Empirical evidence on the relationships between concentration and profitability in Latin American banking

There has been growth in globalization as a result of increased liberalization. This has also resulted in an increase in the role of financial institutions, such as banks. It is the purpose of this study to test Classen’s (2001) hypothesis that increase foreign bank presence has positive welfare implications and that the functioning of national banking markets are improved as a result. Using financial data for 2003 this paper will examine the influence of foreign bank entry on Latin American domestic markets.Latin American banking; Concentration and Profitability; Foreign Bank Influence

Monopoly power of the medical school market and high incomes of U.S. physicians

We expect the incomes of physicians to remain high in the next decades. Using the latest published physician income data (2015) we calculated the weighted median income of U.S. physicians and the net present value (NPV) of an investment in physician education. We estimated the NPV assuming that the physicians training began in 2007 and their practice would commence in 2015. We estimated the NPV of the lifetime earnings of a physician based on the median income of all physicians in the sample to be between $7.1 and$7.3 million. This finding of high NPV’s is consistent with almost all earlier studies of this kind. Physicians continue to experience relatively high incomes and very slow increases in the number of new graduates. We expect an excess demand for positions in medical colleges to continue. Our findings with respect to the incomes of non-primary physicians (surgeons, radiologist and cardiologists), indicate will continue to be much higher than those of primary physicians. There are strong evidence suggesting this is because of blockages in physician residency openings in these non-primary fields of medicine.peer-reviewe

Delays in the stroke thrombolysis pathway--identifying areas for improvement.

Despite international consensus on the benefits of thrombolysis for ischaemic stroke (IS), it remains underused. Guidelines now recommend a door-to-needle time of 60 minutes. We reviewed the rate and timeliness of thrombolysis for IS at our hospital. 323 stroke patients presented between January 2011 and April 2012.Thirty patients (10.6% of IS) were thrombolysed, mean age was 68.5 years (42 to 88) and 19 patients (63%) were male. Thirty-six patients (12.7% of IS) were not thrombolysed despite arriving within the time-window and symptom resolution was the commonest reason (15 patients; 42%). Despite most thrombolysed patients (42%) presenting to the Emergency Department during daytime working hours, there were delays at each step of the acute care pathway. The mean time for stroke team review was 23 minutes (5-50). The mean door-to-CT and the door-to-needle times were 60 minutes (25-95) and 92 minutes (46-130) respectively. In parallel with national stroke incentives, local audit can highlight barriers to uptake and efficiency within thrombolysis services

UK imports, third country effect and the global financial crisis: Evidence from the asymmetric ARDL method

This paper examines the role of exchange rate volatility in determining real imports. As a robustness check, it further explores the impact of the recent global financial crisis which is a period characterized by heightened exchange rate volatility. More specifically, we investigate the impact of exchange rate volatility on UK real imports from Germany, Japan and the US during the period January 1991–March 2013. In contrast to most studies which focus on bilateral trade, we additionally explore the third country exchange rate volatility effect on UK imports. To capture the nonlinear features which often characterize macroeconomic data, we employ the asymmetric autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach to cointegration. Our results suggest that exchange rate volatility plays an important role and reveal that there is a significant effect of the recent financial crisis on UK imports. This finding is consistent when we test for the third country volatility effect. Finally, we find that there is a significant causal relationship between exchange rate volatility and UK imports both in bilateral tests and in tests which account for the third country exchange rate volatility

On the (nonlinear) relationship between exchange rate uncertainty and trade: An investigation of US trade figures in the Group of Seven

In this paper bilateral models formalizing monthly growth of US imports and exports are employed to investigate the potential of nonlinear relationships linking exchange rate uncertainty and trade growth. Parametric linear and nonlinear as well as semiparametric time series models are evaluated in terms of fitting and ex ante forecasting. The overall impact of exchange rate variations on trade growth is found to be weak. In periods of large exchange rate variations, trade growth forecasts gain from conditioning on volatility. Empirical results support the view that the relationship of interest might be nonlinear and, moreover, lacks homogeneity across countries and imports vs. export

To What Extent Are Informal Healthcare Providers in Slums Linked to the Formal Health System in Providing Services in Sub-Sahara Africa?:A 12-Year Scoping Review

The contributions of informal providers to the urban health system and their linkage to the formal health system require more evidence. This paper highlights the collaborations that exist between informal providers and the formal health system and examines how these collaborations have contributed to strengthening urban health systems in sub-Sahara Africa. The study is based on a scoping review of literature that was published from 2011 to 2023 with a focus on slums in sub-Sahara Africa. Electronic search for articles was performed in Google, Google Scholar, PubMed, African Journal Online (AJOL), Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), ScienceDirect, Web of Science, Hinari, ResearchGate, and yippy.com. Data extraction was done using the WHO health systems building blocks. The review identified 26 publications that referred to collaborations between informal providers and formal health systems in healthcare delivery. The collaboration is manifested through formal health providers registering and standardizing the practice of informal health providers. They also participate in training informal providers and providing free medical commodities for them. Additionally, there were numerous instances of client referrals, either from informal to formal providers or from formal to informal providers. However, the review also indicates that these collaborations are unformalized, unsystematic, and largely undocumented. This undermines the potential contributions of informal providers to the urban health system

Produção e consumo digital e o Museu de Favela: ampliando as vozes da periferia

El libro Antropologia Digital e Experiências Virtuais do Museu de Favela relata la experiencia de la ampliación de la comunicación digital del Museo de Favela, que tiene como patrimonio las memorias colectivas de las comunidades del Cantagalo, Pavão y Pavãozinho, situadas en la zona sur del Río de Janeiro. La autora analiza los hábitos de consumo de los medios sociales por los habitantes y destaca cómo estos medios expresan sentidos culturales locales: la solidaridad, la espiritualidad, la reivindicación política y el humor se identifican tanto en el mundo offline como en el ambiente digital.The book Antropologia Digital e Experiências Virtuais do Museu de Favela describes the experience of increasing the digital communications at Museu de Favela, which has as its heritage the collective memories from Cantagalo, Pavão, and Pavãozinho, slums located in the south zone of Rio de Janeiro. The author analyzes the dweller’s social media habits and highlights the way these media express local cultural meanings. Solidarity, spirituality, political claims and humor are identified both online and offline. O livro Antropologia Digital e Experiências Virtuais do Museu de Favela relata a experiência da ampliação da comunicação digital do Museu de Favela, que tem como patrimônio as memórias coletivas das comunidades do Cantagalo, Pavão e Pavãozinho, localizadas na zona sul do Rio de Janeiro. A autora analisa os hábitos de consumo das mídias sociais pelos moradores e destaca como elas expressam sentidos culturais locais: a solidariedade, a espiritualidade, a reivindicação política e o humor são identificados tanto no mundo off-line como no ambiente digital