Socioeconomic Determinants of Child Health: Empirical Evidence from Indonesia

This paper characterizes the socioeconomic determinants of child health using height‐for‐age z‐score (HAZ), a long‐run measure of chronic nutritional deficiency. We construct a panel data that follows children between ages 3 and 59 months in 1993 through the 1997 and 2000 waves of the Indonesian Family Life Survey. We use this data to identify the various child‐level, household‐level and community‐level factors that affect children's health. Our findings indicate that household income has a large and statistically significant role in explaining improvements in HAZ. We also find a strong positive association between parental height and HAZ. At the community level, we find that provision of electricity and the availability of paved roads are positively associated with improvements in HAZ. Finally, in comparison to community‐level factors, household‐level characteristics play a large role in explaining the variation in HAZ. These findings suggest that policies that address the demand‐side constraints have greater potential to improve children's health outcomes in the future.     

Monetary Policies versus Regulatory Policies: Management of Peer to Peer Market Interest Rates

This paper studies how monetary and regulatory policies manage peer to peer (P2P) interest rates. Based on selected representative monetary and regulatory policies, this paper finds that easy monetary policies reduce the demand for online loans, thus reducing the market's interest rates. Monetary policies may increase the supply of online loans through rational expectation channels or reduce the demand for online loans through bank risk‐taking channels. Normative market‐based regulatory policy enables the P2P market to return to rationality, eliminates high‐risk investors and borrowers, and subsequently reduces market interest rates. Risk disposal‐based regulatory policy reduces market supply to some extent, resulting in a small increase in interest rates. Both easy monetary policies and regulatory policies have a great impact on the normal platforms. The interest rate of high‐risk platforms is less affected by the relevant policies, which is evidence that such platforms do not behave in accordance with the financial rules in general. Monetary policies mainly affect platforms with interest rates in a relatively normal range, while regulatory policies mainly focus on platforms with abnormal interest rates.     

论中国首套重大疾病经验发生率表的影响

随着医疗技术的进步,重疾康复率不断提升,与此同时,医疗费用也在迅速上升,健康保险里的重疾险成为了发达地区消费者的首选保障手段。长期以来,我国一直没有自己的疾病发生率表,重疾险产品的定价和法定准备金评估,主要依靠再保险公司提供的国外发生率数据。但这种情况下,定价与评估的准确性、科学性和适用性都难以保证,这无疑制约了重大疾病保险的发展。2013年11月,我国首套重大疾病经验发生率表发布。首套重大疾病发生率表的发布对我国重大疾病保险发展和重大疾病保险的主要参与者会产生哪些影响?     

Surviving the Famine Unscathed? An Analysis of the Long‐Term Health Effects of the Great Chinese Famine

We study the long‐term health effects of the Chinese Famine of 1959–1961 on five cohorts of individuals exposed to it at different stages of their early lives. Based on a 2011 national survey, we use instrumental variables to estimate the impact of the Famine on various health and lifestyle indicators for the whole sample and for the female and male subsamples separately. We have found some negative effects of Famine exposure: (i) for the whole sample, Famine exposure reduced adult height for two out of five cohorts; (ii) for both the female and the male subsamples, Famine exposure reduced adult height in one cohort; and on the whole the reduction was larger for males. We have also found in the subsample that Famine exposure was associated with (i) a higher risk of having hypertension in one cohort for females; (ii) a higher likelihood of smoking in one male cohort; and (iii) a higher probability of consuming alcohol in one cohort for males. Finally, we have not found a statistically significant association between Famine exposure and the risk of being overweight or underweight, having diabetes or other chronic diseases, having depression.     

Things Fall Apart: Health Consequences of Mass Imprisonment for African American Women

In this article, we examine the possible impact of mass imprisonment on the physical health of African American women. Specifically, we focus on a variety of mechanisms through which mass imprisonment may increase the risk of having three major chronic health conditions that are risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD): hypertension, diabetes, and obesity. This approach is distinctive in that it provides a broad theoretical framework through which mass imprisonment might harm the physical health of African American women in ways separate from the pathways linking mass imprisonment to their risk of contracting infectious diseases (especially HIV and other STIs), which has been the emphasis of most research in this area. In order to draw these connections, we begin by briefly discussing what mass imprisonment is and its social consequences. We then discuss our three CVD risk factors, documenting disparities between white and African American women in these risk factors and discussing mechanisms through which mass imprisonment might contribute to these disparities. We close by discussing the data needed to test our hypotheses and suggesting some avenues for future research.     

