scholarly journals Health care investments and economic performance in Portugal: an industry level analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (6) ◽  
pp. 1174-1200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfredo M. Pereira ◽  
Rui M. Pereira ◽  
Pedro G. Rodrigues
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Economic Performance ◽  
Spillover Effects ◽  
Professional Services ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Net Exports ◽  
Capital Spending

Purpose The purpose of this paper, on Portugal, is to determine the economic effects of public and private capital spending on health. Design/methodology/approach The authors use a vector autoregressive model to estimate the elasticities and marginal products of health care investments in Portugal on investment, employment and output. Findings Every €1m invested in health care yields significant positive spillover effects, boosting investment and GDP by €24.74 and €20.45m, respectively, creating 188 net jobs. Adversely, net exports deteriorate, as new capital goods are imported. While only 28.2 percent of the total accumulated increase in GDP occurs within a year, investment is front loaded with a corresponding 73.8 percent. Over this period, 68 workers are displaced for every €1m invested. At a disaggregated level, real estate, construction, and transportation and storage are industries where output shares increase the most. Employment shares increase the most in professional services, construction and basic metals. Research limitations/implications This paper adds to the empirical literature, corroborating, for example, Rivera and Currais (1999a) and McDonald and Roberts (2002) in that health care spending can have a very significant effect on macroeconomic aggregates. In addition to the analysis of the tradable/non-tradable divide, it adds two further novelties by discussing industry-specific effects on economic performance and the distinction between effects on impact and those over the longer term. Practical implications As policy implications, health investments have very significant long-term economic performance effects, but are unhelpful counter cyclically. Also, they will change the industry mix: construction and professional services are the non-traded industries that will benefit the most, while the traded industries of non-metallic minerals, basic metals, and machinery and equipment benefit much less. Social implications Given that capital spending on health boosts economic performance, especially in the long run, it ought to be a part of Portugal’s medium-to-long-term growth strategy. Also, if these projects depress economic activity in the short run, and are thus unhelpful counter cyclically, the timing of when they are launched matters. Furthermore, following a health investment, policies that boost net exports will be required to ensure trade balance. Originality/value The originality of this paper is to estimate, in a dynamic framework, the aggregate and industry-specific elasticities and marginal products on investment, employment and output, allowing the identification of effects both on impact and over the long term. Although health care investments are expected to have important macroeconomic effects, they need not be evenly distributed across industries.

Macroeconomic drivers of London house prices

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 539-551 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petros Stavrou Sivitanides
Keyword(s):  
Error Correction ◽  
House Prices ◽  
House Price ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Annual Data ◽  
Price Inflation ◽  
Partial Adjustment ◽  
Content Type

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to validate and quantify the effect of key macroeconomic drivers on London house prices using annual data over the period 1983–2016. Design/methodology/approach Within this context, the authors estimate alternative error-correction and partial-adjustment models (PAMs), which have been widely used in the empirical literature in modelling the slow adjustments of house prices to demand and supply shocks. Findings The results verify the existence of a strong long-term relationship between London house prices and key macroeconomic variables, such as UK GDP, London population and housing completions. A key finding of the study relevant to the debate on the causes of the housing affordability crisis is that the results provide little evidence in support of the argument that user demand, which is captured in the author’s model by Greater London population, may have had a diminished role in driving house price inflation in London. Practical implications The practical and policy implications of the results are that increased homebuilding activity in London will undoubtedly help limit house price increases. Also, any potential reduction of immigration and economic growth due to Brexit will also have a similar effect. Originality/value The originality of this research lies in the use of annual data that may better capture the long-term effect of macroeconomic drivers on house prices and the estimation of such effects through both error-correction and partial-adjustment models.

Investigation of depression, anxiety and stress levels of health-care students during COVID-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Obay A. Al-Maraira ◽  
Sami Z. Shennaq
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Psychological Counseling ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Health Care Students ◽  
Stress Levels

Purpose This study aims to determine depression, anxiety and stress levels of health-care students during coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic according to various socio-demographic variables. Design/methodology/approach This cross-sectional study was conducted with 933 students. Data were collected with an information form on COVID- 19 and an electronic self-report questionnaire based on depression, anxiety and stress scale. Findings Findings revealed that 58% of the students experienced moderate-to-extremely severe depression, 39.8% experienced moderate-to-extremely severe anxiety and 38% experienced moderate-to-extremely severe stress. Practical implications Educational administrators can help reduce long-term negative effects on students’ education and mental health by enabling online guidance, psychological counseling and webinars for students. Originality/value This paper is original and adds to existing knowledge that health-care students’ depression, anxiety and stress levels were affected because of many factors that are not yet fully understood. Therefore, psychological counseling is recommended to reduce the long-term negative effects on the mental health of university students.

