Public and Private Provision of Health Care

One of the mechanisms that are implemented in the cost containment movement in the health care sectors in western countries is the definition, by the third-party payer, of a set of preferred providers. The insured patients have different access rules to such providers when ill. The rules specify the copayments patients must pay when using an out-of-plan care provider. This paper studies the competitive process among providers in terms of both prices and qualities. Competition is influenced by the status of providers as in-plan or out-of-plan care providers. Also, there is a moral hazard of provider choice related to the trade-off between freedom to choose and the need to hold down costs. It is possible to achieve the first-best allocation by an appropriate definition of the reimbursement scheme when decisions on prices and qualities are taken simultaneously (as in primary health care sectors). In contrast, some type of regulation is needed to achieve the optimal solution when decisions are sequential (as in specialized health care sectors). We also derive normative conclusions on how price controls should be implemented in some European Union member states.     

Technical Efficiency in the Angolan Banking Sector with the B‐convexity Model

This paper analyses technical efficiency in Angolan banks from 2005 to 2010 with an innovative production frontier model, the model. The intermediate approach is adopted. It is observed that the efficiency increases over the observation period, according to the international experience, market share and local markets. Policy implications indicate that competition and governance should be promoted in order to increase efficiency.     

A performance assessment of Mozambique banks: a Bayesian stochastic frontier

This article analyses the technical efficiency of Mozambican banks from 2005 to 2014 with a Bayesian stochastic frontier model. The intermediate approach is adopted and the results reveal that efficiency varies amongst the banks analysed. Foreign ownership of Mozambican banks is also analysed, as is public ownership, the role of mergers and acquisitions, big banks and active dividend policy within the context of bank costs. Policy implications are then derived.     

Analysing the determinants of performance of best and worst European banks: A mixed logit approach

Using a dataset of 7635 observations on 1384 commercial banks operating in the EU between 1993 and 2001, we utilise a mixed logit model to identify factors that explain the probability of a bank being a best [worst] performer. The empirical evidence confirms the importance of country-level characteristics (location and legal tradition), and firm-level features (bank ownership, balance sheet structure and size). Specifically, smaller sized banks with higher loan-intensity, and foreign banks from countries upholding common law traditions have a higher probability of best performance.     

The length of stay of golf tourism: A survival analysis

This study analyses the length of stay of golf tourists in the Algarve, on the southern coast of Portugal. The analysis employs a questionnaire to ascertain the significant characteristics influencing the length of stay of golf tourists. A survival model is used to analyse which characteristics are associated with the length of stay, taking into account the uncontrolled heterogeneity of the data. Robustness tests are implemented and policy implications are derived for improving the understanding and management of the length of stay of heterogeneous tourists.     

Towards a New Flashmob Unionism: The Case of the Fight for 15 Movement

Unionism renewal has been described as a hybridization process between ‘old’ and ‘new’ logics. Understanding how these two potentially conflicting logics might be combined, however, has so far received little attention. Through the study of the Fight for 15 (FF15) movement, we investigate how the old ‘collectivist’ logic of action-oriented unions and the new ‘connectivist’ logic are being hybridized. To do so, we develop a mixed-methods approach that combines interviews with Twitter data. We evidence three mechanisms through which the collectivist and connectivist logics are being hybridized, namely, imbrication, camouflage and cumulation. We suggest to name ‘flashmob unionism’ the hybrid logic of FF15, characterized by apparently spontaneous mobilizations, a loosely co-ordinated organization, a personalized communication and online virality.     

The macroeconomy of Angola: breaks and persistence in Angolan macro data

Using long-range dependence techniques we examine the order of integration of Angola’s macro variables from a fractional viewpoint. Based on a small open economy model, the series examined are money reserves, credit, money supply, lending rate, exchange rates, CPI, GDP, oil revenues and government expenditure, for the period of January 2000 to December 2013. The results suggest that the variables are nonstationary with orders of integration equal to or higher than 1 suggesting nonmean-reverting behaviour. Structural breaks reveal that the series reflect the IMF intervention in Angola in 2003 to control inflation. Policy implications are derived.     

Performance evaluation of the English Premier Football League with data envelopment analysis

This paper uses data envelopment analysis (DEA) to evaluate the performance of English Premier League football clubs from 1998/99 to 2002/03 combining sport and financial variables. The paper evaluates how close the clubs are relative to the frontier of best practices, analysing how they manage sport as well as financial results. Managerial implications of the research are devised.     

Efficiency in Crime Prevention: A Study of Lisbon’s Police Precincts

This article analyses the technical efficiency of Lisbon’s police precincts by evaluating their relative performance. It starts from the assumption that there is time‐varying efficiency and uses a stochastic cost‐frontier model to generate efficiency scores. Indeed, this efficiency model is thoroughly investigated. However, the results are found to be at best mixed, because the model reveals low efficiency and time‐unvarying scores. To increase efficiency, this article advocates an improvement of top management procedures, based on a governance‐environment framework.     

Earnings, Schooling and Social Capital of Cooperative Managers

Abstract ** : This paper estimates a human capital model for co‐operative managers and compares the results with the social capital model, based on a questionnaire distributed in Portugal in 2003. The study disentangles the relative contributions of the two competing theories of earnings: the human capital and social capital theories, as applied to co‐operative managers. We conclude that co‐operative managers' earnings are a function of both theories. Policy implications are derived .