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ABSTRACT: This paper studies the political and economic factors that determine successful export diversification (ED) and export sophistication (ES) strategies in the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries and also the way in which successful ED and sophistication strategies contribute to explain the improving in some of the millennium development goals (MDG). We run separate regressions for the determinants of ES and ED, using disaggregated data of the 48 SSA countries, from 1960 to 2005. The results suggest that better governance is an important determinant for the success of diversification and sophistication strategies in SSA. In particular the level of corruption, transparency and accountability are important factors in limiting or promoting the scope of diversification and the level of sophistication of the exports. The results also suggest that increases in human capital in SSA countries promote both ED and ES, showing that the level of education of the workforce is positively related with ES and ED, with higher levels of education (tertiary) playing a more important role in explaining ES, while lower levels of education (primary) being more important as determinants of ED. In the second part we explore the links between ED and ES and growth presenting evidence that ED and ES are linked to growth stability in SSA. This study also suggests that the Sub-Saharan countries that were more successful in achieving ED and ES tend to be more successful in improving the living conditions of their population. Using different variables of Infant Mortality (one of the MDG) and life expectancy as dependent variables, we present evidence that suggests that in SSA higher ED and ES are associated with lower infant mortality and higher life expectancy. We show that this result is robust, presenting positive and significant results even when a large number of different control variables are introduced, or when fixed effects and instrumental variables are considered. The evidence suggests th
Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Economia, FEUNL Working Paper Series. 01/2010;
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Paula Veiga
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ABSTRACT: The prevalence for excessive weight has also been increasing dramatically in Portugal over the last decades. The consequences for families as well as for the publicly funded Portuguese health care system are a matter of policy interest. This paper uses an econometric model to compute the fraction of the national out-of-pocket health care expenditures attributable to overweight and obesity among Portuguese adults. Given that public health care system pays for a substantial share of the national health care expenditures, the estimated the out-of-pocket expenditures is only a share of the total expenditures. Per-capita expenditures and the burden that obesity and overweight impose on families are also estimated. Two waves of the Portuguese National Health Survey (NHS), namely; 1995/1996 and 1998/1999 are considered. The results suggest that out-of-pocket expenditures due to excess weight have increased sharply during these 3 years. The two-part model estimates suggest that the obese and overweight are more likely to incur out-of-pocket health care expenditures but, in the restricted sample of those that incur expenditures, there is weak or no evidence that the obese or overweight spend, on average, more than those of normal weight. Overall, it is estimated that in 1995/1996, more than 1.8% out-of-pocket health care expenditures were attributable to obesity and 2% to overweight (although not statistically significant). The estimated percentages are over 2.9% for obesity and 4% for overweight in 1998/1999. Combined, the estimated attributable percentage of national out-of-pocket expenditures due to excess weight was 3.8% in 1995/1996 and 6.9% in 1998/1999. Per-capita expenditures due to obesity or overweight are small, on average, in absolute terms, but they can be a significant cost for low income families. With respect to public policy concerns, the results suggest that measures which only slightly increase the out-of-pocket health care expenditures of being obese (overweight) are likely to be inefficient.
Economics & Human Biology 04/2008; 6(1):127-42. · 2.72 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Aim: This study estimates alcohol attributable fractions which are used to obtain a measure of health expenditures related to alcohol misuse in Portugal. Methods and Sources: Studies estimating alcohol-attributable expenditures focus usually on specific diseases or conditions. This study takes a broader approach by examining all expenditures considered as being attributable to excessive drinking, i. e., those resulting from utilization directly and indirectly related to alcohol associated diseases. Unlike studies using the relative risk methodology, where population alcoholattributable fractions (or etiologic fractions) are based on epidemiological studies identifying potential causes of death and disease associated with alcohol excessive consumption, this study has adopted the microeconometric methodology which gets estimates of attributable fractions running econometric regressions of the annual costs of medical care (medical appointments or hospital admissions) for individuals. It has an advantage over the risk approach in that it allows to control for the effect of factors other than alcohol consumption on medical care expenditures. Actually, it includes in the analysis those factors that are linked to health care expenditures but are not linked to any particular alcohol related disease. To perform our analysis we have used two data sets provided by the Portuguese Ministry of Health: the 1995 National Health Survey. These surveys provide detailed information on individual demographic, economic, health utilization, health attributes and also alcohol and smoking use. Both surveys use a probabilistic representative sample of the non-institutionalized Portuguese population and a questionnaire of about 180 questions. It is a representative sample of the five main administrative regions of Portugal (North, Centre, Lisbon and Tejo valley, Alentejo and Algarve).