Existence level differences and spatial industrial restructuring in South Africa: RDP imperatives

The change of government in South Africa and the subsequent implementation of the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) has necessitated afresh look at the spatial‐economic development policies of the past. Recently, an attempt was made to measure differences in existence level in South Africa using a combination of First and Third World criteria. In this paper these differences are related to general trends in population redistribution in the country since 1960 in an effort to assess the probable impact of existence level difference and migration on urbanisation in South Africa in the long run. On the basis of these assessments, expected trends in urban development in South Africa are compared with previous industrial development policies in an effort to determine RDP imperatives for the future.     

Development thinking in the field of ethics

For the sake of brevity this essay concentrates on Christian theological ethics. Academic endeavours, official stances of major church bodies and the practical policies of development agencies are relevant. Geared to a holistic view of the well‐being and suffering of man, this essay will try to achieve a comprehensive picture of the development syndrome in all its dimensions. Central concerns are the survival of man and the preservation of his ecological habitat, the effects of affluence and poverty and the demands for social justice. Other considerations are incidental to the foregoing. The following dimensions of the problem emerged in historical sequence: colonial domination and decolonisation, growth and modernisation, dependency and liberation, the limits to growth (both of the population and the industrial economy), competition between technology and employment, and the arms race. In South Africa racial policies constitute a further fundamental category. The subject of theological ethics has addressed itself with varying degrees of dedication and competence to all these issues. Its major contribution is to create an awareness of the conviction that to attain to our full humanity and regain the initiative in view of the imminent breakdown of the presuppositions of life on our planet, we need to rediscover our divine mission.     

EXPLORING THE IMPACT OF FOREIGN AID ON CORRUPTION: HAS THE “ANTI‐CORRUPTION MOVEMENT” BEEN EFFECTIVE?

Though many studies have referred to an “anti‐corruption movement” beginning in the 1990s by major international organizations, none has empirically tested its effectiveness on corruption. The data show that from 1997 onward, the impact of multilateral aid is strongly and robustly associated with lower corruption levels, while bilateral aid is shown to be an insignificant determinant. An increase in any official development assistance (ODA) pre‐1997 is associated with higher levels of corruption or has no impact at all. Using panel data from 1986 to 2006, this study reveals a more nuanced relationship between ODA and corruption than previous studies and demonstrates that when disaggregating the time periods, there are sensitive temporal effects of ODA's effect on corruption overlooked by earlier studies, and provides initial evidence of the effectiveness of the international organization anti‐corruption movement in the developing world.     

Night watchman,extractive, or developmental states? Some evidence from late colonial south‐east Asia1

The article examines aspects of government policy in different parts of colonial south‐east Asia, and in nominally independent Siam (Thailand) in the first four decades of the twentieth century. The emphasis is on taxation and expenditure policies, and their implications for the development of infrastructure and also for the welfare of indigenous populations. Attention is also given to the impact of government regulation of both factor and product markets. On the basis of the empirical evidence, the article argues that the traditional view of the colonial state as a ‘night watchman’ was not applicable to most parts of south‐east Asia after 1900. Governments were increasingly involved in implementing policies that today would be considered developmental, including building infrastructure and improving access to secular education and modern health care for the indigenous populations. But given the resources that they had, or had the potential to mobilize, more could have been achieved.     

Good Care Practices Can Mitigate the Negative Effects of Poverty and Low Maternal Schooling on Children’s Nutritional Status: Evidence from Accra

This study uses data from a representative survey of households with preschoolers in Accra, Ghana to: (a) examine the importance of care practices for children’s height-for-age Z-scores (HAZ); and (b) identify subgroups of children for whom good maternal care practices may be particularly important. Good caregiving practices related to child feeding and use of preventive health services were a strong determinant of children’s HAZ, specially among children from the two lower income terciles and children whose mothers had less than secondary schooling. In this population, good care practices could compensate for the negative effects of poverty and low maternal schooling on children’s HAZ. Thus, effective targeting of specific education messages to improve child feeding practices and use of preventive health care could have a major impact on reducing childhood malnutrition in Accra.     

