This paper employs a cohort analysis to examine the relative importance of different factors in explaining changes in the number of hours spent in direct patient care by Canadian general|family practitioners (GPs) over the period 1982-2003. Cohorts are defined by year of graduation from medical...

Identifying the effect of differential taxation on portfolio allocation requires exogenous variation in marginal tax rates. Marginal tax rates vary with income, but income surely affects portfolio choice directly. In systems of individual taxation - like Canada's - couples with the same...

Robust and reliable measures of consumer expenditures are essential for analyzing aggregate economic activity and for measuring differences in household circumstances. Many countries, including the United States, are embarking on ambitious projects to redesign surveys of consumer expenditures,...

The price elasticity of demand for prescription drugs is a crucial parameter of interest in designing pharmaceutical benefit plans. Estimating the elasticity using micro-data, however, is challenging because insurance coverage that includes deductibles, co-insurance provisions and maximum...

An effective solution to the problem of access to physician services in Canada must extend beyond an over-exclusive focus on the number of providers to consider the behaviour of physicians in greater depth. The amount of labour and associated services supplied by physicians depends importantly...

A key policy issue in many countries is the maldistribution of doctors across geographic areas, which has important effects on equity of access and health care costs. Many government programs and incentive schemes have been established to encourage doctors to practise in rural areas. However,...

In common with many developed countries, Australia has experienced substantial growth in the number of lone parent families, leading to considerable policy focus on reducing welfare dependence among lone parents. A key issue that arises in pursuing this policy goal is whether, in the context of...