The four spheres of value co-creation in humanitarian professional services

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Pillitteri ◽  
Erica Mazzola ◽  
Manfredi Bruccoleri
Keyword(s):  
Service Design ◽  
Life Cycle Management ◽  
Professional Services ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Enabling Factors ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Humanitarian Operations ◽  
Theory Of Value

PurposeThe study focuses on the value co-creation processes in humanitarian professional services provision, analysing the key enabling factors of beneficiaries' participation, involved in long-term integration programmes (L-TIPs).Design/methodology/approachThrough an in-depth case study, the research looks at the practices of value co-creation in humanitarian professional services, considering both the perspectives of the professional service provider and beneficiary.FindingsIn professional services beneficiary's participation affects the success of the L-TIPs outcomes. Participation's enablers can be classified into four different spheres, each belonging to different elements of professional service: the beneficiary, the professionals, the service design and the external environment.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper contributes to the literature on humanitarian operations & supply chain management. By focussing on an understudied phase of the disaster life-cycle management, it contributes to the theory of value co-creation by exploring new issues and drivers of beneficiary's participation.Practical implicationsThis research has interesting implications for policymakers and humanitarian practitioners. First, guidelines for professionals' behaviours and interventions should be designed as well as new practices and strategies should be adopted. Second, governments should avoid concentrating L-TIPs in few big humanitarian centres.Originality/valueThe study focuses on an understudied stage of humanitarian operations, namely the L-TIPs, and uses this setting to build on the theory of value co-creation in professional services by identifying its enabling factors, clustered into four spheres, namely beneficiary, professional, service design and environmental.

The impact of gender inequality in education and employment on economic performance in Turkey: evidence from a cointegration approach

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ömer Esen ◽  
Gamze Yıldız Seren
Keyword(s):  
Least Squares ◽  
Economic Performance ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Estimation Methods ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cointegration Tests ◽  
Johansen Cointegration ◽  
Education And Employment ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThis study aims to empirically examine the impact of gender-based inequalities in both education and employment on economic performance using the dataset of Turkey for the period 1975–2018.Design/methodology/approachThis study employs Johansen cointegration tests to analyze the existence of a long-term relation among variables. Furthermore, dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) and fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) estimation methods are performed to determine the long-run coefficients.FindingsThe findings from the Johansen cointegration analysis confirm that there is a long-term cointegration relation between variables. Moreover, DOLS and FMOLS results reveal that improvements in gender equality in both education and employment have a strong and significant impact on real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in the long term.Originality/valueThe authors expect that this study will make remarkable contributions to the future academic studies and policy implementation, as it examines the relation among the variables by including the school life expectancy from primary to tertiary based on the gender parity index (GPI), the gross enrollment ratio from primary to tertiary based on GPI and the ratio of female to male labor force participation (FMLFP) rate.

Hospital mergers, acquisitions and regulatory policy implications

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (10/11) ◽  
pp. 1354-1362
Author(s):  
Bhavneet Walia ◽  
Christopher John Boudreaux
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Industrial Organization ◽  
Organization Theory ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Regulatory Policy ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Power Cost ◽  
Hospital Mergers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Industrial Organization Theory

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on hospital mergers and acquisitions (M&As). Design/methodology/approach The authors conduct a systematic review of the literature on hospital M&As to summarize their effects upon cost of health care delivery (access), efficiency, market power, cost and price. Implications for health care industry policy are provided. Findings A significant majority of results conclude lower costs, increased efficiency, but higher prices (due to a market concentration effect) following hospital merger or acquisition. These results are consistent with industrial organization theory and suggest that regulatory policy (e.g. price cap regulation) will raise allocative efficiency, consumer surplus and overall market surplus within markets for hospital services. Originality/value This is the first study to review the price, cost and efficiency effects of M&As with respect to industrial organization theory in the context of hospitals. This study also provides regulatory policy implications.

Regional and rural school consolidation: a scoping study of research literature

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 477-491
Author(s):  
Scott Eacott ◽  
Amanda Freeborn
Keyword(s):  
Evidence Base ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
School Consolidation ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Rural And Remote ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Scoping Study ◽  
Remote Locations ◽  
Robust Evidence

Purpose School consolidation reforms are underway in regional New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The purpose of this paper is to establish an evidence base of research literature on school consolidation in regional, rural and remote locations. Design/methodology/approach A scoping study of empirical literature on school consolidation, with a particular focus on regional, rural and remote education, since the year 2000 was undertaken. A corpus of 35 papers were identified and subjected to analysis based on: year of publication, country of origin, unit of analysis, data sources, timeframe and theoretical model. Findings There remains a limited evidence base for the success of school consolidation reforms for turning around student outcomes. In addition, a number of social implications are experienced by communities losing their local school. These issues are amplified in regional, rural and remote locations. Practical implications School consolidation reforms are used by governments/systems wanting to reduce costs and address issues of student disengagement and under-achievement. Despite a lengthy history internationally, there is at best mixed evidence regarding these reforms. With a consider disparity gap between urban and regional, rural and remote school outcomes, robust evidence on the success of reforms has major policy implications for government, systems, educators and communities. Originality/value With reforms already underway in NSW (and elsewhere), the need for a rigorous and robust evidence base, such as this scoping study, is timely and significant.