N�cleo de Investiga��o em Microeconomia Aplicada (NIMA), Universidade do Minho, Working Papers. 01/2008;
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ABSTRACT: This paper examines the degree of socioeconomic related inequalities in mathematics achievement for students from the European Union and presents some possible sources for the exhibited differences between countries. We applied a methodology which has been used in health economics literature namely by Wagstaff et al. (1991) and Kakwani et al. (1997). We selected parental highest level of education as a proxy for students’ socioeconomic background. Results confirm a significant inequality in achievement favouring the higher socioeconomic groups in all countries. Germany has the greatest socioeconomic related mathematics achievement inequality, followed by Greece, Great Britain and Portugal. Sweden, by contrast, is the country where the socioeconomic related inequality in PISA maths scores seems to be lower. The paper also decomposes the inequality index into the contributions of some socioeconomic factors. Socioeconomic inequality has a sizeable contribution for socioeconomic related inequality in mathematic achievement in very country. Cross-country comparison shows that in some countries, such as Belgium, Denmark or Great Britain, the impact of socioeconomic background on students’ achievement appears to be more important to determine the “excess” of socioeconomic related inequality in mathematics achievement than the inequality in the distribution of the socioeconomic variable. In other group of countries, that includes Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain, it is the inequality in the distribution of the socioeconomic variable itself that mainly explains the “excess” of socioeconomic related inequality in mathematics achievement. Portugal is a striking case exhibiting poor mathematic score, a high level of socioeconomic inequality and a high level of socioeconomic related inequality in students’ performance. Moreover, the inequality in family books possession is also a strong predictor for inequality in students’ math achievement.
Núcleo de Investigação em Microeconomia Aplicada (NIMA), Universidade do Minho, Working Papers. 01/2008;
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ABSTRACT: This study analyzes public attitudes towards environmental tobacco smoking (ETS) risks. ETS legislation and smoking behaviors using recent data from Special Eurobarometer 272 that is a unique database on public perception of ETS. Some major conclusions are drawn: (1) both smokers and non-smokers are aware of health consequences from ETS, (2) moderate and heavy smokers tend to be less concerned with seriousness of the health consequences, (3) that the belief that ETS increases the risk of a serious disease decreases the probability of being smoker, (4)ETS beliefs do not affect the quitting decision, (5) those who smoke at home appear to be aware of health consequences of ETS, (6) ETS health risk beliefs is negatively associated with the number of cigarette consumed.
N�cleo de Investiga��o em Microeconomia Aplicada (NIMA), Universidade do Minho, Working Papers. 01/2008;
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ABSTRACT: This study estimates alcohol attributable fractions which are used to obtain a measure of health expenditures related to alcohol misuse in Portugal. Methods and Sources: Studies estimating alcohol-attributable expenditures focus usually on specific diseases or conditions. This study takes a broader approach by examining all expenditures considered as being attributable to excessive drinking, i. e., those resulting from utilization directly and indirectly related to alcohol associated diseases. Unlike studies using the relative risk methodology, where population alcohol-attributable fractions (or etiologic fractions) are based on epidemiological studies identifying potential causes of death and disease associated with alcohol excessive consumption, this study has adopted the microeconometric methodology which gets estimates of attributable fractions running econometric regressions of the annual costs of medical care (medical appointments or hospital admissions) for individuals. It has an advantage over the risk approach in that it allows to control for the effect of factors other than alcohol consumption on medical care expenditures. Actually, it includes in the analysis those factors that are linked to health care expenditures but are not linked to any particular alcohol related disease. To perform our analysis we have used two data sets provided by the Portuguese Ministry of Health: the 1988 and 1995 National Health Surveys. These surveys provide detailed information on individual demographic, economic, health utilization, health attributes and also alcohol and smoking use. Both surveys use a probabilistic representative sample of the non-institutionalized Portuguese population and a questionnaire of about 180 questions. It is a representative sample of the five main administrative regions of Portugal (North, Centre, Lisbon and Tejo valley, Alentejo and Algarve). Results: Some of the preliminary results we have got for 1995 (we are working presently with 1988 data) are related with explanatory variables coefficient estimates and alcohol attributable fractions. The parameter estimates indicate that conditional on health care expenditures being positive, cancer, heart disease and blood pressure tend to increase health care expenditures. Furthermore, it appears that to have got long term incapacity and private insurance also affects positively health care expenditures. Regardless of other explanatory variables, it seems that individuals in the higher three income groups tend to spend more on health care than individuals in the lowest income group. Parameter estimates also show that individuals in the 50s, 60s and 70s tend to have more health care utilization than the first age group. As for health administrative regions, Centre and Lisbon regions tend to spend more on health care than the North region. On the contrary, Alentejo and Algarve regions tend to spend less than the North region. Moreover, parameter estimates of the dummy variables male and work in the last two weeks indicate that men tend to use less health care than women as well as those individuals who have referred to have worked in last two weeks. There is also an indication that there is a propensity for health care utilization to increase with number of days spent in the hospital as well with daily number of cigarettes smoked in the past. However, pure alcohol consumption tend to decrease health care utilization. We could also conclude that body mass index, exercise regularly and daily number of cigarettes smoked at the time of interview are not important determinants of health expenditures. In what concerns alcohol attributable fractions they were computed for gender and age categories. Males tend to have higher alcohol attributable fractions (ranging from 0.91 to 5.02) than females (ranging from 0.25 to 2.35). Alcohol aggregated fractions computed for males and females are 4.87 and 1.81, respectively.
