (CIOE) question, was introduced to accommodate the fact that many people have an inability to state their preferences accurately. Interpretation of the resulting valuation uncertainty is more straightforward with this type of question than with other types of valuation question. There are other advantages as well. In addition, methods are introduced for: finding a WTP point estimate for the CIOE question; estimating lower and upper boundaries for the WTP; and for estimating confidence intervals for the total present benefit. An important element of the empirical analysis is that estimated changes in resource conditions are based on detailed river-specific data. The resource dynamic considerations were introduced into both the scenarios and the WTP questions, using an estimated salmon population model for the Vindel River as a base. A model predicting the effects of varying the water flows on the salmon’s migration behaviour was used to estimate the costs of increasing the number of salmon. A total of 1785 individuals received a questionnaire including the CIOE question; the response rate was 66%. Passive use (non-use) values are the major contributors to the benefit (96-517 MSEK) of increasing the wild salmon stock in the Vindel River. The sensitivity analysis suggests that the opportunity costs in terms of lost electricity are typically higher than the estimated benefits

A comprehensive bycatch market: investigating pricing mechanisms for ecosystem accountability

Master's Project (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2015This report takes an ecosystem approach to managing targeted and non-targeted species in the Bering Sea Aleutian Island commercial fisheries. The current regulatory environment sets biological harvest limits across fish stock's entire range, although the individual components of managing fisheries within a stock may lead to economic inefficiencies and difficulties in accounting for social costs due to blunt incentives. The research presented here outlines a model for scenario analysis and pricing mechanisms at each level of harvest across a species range. Due to the modeled indifference of harvesting in targeted or non-targeted fisheries, designations are made for degrees of ownership rights and monetary transfers to balance these rights in the presence of non-target bycatch. This report argues that efficiency gains can be made by managing behavior through pricing incentives at the margin

Determinants of anglers willingness to pay to support the Recreational Quota Entity program

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2019This study applies data from a web-based survey administered to Alaska sport fish license holders in 2017 to examine the newly introduced Recreational Quota Entity (RQE) program in Alaska's guided halibut sport fishery and the possibility of increasing halibut available to sport anglers by funding this program through a state-endorsed halibut stamp. Two valuation questions were randomized amongst the survey sample. The questions were designed to elicit willingness to pay (WTP) for a halibut stamp in support of the RQE program under (1) status quo halibut fishing regulations (2) more relaxed charter halibut fishing regulations made possible through revenues from halibut stamp sales. The need for two valuation questions is in response to the many factors that would ultimately determine the degree to which charter fishing regulations could be relaxed and the time needed for regulatory change made possible through revenues from halibut stamp sales. The findings indicate that non-resident anglers and resident anglers have a very similar WTP for a state-endorsed halibut stamp and that anglers are willing to pay for a halibut stamp despite having little or no history of participation in the halibut fishery. The pairwise comparison among mean WTP estimates from both valuation questions indicates that differences in anglers' WTP are inconsequential. Findings suggest that the WTP for a state-endorsed halibut stamp reflects an interest in preserving access to the fishery or the value of reserving an option to participate in the halibut fishery. Respondent education level and employment status were found to be statistically significant determinants of anglers' willingness to pay for a state-endorsed halibut stamp to support the RQE program

A COLLECTIVE PERFORMANCE-BASED CONTRACT FOR POINT-NONPOINT SOURCE POLLUTION TRADING

Collective performance-based trading can be achieved by pairing a team contract with an auction to determine team membership. The auction effectively overcomes adverse selection, and the team contract reduces the incentive to "free-ride" associated with moral hazard in teams.Environmental Economics and Policy,

(Un)anticipated monetary policy in a DSGE model with a shadow banking system : [Version 21 Juni 2012]

Motivated by the U.S. events of the 2000s, we address whether a too low for too long interest rate policy may generate a boom-bust cycle. We simulate anticipated and unanticipated monetary policies in state-of-the-art DSGE models and in a model with bond financing via a shadow banking system, in which the bond spread is calibrated for normal and optimistic times. Our results suggest that the U.S. boom-bust was caused by the combination of (i) too low for too long interest rates, (ii) excessive optimism and (iii) a failure of agents to anticipate the extent of the abnormally favorable conditions

Monetary policy shocks in a DSGE model with a shadow banking system

This paper is motivated by the recent financial crisis and addresses whether a “too low for too long” interest rate policy may generate a boom-bust cycle. We suggest a model in which a microfounded shadow banking sector is included in an otherwise state-of-the-art DSGE model. When faced with perverse incentives, financial intermediaries within the shadow banking sector can divert a fraction of stockholders’ profits for their own benefits and extend credit at a discounted rate. The model predicts that long periods of accommodative monetary policy do create the preconditions for, but do not cause per se, a boom-bust cycle. Rather, it is the combination of a persistent monetary ease with microeconomic distortions in the financial system that causes a boom-bust.monetary policy; DSGE model; shadow banking system; boom-bust