Health Economics

People migrate to improve their well-being, whether through an expansion of economic and social opportunities or a reduction in persecution. Yet a large literature suggests that migration can be a very stressful process, with potentially negative impacts on mental health reducing the net benefits of migration. However, to truly understand the effect of migration on mental health one must compare the mental health of migrants to what their mental health would have been had they stayed in their home country. The existing literature is not able to do this and typically settles for comparing the mental health of migrants to that of natives in the destination country,which takes no account of any pre-existing differences between these groups. This paper overcomes the selection problems affecting previous studies of the effect of migration on mental health by examining a migrant lottery program. New Zealand allows a quota of Tongans to immigrate each year with a lottery used to choose amo...

The Increasing pace of Industrialization throughout the world has brought with It a serious, and ever Increasing threat from air pollution. It Is true that this threat Is being taken seriously, and that many responsible research workers, government advisers and others are working towards Its reduction. But air pollution seems to have something of the nature of a hydra-headed monster: tackle one problem and another immediately grows to take its place. Actions taken sometimes have results that are far from what was envisioned, sometimes even seeming to make the problem worse.

In "The Forgotten Pollution", Roos shows clearly and In an often entertaining way, how many of the "unexpected" side effects of pollution by waste gases and particles can be explained by paying attention to the electrical activity of the atmosphere and the earth.
Using an Instrument, which he has developed the Electrostatic Charged Aerosol Monitor (ECAM), together with other instruments and reference to the literature, much of it dating back to the early days of science, when electrostatics was appreciated as a science more than It Is today, Roos has succeeded In explaining many hitherto "puzzling" phenomena in a clear, simple and intellectually satisfying way.

RESUMEN: Introducción: La necesidad de considerar el uso eficiente de los recursos es un objetivo explícitamente establecido por todos los servicios de salud. Objetivo: Determinar la eficiencia técnica y las áreas de mejoramiento potencial de los servicios de Estomatología General Integral en la provincia Artemisa en el año 2016. Método: Se realizó un estudio observacional, descriptivo, transversal en los 16 servicios de Estomatología General Integral de la provincia Artemisa en el año 2016. Se aplicó el algoritmo propuesto por García A y colaboradores, basado en la técnica del Análisis Envolvente de Datos. Se seleccionaron seis variables de resultados y dos de recursos. Resultados: Se logró distinguir los 6 servicios eficientes y 10 ineficientes, se determinó las áreas de mejoramiento potencial. Los resultados encontrados en términos de áreas susceptibles de mejora permiten afirmar que en la actividad de estomatología en Artemisa, el incremento en los niveles de eficiencia está centrado en mejorar los resultados con la utilización de los recursos asignados. Conclusiones: Se evidenciaron diferencias en materia de eficiencia entre los servicios de Estomatología General Integral de la provincia Artemisa lo que ratifica la necesidad de continuar y profundizar en el estudio de este aspecto. La identificación de al menos una unidad de entre las eficientes como referencia para cada unidad ineficiente podrá contribuir al mejoramiento de los procesos gerenciales y/o productivos de las entidades ineficientes. ABSTRACT Introduction: The need to consider the efficient use of resources is an objective explicitly established by all health services. Objectives: To determine the technical efficiency and areas of potential improvement of the General Comprehensive Dentistry services in Artemisa province in 2016.

Background
Depression is a mental health state whose frequency has been increasing in modern societies. It imposes a great burden, because of the strong impact on people’s quality of life and happiness. Depression can be reliably diagnosed and treated in primary care: if more people could get effective treatments earlier, the costs related to depression would be reversed. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of socio-economic factors and gender on depressed mood, focusing on Korea. In fact, in spite of the great amount of empirical studies carried out for other countries, few epidemiological studies have examined the socio-economic determinants of depression in Korea and they were either limited to samples of employed women or did not control for individual health status. Moreover, as the likely data endogeneity (i.e. the possibility of correlation between the dependent variable and the error term as a result of autocorrelation or simultaneity, such as, in this case, the depressed mood due to health factors that, in turn might be caused by depression), might bias the results, the present study proposes an empirical approach, based on instrumental variables, to deal with this problem.
 
Methods
Data for the year 2008 from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) were employed. About seven thousands of people (N= 6,751, of which 43% were males and 57% females), aged from 19 to 75 years old, were included in the sample considered in the analysis. In order to take into account the possible endogeneity of some explanatory variables, two Instrumental Variables Probit (IVP) regressions were estimated; the variables for which instrumental equations were estimated were related to the participation of women to the workforce and to good health, as reported by people in the sample. Explanatory variables were related to age, gender, family factors (such as the number of family members and marital status) and socio-economic factors (such as education, residence in metropolitan areas, and so on). As the results of the Wald test carried out after the estimations did not allow to reject the null hypothesis of endogeneity, a probit model was run too.
 
