Evaluation of Efficiency in Primary Health Care Centres: An Application of Data Envelopment Analysis

The aim of this paper is to analyse one of the principal problems in primary health care management: the evaluation of efficiency in primary health care centres. Given the special characteristics of measuring outcome in primary care it is necessary to evaluate the performance of centres from a quality perspective too. The methodology used, DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis), allows us to introduce quantitative and qualitative variables in a sample of primary care centres in a Spanish province. Once the efficiency of the different centres is known, we investigate the sensitivity of the methodology to changes in the definition of outputs used.     

国际贸易计价货币的选择——兼论人民币国际化

本文以出口商预期利润最大化为视角，介绍和归纳了出口商计价货币选择的有关模型。得出结论：一国货币作为国际贸易发票货币取决于货币汇率的波动性；该国占据的出口市场份额以及该国出口产品的差异性程度，并利用经验数据检验了以上结论，展望了人民币国际化的前景。     

Price dynamics in limit order markets

This article presents a one-tick dynamic model of a limit ordermarket. Agents choose to submit a limit order or a market orderdepending on the state of the limit order book. Each traderknows that her order will affect the order placement strategiesof those who follow and the execution probability of her limitorder is endogenous. All traders take this into account which,in equilibrium, generates systematic patterns in transactionprices and order placement strategies even with no asymmetricinformation.     

Growth in regions

We use a newly assembled sample of 1,528 regions from 83 countries to compare the speed of per capita income convergence within and across countries. Regional growth is shaped by similar factors as national growth, such as geography and human capital. Regional convergence rate is about 2 % per year, comparable to that between countries. Regional convergence is faster in richer countries, and countries with better capital markets. A calibration of a neoclassical growth model suggests that significant barriers to factor mobility within countries are needed to account for the evidence.     

重庆市统筹城乡战略思路及成效分析

重庆市城乡居民收入差距不断加大,二元经济结构显著,呈现“大城市大农村”的二元城乡结构。自获批全国统筹城乡综合配套改革试验区以来,以三个试验区为突破口,配套推进六个方面的相关改革,确定“一圈两翼”的发展格局,实施土地流转及大力发展劳务经济等相关政策措施,城乡统筹全面铺开,取得相当大成效,但距离目标存在一定的差距。     

Do Institutions Cause Growth?

We revisit the debate over whether political institutions cause economic growth, or whether, alternatively, growth and human capital accumulation lead to institutional improvement. We find that most indicators of institutional quality used to establish the proposition that institutions cause growth are constructed to be conceptually unsuitable for that purpose. We also find that some of the instrumental variable techniques used in the literature are flawed. Basic OLS results, as well as a variety of additional evidence, suggest that (a) human capital is a more basic source of growth than are the institutions, (b) poor countries get out of poverty through good policies, often pursued by dictators, and (c) subsequently improve their political institutions.     

Corporate Ownership Around the World

We use data on ownership structures of large corporations in 27 wealthy economies to identify the ultimate controlling shareholders of these firms. We find that, except in economies with very good shareholder protection, relatively few of these firms are widely held, in contrast to Berle and Means's image of ownership of the modern corporation. Rather, these firms are typically controlled by families or the State. Equity control by financial institutions is far less common. The controlling shareholders typically have power over firms significantly in excess of their cash flow rights, primarily through the use of pyramids and participation in management.