Health economics最新文献

Female sex workers (FSWs) can receive a premium for engaging in unprotected and other risky sexual behaviours. Women engaging in transactional sex, defined as ‘non-commercial sexual relationships motivated by the implicit assumption that sex is exchanged for material support’, are thought to share similar economic incentives as women engaging in commercial sex. Using a panel of up to six sex acts from longitudinal datasets stratified by FSWs and women engaging in transactional sex in Cameroon, we provide evidence consistent with literature of a 30% condomless risk premium for FSWs. We then provide the first empirical evidence of a discount for condomless sex of 14% for women engaging in transactional sex. Qualitative analysis offers two explanations for this surprising finding, first a lack of HIV awareness among women engaging in transactional sex, and second, that risky sex acts are a demonstration of investment of trust in relationships and represent unobservable exchange of value. Given the larger number of women engaging in transactional relationships compared to FSWs in sub-Saharan Africa, and their lower awareness of HIV risks, this finding offers a significant explanation for the disproportionate burden of HIV incidence among adolescents and young women in sub-Saharan Africa.

In this study, we provide evidence on the combined effect of state minimum wages and state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) benefits on food insecurity. Using data from the Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement (CPS-FSS) between 2001 and 2019 and a sample of individuals with at most a High School degree, we estimate difference-in-differences models to examine whether the policies have a joint impact on food insecurity. Our study adds to a small number of papers evaluating potential interactions between state minimum wages and EITC laws. Our analysis reveals the presence of joint effects of the two programs in terms of reducing food insecurity. We find that a $1 increase in minimum wages reducing the likelihood of households experiencing very low food security by 6.0 percent in states with state EITC laws, with the effect being even larger (9.8 percent) in states with high EITC benefits. When examining a potential mechanism through which the two policies improve food security, we provide evidence for a joint impact on reducing poverty rates. In contrast, we find no evidence that minimum wages alone impact food insecurity or poverty rates in states without state EITC laws.

This article examines the relationship between economic development and tobacco consumption in Spain, using the Kuznets Curve framework. Drawing on panel data from Spanish provinces (2002–2021), the findings confirm that GDP has a non-linear effect on cigarette consumption. A 1% increase in GDP initially is positively associated with an increase in cigarette sales by 2.31%, but at higher income levels, cigarettes sales decrease (−0.24%), reflecting changing consumption dynamics as economies develop, which corroborates the existence of the Tobacco Kuznets Curve (TKC). Beyond GDP, we examine the role of unemployment in shaping tobacco consumption patterns, focusing on product substitution effects. Unlike its negative impact on cigarette sales (−0.075%), unemployment has a positive effect on Roll-Your-Own (RYO), pipe tobacco, and cigars. A 1% increase in unemployment raises sales of these alternative products by 0.31%, 0.48% and 0.29%, respectively, suggesting that economic downturns push consumers toward cheaper substitutes, also perceived as less harmful, rather than leading to a complete reduction in tobacco use. The inclusion of real cigarette prices confirms that higher prices—often driven by taxation—are associated with reduced cigarette sales and a shift toward alternative tobacco products, supporting evidence of a substitution effect during periods of economic downturns. Additionally, factors such as life expectancy and demographic aging significantly influence consumption patterns across all tobacco products. These findings highlight the need for differentiated anti-smoking policies, as uniform regulations may fail to address product-specific shifts driven by economic cycles.

We analyze how the abolition of cost-sharing in health insurance affects pregnant women's gross spending on health care services using an exogenous policy change in Switzerland. Using non-linear regression, we find that the policy slightly increases average gross spending, contrasting policymaker expectations of no impact on demand. More importantly, however, we find strong demand responses for specific types of services (physiotherapy, laboratory services), in particular for below-median income individuals. Within this group, we find that physiotherapy increases as much as 50% in response to the policy change. Additionally, we find suggestive evidence of a relative improvement of newborn health among individuals with below-median income, indicating that additional use of healthcare services may be beneficial. However, we find no evidence of an impact on maternal health. These results highlight that cost-sharing policies—such as the one we examine—need to balance trade-offs between reducing healthcare costs and addressing the health and equity implications of such policies.

Contaminated drinking water poses a significant, long-term health challenge in developing countries. With the aim of shedding light on the most effective presentation of this information in awareness campaigns, we run a randomized control trial involving 1388 households in Punjab, Pakistan. We provide information about fecal matter (E.Coli) presence in drinking water and on ways to treat water to make it potable. This intervention increases the likelihood of adopting in-home water purification for those households who were provided with information about water contamination results. Those informed of both water contamination and potential water treatment methods exhibit an even higher likelihood of behavior change. This study is evidence of the potential efficacy of low-cost information-based interventions, offering valuable insights for health policy in resource-constrained settings.