Introduction to Health Economics, Lorna Guinness | Overview

Introduction to Health Economics, Lorna Guinness | Overview NAME OF THE BOOK: INTRODUCTION TO HEALTH ECONOMICS AUTHOR: GUINNESS, LORNA KEY TERMS Efficiency It describe the connection between inputs and outputs. It’s involved with increasing advantages with the resources accessible, or minimizing prices for a given level of profit. Goods These are the outputs (such as health care) of a production method that involves the combining of various resources like labor and instrumentation. Merchandise (including services) are valuable within the sense that they supply some utility to individual shoppers. They’re termed ‘goods’ as theyre fascinating, as distinct from ‘bads’ that youll examine later! Health sector It contains organized public and personal health services, the policies and activities of health departments and ministries, health-related nongovernment organizations and community teams, and skilled associations. Health services- The vary of services undertaken primarily for health reasons which have an instantaneous result on health, as well as health care programs like health promotion and specific disease prevention and treatment. Marginal analysis It is the examination of the additional focal points or costs emerging from an extra unit of utilization or generation of a decent. Market A state of affairs wherever those who have a requirement for an honest move with suppliers and agree on a worth at that the great are going to be listed .The important condition for effectively working markets may be an arrangement of property rights to verify that people will take part in honestiness. Opportunity cost (economic cost) As assets are rare, a single person, in deciding to devour a decent, on a fundamental level, picks the great which provides for him or her the best advantage, and in this manner renounces the utilization of a scope of option merchandise of lesser worth. The opportunity expense is the estimation of the profit of the following best option. Resources These represent inputs into the method of manufacturing merchandise. They’ll be classified into 3 main elements: labor, capital and land. Completely different merchandise would typically need variable mixtures of those parts. Resources are typically valued in financial terms. Utility- The satisfaction or fulfillment an individual increases from expending a decent. The more utility an individual gets from the utilization of a decent, all else being equivalent, the more they would be eager to use their salary on it. What is an economy? The economy is outlined as all the economic activities and establishments among an outlined space (usually geographically, associated with the political borders of a nation state). Resources’ are those items within the economy that can be used to manufacture and distribute goods. Resources will be classified as labor, capital and land: Labor refers to human resources, manual and non-manual, accomplished and unskilled. Capital-are those product that are accustomed turn out alternative product – as an example machinery, buildings and tools . Land –consist of all natural resources, like oil or ore. Goods are either items that you can hold or touch (e.g. a medication) or else they are administrations that befall you (e.g. a counsel). There are 2 vital attributes that recognize diverse goods: 1 Physical attributes – a frozen dessert and a cup of tea are totally completely different commodities as a result of they need different producing techniques and since they satisfy different needs. 2 Context in which the good is consumed – for example: a) the time in which the good is available – an ice cream that is available on a hot summer’s day is a different good from one available in the cold midwinter. b) The place where the commodity is available – a cup of tea available in a fashionable cafà © is a different good from tea that is sometimes sold at a petrol station. What is a market? In financial science, the expression business sector is utilized to clarify any condition of undertakings wherever individuals that request a conventional close with suppliers. For it to be a market the purchasers and venders dont need to be urged to physically meet – case in point, most unmistakably, exchanging on the net will include systems of individuals in all segments of the planet who can never meet. Altogether, an important condition for effectively working markets could be an arrangement of property rights to affirm that people will take part in accordance with some basic honesty. This infers that the exchanges made between gatherings are some way or another enforceable which there are bound comprehended tenets in regards to however people act as far as giving information, making installment. Health System finance Health system finance is that the method by that revenues area unit collected from primary and secondary sources, that area unit accumulated in fund pools and allotted to supplier activities’ Within the finance function of the health system there are unit 3 main activities. Revenue collection refers to the raising of funds either directly from people seeking health care or indirectly through governments or donors. Fund pooling refers to the gathering of funds which will be used for finance a given population’s health care in order that contributors to the pool share risks. Purchasing is the method of allocating funds to the suppliers of health care. There are two ways of paying for health services: Out-of-pocket payments: this is often the only and earliest style of dealing between patient and provider. Third-party payments: where providers are paid by an insurance company or a government. 1) In several countries out-of-payments for health care play a crucial role. From low-income countries theres proof that individuals who are not covered by insurance pay high amounts for health care in relevance their financial gain. In Africa, quite fifty per cent of health care expenses return from directly paid non-public sources. Types of out-of-pocket expenditure include the following. †¢ Private consultations with doctors. †¢ Over the counter (OTC) drugs. †¢ Co-payments and user fees: where third-party payment is prevalent, cost sharing within the variety of co-payments plays a very important role. Co-payments and user fees might apply to prescription drugs, medical care, patient care and emergency transport. †¢ Unofficial fees: besides official fees, unofficial payments to doctors are common in several countries. Further payments to employees to urge access to hospitalization are common in some Asian countries. In range of countries in central and Eastern Europe, doctors used to expect unofficial payments as a supplement to their financial gain. †¢ Services not covered by insurance: transport costs, traditional or complementary medicine and luxury services such as cosmetic surgery. 