This paper presents and evaluates pharmaceutical policies in the EU aimed at the rational use of medicines and at keeping pharmaceutical spending under control. Policy makers are growing more aware that by regulating pharmaceutical markets correctly, considerable savings can be achieved without...

Many health-care systems allocate funding according to measures of need. The utilisation approach for measuring need rests on the assumptions that use of health care is determined by demand and supply and that need is an important element of demand. By estimating utilisation models which allow...

This research investigates the internationalisation of engineering consulting firms. The study draws on the elements of the strategy tripod (industry factors, resources and capabilities, and institutional factors) combined with the stages of the internationalisation process (motivation to...

Kelantan has been the poorest state in Malaysia for the past five decades. Despite the various Malaysian Development Plans for the past several decades, regional disparity between states remains in Malaysia. Thus, the objective of the present paper is to address the question whether Kelantan has...

This paper focuses on induction, because the supposed weaknesses of that process are the main reason for favouring falsificationism, which plays an important part in scientific methodology generally; the paper is part of a wider study of economic methodology. The standard objections to, and...

The relationship between monetary policy and economic activity is one of the basic questions of macroeconomics. Economists have addressed this question in a number of ways. The traditional approach focuses on the importance of the liability side of the bank balance sheet. However, the...

The primary concern of this study is to highlight AFTA's roles in increasing ASEAN countries' attractiveness for FDI from members and non-members, noting that the agreement has been followed by many packages to enhance FDI flows into the region. The time period cover in this study is after the...

One of the important implications of financial liberalization is the reduction of liquidity constraints. The ability of households to borrow and adjust their financial portfolios has important implications for monetary aggregates and consequently, for the conduct of monetary policy. It is to be...

This paper provides new evidence that sheds light on the the impact of insurance sector development on output growth, capital accumulation, and productivity improvement, using data from 51 countries (developed and developing) during 1981-2005. The dynamic panel data analysis results demonstrate...

Fuzzy logic and genetic algorithms are used to rework more realistic (and more complex) models of competitive markets. The resulting equilibria are significantly different from the ones predicted from the usual static analysis; the methodology solves the Walrasian problem of how markets can...