Empirical studies from developed countries observe that women report worse health and higher healthcare utilization than men, but the health disadvantage diminishes with age; gender differences in self-rated health often vanish or are reversed in older ages. Comparable assessments of health...

Background Economic reforms in Vietnam initiated in the late 1980s included deregulation of the health system resulting in extensive changes in health care delivery, access, and financing. One aspect of the health sector reform was the introduction of user fees at both public and private health...

In this paper we systematically compare forecasting accuracy of hypothesis testing procedures with that of a model combining algorithm. Testing procedures are commonly used in applications to select a model, based on which forecasts are made. However, besides the well-known difficulty in dealing...

In this paper we examine more closely the factors associated with production inefficiency in China’s agriculture. The approach we take involves a two-stage process where output efficiency scores are first estimated using data envelope analysis (DEA), and then in the second stage, variation in...