2) These are costs that are high in connection to salary. Case in point, lavish helps are unrealistic to be paid out-of-pocket, as individuals would need to use a substantial extent of their salary or riches on social insurance. Generally, people look for protection to secure themselves against such conceivably disastrous misfortunes. You might likewise consider administrations with qualities of an open decent which are financed openly on the grounds that they are not given by private markets. Consider preventive administrations, for example, wellbeing instruction, which the individual customer may not be ready to buy secretly. 3) Overall out-of-pocket spending on health care is increasing. This is due to the growing proportion of OTC drugs and increasing cost sharing. The evolution of health service finance Global correlations demonstrate that nations use distinctive methods for paying for wellbeing administrations. Case in point, France and Sweden have created notably diverse practices to reserve healing centers and to pay for specialists. Latin American nations have social protection frameworks while in numerous African nations government subsidizing is normal. The Changing World of Health Services Finance The climbing estimation of health awareness imply that paying for medicinal services is an issue of concern in most, if not all nations. Governments are upset in regards to the monetary and political results of the expanding benefit of giving wellbeing administrations and look at to utmost using through tighter controls and diverse changes. Theres gigantic assemblage of writing to suggest that a considerable measure of nations are disappointed with the present methodologies of account and conveyance of wellbeing administrations or as inside the instance of the past Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, are forced into change through immense political alteration and wretchedness. Though the motives and kinds of reform could disagree, there are some common themes: Separation of customer and supplier responsibilities whereby the underlying plan is that purchasers contract with those suppliers giving best price for cash which this will increase the potency of service delivery . Redefinition of the role of the state in responsibility for health care. Encouragement of the personal sector. Encouragement of competition between suppliers. Alternative sources of funding, budget constraints and political modification in several countries has resulted within the health sector and governments seeking out other ways of mobilizing the resources. What is economic evaluation? It is the comparison of prices and consequences of different health care interventions to assess their worth for cash. Impact of health problems A key need of numerous social orders far and wide is the assuagement of wellbeing issues: illness, damage or a danger component for one of these. The effect of such wellbeing issues can be showed in distinctive ways – physical inability, dismalness and mortality, enthusiastic trouble, social troubles and seclusion, and monetary and financial misfortune. The impact of health problems can be measured as: The number of cases The number of passing’s(deaths) The amount of disability, pain or suffering The measure of people with a risk factor The measure of money spent on a health problem

iNTERNATIONAL TRADE :: essays research papers fc

International Trade Understanding the culture in a country or region in which you are doing business is a critical skill for the international business person. Without this knowledge, a successful outcome to the business venture can be in jeopardy. â€Å"The level of world output in any given year influences the level of international trade in that year.† By this it means that the slower the world economy is the less international trade and the higher the economy the higher the volume of trade. "Globalization" is a term that came into popular usage in the 1980's to describe the increased movement of people, knowledge and ideas, and goods and money across national borders that has led to increased interconnectedness among the world's populations, economically, politically, socially and culturally. Although globalization is often thought of in economic terms, this process has many social and political implications as well. Many in local communities associate globalization with modernization. At the global level, globalization is thought of in terms of the challenges it poses to the role of governments in international affairs and the global economy. There are heated debates about globalization and its positive and negative effects. While globalization is thought of by many as having the potential to make societies richer through trade and to bring knowledge and information to people around the world, there are many others who perceive globalization as contributing to the exploitation of the poor by the rich, and as a threat to traditional cultures as the process of modernization changes societies. There are some who link the negative aspects of globalization to terrorism. To put a complicated discussion in simple terms, they argue that exploitative or declining conditions contribute to the lure of informal "extremist" networks that commit criminal or terrorist acts internationally. And thanks to today's technology and integrated societies, these networks span throughout the world. It is in this sense that terrorism, too, is "globalized." Increasingly over the past two centuries, economic activity has become more globally oriented and integrated. Some economists argue that it is no longer meaningful to think in terms of national economies; international trade has become central to most local and domestic economies around the world. Among the major high-income economies, sometimes referred to as the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, 60 percent of the total economic production, or GDP, is associated with international trade. Thirty-four percent comes from trade between high-income and low-and middle-income nations.