What lessons can be learned from the US archivist’s digital mandate for 2019 and is there potential for applying them in lower resource countries?

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 206-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason R. Baron ◽  
Anne Thurston
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Historical Record ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Records Management ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Us ◽  
Governmental Institutions ◽  
E Mail

Purpose This paper aims to present a high-level summary of the US archivist’s digital mandate for 2019, embodied in the publication “Managing Government Records”, issued on August 24, 2012, and a summary of US policy. The authors then consider the implications of the US e-recordkeeping initiative for lower-resource countries. Design/methodology/approach After setting out key elements of the US Archivist’s digital mandate, the paper proceeds to evaluate its policy implications for lower-resource countries based on the authors’ field experience and knowledge of case studies. Findings The USA is embarking on a state of the art approach for managing public sector archives in a digital form, with deadlines approaching for all federal agencies to manage e-mail and other e-records. Although a similar need exists in lesser-resourced countries, there are enormous barriers to successful implementation of a similar approach. Research limitations/implications The archivist’s 2019 digital mandate assumes that the technology sector will embrace the needs of public sector agencies in working on applicable electronic archiving solutions. Practical implications The Archivist’s Directive has the potential to be an enormous driver of change in the records management profession with respect to future management of increasingly digital archive collections. Vast collections of public sector e-mail and other forms of e-records potentially will be preserved under the directive, raising the stakes that archivists and records managers work on solutions in the area of long-term preservation and future access. Social implications The importance of capturing the activities of public-sector institutions in all countries for the purpose of openness, transparency and access cannot be overstated. In an increasingly digital age, new methods are needed to ensure that the historical record of governmental institutions is preserved and made accessible. Originality/value The US Archivist’s mandate represents a cutting-edge approach to long-term digital archiving with potential future applicability to the management of public sector records worldwide.

Uganda regional agenda may face setback

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Regional Policy ◽  
South Sudan ◽  
Vice President ◽  
Spillover Effects ◽  
Peace Agreement ◽  
Content Type ◽  
South Sudanese ◽  
Regional Agenda ◽  
Better Than

Subject Uganda's regional policy. Significance Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on September 16 attended a series of meetings in Khartoum with incoming South Sudanese First Vice-President Riek Machar. Machar's spokesperson said that the main outcome was Uganda's assurance that it will withdraw its military (UPDF) from South Sudan as per the recent South Sudan peace agreement. The development reflects a wider context in which Uganda's regional clout is under strain. Impacts Military intervention in Somalia will exacerbate that country's spillover effects for insecurity in the wider region. The UPDF's role in AMISOM heightens Uganda's vulnerability to al-Shabaab attacks. However, Uganda will manage these better than Kenya, partly due to its long-term character as a security state.

Kuwait's politics will stall economic reforms

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Extended Period ◽  
Economic Reforms ◽  
Small Population ◽  
Fiscal Sustainability ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Reform Plan ◽  
Capital Spending ◽  
The Government ◽  
International Assets

Significance With huge financial reserves, low public debt and a small population, Kuwait is one of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states best equipped to ride out an extended period of low oil prices. However, with the country registering its first budget deficit in 16 years, concerns about Kuwait's long-term fiscal sustainability have become more pressing, and the government has introduced a reform plan aimed at restructuring the economy. Impacts The government will step up capital spending, launching as many projects as possible before the 2017 election. The private sector is likely to face increased financial costs, eg, corporate taxes, higher utilities charges and employment of nationals. Kuwait will become further integrated into the international bond market, and rely more on its international assets as a source of income. Political tensions could rise ahead of the 2017 poll if the government takes more measures to reduce opposition electoral prospects. Kuwait will lag behind other GCC states in its progress on economic reforms.

Saudi economic reform will be gradual

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Business Community ◽  
Special Treatment ◽  
Asset Sales ◽  
Royal Family ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Capital Spending ◽  
The Government ◽  
Crown Prince ◽  
Spending Cuts

Significance The government has recently taken some modest steps to rein in the budget deficit, including cuts in energy subsidies, and has promised to improve disclosure of its fiscal performance, but is preparing further measures to put the economy on a sustainable long-term footing. Impacts Subsidy cuts and the prospect of VAT could cause popular resentment because they will affect ordinary citizens more severely than the elite. These measures will widen the income gap and, in the longer run, could increase pressure for more accountable forms of government. Land and other asset sales could generate controversy if businesses associated with the royal family are receiving special treatment. Capital spending cuts will create anger among the business community if projects linked to the deputy crown prince are protected. A prolonged fiscal squeeze could stoke tensions within the royal family and damage the credibility of the deputy crown prince.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document