Small rural emergency departments are not simply cut-down large urban emergency departments

 It is important to understand how small rural emergency departments work. They are a significant fraction of a state’s medical system. Although they each see only a few thousand patients a year, as a group they are likely to treat more emergency patients than the largest city hospital. It is a myth that they only deal with minor ailments. 

Determinants of Central bank independence and governance : problems and policy implications

Central bank independence and governance (CBIG) is a term subject to conflicting definitions and so its related studies are difficult to compare. This paper therefore focuses on developing of a more useable definition, and an index model identifying the determinants of independence and governance and their possible policy implications. It also examines various independence measurement tools such as ranking and index. The index model resulting centres on key central bank independence and corporate governance issues, such as, legal aspects, political aspects, price stability objective aspects, exchange rate policy aspects, monetary policy and deficit financing aspects and finally, transparency and accountability aspects.

Cut-points for waist circumference in Europids and South Asians

There is little strong evidence that currently recommended higher waist circumference cut-points for Europids compared with South Asians are associated with similar risk for type 2 diabetes. This study was designed to provide such evidence. Longitudinal studies over 5 years were conducted among 5,515 Europid and 2,214 ethnically South Asian participants. Age-standardized diabetes incidence at different levels of waist circumference and incidence difference relative to a reference value were calculated. The Youden Index was used to determine waist circumference cut-points. At currently recommended cut-points, estimated annual diabetes incidence for a 50-year-old Europid was <0.6% for both sexes, and for a 50-year-old South Asian, 5.8% for men and 2.1% for women. Annual diabetes incidence of 1% was observed for a 50 year old at a waist circumference 35–40 cm greater in Europid compared to South Asian men and women. Incidence difference between recommended cut-points and a reference value (80 cm in men, 70 cm in women) was 0.3 and 4.4% per year for Europid and South Asian men, and 0.2 and 0.8% per year for Europid and South Asian women, respectively. Waist circumference cut-points chosen using the Youden Index were shown to be dependent on obesity levels in the population. The much higher observed risk of diabetes in South Asians compared to Europids at the respective recommended waist circumference cut-points suggests that differences between them should be greater. Approaches that use the Youden Index to select waist circumference cut-points are inappropriate and should not be used for this purpose.

Grameen Bank's social performance disclosure : responding to a negative assessment by Wall Street Journal in late 2001

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to establish a linkage between negative global media news towards Grameen Bank (GB), the largest microfinance organisation in the developing world, and the extent and type of annual report social performance disclosures by GB, over the nine-year period 1997-2005.

Design/methodology/approach: Content analysis instruments are utilised to analyse GB annual report social disclosure.

Findings: The study finds that GB's community poverty alleviation disclosures account for the highest proportion of total social disclosures in the period 1997-2005. The results of this study are particularly significant in relation to poverty alleviation – the issue attracting severe criticism from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ?) late in 2001. The community poverty alleviation disclosures by GB are significantly greater over the four years following the negative news in the WSJ than in the four years before. The results suggest that GB responds to a negative media story or legitimacy threatening news via annual report social disclosures in an attempt to re-establish its legitimacy.

Originality/value: This paper contributes to the literature because in the past there has been no research published linking global media attention to the social disclosure practices of major organisations in developing countries.

A critical analysis of central bank independence and governance in Australia and Bangladesh

This study examines central bank independence and governance (CBIG) in Bangladesh and Australia. It applies a unique index model of Ahsan, Skully and Wickramanayake (2008) to assess their respective legal, political, price stability objectives, exchange rate policies, monetary policy and deficit financing practices, transparency and accountability positions from 1991 to 2008. While the model shows CBIG is much weaker in Bangladesh than in Australia, the Bangladesh Bank’s CBIG shown considerable improvement over the period. These findings suggest that the Government of Bangladesh might learn from Australia’s experience with Reserve Bank of Australia and delegate further power and authority to Bangladesh Bank as well as lessen its political interference.

Central bank independence and governance in the South Asia

This paper constructs the central bank independence and governance (CBIG) index for eight South Asian countries and examines their relationship with inflation. This CBIG index is constructed following the unique model developed by Ahsan, Skully and Wickramanayake (2006). This index consists of total 26 variables; all variables together form the overall index and different sub-sets of these variables construct sub-indices (eg. legal; political; price stability objectives; exchange rate policy; monetary policy and deficit financing; and accountability and transparency).
Several countries have improved their CBIG in last fifteen years. The war torn Afghanistan have established a new central bank act in 2003 which has improved the standard of CBIG in the region. In recent time Nepal has made remarkable improvement in its ranking by allowing improved independence to its central bank. Bangladesh has taken lead in term of gradual CBIG improvement in last fifteen years. Sri Lanka, Indian and Pakistan are three countries always maintained a standard level of CBIG. Bhutan and Maldives showed less improvement among the countries. This paper also examines the statistical relationship between CBIG indices and inflation. The results indicate that there is a positive relationship between CBIG and inflation in the region which in contrary to normal expectation that inflation is one of the robust proxy of actual CBIG.

Financial crisis and central bank independence and governance (CBIG)

This study examines the impact of Asian financial crisis on central bank independence and governance in the Asia Pacific. It applies a unique CBIG index-model for 36 countries for the period 1991 to 2005. This paper examines changes in the CBIG in the Asia Pacific before and after the Asian financial crisis in 1997. It applies a panel data pooled regression model and finds that the Asian financial crisis dummy is significantly different in the post-crisis period compared to the pre-crisis period. As a result the improved CBIG in the post-crisis period has contributed to lower the inflation in the entire region.

How bank branches affect customer service quality perceptions.

The Australian banking industry has changed significantly with the introduction of electronic banking technology. This has led to a situation where facilities such as ATM machines and Internet Banking have become increasingly important in the service delivery process. Traditionally, there has been relatively little research into the role facilities play in service satisfaction. There is also little literature about how customers interact with service facilities. This has left banks grappling with facility design and planning issues. This article examines how Australian bank customers interact with local banking facilities by investigating five aspects of the service facility: Access, Atmospherics, Waiting Time, Technology, and Security. Findings suggest that facilities have a significant impact on customer satisfaction levels. Convenient and easy access, security, and a comfortable level of technology were identified by customers as the most important factors influencing their satisfaction levels.

The relationship between exchange rates, interest rates and Australian bank returns

Although there has been significant research on US financial intermediaries' stock returns and sensitivity to interest yields, there has only been limited research on Australian bank stock returns and key macro variables, such as interest rates and exchange rates. The aim of this article is to examine this relationship for four major Australian banks, namely the Australia New Zealand bank (ANZ), the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), the National Australia Bank (NAB) and the Westpac Banking Corporation (WBC). We use the EGARCH model and examine the relationship using monthly data covering the period 1992 to 2007. The results suggest that for all four banks: (1) there is a similar and statistically significant negative relationship between interest rates and stock returns; and (2) there is evidence of an increase in returns during the period of appreciation of the Australian dollar.