A copula is best described, as in Joe (1997), as a multivariate distribution function that is used to bind each marginal distribution function to form the joint. The copula parameterises the dependence between the margins, while the parameters of each marginal distribution function can be estimated separately. This is a brief introduction to copulas and multivariate dependence issues within a h...

Bulletin of the World Health Organization | February 2004, 82 (2) This section looks back to some of the ground-breaking contributions to public health, reproducing them in their original form and adding a commentary on their significance from a modern-day perspective. William D. Savedoff reviews the 1963 paper by Kenneth Arrow that launched the discipline of health economics; extracts from the...

OBJECTIVE To estimate the long-term and short-term effects on cigarette demand in Argentina based on changes in cigarette price and income per person >14 years old. METHOD Public data from the Ministry of Economics and Production were analysed based on monthly time series data between 1994 and 2010. The econometric analysis used cigarette consumption per person >14 years of age as the depende...

An individual assessing a risky job can be understood as a public good. He and each of his valued relationships place a demand for the preservation of his life and health for which he accepts a responsibility to preserve. Additional demands generally do not deplete his capacity for beneficial relationships, hence, they are nonrival. It follows that the more extensive are his relationships the g...