SIPP and health care issues.

There are three major areas in health care policy which can be addressed by the data elements in the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP): (1) health insurance coverage and the stability of insurance over time; (2) health disability and its relationship to socioeconomic variables, including unemployment, over time; and (3) health care utilization. The survey does not, however, include information on health care expenditures or on details of visits to providers.     

THE EFFICIENCY OF SEQUESTERING CARBON IN AGRICULTURAL SOILS

Agricultural tillage practices are important human-induced activities that can alter carbon emissions from agricultural soils and have the potential to contribute significantly to reductions in greenhouse gas emission (Lal et al., The Potential of U.S. Cropland, 1998). This research investigates the expected costs of sequestering carbon in agricultural soils under different subsidy and market-based policies. Using detailed National Resources Inventory data, we estimate the probability that farmers adopt conservation tillage practices based on a variety of exogenous characteristics and profit from conventional practices. These estimates are used with physical models of carbon sequestration to estimate the subsidy costs of achieving increased carbon sequestration with alternative subsidy schemes.     

Leadership in Public Good Provision: A Timing Game Perspective

We address in this paper the issue of leadership when two governments provide public goods to their constituencies with cross‐border externalities as both public goods are valued by consumers in both countries. We study a timing game between two different countries: before providing public goods, the two policymakers non‐cooperatively decide their preferred sequence of moves. We establish conditions under which a first‐ or second‐mover advantage emerges for each country, highlighting the role of spillovers and the complementarity or substitutability of public goods. As a result, we are able to prove that there is no leader when, for both countries, public goods are substitutable. When public goods are complements for both countries, each of them may emerge as the leader in the game. Hence a coordination issue arises. We use the notion of risk‐dominance to select the leading government. Finally, in the mixed case, the government for whom public goods are substitutable becomes the leader.     

An interview with Gail R. Wilensky. Interview by Carmella A. Bocchino

In this interview, conducted just 4 months after assuming her new position as Administrator of HCFA, Dr. Wilensky discusses her goals for the agency, the emergence of Medicaid as a separate bureau, Medicare reimbursement policies, and nurses' potential as recognized health care providers.     

Projecting scenarios for South-east Asia and the South-west Pacific

The article describes further work to validate and assess a method of futures projection. The full methodology is shown in the context of a projection of plausible future trends for South-east Asia and the South-west Pacific. A number of scenarios are developed and it is shown that the future for that region may be fraught with considerable problems. Finally, the methodology is assessed and suggestions for future work are made.