Political economy analysis for health financing

Political economy analysis for health financing
Author: World Health Organization
Publisher: World Health Organization
Total Pages: 40
Release: 2024-07-04
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 9240092099

This “Political Economy of Health Financing: How-to Guide” lays out a structured way to organize and analyze key political economy factors that can impact a health financing reform. This Guide, along with WHO’s broader programme of work on Political Economy of Health Financing Reform, explicitly recognizes the importance of political economy factors in influencing health financing reform trajectories. This Guide is not intended as a toolbox or comprehensive mapping of all the potential political economy factors and strategies related to health financing reform. Rather, it provides a stepwise process for analysis and structured thinking about issues related to health financing and political economy. By understanding the various stakeholders involved in health financing reform, their relative power, interests and position, along with the institutions that shape the bargaining process and the related contextual and economic factors, strategies can be developed to overcome or take into account stakeholders’ resistance or support. The objective of incorporating political economy analysis in this way is to support a more strategic approach to reform as a way to increase the likelihood of effective design, adoption and implementation and ultimately progress towards UHC.

Problem-Driven Political Economy Analysis

Problem-Driven Political Economy Analysis
Author: Verena Fritz
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2014-01-13
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1464801223

This volume presents eight good practice examples of problem-driven political economy analysis conducted at the World Bank, and reflect what the Bank has so far been able to achieve in mainstreaming this approach into its operations and policy dialogue.

The Political Economy of Universal Healthcare in Africa

The Political Economy of Universal Healthcare in Africa
Author: Philip C. Aka
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 98
Release: 2022-04-27
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1000580687

The global rise in pandemics, most recently COVID-19, and other health challenges, some of which are due to climate change, have imposed significant challenges on the healthcare systems in economies around the world. Thus, this book deals with an issue that is very timely and relevant, not just in Africa but globally. It critically assesses healthcare reforms in Ghana under the Fourth Republic, since 1993. Although it focuses on Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme of 2003, the book instructively goes beyond this program. The book argues that, although Ghana is a bellwether of healthcare reforms in Africa, its healthcare initiatives are still far from the service haven of healthcare as a human right. Themes that animate the book’s argument include the need to translate human rights law, such as the right to health, into practical policies that work for ordinary citizens. Key highlights of the book include an increased accent on health as a human right, emphasis on comparative analysis in healthcare studies, and the formulation of a four-hallmark framework, embedded in economics, law, politics, and human rights, to act as a guide for assessment of healthcare reforms in Africa in particular, and Ghana more specifically. Using Ghana as a case study and analytical window into the world, the book offers a valuable and timely resource for academics, students and policymakers across the disciplines of development and healthcare economics, law, public policy, political science, sociology, and African and Caribbean studies, as well as in various fields in health science.

Economic Analysis and Infrastructure Investment

Economic Analysis and Infrastructure Investment
Author: Edward L. Glaeser
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 479
Release: 2021-11-11
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 022680058X

"Policy-makers often call for expanding public spending on infrastructure, which includes a broad range of investments from roads and bridges to digital networks that will expand access to high-speed broadband. Some point to near-term macro-economic benefits and job creation, others focus on long-term effects on productivity and economic growth. This volume explores the links between infrastructure spending and economic outcomes, as well as key economic issues in the funding and management of infrastructure projects. It draws together research studies that describe the short-run stimulus effects of infrastructure spending, develop new estimates of the stock of U.S. infrastructure capital, and explore the incentive aspects of public-private partnerships (PPPs). A salient issue is the treatment of risk in evaluating publicly-funded infrastructure projects and in connection with PPPs. The goal of the volume is to provide a reference for researchers seeking to expand research on infrastructure issues, and for policy-makers tasked with determining the appropriate level of infrastructure spending"--

Political Economy and Policy Analysis

Political Economy and Policy Analysis
Author: Antonio Merlo
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 198
Release: 2018-11-14
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0429954492

Most of economics takes politics for granted. Through some (often implausible) assumptions, it seeks to explain away political structures by characterizing them as stable and predictable or as inconsequential in understanding what goes on in an economy. Such attempts are misguided, and this book shows how governments and political institutions are composed of people who respond to incentives and whose behavior and choices can be studied through the lens of economics. This book aims to bridge the gap between economics and politics, and in doing so hopes to instill in the reader a deeper appreciation for social scientific thinking. Opening with a refresher on microeconomics and an introduction to the toolkit of political economy, it ensures that the necessary building blocks are in place before building up from the level of the individual and the firm to show how a political–economic equilibrium can be achieved. The text explores how to separate primitives—the external parts of a model that we cannot affect—from outcomes—the internal parts of a model that we can. Moreover, it demonstrates that economic and political issues alike can be studied within the same general framework of analysis. Political Economy and Policy Analysis offers readers the chance to gain a more sophisticated understanding of political processes, economic processes, and the interplay among them. Adopting an applied microeconomics approach, it will be ideal for upper-level undergraduate or postgraduate courses on political economy, public choice, or policy analysis. A complementary workbook with exercises and solutions that accompanies Political Economy and Policy Analysis is available for download under the eResources tab at: https://www.routledge.com/Political-Economy-and-Policy-Analysis/Merlo/p/book/9781138591783.

