The relationship between regulation and prices in the workers' compensation insurance market

This study examined the effect of different state regulatory policies on the price of workers' compensation insurance. Using a time series of state cross section data for the years 1980–1987, estimates were obtained for models that differed according to how price was measured and whether the regulatory variables were treated as endogenous. When the regulatory variables were treated as exogenous, the results show that price is lower in deregulated states compared to states with prior approval regulation. Results for models with endogenous regulatory variables indicate that price tends to be lower in deregulated states, although the estimates are not statistically significant.     

社会医疗保障改革的福利效应:以中国城镇为例

This paper evaluates Chinese public health insurance reform enforced since 1998 in terms of its welfare effects. We evaluate China health insurance reform since 1998 using the China Health and Nutrition Surveys (CHNS) data with relevant econometric models. The results of empirical studies show that the public health insurance status has significant impact on medical service utilization and expenditure. The reform reduces the positive effect of public health insurance on medical service utilization, meaning the utilization gap is narrowed after the reform. However, the empirical studies find that the medical expenditure growth of the sample individuals in urban China has not been controlled after the Basic Medical Insurance (BMI) program even if a new co-payment is enforced. Two main reasons for this failure might be the rising cost of medical service and physician’s severe moral hazard, while both of them come from no managed care mechanism for medical service providers in China.      

The costs of distribution in the UK life insurance market

The cost of direct and independent distribution in the UK life insurance sector over the period 1990–1997 is examined. This is a novel contribution to the literature that until now has focused almost solely on distribution in the non-life sector. Unlike the non-life sector the distribution of life insurance is complicated by the existence of investor protection policies. Which in the UK are believed to have increased the use of independent agents. Using a pooled data set of 44 companies between 1990 and 1997, this study finds little evidence for such a view. Cost benefits are found for firms focusing in one mode of distribution. From a modelling of the distribution decision this finding maybe attributed to firms choosing distribution systems which match the transactional problems associated with their product mix and/or mode of corporate governance.     

人民币汇改后中国资本市场改革的成就与问题

解决资本市场与货币市场的不平衡发展是中国实行金融改革的主要动因之一,随着大力发展资本市场的中央文件陆续提出,中国资本市场改革进展顺利,2005年7月人民币汇改后,资本市场也随之进入发展新阶段.过了2006年中国加入WTO承诺--对外开放金融业即将兑现,此前出现的新机遇和新问题亟待我们去分析解决,以积极应对对外开放对我国金融业带来的冲击并把握金融业开放给我们带来的契机.     

人民币汇改后中国资本市场改革的成就与问题

解决资本市场与货币市场的不平衡发展是中国实行金融改革的主要动因之一，随着大力发展资本市场的中央文件陆续提出，中国资本市场改革进展顺利，2005年7月人民币汇改后，资本市场也随之进入发展新阶段。过了2006年中国加入WTO承诺——对外开放金融业即将兑现，此前出现的新机遇和新问题亟待我们去分析解决，以积极应对对外开放对我国金融业带来的冲击并把握金融业开放给我们带来的契机。     

Health insurance and consumption: Evidence from China’s New Cooperative Medical Scheme

We exploit a quasi-natural experiment arising from the introduction of a health insurance program in rural China to examine how the insurance coverage affects household consumption. Results show that, on average, the health insurance coverage increases nonmedical-related consumption by more than 5%. This insurance effect is observed even in households with no out-of-pocket medical spending. In addition, the insurance effect is stronger in households with worse self-reported health status. These results are consistent with the precautionary savings argument. The insurance effect also varies by household experience with the program. In particular, the effect is significant only in villages where some households have actually obtained reimbursement from the insurance program. The program within these villages stimulates less consumption among new participants than among households that have participated in the program for more than a year.     

对应分析法在保险市场细分中的应用

随着我国保险业的飞速发展,为进一步提高保险公司竞争力,就必须对市场定位、市场细分有更清楚的认识。由此,运用多元统计理论的对应分析法,以我国各省区的不同险种的收入为依据,对保险公司在险种的销售和业务开拓方面提供指导性建议。     

Labour market reform and the macroeconomic efficiency of the labour market in Australia

This paper assesses the effects of a decade and a half of labourmarket reform in Australia on labour market flexibility at themacroeconomic level. Increased labour market flexibility isinterpreted as reduced structural unemployment and enhancedefficiency of matching. We use shifts in the Beveridge Curveas a measure of changes in labour market efficiency (followingSolow, R., What is labour-market flexibility? What is it goodfor?, Keynes Lecture, British Academy, London, December, 1997).Time series analysis of unemployment, vacancies and other relevantvariables strongly suggests that changes in the efficiency oflabour market matching over the period reflect the cyclicaleffects of hysteresis rather than the effects of labour marketreform.     

Price dispersion in the private health insurance industry: The case of Catalonia

This paper presents a vertical and horizontal product differentiation model that explains price dispersion among different kinds of health care insurance firms. Our model shows large insurance firms engaging in price competition with small mutual organizations that serve only a local area and charge lower premiums. We found that, although the market allows the entry of an excessive number of firms, the presence of local insurance companies increases social welfare by increasing the range of products available to consumers. Our conclusions are applicable to OECD countries in general although we rely on Catalonia's data.     

