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1 – 10 of 488Pilar García-Gómez, Erik Schokkaert and Tom Van Ourti
Most politicians and ethical observers are not interested in pure health inequalities, as they want to distinguish between different causes of health differences. Measures of…
Abstract
Most politicians and ethical observers are not interested in pure health inequalities, as they want to distinguish between different causes of health differences. Measures of “unfair” inequality – direct unfairness and the fairness gap, but also the popular standardized concentration index (CI) – therefore neutralize the effects of what are considered to be “legitimate” causes of inequality. This neutralization is performed by putting a subset of the explanatory variables at reference values, for example, their means. We analyze how the inequality ranking of different policies depends on the specific choice of reference values. We show with mortality data from the Netherlands that the problem is empirically relevant and we suggest a statistical method for fixing the reference values.
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The purpose of this paper is to quantify inequalities in utilization of maternal health care services and measure the relative contribution of different factors affecting it in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to quantify inequalities in utilization of maternal health care services and measure the relative contribution of different factors affecting it in the context of Nepal.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses data from the latest round of the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey. Two stages of stratified cluster samplings were used. A total of 13,200 women aged 15-49 were interviewed.
Findings
Results of concentration index estimates in three selected indicators suggest considerable inequalities in maternal health care utilization. The decomposition analyses indicate that the critical factors contributing to inequalities in <3 antenatal care visits are poor economic status of households (32 percent) and women (23 percent) and their partners’ illiteracy (23 percent). However, in case of no institutional delivery, apart from the poor economic status of household (51 percent) and women's illiteracy (16 percent), the rural place of residence (21 percent) has emerged as critical factors contributing to inequalities. In case of no postnatal care within a day, birth order (21 percent) becomes a significant factor, next to the poor economic status of the household (41 percent) in terms of the relative contribution to total inequalities.
Practical implications
Policies and program targeting maternal health interventions need to consider equity with efficiency in utilization of maternal health care services, and further to achieve the targets of millennium development goal 5 in Nepal.
Originality/value
This study is an innovative effort to estimate inequalities in maternal health care services in the context of Nepal by using inequality decomposition model. For the first time, this study estimates the relative contribution of different socioeconomic factors contributing to inequalities in maternal health care services in Nepal.
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Jens Leth Hougaard, Juan D. Moreno-Ternero and Lars Peter Østerdal
Health outcomes are often described according to two dimensions: quality of life and quantity of life. We analyze the measurement of inequality of health distributions referring…
Abstract
Health outcomes are often described according to two dimensions: quality of life and quantity of life. We analyze the measurement of inequality of health distributions referring to these two dimensions. Our analysis relies on a novel treatment of the quality-of-life dimension, which might not have a standard mathematical structure. We single out two families of (absolute and relative) multidimensional health inequality indices, inspired by the classical normative approach to income inequality measurement. We also discuss how to extend the analysis to deal with the related problem of health deprivation measurement in this setting.
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Rachel Arnold, Ella Hewton and David Fletcher
– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors perceived to be associated with the design and delivery of an effective Olympic Games preparation camp.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors perceived to be associated with the design and delivery of an effective Olympic Games preparation camp.
Design/methodology/approach
To identify and explore such factors, interviews were conducted with eight members of a preparation camp delivery team for the London 2012 Olympic Games, and with two athletes who had participated in Olympic preparation camps.
Findings
The results identified four overarching factors that should be considered when designing and delivering an effective Olympic preparation camp: planning, operations, environment, and the delivery team. To illustrate the interrelationships between these factors and situate them within the holistic preparation camp context, an operational model was developed. This model also portrays the chronological ordering of events, individuals involved at each stage, and athlete-centered nature of an Olympic preparation camp.
Originality/value
Despite the significant amount of Olympic-related research at organizational, environmental, and individual levels, no research to date has holistically examined Olympic preparation camps per se. This study provides the first insight into the factors associated with the design and delivery of an effective Olympic preparation camp, and potential interrelationships between these factors.
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Amy M. C. Brown, Matthew Sowcik, Nicole L. P. Stedman and James C. Bunch
This study was the first to examine two related constructs within the context of leadership. Stoicism is an ancient philosophy offering practical advice for a virtuous and…
Abstract
This study was the first to examine two related constructs within the context of leadership. Stoicism is an ancient philosophy offering practical advice for a virtuous and eudaemonic life. As a method to examine one’s emotional experiences (Sellars, 2006), leaders such as Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius and Teddy Roosevelt (Aurelius, ca. 160 A.D., 2002) practiced Stoicism, yet mentions of it within the field of leadership research have been scant. Leadership academics contrast desirable emotional intelligence behaviors with Stoicism (Grewal & Salovey, 2005; Mayer et al., 2008). Regardless, these two constructs are both concerned with effectively managing emotions, practicing self-awareness, high levels of motivation, and sensitivity to the expression of emotion in others (Goleman, 2005; Pigliucci, 2017; Salzgeber, 2019).