Results
Overall, women tend to develop depression more frequently than men. There is an inverse effect of education on depressed mood (probability of -24.6% to report a depressed mood due to high school education, as it emerges from the probit model marginal effects), while marital status and the number of family members may act as protective factors (probability to report a depressed mood of -1.0% for each family member). Depression is significantly associated with socio-economic conditions, such as work and income. Living in metropolitan areas is inversely correlated with depression (probability of -4.1% to report a depressed mood estimated through the probit model): this could be explained considering that, in rural areas, people rarely have immediate access to high-quality health services.
 
Conclusion
This study outlines the factors that are more likely to impact on depression, and applies an IVP model to take into account the potential endogeneity of some of the predictors of depressive mood, such as female participation to workforce and health status. A probit model has been estimated too. Depression is associated with a wide range of socioeconomic factors, although the strength and direction of the association can differ by gender. Prevention approaches to contrast depressive symptoms might take into consideration the evidence offered by the present study.

Me medicine vs. we medicine: reclaiming biotechnology for the common good, by Donna Dickenson, New York, Columbia University Press, 2013, 296 pp., £19.95 (hardback), ISBN 978-0-231-15974-6

“Is personalised medicine replacing public healthcare in ways that are ultimately detrimental to all of us?” This is the central question that Donna Dickenson sets out to answer in her most recent book Me Medicine vs. We Medicine. Presenting itself as a “reality check” for the much-publicized claims about the desirability –and often the inevitability – of revolution(s) and sundry “paradigm shifts” to be brought about through personalized medicine, the book centres on four case studies: direct-to-consumer genetic testing, private cord blood banking, pharmacogenomics and human enhancement technologies. These represent the “me medicine” of the title; the individualized self-knowledge and self-management offered by direct-to-consumer genetic (and genomic) testing, the patient-tailored drug regimens promised by pharmacogenetics (PGx), the evocation of parental duty to privately bank umbilical cord blood as a future self-repair kit of stem cells for individual children and the possibilities for self-improvement suggested by biomedical
enhancement.

Background: Blood culture contamination (BCC) increases length of stay (LOS) and leads to unnecessary anti-microbial therapy and/or hospital-acquired conditions (HACs).
Aim: We sought to quantify the magnitude of the additional LOS, costs to hospitals and society as well as the harm to patients attributable to BCC.
Methods: A retrospective matched survival analysis was performed involving hospitalized patients with septicaemia-compatible symptoms. BCC costs, hospital-acquired conditions (HACs), and potential savings were calculated based on the primary LOS data, a modified Delphi process, and published sources. The cost analysis compared standard care to interventions for reducing BCC, and estimated annual economic and clinical consequences for a typical hospital and for the entire U.S.
Findings: Patients with BCC experienced mean prolonged hospital stays of 2.35 days (p=0.0076). Avoiding BCCs would decrease costs by $6,463 ($4,818 from inpatient care, of which 53% was from reduced length of stay, and 26% was from reduced antibiotic use).
Annually, in a typical 250- to 400-bed hospital, employing phlebotomists would save $1.3 million and prevent 24 HACs (including 2 C. difficile cases); based on clinical efficacy evidence, using the studied Initial Specimen Diversion Device (ISDD) would save $ 1.9 million and prevent 34 HACs (including 3 C. difficile cases). In the United States, the respective strategies would prevent 69,300 and 102,900 HACs (including 6,000 and 8,900 C. difficile cases) and costs of $5 and $7.5 billion.
Conclusion: Costs and clinical burdens associated with false-positive cultures are substantial and can be reduced by available interventions, including phlebotomists and ISDD use.

This study investigates determinants of online health-related activities of Turkish individuals. By exploiting a data set from a household survey of Turkey, probit models are estimated for quantification of factors influencing participation of individuals in electronic health (e-health). Findings reveal that Turkish females are more likely to employ online tools for health-related purposes. Education level, household income and internet usage frequency have positive relationships with online information search and use of online scheduling for doctor appointments. Age has a non-linear relationship with e-health activities. While relatively younger and older individuals are less likely to engage in online health activities, middle-aged individuals are more likely to participate. While use of information technologies in health-related issues have potential to increase health literacy of the population; this study reveals that there are systematic differences in sub-samples in employment of e-health tools, which should be addressed by policy makers.

The non-homothetic production cost structure in Norwegian private dentistry involves more than two factor inputs. Consequently, this paper implements-separately for solo and group practices-three conceptually different measures of factor substitutions to infer the precise nature of input associations using translog cost model estimates based on 1993 data. We calculate own- and cross-price elasticities of factor demands, pairwise elasticities of substitution and their approximate S.E.s. We find that: (1) dentists and dental assistants cannot be consistently aggregated as one homogeneous labour input; (2) input demands are inelastic; (3) the theoretically restrictive Allen-Uzawa and the less restrictive shadow and Morishima elasticities of substitution are not equivalent; (4) dentists and auxiliary dental personnel relate as significant substitutes in solo practices and as significant complements in group practices; (5) 'supplies' (e.g., dental materials) in the aggregate are substitutes for the two types of dentistry labour; and (6) there appears to be a wider scope for factor substitutions in group rather than solo practices. Due to inelastic factor demands, opportunities for cost controls are limited despite some tendencies for factor interchange. Finally, future researchers of production costs involving more than two inputs should investigate the less restrictive, alternative measures of factor substitutions.