How Humans Have Contributed to Climate Change

CLIMATE CHANGE: HOW THE HOMO SAPIENS HAVE CONTRIBUTED By Ernest Ebo Jackson TERM PAPER Climate change refers to change in average weather patterns and can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. In the past, the earth's climate has been affected by natural factors such as changes in solar output and the discharge of volcanic ash. In fact, the planet has been through many periods of cooling and warming. The last period of major cooling ended about 10,000 years ago. The physical evidence that suggests that the earth’s climate is changing is truly overwhelming. The world’s glaciers are retreating and disappearing, extreme weather is occurring more often now than in the past, the sea’s level and temperature is on the rise and it’s becoming more acidic, increased evaporation is drying out the earth’s supply of fresh water found in lakes and rivers, heat waves kill thousands in Europe, uncontrollable forests fires are destroying forests reserves in places like Australia and Africa, and increasing atmospheric temperature is raising the budget of many families in tropical countries use in cooling their homes. Need I say more? The sun's warmth heats the surface of the earth, which in turn radiates energy back to space. Some of this radiation, which is nearly all in the infrared spectrum, is trapped in the atmosphere by greenhouse gases. For instance, water vapor strongly absorbs radiation with wavelengths between 4 and 7 micrometers, and carbon dioxide (CO2) absorbs radiation with wavelengths between 13 and 19 micrometers. The trapped radiation warms the lower atmosphere, or troposphere. Some heat then finds its way back down to the Earth's surface, making it hotter than it would otherwise be. This is the greenhouse effect. Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere over the last 400,000 years show a rise since the industrial revolution. Analysis of ice in a core drilled from an ice sheet such as the Antarctic ice sheet enables scientist to arrive at this conclusion. But since when did humans becoming aware of the potentially adverse effects of Carbon dioxide emissions on the climate? As early as 1827, French polymath Jean-Baptiste Fourier predicts an atmospheric effect eeping the earth warmer than it would otherwise be. He is the first to use a greenhouse analogy. Also in 1957, US oceanographer Roger Revelle warns that humanity is conducting a â€Å"large-scale geophysical experiment† on the planet by releasing greenhouse gases. Colleague David Keeling sets up first continuous monitoring of CO2 levels in the atmosphere. Keeling soon finds a regular year-on-year rise. Over the years, there have been many conferences aimed at finding solutions to climate change or global warming. In 1985 for instance, there was a major international conference on the greenhouse effect at Villach, Austria, which warned that greenhouse gases will â€Å"in the first half of the next century, cause a rise of global mean temperature which is greater than any in man's history. † This could cause sea levels to rise by up to one meter, researchers say. The conference also reports that gases other than carbon dioxide, such as methane, ozone, CFCs and nitrous oxide, also contribute to warming. The world’s nations however have not been united in their quest to curb global warming or climate change. Many nations have been selfish, especially developed ones, seeking first to achieve or maintain economic growth and thus world dominance rather than make the sacrifices needed to reverse the negative trend of climate change. . A revisit to some historical event will help buttress this point. 1995 proved to be the hottest year recorded to date. In March, the Berlin Mandate is agreed by signatories at the first full meeting of the Climate Change Convention in Berlin. Industrialized nations agree on the need to negotiate real cuts in their emissions, to be concluded by the end of 1997. In 1996, at the second meeting of the Climate Change Convention, the US agrees for the first time to legally binding emissions targets and sides with the IPCC against influential skeptical scientists. After a four-year pause, global emissions of CO2 resume their steep climb, and scientists warn that most industrialized countries will not meet Rio agreement to stabilize emissions at 1990 levels by the year 2000. Furthermore, in 1997, Kyoto Protocol agrees legally binding emissions cuts for industrialized nations, averaging 5. 