The Oxford Handbook of Political Economy

The Oxford Handbook of Political Economy
Author: Barry R. Weingast
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 1112
Release: 2008-06-19
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0199548471

Over its lifetime, 'political economy' has had different meanings. This handbook views political economy as a synthesis of the various strands of social science, treating it as the methodology of economics applied to the analysis of political behaviour and institutions.

Guidance Note: Use of Political Economy Analysis for ADB Operations

Guidance Note: Use of Political Economy Analysis for ADB Operations
Author: Asian Development Bank
Publisher: Asian Development Bank
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2013-06-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9292541668

Political economy analysis facilitates understanding on how incentives, institutions, and ideas shape political action and development outcomes in ADB’s developing member countries (DMCs). These factors can inform assessments of feasibility of policy reform and institutional change, the contribution that ADB and other development partners can realistically make, and the risks involved. A political economy analysis can, therefore, strengthen the design of more effective support, leading to better development results. While important for all DMCs, political economy considerations especially matter in DMCs with fragile and conflict-affected situations. This guidance note develops a definition and parameters for political economy analysis to ensure consistency; and to guide country, sector, and project teams in analysis. It provides ADB staff with guidance on how political economy analysis can be used to inform the design and implementation of ADB operations for more feasible and sustainable development outcomes.

Going Universal

Going Universal
Author: Daniel Cotlear
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2015-09-28
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 146480611X

This book is about 24 developing countries that have embarked on the journey towards universal health coverage (UHC) following a bottom-up approach, with a special focus on the poor and vulnerable, through a systematic data collection that provides practical insights to policymakers and practitioners. Each of the UHC programs analyzed in this book is seeking to overcome the legacy of inequality by tackling both a “financing gap†? and a “provision gap†?: the financing gap (or lower per capita spending on the poor) by spending additional resources in a pro-poor way; the provision gap (or underperformance of service delivery for the poor) by expanding supply and changing incentives in a variety of ways. The prevailing view seems to indicate that UHC require not just more money, but also a focus on changing the rules of the game for spending health system resources. The book does not attempt to identify best practices, but rather aims to help policy makers understand the options they face, and help develop a new operational research agenda. The main chapters are focused on providing a granular understanding of policy design, while the appendixes offer a systematic review of the literature attempting to evaluate UHC program impact on access to services, on financial protection, and on health outcomes.

Intermediate Public Economics, second edition

Intermediate Public Economics, second edition
Author: Jean Hindriks
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 1013
Release: 2013-04-05
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0262018691

A new edition of a comprehensive text, updated throughout, with new material on behavioral economics, international taxation, cost-benefit analysis, and the economics of climate policy. Public economics studies how government taxing and spending activities affect the economy—economic efficiency and the distribution of income and wealth. This comprehensive text on public economics covers the core topics of market failure and taxation as well as recent developments in both policy and the academic literature. It is unique not only in its broad scope but in its balance between public finance and public choice and its combination of theory and relevant empirical evidence. The book covers the theory and methodology of public economics; presents a historical and theoretical overview of the public sector; and discusses such topics as departures from efficiency (including imperfect competition and asymmetric information), issues in political economy, equity, taxation, fiscal federalism, and tax competition among independent jurisdictions. Suggestions for further reading, from classic papers to recent research, appear in each chapter, as do exercises. The mathematics has been kept to a minimum without sacrificing intellectual rigor; the book remains analytical rather than discursive. This second edition has been thoroughly updated throughout. It offers new chapters on behavioral economics, limits to redistribution, international taxation, cost-benefit analysis, and the economics of climate policy. Additional exercises have been added and many sections revised in response to advice from readers of the first edition.

Country Analysis

Country Analysis
Author: David M. Currie
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2016-05-13
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 131715889X

The ability to connect theoretical macroeconomics to the analysis of the economic and political performance of a given country is an essential skill for global investors. In Country Analysis: Understanding Economic and Political Performance, David M. Currie takes a unique analytical approach to the subject, clearly demonstrating the relationship between theory and application in investing practices. This valuable book shows how to interpret country performance and provides the practising investor with sufficient background on economic principles to be able to understand and interpret country summaries that appear in business periodicals and other media. It covers key topics such as the Washington Consensus and the three major categories of economic decisions - fiscal policy, monetary policy and trade policy. It includes an important chapter on the political aspect of government performance, to give the reader an understanding of economic decisions in their true context. Country Analysis explains the reasoning behind the criteria used in evaluating country risk and economic performance, without the need for a sophisticated understanding of economics or mathematics. Each chapter includes a series of text boxes that include real-life examples from business periodicals to reinforce what is discussed and enable readers to practice identifying and interpreting relevant information. Practitioners making investment decisions in global markets, as well as students in MBA and other courses, will find this immensely practical book a valuable aid to critical decision making.