HEN: Substance Abuse (Sub-Topic). 06/2007;
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ABSTRACT: We conduct laboratory experiments in Timor-Leste designed to test if individual discount rates vary with the time horizon for which the rate is elicited. Our experiments test a design that has been successfully employed in field experiments in developed countries, and that avoids several confounds of previous procedures. We find that there is considerable heterogeneity in individual discount rates, and that this heterogeneity is associated with observable demographic characteristics. We also find evidence that is consistent with exponential discounting behavior, although our sample sizes do not allow us to definitively reject alternative specifications. We discuss modifications of our laboratory experiments that would facilitate field experiments in Timor-Leste.
03/2006;
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ABSTRACT: There is accumulated evidence of the existence of a deleterious effect of smoking on birth outcomes. Understanding the effect of smoking on pregnancy is a critical issue because of the public policy implications for dissuading maternal smoking. We explore this issue by using the propensity score method and compare that with parametric estimators. First we estimate the treatment effect of smoking during pregnancy on different birth outcomes. Then, we extend the method to the case of the multi-treatment "intensity of smoking". The deleterious effect of smoking is found robust to the different estimation methods used.
N�cleo de Investiga��o em Microeconomia Aplicada (NIMA), Universidade do Minho, Working Papers. 01/2006;
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ABSTRACT: We conduct laboratory experiments in Timor-Leste designed to test if individual discount rates vary with the time horizon for which the rate is elicited. Our experiments test a design that has been successfully employed in field experiments in developed countries, and that avoids several confounds of previous procedures. We find that there is considerable heterogeneity in individual discount rates, and that this heterogeneity is associated with observable demographic characteristics. We also find evidence that is consistent with exponential discounting behavior, although our sample sizes do not allow us to definitively reject alternative specifications. We discuss modifications of our laboratory experiments that would facilitate field experiments in Timor-Leste.
N�cleo de Investiga��o em Microeconomia Aplicada (NIMA), Universidade do Minho, Working Papers. 01/2005;
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Paula Veiga
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ABSTRACT: The Portuguese health care system is based on principles of equity and efficiency. Despite that, it appears that equality has not been fully realized owing to differences in access [Dixon and Massialos (2000)] or self-assessed health [Van Doorslaer and Koolman (2004)]. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the degree of income-related inequality in self-reported health in Portugal using different database and methods than those used by Van Doorslaer and Koolman (2004). This study applies the methods developed by Wagstaff and Van Doorslaer (1994) to measure the degree of income-related inequality in self-reported health by means of concentration indices. The results show that significant inequalities in self-reported ill-health exist and favour groups with higher income. Nonetheless, when compared with a similar study [Van Doorslaer et al. (1997)], the estimates for income related inequality suggest that Portugal in 1998/1999 ranks in the middle of the European countries. The most important contributors to health inequality are income, activity status and education. Regional differences, by contrast, do not exert any systematic influence. Reductions in pro-rich health inequality can be achieved by reducing the effect of income on health or reducing income inequality, or both.
N�cleo de Investiga��o em Microeconomia Aplicada (NIMA), Universidade do Minho, Working Papers. 01/2005;
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ABSTRACT: This paper measures and decomposes socioeconomic-related inequality in mathematics achievement in 15 European Union member states. Data is taken from the 2003 wave of the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). There is socioeconomic-related inequality in mathematics achievement, favoring the higher socioeconomic groups in each country. There are important differences among countries. The inequality is higher in Germany, Greece, Great Britain, Belgium, and Portugal and is lower in Sweden and Finland. Socioeconomic factors represent between 14.9% and 34.6% of the overall inequality in education. The decomposition exercises add important insights for policy. Despite the differences, EU-15 member states can be categorized into two main groups. The first includes the Nordic countries plus Great Britain, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, and Greece, where socioeconomic-related inequality appears to be explained mainly by the students' background characteristics. In Portugal and, to a lesser extent, in Spain the high contribution of socioeconomic background is mainly due to the prevalence of high socioeconomic inequality and socioeconomic concentration of educational resources. The second group includes Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, and France. In these countries, the high impact of schools' composition on individual achievement is the main driver of the studied inequality. Differences between countries are also explored.
Economics of Education Review 29(6):1016-1033. · 1.07 Impact Factor
