The discussion about health care systems focuses on the dynamics of expenditures and on the weak growth of the revenue base. In this discussion it is widely overseen that medical expenditures and supply of medical services crucially depend on the compensation of physician services. The paper...

Firm turnover has recently attracted increased interest in economic research. The entry of new firms increases competition and promises efficiency gains. Moreover, changes in the market structure influence productivity growth, because firm entry usually leads to increased innovation. The health...

In this paper we concentrate on the question whether the financing structure of the health care systems converges. In a world of increasing economic integration convergence in health care financing (HCF) and, hence, decreasing differences in HCF across countries enhance individuals' (labour)...

Recent reforms in health care have introduced a variety of pay-for-performance programs using financial incentives for physicians to improve the quality of care. Their effectiveness is, however, ambiguous as it is often difficult to disentangle the effect of financial incentives from the ones of...

Malaria kills about 1,500 children every day. Based on the Demographic and Health Surveys, we examine malaria treatment practices of various health care providers in sub-Saharan Africa, where more than 90 percent of the world's deaths due to malaria occur. To assess the quality of each health...

In recent health care reforms, several countries have replaced pure payment schemes for physicians (fee-for-service, capitation) by so-called mixed payment schemes. Until now it is still an unresolved issue whether patients are really better off after these reforms. In this study we compare the...

In recent years, several countries have introduced non-monetary performance incentives for health care providers to improve the quality of medical care. Evidence on the effect of non-monetary feedback incentives, predominantly in the form of public quality reporting, on the quality of medical...

Der doppelte Alterungsprozess, der medizinisch-technische Fortschritt und die Pflegeleistungsdynamisierung bilden die wesentlichen Bestimmungsfaktoren für die Finanzierungsschwierigkeiten der GKV und GPV. So sind effektive Reformkonzepte nur auf der Ausgabenseite anzusetzen. Entsprechende...

This paper assesses the long-term fiscal position of the Russian health insurance system using Generational Accounting, with particular attention to special factors of the health care sector. We find out that the demographic development of Russia causes a significant burden for future...

One unique feature of the German health insurance system is the possibility for certain socioeconomic groups to opt-out of the otherwise compulsory system. To determine whether rates incorporating deductibles can heighten the appeal of statutory health insurance funds (SHI funds) compared with...