4%, to be met by 2010. The meeting also adopts a series of flexibility measures, allowing countries to meet their targets partly by trading emissions permits, establishing carbon sinks such as forests to soak up emissions, and by investing in other countries. The precise rules are left for further negotiations. Meanwhile, the US government says it will not ratify the agreement unless it sees evidence of â€Å"meaningful participation† in reducing emissions from developing countries. In 2001, the new US president, George W Bush, renounces the Kyoto Protocol because he believes it will damage the US economy. After some hesitation, other nations agree to go ahead without him. Talks in Bonn in July and Marrakech in November finally conclude the fine print of the protocol. Analysts say that loopholes have pegged agreed cuts in emissions from rich-nation signatories to less than a third of the original Kyoto promise. Signatory nations urged to ratify the protocol in their national legislatures in time for it to come into force before the end of 2002. Now let’s talk about a second human behavior that is negatively impacting the climate – deforestation. Deforestation is the permanent destruction of indigenous forests and woodlands by the processes of humans such as logging and/or burning of trees in a forested area. Deforestation occurs because of many reasons: trees or derived charcoal are used as or sold for fuel or a commodity to be used by humans, while cleared land is used by humans as pasture for livestock, plantations of commodities, and settlements. People's removal of trees without sufficient reforestation has resulted in damage to habitat, biodiversity loss and aridity. It has adverse impacts on biosequestration (the capture and storage of the atmospheric greenhouse gas carbon dioxide by biological processes) of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Deforested regions typically incur significant adverse soil erosion and frequently degrade into wasteland. Forests (an area with a high density of trees. ) are the most natural biological formation. They serve many functions. Firstly, forests protect and form other natural resources. Thanks to the processes of photosynthesis, they renew the oxygen stock in the atmosphere by fixing atmospheric carbon dioxide and moderating the greenhouse effect. Forests also allow for the existence of many species of plants and animals, thus protecting diversity of nature and its gene stock. Forests clean the environment by muffling noises, lowering the wind strength as well as stopping dust and gases. They have a regulatory influence on surface water runoff; they moderate high and low temperatures and prevent soil erosion. By performing all of the above listed functions forests stabilize the climate and shape the landscape. Forests create conditions for relaxation, recreation and improvement of health. Only when actively growing can trees or forest remove carbon over an annual or longer timeframe. The decay and burning of wood releases much of this stored carbon back to the atmosphere. In order for forests to take up carbon, the wood must be harvested and turned into long-lived products and trees must be re-planted. Sadly consumer trends indicate the humans like to discard products such as furniture after only a few years of usage and buy new ones, increasing the need for wood and thus deforestation. Reducing emissions from the tropical deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries has emerged as new potential solution to complement ongoing climate policies. The idea consists in providing financial compensations for the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from deforestation and forest degradation†. The earlier these ideas are implemented, the better for us. The hydrological effects on climate as a result of deforestation are even more alarming. The water cycle is probably the most affected by deforestation. Trees extract groundwater through their roots and release it into the atmosphere. When part of a forest is removed, the trees no longer evaporate away this water, resulting in a much drier climate. Already, acute water shortages in countries like Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Palestine and Iraq has resulted in armed conflicts with factions fighting to control the scanty water resources available. Water prices increase too is an indication of global water shortage. In Britain, water and sewage bills increased 67 percent between 1989 and 1995. The rate at which people's services were disconnected rose by 177 percent. Deforestation also contributes to decreased evapotranspiration (the sum of evaporation and plant transpiration from the Earth's land surface to atmosphere), which lessens atmospheric moisture which in some cases affects precipitation levels downwind from the deforested area, as water is not recycled to downwind forests, but is lost in runoff and returns directly to the oceans. According to one preliminary study in deforested north and northwest China, the average annual precipitation decreased by one third between the 1950s and the 1980s. Trees, and plants in general, affect the water cycle significantly: their canopies intercept a proportion of precipitation, which is then evaporated back to the atmosphere (canopy interception); their litter, stems and trunks slow down surface runoff; their roots create macropores – large conduits – in the soil that increase infiltration of ater; they contribute to terrestrial evaporation and reduce soil moisture via transpiration; their litter and other organic residue change soil properties that affect the capacity of soil to store water. Their leaves control the humidity of the atmosphere by transpiration. 