Many economic observers applaud the current rate of inflation in the United States, claiming that the rate is so low that inflation has ceased to matter much in the decisions of individuals and businesses. Some, such as Martin Feldstein (1997), want to see inflation fall still further--to zero--arguing that such a reduction would yield substantial gains by allowing resources to be allocated mor...

Health care expenditure and utilization trends in the 24 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries are provided and analyzed in terms of trends in price, population, and volume-intensity. The United States spends more on health than other countries, both in absolute dollar terms and relative to gross domestic product. Moreover, the gap appears to have grown in recent years...

The construction industry is the pillar industry in China, accounting for about 6% of the gross domestic product. Along with changes in the external environment of the construction industry in China, the construction firm faces fierce competition. The paper aims to investigate the relationship between diversified types of construction firm and its performance in China. Based on generalist and s...

The scale of the recent collapse in asset values and the magnitude of the recession suggest that activities connected to the increase in values over the 2002-07 period―notably, expansion of the financial markets, homebuilding, and real estate―were overstated. If this is true, aggregate U.S. economic growth would have been overstated, implying that previous rates of potential gross domestic prod...

BACKGROUND The association between income inequality and societal performance has been intensely debated in recent decades. This paper reports how unmet need for medical care has changed in Europe during The Great Recession, and investigates whether countries with smaller income differences have been more successful than inegalitarian countries in protecting access to medical care during an eco...

BACKGROUND Scientific publications play an important role in scientific process providing a key linkage between knowledge production and use. Scientific publishing activity worldwide over the past decades shows that most countries in Africa have low levels of publication. We sought to examine trends and contribution of different Africa subregions and individual countries as represented by the a...

Analysts forecasting the course of the U.S. economy pay close attention to consumer spending. Because personal consumption expenditures make up about twothirds of the country’s gross domestic product, factors that could influence consumer spending can have significant effects on the economy’s health. Among these factors, the sharp increase of household indebtedness and the rising share of incom...

BACKGROUND Less developed countries are increasingly afflicted with over-nutrition, and the escalating overweight prevalence has become a global problem. However, a problem as global as this may not be amenable to a general set of remedial interventions applicable to all countries. METHODS I use data from various sources, including the World Health Organization and the World Bank, to test the...

INTRODUCTION This study assessed income-related health inequality and health achievement in children in China, and additionally, examined province-level variations in health achievement. METHODS Longitudinal data on 19,801 children under 18 years of age were derived from the China Health and Nutrition Survey. Income-related health inequality and health achievement were measured by the Health ...

Investments in preventing violence against children in the Asia and Pacific region will bring important social and economic returns that contribute to building the region's 'cognitive capital'. An analysis of burden of violence research in the region is presented to identify the impacts of violence and to demonstrate these returns. Violence is an everyday experience in the lives of many childre...