The objective of this article is to put in economic perspective the expenditure in health within the pattern of family expenditure of the Mexican households. Information of the National Survey on Income Expenditure of Households (ENIGH) of Mexico of 2004 is analyzed on: structure of the expenditure of the households, expenditure in health and income-expenditure elasticities in health; by...
This paper reviews the determinants and conditionalities of the process of universalizing public health in developed countries, notably the European ones, and in Brazil, and is aimed at highlighting their differences. The first part discloses the main interpretations on the constructing of the Welfare State, emphasizing the characteristics of that historical moment and its articulation with...
This paper aims at analyzing healthcare expenditure and demand of families, by estimating income-elasticity and price-elasticity for ten groups of products using the so-called model Linear Almost Ideal Demand System (LAIDS). The 2002/03 consumer expenditure surveys (POF) of the Fundação Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística – FIBGE (Brazilian census bureau) are used, providing extremely...
This paper analyzes the roles of health goods and services markets within the regional integration process. It is a known fact that the consolidation of integrated markets is slower regarding social goods and services (as health and education) than among other goods and services (e.g. durable consumption goods). The paper discusses the nature of the health sector and its global dimension, showing...
This article examines health sector reforms in Latin America and the Caribbean to discuss the ideological, theoretical, and conceptual elements that inform the reform agenda and the models put forward for attaining greater equity in the region’s countries. Its starting assumption is that the relevant literature generally neglects the economic, social, and political aspects underlying the...
This paper raises the point that only few health reforms implemented in Latin American countries modified the existing health systems in order to fix the problems brought by the institutional fragmentation typical of this sector. A great part of these reforms did not implemented the necessary measures to improve coordination among health systems in the prevailing pluralistic model and besides,...
The 2006 Issue of the Report on Social Security in the Americas is divided in four chapters. The first two chapters address older-adult issues, the third chapter deals with disability-related problems, and the fourth chapter discusses Social Security agreements in the Americas. In the Presentation, it was pointed out that the objective of the Report on Social Security in the Americas is to become...
This paper describes the Chilean experience concerning the implementation of a new unemployment insurance (UI) program. The use of individual savings accounts and private management are essential elements. In addition, a redistributive fund (Common Fund) helps workers pool risks, distributing resources from employed to unemployed workers and from stable firms to workers with low incomes and...
