The next big thing in health benefits: consumer choice

Consumers are the only ones who can affect all decision points that drive health care cost and quality. As a result, consumers' health and financial security depend on their taking more responsibility for their health care decisions and having the tools and information needed to do so successfully. This article explains the five key decision points that drive health care cost and quality, how technology aids marketplace innovations, and how employers can help advance consumer choice in order to push the health care system to deliver better care and keep inflation in check.     

Utility functions of equivalent form and the effect of parameter changes on optimum decision making

We derive a class of utility functions that are equivalent with respect to a well-defined functional form. We study the case of constant relative risk aversion (of some order) to investigate on different equivalence relations in order to determine the, possibly infinite, number of equivalence classes when utility functions satisfy a specific form. Then we apply our results to standard applications in economics and finance, for example, to the effect of price volatility on optimum hedging. We would like to thank Bernhard Eckwert and Itzhak Zilcha for constructive comments and suggestions.     

Attempt to test impact values for multi-indicator systems—exemplified by gender equality

Hasse diagram technique, based on partial ordering is an advantageous method to analyse complex systems of data such as objects characterized by multi-indicator systems. Beside ordered sequences of objects the theory may reveal the impact of each indicator for the set of order relations, which in general is of high interest. A method to measure the impact has already been known for more than 20 years; however, up to now there is no method for a testing as to how far these impacts are considered to be relevant. The actual study presents a first attempt for a testing theory, albeit an extension to statistical testing framework is still open. The testing approach so far is applied to the indicators of gender-equality. It turns out that for the 28 nations (pre-Brexit) of the EU, 2006, in addition to the unified European Union only one indicator can definitely be declared as relevant.

     

Intermediate inputs and sectoral comovement in the business cycle

The post-war US business cycle is characterized by positive comovement of employment and output across sectors. It has been argued that multi-sector growth models are inconsistent with this observation when changes in relative productivities are the main source of fluctuations. We suggest that the input-output structure of an economy, in particular the pervasive use of intermediate inputs, can induce positive comovement in sectoral employment and output following changes in relative productivities. We calibrate a model of the US economy for the durable and nondurable goods producing sectors, and show that sectoral employment and output move together if intermediate inputs are used in production. The model is also consistent with the observation that the relative price of nondurable goods is procyclical.     

Public Intervention in Health Insurance Markets: Theory and Four Examples from Latin America

This article examines rationales for public intervention inhealth insurance markets from the perspective of public economics.It draws on the literature of organizational design to examinealternative public intervention strategies, including issuesof contracting, purchaser provider splits, and regulation ofcompetition. Health insurance reforms in four Latin Americancountries are then considered in light of the insights providedby the theoretical literature.      

RELATIVE RATES OF RESOURCE RETURNS FOR ONTARIO COMMERCIAL FARMS - A FARM TO NONFARM COMPARISON, 1971–1974

This study examines the rates of return to resources in commercial agriculture in Ontario relative to the rates of return that similar resources could expect to earn in the nonfarm sector. Farm returns, which are defined to include net farm income plus capital gains to farm real estate, are measured for a selected group of Ontario farms over a four year period from 1971 to 1974. Two farm to nonfarm returns comparisons are made, based on comparable nonfarm earnings for farm resources calculated in terms of 1) a self-employment standard, and 2) a wage-earner-stockholder standard. Each comparison examines four return components for both farm and nonfarm returns: the labour return, the management return, the investment yield, and capital gains. Returns ratios are calculated, both including and excluding capital gains, to compare farm to nonfarm returns for each comparison. The overall returns comparisons indicate that rates of return to resources in commercial agriculture are generally quite close to comparable nonfarm rates of return, with capital gains constituting an important component of farm returns. At the same time the returns comparisons reveal a high degree of variability of rates of return among farms and over time. La présente étude compare les taux de rémunération des ressources des l'agriculture commerciale en Ontario et qu'engendreraient ces mêmes ressources dans un secteur d'activité non agricole. Les revenus agricoles, que Ton définit comme la somme du revenue net d'un exploitant et des gains provenant de ses placements immobiliers, ont étéévalués en Ontario pour un groupe d'exploitations pendant une période de quatre ans, 1971 à 1974. Deux normes de revenus non agricoles, à savoir l'entreprise privée et le salariéactionnaire, ont été retenues et compareées avec le revenu de l'exploitant agricole. Chaque norme comporte quatre éléments de rémunération: le travail, la gestion, le rendement de l'investissement et les gains en capitaux. Les rapports ont été calculés pour chaque norme de deux façons, avec ou sans les gains en capitaux, afin de comparer les revenus agricoles aux revenus non agricoles escomptés. La comparaison générate montre que dans l'ensemble le taux de revenu des ressources de l'agriculture commerciale se rapproche de ceux escomptés pour les activités non agricoles, et que les gains en capitaux constituent une bonne part des revenus de l'exploitant agricole. En outre, l'analyse révèle un degréélevé de variabilité des taux de revenu en fonction des divers exploitants et du facteur temps.