Determinants of non-life insurance expenditure in developed and developing countries: an empirical investigation

The determinants of non-life insurance expenditure in a panel data set covering 36 developed countries and 31 developing countries for the period 2000–2011 are analysed. Results of our instrumental variable analysis indicate that economic freedom, income, bank development, urbanization, culture and law systems are the key drivers of the non-life insurance expenditure across countries. However, their impacts differ significantly between the groups of developed and developing countries, suggesting that the heterogeneity among countries in terms of the level of development plays an important role. The global financial crisis is also found to influence the direction of those effects, especially in developed countries. The article yields useful policy and economic implications for governments and multinational non-life insurance companies with regard to the development of the non-life insurance sector, an important engine for economic growth and prosperity.     

Convergence in per capita health expenditures and health outcomes in the OECD countries

Our analysis of 19 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries over the period 1972 to 2006 provides evidence of convergence in per capita health care expenditures for 17 countries, while the US and (to a lesser degree) Norway follow a different path. A simple decomposition of per capita health expenditures reveals that the divergence of the US comes from the divergence of the ‘ratio of health care expenditures to Gross Domestic Product (GDP)’ component, while Norway's divergence is mainly caused by the ‘labour productivity’ component. Interestingly, our results suggest that convergence in per capita health expenditures among the 17 OECD countries does not lead to convergence in health outcomes. Finally, we extend our analysis to examine convergence in various determinants of health expenditures.     

‘A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall’: The Global Financial Crisis and Developing Countries

The global financial crisis of 2008–09 is the deepest downturn in the world economy since the Great Depression of 1929–33. Though its effects have been felt most noticeably in the developed countries, it has affected many developing countries. This article assesses what we know about the impact of the crisis on developing countries, and how the crisis may affect long-term development outcomes. It also examines the implications of the crisis for some key issues in development policy and thinking.     

Is social expenditure responsible for recent rise in public debt in OECD countries?

In developed economies, social expenditure is alleged to cause the rise in public debt over the last three decades. With dynamic panel data of 34 OECD countries from 1980 to 2014, we find robust evidence that the rise in public debt is not attributable to social expenditure.     

新时期下中国应对金融危机的改革与对策分析

在金融业全面开放背景下,全球经济一体化趋势逐渐增强。在国际金融危机冲击下,中国的经济体制改革是停滞不前,还是破浪前行,备受海内外关注。针对改革开放新时期的世界经济局面,借鉴其他发展中国家的经验,提出了适时的针对中国自身金融体制的改革建议。     

充分发挥失业保险促进就业功能的探析

失业保险既是社会保障体系的重要组成部分,又是积极就业政策的重要支柱。20世纪80年代以来,我国逐步建立了失业保险制度,有效保障了失业人员的合法权益,为人力资源体系建立发展提供了有力的保障,对维护社会稳定、促进社会和谐发展发挥了重要作用。然而,由于制度框架的限制等原因,近年来失业保险促进就业的功能体现不明显,出现了失业保险扩面难、基金结余过多等问题,影响到失业保险制度的健康发展。当前,国际金融危机蔓延,给我国经济发展和人民生活带来严重影响,随着部分企业特别是劳动密集型中小企业生产经营困难,就业形势趋于严峻,要求国家实施更加积极的就业政策。从实际来看,失业保险基金实力增强,具备承担促进就业、预防失业的能力。对此,文章通过重点分析云南省失业保险运行状况,结合当前经济形势的需要,并借鉴国外在失业保险制度改革方面的带有共性的经验和做法,指出失业保险应由保障生活、促进就业向预防失业方向扩展,以充分发挥其在人力资源体系建设中应有的作用;同时,根据失业保险属性,提出在政策上要有相对灵活性,建议失业保险对象应扩展到用人单位。     

经合组织国家促进创新和长期增长的政策措施

为应对金融危机,经合组织国家都制定了经济刺激计划,其中诸多政策不仅局限于满足短期社会需求,而是旨在推动创新和长期经济增长。具体包括基础设施投资;研发和创新投入;人力资本、教育、就业和培训;投资于环保和节能技术;扶持中小企业和创业等。     

德国应对金融危机 推动科技发展

尽管受到了金融危机的影响,在德国联邦政府的高度重视与积极推动下,2009年德国科技发展呈现出：研发投入持续增长、创新能力保持领先、创新创业环境持续改善、科技有力地服务于经济和社会发展的良好态势;并在生物医药、信息技术、纳米技术、海洋技术、电动汽车、可再生能源、环境与节能减排等多个重要技术领域取得了新的进展。     

Performance of European insurance firms in the single insurance market

The deregulation and liberalization process towards establishing a single European financial market has some important implications for the insurance industries. Due to the increased competition, insurance firms have to adjust their costs and operate efficiently to survive in this new environment. This paper attempts to analyze the cost efficiency and scale economies in the single European insurance market. Considering the ongoing enlargement process of the EU, our sample includes the insurance industries of the major EU‐15, four new members and a candidate country, Turkey, over the period 1995–2005. We use the firm‐level financial data and estimate a stochastic cost frontier that controls for differences in environmental conditions. All insurance systems display significant levels of cost inefficiency. The results further indicate that there are significant economies of scale, particularly for small‐ and medium‐size insurance firms. Finally, the analyses suggest similar results for major EU countries, new members and the candidate.     

