BACKGROUND In this article we present an economic evaluation of policies aimed at increasing deceased organ donation in Chile, a developing country that has low donation rates; it had 5.4 donors per million people (pmp) in 2010. METHODS Expert opinions of leading participants in donation and transplantation were analyzed, resulting in a set of local policies aimed at increasing donation rates...

Economic agents in the transition economies are subject to tight credit constraints, which are more pronounced during bad state of nature. Thus, adverse shocks to commodity prices in the world market can force them to reduce savings by a larger amount than they would otherwise have. Empirical analysis using a dynamic panel model and data from 21 transition economies confirm that most of the det...

The Medicaid program is the largest payer of nursing home services in the nation. The magnitude of program spending and the anticipated program growth as the baby boom cohort ages have raised questions about how Medicaid affects private savings. This paper, which extends previous research, examines how high but uncertain nursing home expenses interact with Medicaid assistance to affect the savi...

The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the World Health Organization concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Dotted lines on maps represent approximate border lines for w...

During the Asian crisis, China’s healthy reserves and low debt made possible the avoidance of a “country run”. Nonetheless, it did experience an apparently autonomous rise in private savings, a rise in capital outflow and a slowdown in growth. This paper employs global general equilibrium analysis to examine the relative contributions of external and internal shocks in China during the crisis. ...

Federal first responder funding is estimated to be $98 billion below the minimum required level over the 5 years ending in 2010. A significant portion of that shortfall can be covered by savings attained by eliminating non-public-good services, initiating public–private partnerships for meeting peak time demand in emergency situations, and contracting-out other public services. We concentrate o...

Can governments increase private savings by taxing savings up front instead of in retirement? Roth 401(k) contributions are not tax-deductible in the contribution year, but withdrawals in retirement are untaxed. The more common before-tax 401(k) contribution is tax-deductible in the contribution year, but both principal and investment earnings are taxed upon withdrawal. Using administrative dat...

This paper investigates the effects on labour supply, consumption and savings of a change in the superannuation tax structure, involving the taxation of contributions to a fund, pre-retirement earnings of the fund, and the benefits received from the fund during retirement. The effects on lifetime plans of tax changes are investigated using a simple three-period model in which the final period i...

Local beer breweries in Burkina Faso absorb a considerable amount of urban woodfuel demand. We assess the woodfuel savings caused by the adoption of improved brewing stoves by these micro-breweries and estimate the implied welfare eff ects through the woodfuel market on private households as well as the environmental eff ect. We fi nd substantial wood savings among the breweries and, subsequent...