What determines public health expenditures in Pakistan? Role of income, urbanization and unemployment

What determines public health care expenditures at the national level is an important policy question. Since the pioneering work of Newhouse (J Hum Resour 12(1):115–125, 1977) on the relationship between health expenditures and national income, this area of economic inquiry has received much attention. This paper seeks an answer to this question by estimating the factors affecting public health expenditures at the national level in Pakistan. This paper uses annual time series data from 1972 to 2009 and employing unit root and Johansen cointegration methods estimated the determinants of public health expenditures. It is estimated that all variables are integrated of order one and are cointegrated hence in a long run relationship. The income elasticity of public health care expenditures is estimated below unity (at 0.26) indicating health care is a necessity in Pakistan contrary to most of the industrialized countries. Furthermore, it is imperative that government have a larger role in allocating and directing public resources to health care in Pakistan. Urbanization and unemployment variables have elasticity values of ?1.33 and ?0.37 respectively, implying that it is costly to provide health care to residents of remote rural areas of Pakistan.     

History lessons for today's housing policy: the politics of low-income housing

History offers valuable lessons to housing policymakers. For those who would devise new low-income housing programs during today's trying economic circumstances, it is helpful to study the strategies that succeeded in achieving low-income housing programs in past difficult times. This article, History Lessons for Today's Housing Policy, examines the political processes that led to the adoption of new low-income housing policies during four political crises. The four crises were the Great Depression of the 1930s, the post-World War II housing shortage, the urban crisis of the 1960s, and the policy crisis of the 1970s. Among other history lessons, the article reveals that well-organized political support, especially from large institutions, is crucial to achieving distinctly different new programs; that decentralized programs are more politically resilient than centralized programs; that programs that appeal to the nation's broad middle-class are most popular; and that policy research is valuable but that politics trumps research.     

Shareholder value in an adverse environment: the German case

The German political economy has often been cited as a classical case of non-shareholder value orientation. Its productionist, long-term, consensus orientation has often been contrasted with the 'Anglo-Saxon approach'. The influence of shareholders who press for shareholder value and the importance of the equity market have traditionally been low. But there are signs of change. In this article we describe some of these changes and try to assess the dynamics of this change process. First we show that the limited role of the equity market for company financing and for private household savings still provides a very narrow base for a shareholder value economy in Germany. The central pillars of the German system of corporate governance - the dominating role of banks, the system of co-determination and the company centred management system - are not crumbling. Change in the direction of shareholder value is therefore limited.     

Family Psychopathology and Perceived Stress of Both Domestic Violence and Negative Life Events as Predictors of Women’s Mental Health Symptoms

Using a diathesis–stress model, this study examined the development of depressive and anxiety symptoms in women who experience stressors of domestic violence (DV) and/or negative life events (NLEs) over the course of three years. Family history of affective mental health problems represented the diathesis. Using a person-oriented approach, 182 women were grouped into 6 risk profiles based on varying levels of DV and NLEs. Results showed that family history of psychopathology increased vulnerability to mental health disorders; however, the best predictor of symptoms was the presence of either stressor at any time. A quadratic relationship between the risk pattern and mental health symptoms indicated that fluctuations in depression were related to the pattern of stress experienced. Results support the diathesis–stress model for occurrence of depressive but not anxiety symptoms in women with DV and/or NLEs.     

The Impact of Institutional Coup-Proofing on Coup Attempts and Coup Outcomes

Coup-proofing pertains to political leaders’ strategies that will prevent groups inside or outside the state apparatus from seizing power via a coup d’état. One particular form of these strategies divides a country’s military into rivaling organizations, thereby creating an artificial balance between and structural obstacles for the armed forces. Despite the general claim that this institutional coup-proofing is indeed effective, a recent empirical study does not obtain evidence for a negative impact on the risk of coup attempts or coup outcomes. The authors take this finding as a motivation for their re-evaluation of the effect of institutional coup-proofing on coup risk and outcomes. By developing an argument that rests on the concepts of collective action and polarization, it is contended that institutional coup-proofing and coups are characterized by a U-shaped relationship: Institutional coup-proofing is likely to lower the likelihood of coup onsets and successful outcomes, yet only until a tipping point of about two equally strong military organizations. After this turning point, the risk of coup onset as well as coup success may increase again. Using time-series cross-section data for 1975–1999, the authors find strong and robust support for their claims in terms of coup onset, but not coup outcomes.