We develop a new model of trade in which educational institutions drive comparative advantage and determine the distribution of human capital within and across countries. Our framework exploits a multiplicity of sectors and the continuous support of human capital choices to demonstrate that freer trade can induce crowding out of the middle occupations towards the skill acquisition extremes in o...

We develop a new model of trade in which educational institutions drive comparative advantage and determine the distribution of human capital within and across countries. Our framework exploits a multiplicity of sectors and the continuous support of human capital choices to demonstrate that freer trade can induce crowding out of the middle occupations towards the skill acquisition extremes in o...

We analyze alternative designs for Advanced Market Commitment (AMC) programs to stimulate the development of new vaccine markets. We show that the initial mechanism proposed for these programs provides inefficient investment incentives, but a small modification that ties subsidies to committed supply increases efficiency. We also analyze the role of price ceilings, supplier competition and the ...

GAINS AND WHY? Leemore Dafny, Katherine Ho and Mauricio Varela On average, U.S. workers fortunate enough to be offered health insurance through their place of work are given a small number of choices: 80 percent of firms, accounting for 37 percent of workers, were offered only one plan in 2005. Although there are merits of limited choice – including lower administrative costs for sponsoring emp...

Social security programs in the People’s Republic of China are in transition due to a series of economic and social experiments introduced by the government since 1978 to promote modernization. These new policies will have immediate and long-term implications not only for statesector employees, who are currently covered by incomemaintenance programs, but also for the majority of aged persons, w...

BACKGROUND Vaccination is generally considered to be the best primary prevention measure against influenza virus infection. Many countries encourage specific target groups of people to undertake vaccination, often with financial subsidies or a priority list. To understand differential patterns of national target groups for influenza vaccination before, during and after the 2009 influenza pandem...

In this paper, we investigate the effect of the out-of-pocket premium on the decision to enroll in employer health insurance and other benefits plans including dental insurance, vision care, long-term care insurance, and wellness benefits. Previous estimates of the effects of premium on takeup of health insurance could be biased toward zero due to a correlation between premium and unobservable ...

In many European countries and elsewhere, governments rely on employment subsidies and cuts in employers’ social security contributions to improve the employment prospects of the long-term unemployed and other vulnerable groups in the labour market. Policy makers often justify this strategy by referring to theoretical analyses and simulations which suggest that such measures have strong positiv...