Developing countries’ financial vulnerability to the eurozone crisis: an event study of equity and bond markets

The global crisis highlights the continued vulnerability of developing countries to shocks from advanced economies. Just a few years after the global crisis, the eurozone sovereign debt crisis has emerged as the single biggest threat to the global outlook. In this paper, we apply the event study methodology to gauge the scope for financial contagion from the EU to developing countries. More specifically, we estimate the responsiveness of equity and bond markets in developing countries to global crisis period and eurozone crisis news. Overall, we find that whereas global crisis period had a consistently negative effect on returns of equity and bond markets in developing countries, the effect of eurozone crisis news was more mixed and limited.     

当前世界性金融危机的马克思主义解读及其启示

国内外关于当前世界性金融危机的成因解释大多仅停留在技术和操作层面上,唯有马克思主义金融危机理论才指出了其本质和根源。虽然其也提出了一些化解措施,但由于时代不同,指导价值在现实的操作层面会略显不足。从战略的高度看当前世界性金融危机,首先,要对当前世界性的金融危机有一个准确认知;其次,要推进金融体制在改革中吸取西方资本主义国家在技术和操作层面上失败的教训;最后,要提防被当前金融危机下的意识形态之争所迷惑,坚定不移地走马克思主义中国化的创新之路。     

中国财险企业可持续发展能力的影响因素——基于核心能力角度

据保险统计年鉴数据显示,我国财险企业（2003-2007年）的数量、保费收入、保费增长率基本呈上升趋势。但在2008年,出现了一批财险公司保费收入负增长现象,其原因与全球金融危机的大背景分不开。在这样的背景下,我国财险企业要想实现可持续发展,首先需要抓住影响可持续发展能力的因素。因此,本文基于能力理论分析了可持续发展能力的内涵,从能力资源、能力水平及能力环境三个方面探讨对财险企业可持续发展能力的影响,由此,确定了能力资源、能力水平及能力环境三个主要影响因素及其子因素;考虑了三个主要因素之间的关系,并勾画出以能力环境为基础,以能力资源和能力水平为支柱的概念模型。本文认为通过学习,财险企业的能力资源及能力水平将相互渗透,形成了财险企业的核心能力,进而与外部能力环境进行有效结合,推动该企业的可持续发展。     

The U.S. health care expenditure: evidence from 2001 to 2009

This study utilizes state-level data from 2001 to 2009 to estimate the impact of the 2007 financial crisis upon health care expenditures. Higher death rates are consistently found to have a positive and statistically significant impact on health expenditures. While mental health and COPD are not generally found to impact expenditures, increases in the percentage of the population diagnosed with cholesterol and obesity tend to increase health expenditures. Increases in health expenditures slowed considerably after the financial crisis. Even though recessions (high unemployment rates) are generally found to have a positive impact on health expenditures, the post-financial crisis time period is estimated to have much lower health expenditures than in other time periods. Our results can be used to give insight into the conditions under which the slower rate of increase in health expenditures can be expected to increase. More research will be needed to be able to more completely explore not only the reasons for these changes in health expenditures but also whether they are likely to continue into the future.     

比利时提出十大财税措施应对金融危机

为应对经济危机,比利时政府把握自身特点,推出十大财税措施,领域涉及银行、能源、餐馆业增值税、柴油价格、社会车辆环境税、农产者补贴、名义利率、社会保障、年轻人就业及卫生健康。     

Transmission of the 2007–2008 financial crisis in advanced countries of the European Union

The aim of this paper is to identify the main factors responsible for the 2007–2008 crisis development and transmission across the 10 developed European Union (EU) countries. In order to achieve this objective, trade and financial linkages, crisis contagion from the United States and EU countries and countries' internal and external economic vulnerabilities are examined. The results of logistic regression model covering the period from 2002 to 2012 presented in this paper indicate that the transmission of the crisis occurred through contagion from the United States but also from other EU countries. Additionally, the empirical results confirm that high inflation, a decrease in the exchange rate, and a decrease in the US long-term interest rates increased the probability of the 2007–2008 financial crisis.