BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to update the previous estimate of the worldwide cost of dementia in 2005 to 2009. METHODS The cost model is based on prevalence estimates, country and region-specific data on Gross Domestic Product per person and average wage, with results from previously published cost-of-illness studies in different countries. Prevalence figures are updated to 2009 ...

Introduction Informal patient payments for healthcare are common in the Western Balkans, negatively affecting public health and healthcare.   Aim To identify literature from the Western Balkans on what is known about informal patient payments and bought and brought goods, to examine their effects on healthcare and to determine what actions can be taken to tackle these payments.   Methods After ...

Abstract Financial institutions in developing economies fail to provide entrepreneurs with access finance grow their businesses. This severely hampers economic development these countries. We seek explain why and develop an argument model based on Knight's theory, which we augment two ways. First, by describing problems embedded financial of economies, for use the Schumpeterian view that creati...

background: informal payments in the health sector of many developing countries are considered as a major impediment to health care reforms. informal payments are a form of systemic fraud and have adverse effects on the performance of the health system. in this study, the frequency and extent of informal payments as well as the determinants of these payments were investigated in general hospita...

A central theme of China’s 11 Five Year Plan (2006-2010) is the building of a “new socialist countryside.” Over recent years, reforming rural finance and improving access to credit by small businesses and farmers has figured increasingly prominently in the leadership’s proclamations of support to rural economic development. While hundreds of pilot innovations in small-scale finance have been pu...

Previous research on the care-giver burden experienced by adult children has typically focused on the adult child and parent dyad. This study uses information on multiple informal care-givers and examines how characteristics of the informal care-giving network affect the adult child's care-giver burden. In 2007, 602 Dutch care-givers who were assisting their older parents reported on parental a...

Convergence in Institutions and Market Outcomes: Cross-Country and Time-Series Evidence from the BEEPS Surveys in Transition Economies This paper uses the BEEPS firm-level data to study the process of convergence of transition countries with developed market economies. The primary focus of the study is on competition and market structure, finance and the structure of lending to firms, and how f...

This paper provides a theory of informal communication (cheap talk) between firms and the capital market. The theory emphasizes the central role that agency conflicts play in firms’ disclosure policies. Since managers’ information is a consequence of their actions, incentive compensation and information disclosure become two intrinsically linked aspects of corporate governance. In the model, th...