Zur Reform der Pflegeversicherung: Einstieg in ein nachhaltiges und wettbewerbliches System

Bundesgesundheitsminister R?sler hat für 2011 eine umfassende Pflegereform sowohl der Leistungsseite als auch der Einnahmenstruktur angekündigt. Die Autoren dieses Beitrags machen den Vorschlag, die umlagefinanzierte Pflegeversicherung um eine kapitalgedeckte S?ule zu erg?nzen.     

华盛顿大学中国财政体系亟待改革

中国走上市场经济转轨25年之后,人们对于收入和地区差距、官员腐败和经济保障等发展不平衡问题的关注与日俱增。中国新一代领导人提出“科学发展观”．的确表现出纠正这些不平衡和社会矛盾的意向。然而．要真正纠正这些长期积累的问题．关键之一在于改革政府间财政体系。     

Horticulture,livelihoods, and urban transition in Africa: evidence from South‐West Cameroon

This article documents change in periurban horticulture using repeat surveys in 1995 and 2004 of about 300 households around Muea, Cameroon. Real household incomes increased by 14%, with a large shift from farm to nonfarm income. Within agriculture, activity shifted from staple crops to horticulture, both for sale and in home consumption. In 1995, there were large remittances from farmers involved in periurban horticulture to their village of origin; in 2004 remittances continued and horticultural farmers were also heavily involved in informal financial associations. Periurban horticulture is disproportionately practiced by women and older workers, and plays an important and growing role in African livelihoods.     

The Essential Role of Sense of Community in a Youth Sport Program

This multiphased study identifies the salient benefits that parents seek for their families from a youth sport program. Phase 1, a preseason focus group study of parents of swimmers in three clubs (N = 15), indicated parents seek a sense of community for their children and themselves, and sense of community is linked to their desire for children to learn sport and life skills. Phase 2, a postseason survey of parents in the same three clubs (N = 129), tested the relationships among coaching quality, friendships, organizational communication, sport and life skills, sense of community, parents' satisfaction, and their repeat purchase intention. Using path analysis, sense of community was identified as the key driver of satisfaction and repeat purchase intention, with swimming improvement also having a significant effect on satisfaction. These findings highlight the central role sense of community plays for participants and their families in youth sport contexts.     

The impact of earnings expectations on corporate downsizing

Research Summary: We propose that due to financial market pressures, managers are forward‐looking in their search and decision processes and focus on meeting performance targets set by the financial community. Using panel data on S&P 100 companies, we find that pressure felt by management to meet the analyst consensus earnings estimate influences the extent of corporate downsizing. Moreover, our results show that high levels of institutional investor stock ownership and CEO power attenuate managers’ sensitivity to financial market pressures, while high levels of analyst coverage increase their sensitivity. Managerial Summary: In this study we examine how financial market pressures influence managers’ downsizing decisions. We argue that investment analysts’ earnings estimates represent important performance targets to which managers aspire. If firms fail to meet analysts’ expectations, the stock price will suffer. This study shows that managers utilize corporate downsizing to address the potential shortfall between a firm's future performance and the analyst consensus earnings estimate. In addition, we find that managers’ concerns over meeting analysts’ earnings estimates are influenced by various contextual factors such as institutional investor stock ownership, CEO power, and high levels of analyst coverage.     

Sorting it out: pile sorting as a mixed methodology for exploring barriers to cancer screening

We discuss a mixed methodology for analyzing pile sorting data. We created a list of 14 barriers to colon cancer screening and recruited 18, 13, and 14 participants from three American Indian (AI) communities to perform pile sorting. Quantitative data were analyzed by cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling. Differences across sites were compared using permutation bootstrapping. Qualitative data collected during sorting were compiled by AI staff members who determined names for the clusters found in quantitative analysis. Results showed five clusters of barriers in each site although barriers in the clusters varied slightly across sites. Simulation demonstrated type I error rates around the nominal 0.05 level whereas power depended on the numbers of clusters, and between and within cluster variability.     

The Impact of Pharmacy-Specific Any-Willing-Provider Legislation on Prescription Drug Expenditures

Many states have implemented some form of Any-Willing-Provider (AWP) legislation, which requires a managed care organization (MCO) to accept any provider, who agrees to the managed care organization’s reimbursement rates, terms, and conditions, into its network. AWP laws may result in larger networks, more patient choice, and greater competition among providers. Opponents cite AWP legislation as prohibiting managed care organizations from selective contracting and obtaining discounts by offering providers a larger volume of patients. Such legislation is therefore argued to prevent MCOs from effectively reducing health care costs. A small literature exists on the effect of these laws on hospital expenditures, physician expenditures, and total health care expenditures. Most studies, however, fail to recognize that the vast majority of the existing laws target pharmacies exclusively, as opposed to more comprehensive laws that also apply to physicians and hospitals. If AWP legislation prevents cost reduction available through selective contracting, then states with such legislation may incur higher health care expenditures. I find that pharmacy-specific AWP legislation is associated with increased pharmaceutical expenditures. This result is robust to several alternative specifications.     

Is doing good good for you? how corporate charitable contributions enhance revenue growth

This study examines the impact of corporate philanthropy growth on sales growth using a large sample of charitable contributions made by U.S. public companies from 1989 through 2000. Applying Granger causality tests, we find that charitable contributions are significantly associated with future revenue, whereas the association between revenue and future contributions is marginally significant at best. We then identify the mechanism underlying our findings. Our results are particularly pronounced for firms that are highly sensitive to consumer perception, where individual consumers are the predominant customers. In addition, we document a positive relationship between contributions and customer satisfaction. Overall, our evidence suggests that corporate philanthropy, under certain circumstances, furthers firms' economic objectives. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.