The challenges of health financing in five South Pacific countries

Health is a central development issue. Arrangements for health financing also have important implications for national and household budgets and broader macroeconomic conditions. The latest evidence from Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu shows these five South Pacific countries have substantial—and changing—health challenges, especially given rapid population growth and the rise of non‐communicable diseases. Yet each country faces important constraints to expanding public expenditure on health. Several options for obtaining better health outcomes from health expenditure are canvassed; improving technical and allocative efficiency is the most urgent, affordable, and practical option. An agenda for action is provided.     

医疗支出、健康人力资本与企业出口扩张

医疗支出作为影响健康人力资本形成的基础因素,在后疫情时代,对企业构筑出口竞争优势和提高出口发展规模有着重要的作用,尤其对中小微企业出口发展影响深远。在此背景下,文章以中国私营企业调查数据库为基础,对医疗支出与企业出口之间的因果关系展开系统检验。理论上,健康人力资本是组成企业人力资本的重要模块,医疗支出的增加能够影响企业健康人力资本的形成,进而对企业出口产生积极作用。实证研究发现,医疗支出发展能够产生显著的出口促进效应,提高企业的出口规模,但这一作用就不同样本分类存在着异质性。机制检验表明,文章从人口死亡率、营养健康程度等多个维度对健康人力资本进行衡量后,医疗支出水平的提高能够改善企业健康人力资本的积累,增强企业出口的竞争优势,进而促进企业的出口发展。此外,文章在考虑计量模型设定、行业样本选取、宏观环境冲击、医疗支出构成等多方面的稳健性检验,并通过PSM分析、安慰剂检验、控制函数法来解决潜在的内生性问题后,医疗支出对企业出口的积极作用依然成立。文章研究是卫生经济学和国际贸易领域的一次有益融合,相关结论为支持我国卫生医疗和对外贸易发展政策的有效性,提供了来自现实的有力证据。     

Macroeconomic policies and their impact on health in Zimbabwe in the 1980s and 1990s: An analysis of the prevalence of diarrhoea,malnutrition, maternal mortality and access to health services

The main objective of this article is to examine how the changes in macroeconomic policies have shaped health outcomes, particularly with regard to diarrhoea, malnutrition, maternal mortality and access to health services, and how these health outcomes vary by income, geographical location and gender. Macroeconomic policies in Zimbabwe have tended to shape health outcomes and they have also had an impact on trends in household income levels and access to health facilities. During the 1980s, the government's health policy 'Equity in health' led to increased access to health facilities. The policy of free health for low-income households made it possible for poorer groups to access health facilities more easily. However, the introduction of economic reform programmes popularly known as the Economic Structural Adjustment Programmes in Zimbabwe, has witnessed a massive shift in macropolicies. These policy changes have tended to affect the health sector in a negative manner. The introduction of user fees as a cost recovery measure and the rollback on government expenditure on social sectors, health included, have led to a reduction in the population able to access health facilities. Results of studies have shown a positive relationship between the prevalence of diarrhoea, malnutrition and access to health facilities with income levels, rural/urban location and gender.     

家电下乡的经济学思考

众所周知,我国是一个农业大国,农业人口比重大,农民生活水平的好坏、消费水平的高低,直接影响着我国总体经济的发展。近年来,国家取消了农业税,陆续出台了粮食直接补贴、农资综合补贴、良种补贴和农机具购置补贴等惠农政策,降低了农民的生产成本。然而全面发展农村经济,促进农村购买力的增长和拉动农村消费,并不是一朝一夕之功。改革开放以来,我国农村经济不断发展,特别是近几年来,拉动农村消费成为新闻、报纸上经常出现的名词。由财政部、商务部、工业和信息化部联合家电企业、流通企业共同启动的"家电下乡"活动,无疑是响应这一号召的重要举措。随着活动的继续深入开展,其正负经济效应日益凸显,但总体来说,家电下乡的政策效果是农民获益、企业促销、政府扩大内需和相关产业大发展的多方共赢。     

