This study covers “tapering scale” mechanism in hospital payments, i.e. mechanisms linking unit prices to the volume of services produced. This paper begins with an overview of hospital services and hospital payment methods in OECD countries, focusing more specifically on DRG-based payment....

The high cost of purchasing high technology and severe sanctions imposed on Iran over the last decade are the reasons why economical alternatives should be assessed, such as the use of second hand technology. There is evidence to show that in Iran the use of second-hand equipment in the...

Towards the end of 2009, the world economy was recovering from its deepest recession since the end of World War II. Most countries around the world took resort to fiscal policy in order to foster this recovery. In this paper, we first discuss the pros and cons of discretionary fiscal policy from...