99% of the water pulled up by the roots move up to the leaves for transpiration. As a result, the presence or absence of trees can change the quantity of water on the surface, in the soil or groundwater , or in the atmosphere. This in turn changes erosion rates and the availability of water for either ecosystem functions or human services. Tropical rainforests produce about 30% of our planet's fresh water. So what are we waiting for? When will human start acting to reverse these trends? I wish I knew. The third human activity that has contributed to global warming is the use of chlorofluorocarbon. A chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) is an organic compound that contains carbon, chlorine, and fluorine. Many CFCs have been widely used as refrigerants, propellants (in aerosol applications), and solvents. Applications exploit the low toxicity, low reactivity, and low flammability of the CFCs. During World War II, various chloroalkanes were in standard use in military aircraft. After the war they slowly became more common in civil aviation as well. In the 1960s, fluoroalkanes and bromofluoroalkanes became available and were quickly recognized as being highly effective fire-fighting materials. By the late 1960s they were standard in many applications where water and dry-powder extinguishers posed a threat of damage to the protected property, including computer rooms, telecommunications switches, laboratories, museums and art collections. Beginning with warships, in the 1970s, bromofluoroalkanes also progressively came to be associated with rapid knockdown of severe fires in confined spaces with minimal risk to personnel. By the early 1980s, bromofluoroalkanes were in common use on aircraft, ships, and large vehicles as well as in computer facilities and galleries. A planet's climate is decided by its mass, its distance from the sun and the composition of its atmosphere. Earth's atmosphere is 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% other gases. Carbon dioxide makes up just 0. 03 – 0. 04% with water vapour varying in amount from 0 to 2%. Without the greenhouse gases, Earth's average temperature would be roughly -20 °C. The use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in machinery and other purposes have resulted in the release of CFCs into the atmosphere which intensifies the heat-trapping properties of the atmosphere as a whole. There is no natural process that release CFCs. In addition, CFCs rise into the upper layer of the atmosphere, the stratosphere, where they destroy the protective layer of ozone, a gas that forms a shield against ultraviolet rays that can harm many forms of life. About l million tons (over 900,000 metric tons) per year of CFCs have been released worldwide since the mid l970s. Demand for refrigeration (which has cooling systems that use CFCs) in developing countries is projected to increase greatly, especially in China and India. Ozone losses in the upper atmosphere are occurring at all latitudes in both hemispheres. The most striking example of ozone loss occurs over the South Pole during September and October. As ozone is lost, the amount of biologically harmful UV-B radiation will increase. Skin cancer rates are expected to increase. Other health effects will likely include an increase in cataracts and suppression of the immune system. Increased UV-B radiation may also harm plants and animals. These CFCs have a global warming potential of up to 11,000 times as strong as carbon dioxide by weight. Unfortunately, millions of products such as refrigerators, air conditioners, fire extinguishers and aerosol cans that contain CFCs are still in use around the world and are nearing the end of their usable lives. The next 10-20 years present a unique one-time opportunity to prevent emissions from these products as they are retired and therefore mitigate ozone damage and global climate change. The damage caused by CFCs was discovered by Sherry Rowland and Mario Molina who, after hearing a lecture on the subject of James Lovelock's work, embarked on research resulting in the first publication suggesting the connection in 1974. It turns out that one of CFCs' most attractive features—their low reactivity— is the key to their most destructive effects. CFCs' lack of reactivity gives them a lifespan that can exceed 100 years, giving