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Market Incentives (market + incentive)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

Developing medical countermeasures: from BioShield to BARDA

DRUG DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH, Issue 4 2009
Jonathan B. TuckerArticle first published online: 12 JUN 200
Abstract The U.S. Congress passed the Project BioShield Act in 2004 to create market incentives for the private sector to develop medical countermeasures (MCMs) against high-priority chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats. Two years later, Congress patched recognized gaps in the BioShield legislation by adopting the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act of 2006, which established the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) within the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). BARDA provides financial and managerial support for companies developing MCMs. This article examines U.S. government efforts in the MCM field and prospects for the future. Drug Dev Res 70:224,233, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

Decentralization and health care in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HEALTH PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2006
Sonia Menon
Abstract Since its independence in 1991, the Republic of Macedonia became a highly centralized state, with most relevant decisions taken at the central level in Skopje, resembling the highly centralized system, which once characterized Former Yugoslavia. As agreed in the Framework Agreement, which ended six months of internal conflict, the Macedonian Government will decentralize public services delivery, including social protection, health, education, and infrastructure over the course of the next few years. Within health care, it is argued that by placing policy-making authority and operating control closer to the client, decentralization will reduce some of the inequities in service provision and inefficiencies present within the current centrally controlled system. In principle, local voters will have more information on the price and quality of services, thereby increasing competition in the sector and strengthening the private sector. The emphasis on market incentives resulting in greater efficiency and better management of health care institutions is viewed as one of the benefits of privatization. Critics of decentralization and the subsequent privatization of public services fear it may result in an erosion of quality and consistency across regions, leaving some regions, cities, villages and potentially vulnerable groups worse off than others. The paper argues that if the institutional weaknesses in Macedonia have not been addressed, decentralisation could result in further excluding the rural population from health care provision. Similarly, the need for a clear delineation of responsibilities and functions among different levels and institutions is outlined. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Discussion of Accounting Discretion in Fair Value Estimates: An Examination of SFAS 142 Goodwill Impairments

JOURNAL OF ACCOUNTING RESEARCH, Issue 2 2006
DANIEL A. BENS
ABSTRACT Beatty and Weber examine an accounting choice that managers made upon adoption of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards 142: whether to record a goodwill asset impairment as a cumulative effect of an accounting change at the time of adoption or delay the recognition of such an impairment to the future (perhaps indefinitely) when they would be recorded as expenses in earnings from continuing operations. The authors consider several factors that might influence management's reporting of transition effects, including contracting, equity market incentives, and regulatory forces. Participants at the 2005 Journal of Accounting Research Conference questioned whether such a complex accounting decision can be captured with simple linear models and noisy proxy variables, while also speculating upon whether the results would generalize to other settings. In this discussion, I summarize Beatty and Weber's research, highlight its contribution to the accounting literature, and provide a record of the main issues raised by the conference participants. [source]

Does the invisible hand have a green thumb?

THE GEOGRAPHICAL JOURNAL, Issue 1 2009
Incentives, linkages, the creation of wealth out of industrial waste in Victorian England
,Loop closing', that is, the creation of waste recycling linkages between different industries, has been hailed as a means of simultaneously achieving improved economic and environmental performance. As a result of the widespread assumption that traditional market incentives and institutions are not conducive to such an outcome, however, there remains a fair amount of scepticism as to what the capacity of business self-interest to promote this behaviour actually is. This article challenges the dominant negative perspective by discussing by-product development in one of the most market-oriented societies in human history, Victorian England. Building on nineteenth and early twentieth century writings on the topic, as well as a more detailed analysis of the development of valuable by-products from highly problematic iron and coal gas production residuals, a case is made that the search for increased profitability within the context of private property rights often simultaneously promoted economic and environmental progress in the long run, as well as on different geographical scales. [source]