Rethinking saving: Indian ceremonial gifts as relational and reproductive saving

Rethinking Saving Incentives

Saving money, saving lives.

In 1996, Duke Children's Hospital was in serious trouble. Its $11 million annual operating loss had forced administrators to make cutbacks. As a result, some caregivers felt that the quality of care had deteriorated. Parents' complaints were on the rise. Frustrated staff members were quitting. In this article, Jon Meliones, DCH's chief medical director, candidly describes how his debt-ridden ho...

Retirement plans, personal saving, and saving adequacy.

This Issue Brief addresses three questions raised by recent trends in personal saving: How are national savings measured and what is the meaning of the trends in measured personal saving rates, given what is included and what is not included in those measures? What is the effect of retirement saving programs--in particular, 401(k) plans and individual retirement accounts (IRAs)--on personal sav...

Electronic Medical Records: Saving Trees, Saving Lives

CONSIDER THIS IRONY OF MODERN LIFE: IN A MEDICAL CRISIS, EMERGENCY physicians would have an easier time accessing a patient’s bank account using his or her automatic teller machine card than they would finding critical medical history using his or her medical insurance card. Medical records, including crucial electrocardiograms, drug allergies, or medical conditions, are typically stored on pap...

Saving, Investment, and Growth: A Causality Test

In the second half of the last century, tremendous efforts were devoted to identifying sources of economic success by a few countries and causes of failure by most. In this process a voluminous literature ranging from the neo-classical to Marxist, neo-Marxist, and dependency theories has been developed to answer the question of disparity among different countries of the north vis-à-vis those of...