People living in the Gaza Strip have experienced a protracted political conflict and extreme socioeconomic adversity since 1948. Economic conditions have deteriorated markedly since the onset of the ...Palestinian Intifada in 1987 and have been exacerbated by the economic siege after 2006. The health system in the Gaza Strip has faced additional challenges. The aim of this study was to assess how Palestinian households in the Gaza Strip experienced health care services during this period of political turmoil, socioeconomic adversity, and challenges to health services.
Mixed methods research (MMR) was used. The quantitative part of the MMR involved the analysis of data from ten rounds of the Palestinian Expenditure and Consumption Survey from 1996 to 2011. This survey enabled the components of out-of-pocket health expenditures and their catastrophic and impoverishing effects across the years to be measured and traced in different groups of households. The occurrence of catastrophic out-of-pocket spending was calculated at thresholds of spending 10% or more of the households' resources and 40% of their capacity to pay (non-food expenditure) for health care. The qualitative component of MMR consisted of life histories reported via semi-structured in-depth interviews with heads of households aged 46 years or older to capture changes over time in their experience with health services. The interviews were analysed using thematic narrative analysis and timeline analysis. The results of the Palestinian Expenditure and Consumption Survey and the interviews were triangulated.
The occurrence of catastrophic out-of-pocket spending was stable, with no changes between 1996 and 2011. However, vulnerable groups tended to become less exposed to catastrophic out-of-pocket spending, especially after the major deterioration of the economic situation in the Gaza Strip after 2006. The ability to pay for health care, the nature of health conditions of the households, and the accessibility and entitlement to certain health services determined their choice of health providers and influenced their health-seeking behaviours. Additionally, households had used a wide range of coping mechanisms, including self-medications, decreasing the use of private health services, and relying on social capital. Interview respondents noticed the expansion of both public and private health services, but expressed their dissatisfaction with public services. The low financial cost of using public services is coupled with other costs such as increased waiting times, perceptions of indignity, and perceived low quality of services.
The findings are interpreted within the political history of the Gaza Strip and its health-care system during the last three decades. The reduced occurrence of health-care-related financial catastrophe and impoverishment in the more vulnerable groups in the Gaza Strip could point to an emerging paradox of resilience and high level of household and health-system adaptation, which should be investigated carefully.
None.
The rapid spread of large-scale and innovative social transfers in the developing world has made a key contribution to the significant reduction in global poverty over the last decade. Explaining how ...flagship anti-poverty programmes emerged, this book provides the first comprehensive account of the global growth of social assistance transfers in developing countries. Armando Barrientos begins by focusing on the ethical and conceptual foundations of social assistance, and he discusses the justifications for assisting those in poverty. He provides a primer on poverty analysis, and introduces readers to the theory of optimal transfers. He then shifts the focus to practice, and introduces a classification of social assistance programmes to help readers understand the diversity in approaches and design in developing countries. The book concludes with an analysis of the financing and politics of the emerging institutions and of their potential to address global poverty.
Growing Public Lindert, Peter H.
01/2004, Letnik:
1
eBook
Growing Public examines the question of whether social policies that redistribute income impose constraints on economic growth. Taxes and transfers have been debated for centuries, but only now can ...we get a clear view of the whole evolution of social spending. What kept prospering nations from using taxes for social programs until the end of the nineteenth century? Why did taxes and spending then grow so much, and what are the prospects for social spending in this century? Why did North America become a leader in public education in some ways and not others? Lindert finds answers in the economic history and logic of political voice, population aging, and income growth. Contrary to traditional beliefs, the net national costs of government social programs are virtually zero. This book not only shows that no Darwinian mechanism has punished the welfare states, but uses history to explain why this surprising result makes sense. Contrary to the intuition of many economists and the ideology of many politicians, social spending has contributed to, rather than inhibited, economic growth.
Examining the legal history of the order to pay money initiating a funds transfer, the author tracks basic principles of modern law to those that governed the payment order of Antiquity and the ...Middle Ages.
