This primer aims to provide IMF macroeconomists with the essential information they need to address issues concerning health sector policy, particularly when they have significant macroeconomic implications. Such issues can also affect equity and growth and are fundamental to any strategy of...

Millions of people in the developing world lack access to curative drugs. Thomas Pogge identifies the cause for this problem in a lack of redistribution across borders. By contrast, this article shows that institutional shortcomings within developing countries are the main issue. The different...

Critics of the U.S. health care system frequently point to other countries as models for reform. They point out that many countries spend far less on health care than the United States yet seem to enjoy better health outcomes. The United States should follow the lead of those countries, the...

Healthcare systems differ greatly across the world, however, it appears that the extent of public insurance (publicly/government funded healthcare) is the only institutional characteristic that plays a significant role in accounting for the large disparities in total healthcare spending. Other...

In this paper, we discuss 10 parallels between the lack of preparation of financial system regulators prior to the GFC and the lack of preparation by public health authorities and governments prior to Covid-19. These parallels relate to: required stocks (of capital or equipment), data collection...

How did a health crisis translate to an economic crisis? Why did the spread of the coronavirus bring the global economy to its knees? The answer lies in two methods by which coronavirus stifled economic activities. First, the spread of the virus encouraged social distancing which led to the...

2019 novel coronavirus has affected over 19.3 million people and caused over 718 thousand deaths globally (as at 7 August 2020). The disease was named as “Covid19” and the virus that causes it was Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus -2 (SARS-COV-2). On the eve of 2020, when the...

This paper examined the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on global stock markets. Daily closing prices were obtained from Wall Street data base from 1st January to 31st March 2020. For the analysis 80 trading days were used from 20th January, 2020, when the news of COVID-19 pandemic broke out to 11th...

The world has enjoyed huge improvements in population health during the last half century. But major health problems persist, particularly in tropical countries, which are still struggling with infectious diseases while increasingly having to deal with noncommunicable diseases. Several classic...

Deutschland hat sich das Ziel gesetzt, bis zum 21. September 2021 70 % der erwachsenen Bevölkerung ein Impfangebot zu unterbreiten. Der Fortschritt der Impfkampagne hängt dabei wesentlich von drei Determinanten ab: der Impfstoffverfügbarkeit, den Impfkapazitäten sowie der Impfbereitschaft....