In an effort to reduce the growing prevalence of overweight and obesity, food taxes have been introduced in several European countries, the so-called ‘obesitax’. As yet little evidence is at hand, policy measures are being taken to counterweight the consumption of unhealthy food or the increasing diet-related diseases. Several questions need to be discussed, starting from a general perspective:...

abstract on 6 december 2006, australia and korea announced a joint study on a possible australia-korea free trade agreement (akfta) to promote trade and economic relations between the two countries. the paper provides empirical evidence on the possible gains and their transmission mechanism from this agreement. significantly, it uses a new economic policy modelling approach, the endogenous grav...

While many international organisations have independent evaluations, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Health organization (WHO), uniquely the World Bank in its 2015 World Development Report sought to ascertain the potential biases that influence how its staff interpret evidence and influence policy. Here, we describe the World Bank’s study design, including experiments ...

Background Good decision-making requires gathering and using sufficient information. Several knowledge translation platforms have been introduced in Burkina Faso to support evidence-informed decision-making. One of these is the rapid response service for health. This platform aims to provide quick access for policy-makers in Burkina Faso to highquality research evidence about health systems. Th...

The health sector consistently appears prominently in surveys of perceived corruption, with considerable evidence that this has serious adverse consequences for patients. Yet this issue is far from prominent in the international health policy discourse. We identify five reasons why the health policy community has been reluctant to talk about it. These are the problem of defining corruption, the...

Benefit package is crucial for implementing universal health coverage (UHC). This editorial analyses how the benefit package of the Thai Universal Coverage Scheme (UC Scheme) evolved from an implicit comprehensive package which covered all conditions and interventions (with a few exceptions), to additional explicit positive lists. In 2002 when the Thai UC Scheme was lau...

abstract:while energy especially oil, crises and economic integration have been playing an important role indevelopment and growth in east west asia economies and their intertwining relations, only limitedquantitative research on their impact has been carried out and reported for improved debate andcredible policy use. this paper uses an econometric modeling innovation with features superior to...