them time to diffuse into the upper stratosphere. Once in the stratosphere, the sun's ultraviolet radiation is strong enough to cause the homolytic cleavage of the C-Cl bond. Since the late 1970s, the use of CFCs has been heavily regulated. By 1987, in response to a dramatic seasonal depletion of the ozone layer over Antarctica, diplomats in Montreal forged a treaty, the Montreal Protocol, which called for drastic reductions in the production of CFCs. On March 2, 1989, 12 European Community nations agreed to ban the production of all CFCs by the end of the century. In 1990, diplomats met in London and voted to significantly strengthen the Montreal Protocol by calling for a complete elimination of CFCs by the year 2000. On October 2 2009, the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) held a briefing about the stockpile of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in old equipment and building infrastructure, and the enormous potential for these potent greenhouse gases to accelerate climate change. These CFC â€Å"banks† store the equivalent of 18 billion tons of carbon dioxide, approximately one-third of which will be emitted over the next decade under business as usual. EESI estimates that the destruction of CFCs could cost $62 -$180 billion globally. No wonder institutions are reluctant to destroy them though they are very much conscious of the effects CFCs are having on our climate. As the evidence shows, we have ourselves to blame for the unfavorable climate in recent history. Our practices are changing the climate and we are conscious of it but still keep on living life as if nothing is at stake. The billions of dollars that we gain from over-exploiting the earth are the same billion we spent on relief for victims of extreme weather. What then do we gain? The U. S. has sustained 96 weather-related disasters over the past 30 years in which overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion. The total normalized losses for the 96 events exceed $700 billion. Read an instance in the paragraph below. Southwest/Great Plains Drought persists for an entire year in 2009. Drought conditions occurred during much of the year across parts of the Southwest, Great Plains, and southern Texas causing agricultural losses in numerous states (TX, OK, KS, CA, NM, and AZ). The largest agriculture losses occurred in TX and CA. Estimate of over $5. 0 billion in damages/costs. I believe the arguments presented herein are very conclusive. Humans have contributed immensely to climate change and they are paying for it.

Check Out Which Cars Brought Home The Big Bucks At The...

Abstract: Check out which cars brought home the big bucks at the 2016 Mecum Monterey Auction! Mecum has long been a premier name in high-end car auctions, and few events have better illustrated that fact than the recently completed Mecum Monterey 2016 Collector and Classic Car Auction. With a collection of 704 cars ranging from the classic to the ultra-modern, the auction finished with total combined sales exceeding a staggering $50 million. An impressive six vehicles registered million-dollar bids, with the five cars below earning the highest winning bids from buyers. 2014 Ferrari LaFerrari One of the most meticulously designed and constructed cars ever to hit the road, it isn t hyperbole to say that the 2014 Ferrari LaFerrari†¦show more content†¦A set of 6-to-1 headers and specially tuned exhaust provide the characteristic Ferrari note, while an adjustable spoiler and diffuser flaps lend added stability and control at high speeds. With just 211 original miles, it should come as no surprise that this fine auto topped the sales list at a staggering $4.7 million. 1966 Ford GT40 Mk. I Amid a sea of modern, exotic supercars, the 1966 Ford GT40 Mk. I immediately stands out from the crowd. Devised as an endurance racer for the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Ford GT40 was built at the Ford Advanced Vehicles factory in Slough, Buckinghamshire, England, at the urging of Henry Ford II. The GT40 Mk. I features the same 289 cubic-inch V-8 engine that powered many of the era s Mustangs, while its long, sweeping lines provide excellent aerodynamics and a striking body style that was truly ahead of its time. This Mk. I, which earned a $4.4 million final selling price, is the first road car to be delivered to American soil. It served briefly as a test car at Ford s testing grounds in Dearborn, Michigan, before making the rounds for public relations at racing events, car shows and dealerships. After being painted a distinctive blue and orange for a Gulf Oil promotion in the 1980s, the car underwent extensive four-year restorations to restore the original metallichrome silver paint and fit the car with fully correct parts. Considering its unique history, full documentation and striking looks, it s