Undergraduate students in a leadership minor (_N_ = 445) at a public university completed the Emotional and Social Competency Inventory - University and the Liverpool Stoicism Scale. Analysis included a description of assessment results, an examination or the relationship between variables and differences in participant’s scores based on race, gender, and age. Stoicism and emotional self-awareness showed a moderate, statistically significant negative correlation (_r_ = - 0.391, _p_ = .05). A low, statistically significant negative relationship was reported between stoicism and the relationship management competency of teamwork (p = .003, r = -.018), and a low statistically significant positive relationship between self-management competencies, adaptability (p = .043, r = .189) and emotional self-control (p = .039, r = .192). Student’s Stoicism scores were significantly correlated with gender (_t_(113) = 2.479; _p_ = .015, _d_ = .564).
The research findings provided baseline statistics for continued exploration of Stoicism within the context of leadership. Future research that better aligns with the original doctrines of the philosophy is recommended, particularly in the interest of leadership development.
Yiqiu Wang, Maria Porter and Songqing Jin
The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of introducing a health insurance program in rural China between 2004 and 2006, the New Cooperative Medical Scheme (NCMS).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of introducing a health insurance program in rural China between 2004 and 2006, the New Cooperative Medical Scheme (NCMS).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors apply difference in difference and propensity score matching methods (PSM-DID) to a widely used panel dataset, the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS). Findings are robust across several treatment and comparison groups used in previous NCMS studies.
Findings
Households who participated in NCMS increased the use of preventive services and western medicine, while lowering the use of traditional Chinese medicine. NCMS also reduced hospital use, out of pocket payments, travel time to healthcare facilities and waiting time to see doctors. The authors estimate that reductions in travel and waiting time saved roughly 52m U.S. dollars in 2006.
Research limitations/implications
Previously divergent findings on health insurance effects may be due to researchers studying health insurance across different healthcare delivery systems. In addition, in estimating how health insurance access affects healthcare costs, the authors should consider economic costs related to the time needed to access health services.
Originality/value
The authors study how health insurance access affects patients' choice of providers and economic costs to accessing health care services, outcomes that have not received much attention previously. The authors depart from previous NCMS studies by comparing several different approaches to identifying treatment and control groups when applying PSM-DID.
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As eyewitnesses provide the most valuable information for criminal investigations, it is important to further develop and test techniques for collecting eyewitness testimony so…
Abstract
Purpose
As eyewitnesses provide the most valuable information for criminal investigations, it is important to further develop and test techniques for collecting eyewitness testimony so that they meet the major objective of a police interview: obtaining details pertaining to criminal actions. The purpose of this paper is to test a new instruction – the re-enactment investigative instruction – formulated to collect the most fine-grained details of a criminal event as accurately as possible. It leads the interviewee to decompose all directly recollected actions into the most minimal actions so that the event can be accurately re-enacted.
Design/methodology/approach
In all, 40 participants individually viewed a video depicting a robbery, were randomly assigned to a re-enactment or structured interview (SI) group and then interviewed face-to-face. Each interview was comprised of two free recall phases and a questioning phase. Manipulation of the re-enactment instruction took place in the second free recall phase of the re-enactment interviews (RIs).
Findings
The RI elicited more correct information compared to the SI (d=1.14), and slightly but not significantly less incorrect information (d=0.09). Participants in the RI condition reported significantly more details pertaining to general and specific actions.
Practical implications
The re-enactment instruction shows the potential to increase witness recall in a way that promotes recall of both additional correct information and investigative-relevant information.
Originality/value
The instruction provides witnesses a retrieval strategy that facilitates overcoming both the gap between memory availability and accessibility and the gap between memory availability and output regulation, eliciting more details with no significant increase of errors.
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Life Cycle Costing (LCC) offers many advantages over other techniques but the time‐span over which the study must be undertaken and the uncertainty involved probably detract from…
Abstract
Life Cycle Costing (LCC) offers many advantages over other techniques but the time‐span over which the study must be undertaken and the uncertainty involved probably detract from its usefulness. However, this is one area where Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) techniques have great scope for application. The most important influences on decision making, in practice, are consistency and feedback; the challenge remains to prevent organisational decision making being resistant to new ideas and techniques.
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W. David Bradford and James F. Burgess
One of the fundamental tasks in optimal insurance design is mitigating the moral hazard effects inherent in insurance mechanisms. Empirically, relatively little is known about how…
Abstract
One of the fundamental tasks in optimal insurance design is mitigating the moral hazard effects inherent in insurance mechanisms. Empirically, relatively little is known about how individual-level time preferences affect selection of insurance options. We use several waves of the Health and Retirement Survey to explore the relationship between revealed time preferences at the individual level and the selection of insurance options for both the under-age-65 population and the Medicare-eligible population. Our results suggest that time preferences are not likely to be fixed across the life cycle, and that they appear to be important predictors of health insurance decisions.
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Stakeholders often engage in actions aimed at either benefitting or punishing firms for their behaviour. Such behaviours can have very serious implications for various types of…
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Stakeholders often engage in actions aimed at either benefitting or punishing firms for their behaviour. Such behaviours can have very serious implications for various types of firm performance, including financial performance. Though one might expect that the investigation of possible precursors of such “stakeholder action” would be a priority of researchers in stakeholder theory, to date research within the stakeholder literature directed towards understanding stakeholder behaviour has been somewhat scarce. In this chapter, I present common themes and assumptions that prevail in the existing research on stakeholder action, identify certain important questions concerning such assumptions and suggest avenues for future research on stakeholder behaviour.
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