The success of China in its transition has received a great deal of attention from economists. At the same time, public health experts have accumulated evidence on setbacks within the Chinese health sector, particularly in rural areas. This paper puts these two bodies of knowledge together. It...

The world’s poorest pay for professional services and thus are in a “market,” whether the services are provided in the public or private sectors. The associated problems of unequal information are particularly acute in undergoverned countries, where state regulation is weak. We...

The success of China in its transition has received a great deal of attention from economists. At the same time, public health experts have accumulated evidence on setbacks within the Chinese health sector, particularly in rural areas. This paper puts these two bodies of knowledge together. It...

Improvements in rural health care in China in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s were largely due to the development of cooperative medical schemes (CMSs) and the establishment of a three-tier rural health network. Since the economic reforms were instituted in the late 1970s, the financing and delivery...

This paper explores the implications of the increasing role of informal as well as formal markets in the health systems of many low and middle-income countries. It focuses on institutional arrangements for making the benefits of expert medical knowledge widely available in the face of the...

South Africa is one of the world's most unequal societies and its health sector mirrors these inequalities. Since the first democratic elections in 1994 the government has been under enormous pressure to diminish disparities between population groups in access to health services. This paper...