The Cash Dividend Garcia, Marito; Moore, Charity M. T
2012, 2011, 02-21-2012, 20120101
eBook, Book
Odprti dostop
The Cash Dividend: The Rise of Cash Transfer Programs in Sub-Saharan Africa assimilates results of a thorough review of the recent use of cash transfer programs in Sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing from ...sources including program documentation, policy papers, peer-reviewed publications, and interviews, it paints a picture of the evolution and current state of cash transfers, which include unconditional and conditional cash transfers and emergency- and development-focused transfers. It presents analysis from data collected and describes broad trends in design features and implementation, including objectives, targeting, benefits, payment mechanisms, conditions, monitoring, evaluation, institutional location, program costs, and more. It also addresses political economy issues relevant to cash transfer programs, discusses the challenges to implementing cash transfer programs in Sub-Saharan Africa, and highlights lessons learned from existing African cash transfer programs. The comprehensive nature of the review, and its thorough analysis of previously unassimilated data, fills a gap in knowledge related to cash transfer programs in the region. The book is expected to benefit the donor community and domestic policymakers involved in cash transfers in Sub-Saharan Africa, guiding both program design and future research. It will help shift the debate on cash transfers in Africa from whether they are possible to how they can best be implemented.
To evaluate the trend in nonresearch payments made by the industries to the infectious disease physicians in the United States since the launch of the Open Payments Database and during the COVID-19 ...pandemic.
Descriptive analysis was performed for the nonresearch payments made to all infectious disease physicians listed in the Open Payments Database between 2014 and 2020. Using the generalized estimating equation models with panel data of monthly and yearly payment per physician, the payment trend since the inception of the Open Payments Database and during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic were evaluated.
A total of 7901 (81.5%) infectious disease physicians received $156 837 987 in nonresearch payments between 2014 and 2020. Median annual payments were $197 to $220. Monthly nonresearch per-physician payments and number of physicians with payments rapidly decreased by 58.6% (95% CI: 49.7%‒65.9%, p < 0.001) and by 54.4% (95% CI: 52.7%‒56.1%, p < 0.001) at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, respectively. However, the per-physician payments and number of physicians with payments slightly increased every month right after onset of the pandemic. Both per-physician payments and the number of physicians with payments decreased by 2.6% (95% CI: 0.45‒4.7, p 0.018) and 2.0% (95% CI: 1.6%‒2.4%, p < 0.001) since the inception of the Open Payments Database, respectively.
The nonresearch payments and number of infectious disease physicians accepting payments had decreased since the inception of the Open Payments Database. Furthermore, the non-research payments to infectious disease physicians suddenly decreased by more than half due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Are stock-financed takeovers opportunistic? Eckbo, B. Espen; Makaew, Tanakorn; Thorburn, Karin S.
Journal of financial economics,
06/2018, Letnik:
128, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The more the target knows about the bidder, the more difficult is paying the target with overpriced bidder shares. Thus, when bidders are opportunistic, the fraction of stock in the deal payment will ...be lower for better informed targets. We test this intuitive prediction against the alternative that stock payments primarily reflect bidder concerns with target adverse selection, which implies a greater fraction of stock in the deal payment for better informed targets. Discriminating between these two mutually exclusive and nested predictions requires measures of target information about the bidder but not of market mispricing. We find that public bidders systematically use more stock in the payment when the target knows more about the bidder. Tests exploiting exogenous variation in bidder market-to-book ratios also fail to support bidder opportunism. Finally, greater potential competition from private bidders is associated with greater propensity for public bidders to pay in cash.
FINISHED YOUR STUDIES? DON'T MISS OUT
Community practitioner : the journal of the Community Practitioners' & Health Visitors' Association,
09/2016, Letnik:
89, Številka:
9
Journal Article
Recenzirano
If you've finished your full-time education and are now employed (full- or part-time), please let us know. If you continue to pay the reduced contribution rate for students (or young members), and ...are no longer eligible to do so, you won't have access to the full range of benefits and representation from Unite CPHVA. Don't miss out--make sure you're paying the correct rate. Please contact our administration colleagues at your local Unite office -they'll be able to adjust your payments to the appropriate subscription rate.
