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Business and Economics > Insurance

You are looking at 1 - 6 of 6 items for :

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Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
St. Kitts and Nevis: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. Western Hemisphere Dept.
This Selected Issues paper reviews anecdotal evidence on labor market conditions and discusses policy options to strengthen the labor market and support growth in St. Kitts and Nevis. The diagnosis of labor market conditions reveals challenges and opportunities in wages, productivity, and labor allocation across sectors. These include strengthening jobs and growth opportunities across sectors, enhancing the wage setting system to support competitiveness, and increasing the efficiency of the public sector. Strong institutions are needed to effectively manage public sector wages over the medium term. Several institutional arrangements can facilitate this goal including regular comparison between public and private sector wages, regular wage negotiations as opposed to ad hoc adjustments, and using medium-term wage bill forecasting to support better fiscal outcomes. Labor market and growth policies could play a key role in strengthening jobs and growth in the post-coronavirus disease era, including by leveraging sectoral linkages to provide more diversified and higher quality job opportunities, enhancing labor market policies, and increasing the efficiency of the public sector.
Keywords:
C. climate change ADAPTATION; labor market diagnosis; staff team of the International Monetary Fund; D. wage policy; Policy implication; Public sector wages; Labor markets; Wages; Employment; Caribbean; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
U.S. Healthcare: A Story of Rising Market Power, Barriers to Entry, and Supply Constraints
Ms. Li Lin
and
Mr. Mico Mrkaic
Healthcare in the United States is the most expensive in the world, with real per capita spending growth averaging 4 percent since 1980. This paper examines the role of market power of U.S. healthcare providers and pharmaceutical companies. It finds that markups (the ability to charge prices above marginal costs) for publicly listed firms in the U.S. healthcare sector have almost doubled since the early 1980s and that they explain up to a quarter of average annual real per capita healthcare spending growth. The paper also finds evidence that the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid expansion were successful in raising coverage and expanding care, but may have had the undesirable side-effect of leading to labor cost increases: Hourly wages for healthcare practitioners are estimated to have increased by 2 to 3 percent more in Medicaid expansion states over a five-year period, which could be an indication that the supply of medical services is relatively inelastic, even over a long time horizon, to the boost to demand created by the Medicaid expansion. These findings suggest that promoting more competition in healthcare markets and reducing barriers to entry can help contain healthcare costs.
Keywords:
Medicaid expansion; sector markup; healthcare cost; healthcare in the United States; healthcare provider; Wages; Employment; Insurance companies; Insurance; Labor costs; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
France: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This Selected Issues paper analyzes expenditure reforms in France. After decades of rising public spending and successive tax increases, the medium-term fiscal consolidation path described in the 2015 Stability Program is now fully expenditure based. However, recent efforts of nominal spending containment have not delivered the intended savings in the context of low growth and inflation. A thorough review of the efficiency of public spending could help prepare more fundamental reforms of spending programs and processes to underpin a lasting reduction in expenditures, which reached a record high of 57.2 percent of GDP in 2014.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; center; local government; product market reform; bank; pay; product market regulation; social spending; growth ceiling; targeted expenditure review; Labor markets; Employment; Minimum wages; Unemployment; Europe; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Belgium: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund
Belgium has effected a remarkable fiscal adjustment, best illustrated by the decline in its public debt. While benefiting from an appreciable decline in interest rates, most of the underlying consolidation reflected a considerable increase in the tax burden, one of the highest in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. This paper analyzes the social transfer system in Belgium. Belgium has a very accessible and equitable health care system. The system is characterized by high input levels and service volumes.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; Belgium; employment rate; wage; growth norm; health spending; D. employment Policy; system performance; Health care spending; Health care; Employment; Unemployment; Global
Cover IMF Survey
IMF Survey: Volume 29, Issue 01
International Monetary Fund. External Relations Dept.
The Web edition of the IMF Survey is updated several times a week, and contains a wealth of articles about topical policy and economic issues in the news. Access the latest IMF research, read interviews, and listen to podcasts given by top IMF economists on important issues in the global economy. www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/survey/so/home.aspx
Keywords:
SV; IMF's website; structural adjustment Facility; SDR; gold sale; contingency financing facility; fund Facility; decision-making role; Poverty reduction strategy; Insurance; Exchange rate arrangements; Employment; Poverty reduction; Global; Europe; Africa; Pacific Islands; Central and Eastern Europe; Asia and Pacific
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Netherlands: Statistical Appendix
International Monetary Fund
In recent years, the IMF has released a growing number of reports and other documents covering economic and financial developments and trends in member countries. Each report, prepared by a staff team after discussions with government officials, is published at the option of the member country.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; Netherlands; business sector; staff estimate; percent share; summary balance of payments; factor cost; employment scheme; labor cost indicator; gross investment; Employment; Wages; Public sector; Income