苏南现代化建设示范区经济、人口与社会医疗保险——以常熟市居民基本(农村合作)医疗保险为例

经济社会发展、人口老龄化和现代化社会医疗保险制度建设的关系,是当前苏南现代化社会医疗保险制度建设的重大课题。文章基于对常熟市居民基本(农村合作)医疗保险的研究,发现:政策延续与经济发展是以常熟市为代表的苏南现代化建设示范区社会医疗保险制度建设取得改革发展先机的重要因素;持续加深的人口老龄化程度对社会医疗保险基金安全和补偿支出结构的负面冲击已经逐步显现;提高补偿标准和改革支付方式在一定程度上优化了参保居民就诊结构,增强了社会医疗保险的宏观经济保障能力,但长期对提高社会医疗保险制度的宏观经济保障能力的作用非常有限。基于以上研究发现,提出政策建议:通过吸纳外来务工人员以优化参保人群年龄结构是解决人口老龄化挑战的关键;重视疾病预防,特别是慢性病早期预防,加强多部门疾病预防协同合作是应对人口老龄化的重要措施。     

新冠肺炎疫情与全球治理变革

新冠肺炎疫情暴发以来迅速演变为一场全球公共卫生危机,不仅对人类生命安全和身体健康产生了巨大威胁,也使经济全球化受到重创,在全球多领域产生了全方位链式影响,凸显了全球治理的紧迫性和重要性。然而,现有全球治理体系在应对此次疫情过程中反应迟缓、部分失灵、治理成效有限。国际组织、国际机构、国际机制等应对不足、效果不彰。大国领导、大国协调与合作难度加大,未能体现领导作用。各国需要反思如何来加强全球治理体系改革,以更好地确保人类公共卫生安全。各国还需维护和稳定当前的世界秩序,在公共卫生领域形成一个人类卫生健康共同体。要树立人类命运共同体理念,强化对国际治理制度的更新、补充和替代,加大大国协调与合作力度,加强对世界卫生组织的赋权和赋能,提升其权威性和行动力,强化二十国集团等机制和制度建设,增补新的制度安排,在全球层面结成理念共同体、制度共同体、政策共同体、行动共同体和责任共同体。只有这样,各国才能共同应对未来人类所面临的公共卫生挑战,确保人类的生命安全和共同发展繁荣。     

Sudden Stops and Current Account Reversals: Potential Macroeconomic Consequences for South Africa

South Africa is one of the emerging market countries that have received a relatively large amount of foreign capital since the mid‐2000s. In South Africa's case, these inflows were partly used to build the country's foreign exchange reserves, but more particularly to finance continued large current account deficits. During the course of the past two years, however, adverse domestic political developments, combined with the potential negative impacts of the unwinding of quantitative easing policies and the normalising of monetary policy in the United States on emerging markets in general, has raised the spectre of a sharp slowdown in foreign capital flows to South Africa and an associated reversal of the current deficit. This paper explores the potential impact of such a development on macroeconomic conditions in South Africa. The analysis consists of macroeconometric model‐based alternative scenarios backed up by both the international evidence on the impact of such events and South Africa's own history.     

Localisation of Industry in Chile, 1895–1967: Mining Cycles and State Policy

Mining cycles have had an enormous impact in the evolution of the localisation of economic activity, in particular of industry, in Chile. The nitrate cycle was characterised by a labour‐intensive extraction process and activity which was geographically very concentrated. The copper cycle was geographically more dispersed and its activity more capital‐intensive. We stress the role played by the State in the latter de‐concentration due to the impact of regional development policies and assess the importance of factor endowments and agglomeration economies, in the localisation of the manufacture.     

Poverty: Insurance Theory and the Medically Uninsured

The federal/state Medicaid program is designed to provide health insurance for the nation's poorest, yet between 15 and 20 percent of the population continue to have no health insurance. Classic utility-based insurance theory is examined to see if it well explains why some do and some do not purchase health insurance at the state level or if a host of other non-economic factors are needed. This pooled, cross-sectional time-series analysis shows that the state characteristics most strongly associated with the prevalence of a lack of health insurance is the percent of persons whose income falls below the poverty line, the percent of the state's population that is female and the percent of the population with only a high school education. This analysis suggests that the starting point for policies aimed at limiting the number of insured should be limiting poverty and perhaps recognizing the gender/education influence in designing state eligibility requirements.