The global digital shift, recently accelerated by the COVID‐19 pandemic, requires that consumers have knowledge allowing them to navigate increasingly cashless markets safely and effectively. To ...enable valid and reliable measurement of such knowledge, we used data obtained from a random sample of adult Poles to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties and applicability of an original cashless payments knowledge scale (CPK scale). Our analyses based on Item Response Theory show that some evident subdomains exist within the CPK construct. The separate dimensions of the CPK merge into a coherent scale with solid psychometric properties. We find that the CPK score depends on the place of residence, education, and household size, and is positively related to safe cashless behavior. Our findings may have important implications for financial institutions as well as policymakers interested in segmenting consumers in terms of their financial knowledge, potential risks resulting from deficits in this knowledge, and enhancing financial literacy.
To characterize industry nonresearch payments made to general and fellowship-trained surgeons between 2016 and 2020.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Open Payments Data (OPD) reports ...industry payments made to physicians related to drugs and medical devices. General payments are those not associated with research.
OPD data were queried for general and fellowship-trained surgeons who received general payments from 2016 to 2020. Payments' nature, amount, company, covered product, and location were collected. Surgeons' demographics, subspecialty, and leadership roles in hospitals, societies, and editorial boards were evaluated.
From 2016 to 2020, 44,700 general and fellowship-trained surgeons were paid $535,425,543 in 1,440,850 general payments. The median payment was $29.18. The most frequent payments were for food and beverage (76.6%) and travel and lodging (15.6%); however, the highest dollar payments were for consulting fees ($93,128,401; 17.4%), education ($88,404,531; 16.5%), royalty or license ($87,471,238; 16.3%), and travel and lodging ($66,333,149; 12.4%). Five companies made half of all payments ($265,654,522; 49.6%): Intuitive Surgical ($128,517,411; 24%), Boston Scientific ($48,094,570; 9%), Edwards Lifesciences ($41,835,544, 7.8%), Medtronic Vascular ($33,607,136; 6.3%), and W. L. Gore & Associates ($16,626,371; 3.1%). Medical devices comprised 74.7% of payments ($399,897,217), followed by drugs and biologicals ($33,945,300; 6.3%). Texas, California, Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania received the most payments; however, the top dollar payments were in California ($65,702,579; 12.3%), Michigan ($52,990,904, 9.9%), Texas ($39,362,131; 7.4%), Maryland ($37,611,959; 7%), and Florida ($33,417,093, 6.2%). General surgery received the highest total payments ($245,031,174; 45.8%), followed by thoracic surgery ($167,806,514; 31.3%) and vascular surgery ($60,781,266; 11.4%). A total of 10,361 surgeons were paid >$5000, of which 1614 were women (15.6%); in this group, men received higher payments than women (means, $53,446 vs $22,571; P <0.001) and thoracic surgeons received highest payments (mean, $76,381; NS, P =0.14). A total of 120 surgeons were paid >$500,000 ($203,011,672; 38%)-5 non-Hispanic White (NHW) women (4.2%) and 82 NHW (68.3%), 24 Asian (20%), 7 Hispanic (5.8%), and 2 Black (1.7%) men; in this group, men received higher payments than women (means, $1,735,570 vs $684,224), and NHW men received payments double those of other men (means, $2,049,554 vs $955,368; NS, P =0.087). Among these 120 highly paid surgeons (>$500,000), 55 held hospital and departmental leadership roles, 30 were leaders in surgical societies, 27 authored clinical guidelines, and 16 served on journal editorial boards. During COVID-19, 2020 experienced half the number of payments than the preceding 3 years.
General and fellowship-trained surgeons received substantial industry nonresearch payments. The highest-paid recipients were men. Further work is warranted in assessing how race, gender, and leadership roles influence the nature of industry payments and surgical practice. A significant decline in payments was observed early during the COVID-19 pandemic.
PDF
