Health Economics Commons^™

A Cross-Sectional Study Of Infant Mortality Rates Between Countries, Katelyn E. May

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

The health status of nations has been and continues to be under debate. Although the variables that comprise such a status have not been solidified, one variable that is closely studied and is thought to have an effect on the idea of health status is infant mortality. A country’s Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) is treated as an indicator of its health status as well as socioeconomic status. This research attempts to study the variables which are hypothesized to be significant in relation to IMR, and to find which ones truly have an effect. Data on eight independent variables were collected …

Money And Its Effects On Life, Behaviour And Happiness, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

Happiness cannot be bought, some people might argue. Yet, money certainly allows people to buy things and experiences that can ultimately bring joy and happiness. Results from this year's Gallup World Poll, for instance, ranked Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands – all wealthy countries – as the top five for happiest inhabitants. A recent SMU Social Sciences Capstone Seminar also pointed out that wealthier countries have cleaner water, better infrastructure, fewer diseases, and higher IQs. Could the old adage, that money is the root of all evil, be out of touch with the realities of our capitalist, consumerist …

Micro-Level Estimation Of Child Undernutrition Indicators In Cambodia, Tomoki Fujii

Research Collection School Of Economics

One major limitation to addressing child undernutrition is a lack of the information required to target resources. This article extends the small-area estimation technique of Elbers, Lanjouw, and Lanjouw (2002, 2003) to jointly estimate multiple equations while allowing for individual-specific random errors across equations (in addition to cluster- and household-specific random errors). Estimates of the prevalence of stunting and underweight for children under age 5 in Cambodia from 17 Demographic and Health Survey strata are disaggregated into 1,594 communes by combining the Demographic and Health Survey data. The estimates are consistent with the surveyonly estimates at the aggregate and primary …

Accidental Leaders No More: Challenges Facing Healthcare Leaders Of Today And Tomorrow, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

Singapore’s ageing population means healthcare costs are going up at faster than ever. The heavier workload and growing business opportunities within this essential industry also means that on-going tensions between the public and private sectors are unlikely to go away anytime soon. Yet, at the same time, the industry faces multi-dimensional challenges, like rapidly-changing technology and fierce competition for talent. How can healthcare organisations prepare themselves for the challenges ahead? For a start, they could use a pipeline of formally-trained leaders.

Reducing Healthcare Costs Requires Good Market Design, Peter Cramton, Brett E. Katzman

Faculty Articles

Healthcare costs are no doubt too high, and Congress has been pushing for 13 years to harness market forces in Medicare procurement. But despite all this time, we are on the precipice of adopting a very poor market design, according to Peter Cramton of University of Maryland and Brett Katzman of Kennesaw State University.

Put Your Money Where Your Butt Is: A Commitment Contract For Smoking Cessation, Xavier Giné, Dean Karlan, Jonathan Zinman

Dartmouth Scholarship

We designed and tested a voluntary commitment product to help smokers quit smoking. The product (CARES) offered smokers a savings account in which they deposit funds for six months, after which they take a urine test for nicotine and cotinine. If they pass, their money is returned; otherwise, their money is forfeited to charity. Of smokers offered CARES, 11 percent took up, and smokers randomly offered CARES were 3 percentage points more likely to pass the 6-month test than the control group. More importantly, this effect persisted in surprise tests at 12 months, indicating that CARES produced lasting smoking cessation. …

Concurrent Sexual Partnerships Do Not Explain The Hiv Epidemics In Africa: A Systematic Review Of The Evidence, Larry Sawers, Eileen Stillwaggon

Economics Faculty Publications

The notion that concurrent sexual partnerships are especially common in sub-Saharan Africa and explain the region’s high HIV prevalence is accepted by many as conventional wisdom. In this paper, we evaluate the quantitative and qualitative evidence offered by the principal proponents of the concurrency hypothesis and analyze the mathematical model they use to establish the plausibility of the hypothesis.

We find that research seeking to establish a statistical correlation between concurrency and HIV prevalence either finds no correlation or has important limitations. Furthermore, in order to simulate rapid spread of HIV, mathematical models require unrealistic assumptions about frequency of sexual …

Singhealth Ceo Says Leadership Is About Compassion And The 'Cha Cha Cha', Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

That a leader ought to choose compassion over profits is a position unlikely to be popular with shareholders. However, that may well be the only kind of leadership that will command a following – because people gravitate towards ethical leadership. Leaders can attempt to inspire with a show of record profits and shareholder value. Yet, such successes can still seem somewhat empty. According to Prof. Tan Ser Kiat, Group CEO of SingHealth, Singapore's largest healthcare group, leaders that possess and display compassion inspire at a different level. They tap right into the heart.

The Economic Impact Of Medicaid Spending In Arkansas, Katherine A. Deck, Viktoria Riiman

Publications and Presentations

Arkansas Medicaid is a joint federal and state program that provides necessary medical services to needy and low-income persons that is administered through the Arkansas Division of Medical Services at the Arkansas Department of Human Services. The Medicaid program is designed to provide the baseline health outcomes that are necessary for the state’s economy to function. The expenditures that are made through the Arkansas Medicaid program significantly affect the Arkansas economy. This report details the economic impacts of the direct expenditures of the Medicaid program on the Arkansas economy.

