Physicians' working practices : target income, altruistic objectives or a maximization problem ?

In traditional literature, a number of authors posit that physicians, like a consumer or a firm, adopt maximization behavior, while others claim that they are motivated by the attainment of a target income. These three approaches may seem contradictory, yet the present study aims to show that they are in fact complementary. This paper aims to highlight the overlapping of these approaches by using a theoretical model - the agent model. From this model, we deduce the income effect, the individualistic substitution effect, the monopolistic effect and their respective elasticities to detect target income behavior. We develop also two theoretical models of leisure and income renouncement to determine the priority which the physician gives to consumption and leisure. Unlike other models, our results show that about 20% of physicians prefer to reach an altruistic objective rather than a leisure or an target income. These last result implies a ranking of target priorities. Moreover, we observe that the Slutsky relation cannot be used to determine individualistic substitution, monopolistic substitution and income effects exactly when leisure is an inferior good. Nor can we confirm the adoption of a target income behavior when income and monopolistic elasticities are negative. Renouncement models indicate that between 60% and 67% of GPs have a clear consumption priority and that they accept a renouncement of their leisure in order to maintain their current level of income. Our results demonstrate that it would be necessary to introduce monopolistic power of physicians and their altruistic priority to test inducement demand.

Estimation of multivariate probit models by exact maximum likelihood

In this paper, we develop a new numerical method to estimate a multivariate probit model. To this end, we derive a new decomposition of normal multivariate integrals that has two appealing properties. First, the decomposition may be written as the sum of normal multivariate integrals, in which the highest dimension of the integrands is reduced relative to the initial problem. Second, the domains of integration are bounded and delimited by the correlation coefficients. Application of a Gauss-Legendre quadrature rule to the exact likelihood function of lower dimension allows for a major reduction of computing time while simultaneously obtaining consistent and efficient estimates for both the slope and the scale parameters. A Monte Carlo study shows that the finite sample and asymptotic properties of our method compare extremely favorably to the maximum simulated likelihood estimator in terms of both bias and root mean squared error.Multivariate Probit Model, Simulated and Full Information Maximum Likelihood, Multivariate Normal Distribution, Simulations

Regards croisés sur l’action des ONG en éducation au Sud

Des représentants d’ONG, de bailleurs, d’un ministère au Sud et des experts sont interrogés sur les évolutions qui ont caractérisé l’action et le positionnement des ONG actives au Sud dans le champ de l’éducation depuis dix ans, et sur les nouveaux rôles qui se dessinent pour elles à l’horizon 2020. Plusieurs thèmes sont abordés : la mobilisation de la société civile et la gestion locale de l’éducation ; la conception du rôle de l’État et les besoins en intervention non gouvernementale ; le renforcement du dialogue entre société civile et pouvoirs publics ; le passage d’une innovation à une politique publique ; la nécessité d’articuler les systèmes éducatifs avec les réalités économiques.Representatives of NGOs, sponsors, a Ministry of a Southern country and experts discussed the developments characterising the actions and positioning of NGOs active in the South over the last ten years in the field of education, and on the new roles they will come to play by the year 2020. A number of themes were tackled: the mobilisation of civil society and local management of education; the conception of the State’s role, and needs with regard to non-governmental intervention; the reinforcement of dialogue between civil society and the public authorities; the transition from innovation to public policy; the need to bring education systems in line with economic realities.Se les pregunta a los representantes de ONG, a financiadores internacionales, a un ministerio en el Sur y a expertos, qué evoluciones han caracterizado la acción y el posicionamiento de las ONG activas en el Sur en el campo de la educación desde hace diez años, y qué nuevas funciones se perfilan para ellas en el horizonte de 2020. Se abordan varios temas: la movilización de la sociedad civil y la gestión local de la educación; la concepción del papel del Estado y las necesidades en términos de intervención no gubernamental; el refuerzo del diálogo entre sociedad civil y poderes públicos; el paso de una innovación a una política pública; la necesidad de articular los sistemas educativos con las realidades económicas

Les régions / Jacques Huguenin, Patrick Martinat

Collection : "Le Monde" pocheContient une table des matièresAvec mode text