Las enfermedades desmielinizantes, como la Esclerosis Múltiple, pueden dar origen a catástrofes neurológicas por varias razones. Ya sea por la velocidad de su progresión o por sus episodios agudos de gravedad con lo cual resultan ser no solo una amenaza a la vida del paciente sino un devastador impacto para la economía familiar e incluso, dado el costo de su atención también para los aseguradores – financiadores del sistema sanitario. La complejidad de su diagnóstico lleva a  que en ocasiones se tarde hasta alrededor de 18 a 36 meses en confirmarla, lo que puede resultar rápidamente incapacitante. Lo cierto es que ya no pueda considerarse una enfermedad poco frecuente (EPF) como ocurría hace más de una década, dado que si bien su prevalencia ha aumentado, en buena parte es debido a las mejores técnicas de diagnóstico y el apoyo invalorable del diagnóstico por imágenes. Pero la cuestión central ya no solo es su complejidad, basada en el curso imprevisible que posee, sino que la batalla por encontrar una droga para su mejor tratamiento la ha llevado a la cúspide de la innovación biotecnológica.

12th Annual Green Economics Institute Conference  10-12th June 2017
3 Days St Hugh's College, University of Oxford, Keeping Social and Environmental Justice Alive in an age of Tyranny..
Reforming Economics.
Green Finance, Green Investment & Green Economics
Reclaiming The Economy from Privatisers, Fossil Fuellers, Xenophobes and Divide and Rulers.
Keeping social and environmental justice alive in this new age of Barbarism- Post Truth and Post Science

We measure the effect of urban hospital closure on the operating efficiency of the remaining hospitals in the local market. Closure of a hospital other than the least efficient can be detrimental to social welfare because treatment costs will be higher at surviving hospitals. The results show that hospital closure has led to an evolutionary increase in efficiency in urban

Over the past few years, there has been growing global interest in the link between food and health. This paper provides a review of some of the recent literature describing these linkages. The first section provides an overview of findings that link the consumption of fruits and vegetables, meat, eggs, whole-grains, alcohol, sugar, dairy, fish, pulses, soy, and nuts to coronary heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes. The authors then summarize various international and domestic non-government organizations' views about these issues. The third section centres on the food industry and its responses to growing health concerns. The fourth section is an overview of public policy relating to food and health, including the use of food policy to change consumption behaviour and address obesity. This section also includes a discussion of the relevance of policies designed to discourage smoking to the current debate on obesity. The Conclusion highlights ways in which Canadian food p...

საავადმყოფოების გლობალური ბიუჯეტით დაფინანსების მეთოდი ხარჯების შეკავების ერთ-ერთი საუკეთესო მექანიზმია. საქართველოში მისი დასანერგად გათვალისწინებულ უნდა იქნას მსოფლიოში ამ მხრივ არსებული გამოცდილება და თავად ქვეყნის ჯანდაცვის სისტემის თავისებურებები.

Η μελέτη επιχειρεί τη διάκριση των ελληνικών νοικοκυριών σε φτωχά και μη φτωχά, ώστε να εξακριβωθεί σε ποιον βαθμό, διάφορα κοινωνικοοικονομικά κριτήρια καθορίζουν τις δαπάνες για την υγεία. Οι εκτιμήσεις καλύπτουν την περίοδο 2008 - 2013, ώστε να διαπιστωθούν οι μεταβολές στη διάρθρωση των δαπανών υγείας, εξαιτίας των πολιτικών λιτότητας που εφαρμόζονται τα τελευταία χρόνια.

Η μελέτη αυτή εκπονήθηκε στα πλαίσια της πράξης "Ανάδειξη και Ενεργοποίηση του Ρόλου των Κέντρων Υγείας στις Τοπικές Κοινωνίες" σε συνεργασία του Οικονομικού Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών και του Υπουργείου Υγείας. ΄Περισσότερα για την πράξη, στην ιστοσελίδα: http://www.kentraygeias.gr/

BACKGROUND: The Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL) utility instrument was psychometrically developed for the general population. This study aimed to explore its potential as an osteoarthritis (OA) outcome measure. METHODS: WOMAC, Lequesne index, SF-36, Visual analogue scales and the AQoL were administered to 222 people with OA. The ability of each questionnaire to detect differences between groups was based

Community food security (CFS) is an incipient movement based on the re-localization of many food system activities in response to values concerning the social, health, economic, and environmental consequences of the globalizing food system. This study examines the ...

This novel application of spatial wage theory to health service labour markets analyses the competitiveness of nurse's pay and how this differs between local labour markets in Britain. A switching regression model is estimated to derive standardised spatial wage differentials (SSWDs) for nurses ...