Determinants Of Child Nutritional Status In Zambia: An Analysis Of A National Survey, Felix Masiye, Chitalu Chama, Bona Chitah, Dick Jonsson

Zambia Social Science Journal

Malnutrition affects many children and is a leading cause of childhood mortality and non-fatal health loss. Zambia has one of the highest rates of malnutrition in the world. About half of the Zambian children are stunted while one in five is underweight. Prevalence of wasting is much lower. This article examines the determinants of nutritional status among children aged below five years in Zambia using data from a national cross-sectional survey conducted in 2006. Multivariate analysis is used to quantify the effects of several household and child-specific socioeconomic and demographic factors on nutritional status, as well as a geographic context …

Hospital Performance Evaluation In Uganda: A Super-Efficiency Data Envelope Analysis Model, Bruno Yawe

Zambia Social Science Journal

Standard Data Envelope Analysis models result in a large fraction of the observations becoming 100 percent efficient. The article measures the technical efficiency of 25 district referral hospitals from three regions of Uganda over the 1999-2003 period. It applies a super-efficiency Data Envelopment Analysis model. The application of a super-efficiency model was occasioned by the failure of standard data envelopment analysis models to rank the efficient set of hospitals which attain an efficiency score of unity. The results of the standard data envelopment analysis models indicate the existence of different degrees of technical and scale inefficiency in Uganda’s district referral …

The Influence Of New Medications On Prescribing Behavior By Practice Type: A Regression Analysis, Rita M. Pattarini

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Objective: To determine whether the type of practice to which physicians belong influences the types of medications they prescribe

Methods: The study used data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) to conduct a series of regressions for two pairs of medications. The first pair was for the treatment of high cholesterol. Advicor was the new medication and Lovastatin was the competitor. The second pair was for the treatment of arthritis. Humira was the new medication and Remicade was the competitor. For each pair, there were two sets of regressions that consisted of an unrestricted regression with all patients …

Do Ct Scans Help Prevent Cancer-Related Deaths?, Auyon J. Ghosh

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This paper uses a region-level estimation approach associated with medical procedures to identify the effectiveness of X-ray Computed Axial Tomography (CT) scans as a diagnostic tool in preventing cancer-related deaths. In order to measure the effects of the CT scan on cancer-related deaths, I use data from both the National Health Interview Survey and the Vital Statistics of the United States. For all four regions, we observe an increase in CT scan use after 1979 or, as illustrated specifically in the figure, from 1975 to 1980. All four regions exhibit marked increases in lung cancer-related deaths, very little fluctuation in …

Health Insurance Availability And Entrepreneurship, Philip Decicca

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Despite a strong interest in entrepreneurship, economists have devoted little attention to the role of health insurance availability. I investigate the impact of a unique policy experiment—New Jersey’s Individual Health Coverage Plan—on self-employment. Implemented in August 1993, the IHCP included an extensive set of reforms that loosened the historical connection between traditional employment and health insurance by facilitating access to coverage that was not employer-linked. I find evidence that the IHCP increased self-employment among New Jersey residents, relative to various sets of comparison states. Consistent with key policy features, including pure community rating of premiums, I find larger behavioral responses …

Microeconomic Analysis Of Hours Of Informal Care Per Week For Alzheimer's Disease Patients, Elizabeth Eckert

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

As more Americans are diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, the demand for treatment and care has been increasing. One of the most critical issues of caring for an Alzheimer's disease patient is the number of unpaid hours that many Americans are contributing to the care for Alzheimer's disease patient Providing unpaid care can cause issues for the caregivers such as high stress levels, financial problems, and difficulties at work, and thus can result in the patient not receiving the best possible care. Based on previously collected survey data, this econometric study evaluates the determinants of the average number of hours of …

Health Insurance Tax Credits And Health Insurance Coverage Of Low-Earning Single Mothers, Merve Cebi, Stephen A. Woodbury

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

No abstract provided.

The Influence Of Retiree Health Benefits On Retirement Patterns, James Marton, Stephen A. Woodbury

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

We estimate the effect of employer offers of retiree health benefits (RHBs) on the timing of retirement using a sample of Health and Retirement Study (HRS) men observed over a period of up to 12 years. We hypothesize that the effect of RHBs differs for workers of different ages-a hypothesis we can test now that the main HRS cohort has aged sufficiently. We apply three well-known panel data estimators and find that, for men in their 50s, RHBs have little or no effect on retirement decisions; however, a substantial effect emerges for men in their early 60s. We use simulations …

America's Health Care Economics: Probing Questions And Second Opinions, Second Edition, Don P. Diffine Ph.D.

Belden Center Monographs

No abstract provided.

Fragmentation In Mental Health Benefits And Services: A Preliminary Examination Into Consumption And Outcomes, Barak D. Richman, Daniel Grossman, Frank Sloan

Faculty Scholarship

In this chapter, we examine consumption patterns and health outcomes within a health insurance system in which mental health benefits are administered under a carved-out insurance plan. Using a comprehensive dataset of health claims, including insurance claims for both mental and physical health services, we examine both heterogeneity of consumption and variation in outcomes. Consumption variation addresses the regularly overlooked question of how equal insurance and access does not translate into equitable consumption. Outcomes variation yields insights into the potential harms of disparate consumption and of uncoordinated care. We find that even when insurance and access are held constant, consumption …

Are Brand Name Medicine Prices Really Lower In Ciudad Juárez?, Thomas M. Fullerton Jr., Osvaldo Miranda

Border Region Modeling Project

Relatively high brand name pharmaceutical prices have led many United States residents to cross the border into Mexico as “medical tourists.” To examine the savings potentially available to consumers willing to cross into Mexico, data are collected and analyzed for brand name prescription medicines sold in El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Retail pharmacy prices are generally lower on the south side of the border and substantial savings result for some medicines. For some products, however, shelf prices are lower on the north side of the border.