a model of the iranian wheat market is specified and fitted to data from 1981-2008. severaldiagnostic tests were employed in the analysis to determine the specification of the model. despitethe simplicity of the model and data problems, an examination of the econometric model leads toseveral conclusions with possible important policy implications for the wheat economy in iran.the general result...

This article examines the impacts on child support payments of explicitly indexing orders to noncustodial parents' incomes by expressing orders as a percentage of income rather than as a fixed sum. We use data collected from twenty-one counties in Wisconsin and merged with annual income data from the Wisconsin Department of Revenue. We find that payments increase much faster with percentage-exp...

Lifetime income is less variable than annual household income, since the latter reflects transitory shocks to wages, family status, and employment. This implies that lowincome households in one year have some chance of being higherincome households in other years, and significantly affects the estimated distributional burden of excise taxes. This paper shows that household expenditures on gasol...

HIV triply-diagnosed adults (those with chronic mental illness and substance abuse disorders) must rely heavily on public insurance to cover high annual medical costs (approximately $50,000). This study examines the nature and determinants of insurance coverage (including managed care) for this population, along with annual transitions in coverage. Relative to people living with HIV/AIDS in gen...

Healthcare reform and rationing have become almost household words in many Western countries, including Israel. The public, health professionals, and political leaders are united in the belief that a serious problem exists in providing comprehensive healthcare to the entire population at an affordable and politically acceptable price. It is important to preserve our sense of proportion. Most of...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of patient out-of-pocket costs on adherence to antihypertensive agents (AHA) in community-dwelling older adults covered by the public drug insurance plan in Quebec. METHODS This is a secondary analysis of data from the "Étude sur la santé des aînés" study (2005-2008) on community-dwelling older adults in Quebec aged 65 years and older (N=2,811). The final samp...

PURPOSE To find out the average economic burden of medical care on a patient with diabetes in Pune, India. METHODS A semi-open ended questionnaire followed by interview was conducted with patients attending diabetes and ophthalmic out-patient departments. They were asked regarding the duration of diabetes, methods undertaken for blood sugar control and the amount they spend on consultations, ...

BACKGROUND Tobacco use is a leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality from non-communicable diseases. The objectives of the study were to determine the percentage of annual income used to purchase tobacco-related products and treat tobacco-related illnesses, and assess the characteristics of smokers and their awareness of the health-related risks of smoking. METHOD Stratified and s...

Dietary supplements sold for weight loss (WL), muscle building (MB), and sexual function (SF) are not medically recommended. They have been shown to be ineffective in many cases and pose serious health risks to consumers due to adulteration with banned substances, prescription pharmaceuticals, and other dangerous chemicals. Yet no prior research has investigated how these products may dispropor...