Implications for unisex statutes and risk-pooling: The costs of gender and underwriting attributes in the automobile insurance market

In this paper, we explore the effects of gender and other demographic features and benefit provisions on insurance premiums using individual data from a property and liability insurer domiciled in Georgia for three types of automobile insurance coverages: collision insurance, comprehensive insurance, and liability insurance. We report the implicit prices of individual and automobile underwriting attributes and find that the effect of gender on the insurance premium for each of our coverage types is significant but has a lower absolute effect than other underwriting attributes, raising questions about the regulatory impact of unisex statutes. Finally, we examine three alternatives open to the regulator who must mandate and monitor insurance pricing under a unisex statute.     

Job market outcomes for IDPs: The case of Georgia

Internally displaced people (IDPs) constitute a serious economic, social and cultural problem for many countries, including countries in transition. Despite the importance of the problem, there are only a handful of previous studies investigating the issue of labour market outcomes for IDPs. Moreover, the impact of protracted displacement has not been addressed in academic work at all. We aim to fill this gap in the literature using 13 years (2004–2016) of Integrated Household Surveys from Georgia, which has experienced a large flow of internal migrants from the early 1990s until now. Our analyses indicate that the labour market outcomes for IDPs are much worse than those for local residents. Specifically, IDPs are 3.9–11.2 percentage points less likely to be in the labour force, depending on the period and duration of IDP status. IDPs are also up to 11.6 percentage points more likely to be unemployed, even after 20 years of forced displacement. Finally, IDPs residing in a locality for more than five years receive persistently lower wages than local residents with similar characteristics, with the gap widening over time, reaching some 11% in the last period under analysis.     

Price differentials in a homogenous product market: The case of water

This paper examines the existing price differentials for raw water along the Rio Grande. An extremely active spot market for this good, more than 926 transactions have been made over a five-year time period. Statistical analysis shows a significant difference between the price paid for water by irrigators or municipalities and industry. Even if price differentials did exist at the beginning, convergence would be expected over time for this homogenous good. However, statistical analysis shows no sign of convergence. Investigations have suggested that differentials may continue to exist due not to the lack of information, but to misinformation.     

建立现代市场制度：中国的公司治理与企业改革

中国在培育现代公司治理的制度方面已经取得了长足进展,但要改善中国企业的公司治理行为,仍需要从加强市场力量和监管力量、培育机构投资者队伍以及加强银行在公司治理中的作用等三个方面推进制度建设。     

Transition to a market type economy: The case of Czechoslovakia

Conclusion The privatisation and liberalisation steps referred to are an expression of the endeavour to accompany stabilisation efforts as quickly as feasible with the institutional and systemic changes as well as with policies for restructuring, to change the behaviour patterns of economics agents. Until this change takes place, the more effective the restrictive policies are in the financial sphere, the higher the costs incurred in the real sphere will tend to be.The achievement of the desirable trade-offs between the conflicting aims of the macroeconomic development is thus linked with the degree of success in the changes of behaviour of economic agents. The macroeconomic stabilisation will therefore in the longer run depend on the extent to which the regime actually changes, on the positive destabilisation of economic agents and on the progress in their restructuring.In Czechoslovakia there does not therefore seem to be as clear-cut a distinction, as in other reforming countries, between the phases of stabilisation policies, institutional and systemic changes and those of the restructuring policies.The measures to transform the Czechoslovak economy and the implementation of these measures represent an attempt to proceed on a wider front, to take coordinated steps in all the relevant spheres, implying a greater degree of simultaneity. This is a reflection of the strategy chosen which aims at a qualitative change to be accomplished rapidly, taking into account the fact that the individual steps in the various spheres of the transition process are closely interconnected. The approach followed could thus be considered a strategy to introduce groups of complementary policy measures, that is to say, to make several reform packages and to implement them sequentially.     

Sensitive products in the Doha negotiations: The case of European and Japanese market access

Given the highly concentrated distribution of agricultural protection, allowing in the negotiations too many exceptions through sensitive products puts at risk the objectives of World Trade Organization. This issue is difficult to analyze with the commonly used applied trade models, because they represent trade flows at an aggregate level, while sensitive products are picked at the product level and their protection, under the form of tariff-rate quotas, is contingent on the level of imports. This paper assesses the effect of these exceptions, based on the case of agricultural trade protection in Europe and Japan, two countries where tariff dismantling in the agricultural sector is a particularly sensitive issue. Since agricultural border protection is heterogeneous, we avoid aggregation bias by extending a multi-country computable general equilibrium model to the product level. This allows us to represent trade policies explicitly and to account for their interdependencies. The results suggest that consideration of sensitive products strongly limits the potential gains from a possible agriculture agreement at Doha. Moreover, there is no aggregate trade-off between decreasing tariffs and increasing/opening quotas. To achieve “substantial” market access improvements in the agricultural sector, the objective should be most favored nation tariff reduction.     

Multilevel versus single-level substitution: The case of the beverage can market

Multilevel substitution has been argued to be the prevalent form of substitution in the current industrial world. This paper summarizes the multilevel critique of the single-level process, highlighting the importance of data interpretation to this criticism. A case study of substitution in the beverage can market is analyzed and three differing conclusions are supported depending on the interpretation given to the data.     

Labor market reform and incidence of child labor in a developing economy

The paper is purported to examine the consequences of possible labor market reform in the developing economies on the incidence of child labor and economic well-being of the child labor supplying families. A two-sector, full-employment general equilibrium structure with child labor and imperfection in the market for adult labor has been used for the analytical purpose. Although this policy is likely to lower the incidence of child labor the welfare of the families supplying child labor worsens. The paper, therefore, questions the desirability of a policy designed at mitigating the child labor problem especially when it makes the poor families worse off.