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on Insurance Economics |
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Issue of 2013‒09‒06
five papers chosen by Soumitra K Mallick Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management |
| By: | Florian Klohn; Christoph Strupat |
| Abstract: | This paper delivers empirical evidence on how informal transfers are affected by a formal and country-wide health insurance scheme. Using the fifth wave of the Ghanaian Living Standard Household Survey, we investigate the extent to which the exogenous implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme affects the probability of making or receiving informal transfers and their monetary equivalents. Our findings suggest that there is a significant crowding out of informal transfers. Members of weak transfer networks and individuals that run an enterprise are inclined to reduce their amount of remittances. We conclude that the provision of formal health insurance can reduce covariate risk in weak transfer networks and support business owners that are confronted by strong sharing obligations. |
| Keywords: | Public health insurance; informal transfer networks; crowding out; Ghana |
| JEL: | I15 O12 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0432&r=ias |
| By: | Corneo, Giacomo |
| Abstract: | This paper challanges the view that weak work norms in generous welfare states makes them economically unsustainable. I develop a dynamic model of family-transmitted values that has a laissez-faire equilibrium with strong work norms coexisting with a social-insurance equilibrium with weak work norms. While the former has better incentives, the latter induces more intergenerational occupational mobility which improves the allocation of talent and fuels growth. Strong work norms arise as a defensive strategy of parents that aims at perpetuating their occupation along family lines. I present evidence from microdata showing that generous social insurance correlates with high intergenerational occupational mobility and that more mobile individuals endorse weaker work norms. -- |
| Keywords: | work norms,unemployment insurance,occupational mobility,economic growth. |
| JEL: | H2 O0 Z1 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fubsbe:201312&r=ias |
| By: | Sun, Jiawei; Ma, Chao; Song, Ze; Gu, Hai |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the urban-rural inequality of opportunity in health care in China based on the theory of equality of opportunity of Roemer (1998). Following the compensation principle proposed by Fleurbaey and Schokkaert (2011), this paper establishes a decomposition strategy of the fairness gap, which we use for the measurement of the inequality of opportunity in the urban-rural health care use. Empirical analysis using the CHNS data shows that the ratios of the fairness gap to the directly observed average urban-rural difference in health care are 1.167 during 1997-2000 and 1.744 during 2004-2006, indicating that the average urban-rural difference observed directly from original statistical data may underestimate the degree of the essential inequity. Meanwhile, the increasing fairness gap and the decomposition results imply that generally leveling the urban-rural reimbursement ratios is probably not sufficient, and pro-disadvantage policies should be put in place in order to mitigate or even eliminate the inequality of opportunity in health care use between urban and rural residents. The results are also illuminating for the experiments and establishment of the urban-rural integrated medical insurance system (URIMIS) in China. The pro-disadvantage policies will be more appreciated and effective in the promotion of the equality of opportunity in health care, within the background of urban-rural dualistic social structure and widening urban-rural income gap. This suggestion is supported by data from the URIMIS pilot regions in Jiangsu province. The results show that the fairness gap can be narrowed significantly via pro-disadvantage policies. |
| Keywords: | equality of opportunity; health care; fairness gap; urban-rural integrated medical insurance system |
| JEL: | D12 D63 I18 |
| Date: | 2013–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:49389&r=ias |
| By: | Gallagher, Mary (University of Michigan); Giles, John T. (World Bank); Park, Albert (Hong Kong University of Science & Technology); Wang, Meiyan (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents empirical evidence from household and firm survey data collected during 2009-2010 on the implementation of the 2008 Labor Contract Law and its effects on China's workers. The government and local labor bureaus have made substantial efforts to enforce the provisions of the new law, which has likely contributed to reversing a trend toward increasing informalization of the urban labor market. Enforcement of the law, however, varies substantially across cities. The paper analyzes the determinants of worker satisfaction with the enforcement of the law, the propensity of workers to have a labor contract, workers' awareness of the content of the law, and their likelihood of initiating disputes. The paper finds that all of these factors are highly correlated with the level of education, especially for migrants. Although higher labor costs may have had a negative impact on manufacturing employment growth, this has not led to an overall increase in aggregate unemployment or prevented the rapid growth of real wages. Less progress has been made in increasing social insurance coverage, although signing a labor contract is more likely to be associated with participation in social insurance programs than in the past, particularly for migrant workers. |
| Keywords: | social insurance, informal sector, labor regulations, migration, gender, China |
| JEL: | J08 J16 J28 J41 J52 J53 O15 O17 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7555&r=ias |
| By: | Ansgar Belke |
| Abstract: | On 10 January 2013 the ECB Governing Council decided “to keep the key ECB interest rates unchanged” based on an assessment of a ‚contained‘ inflationary pressure and a weak economic activity, a contraction of real GDP in second and third quarter of 2012. Similar decisions have been taken by other leading central banks around the globe. This paper assesses and comments on several aspects of the implied low interest rate environment. It contains some general considerations with respect to the current low interest rate environment in advanced economies. It then deals with potential conflicts between monetary policy and financial stability in a low interest rate environment. Moreover, more practical implications for the necessity of supervision of pension funds and the insurance sector are derived. The paper also assesses the investment opportunities for retail investors in such an environment. Finally, we single out examples of main beneficiaries and losers from a low interest rate environment. |
| Keywords: | Global liquidity; central banks and their policies; financial repression; low interest rates; insurance companies; pension funds |
| JEL: | E58 F33 G22 G23 |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0429&r=ias |