Access to health care among children in the U.S.: Use of health inequalities measures to evaluate progress in reduction of disparities from 1997 to 2005

Much of the literature on disparities in access to health care among children has focused on measuring absolute and relative differences experienced by race/ethnic groups and, to a lesser extent, socioeconomic groups. However, it is not clear from existing literature how disparities in access to care may have changed over time for children, especially following implementation of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The primary objective of this research was to determine if there has been a decrease in disparities in access to care for children across two socioeconomic groups and race/ethnicity groups after SCHIP implementation. Methods commonly used to measure ‘health inequalities’ were used to measure disparities in access to care including population-attributable risk (PAR) and the relative index of inequality (RII). Using these measures there is evidence of a substantial decrease in socioeconomic disparities in health insurance coverage and to a lesser extent in having a usual source of care since the SCHIP program began. There is also evidence of a considerable decrease in non-Hispanic Black disparities in access to care. However, there appears to be a slight increase in disparities in access to care among Hispanic compared to non-Hispanic White children. While there were great improvements in disparities in access to care with the introduction of the SCHIP program, continuing progress in disparities may depend on continuation of the SCHIP program or similar targeted health policy programs. ^

Progress and issues in rural electrification in Bihar, India : a preliminary analysis

Rural electrification has been an important part of government policy since India gained independence. However, despite the number of electrified villages expanding rapidly in recent years, there are many that still remain un-electrified. This paper addresses the issue of intra-state disparity in access to electricity and examines the determinants of electrification at the village level using data from a survey conducted in rural Bihar, one of the underdeveloped states in India. An econometric analysis demonstrates that small villages in remote locations tend to be considered a low priority in the process of electrification. Electrification at the village level in the more advanced states is no longer an issue, though the challenge of access to electrification at the household level remains. This paper also discusses issues that emerged from interviewing villagers and visiting rural areas, and shows that the actual progress of rural electrification may not be as advanced as government statistics indicate.

Does technological progress magnify regional disparities?

We study how technological progress in manufacturing and transportation to-gether with migration costs interact to shape the space-economy. Rising labor productivity in the manufacturing sector fosters the agglomeration of activities, whereas falling transport costs associated with technological and organizational in-novations fosters their dispersion. Since these two forces have been at work for a long time, the final outcome must depend on how drops in the costs of producing and trading goods interact with the various costs borne by migrants. Finally, when labor is heterogeneous, the most efficient workers of the less productive region are the first to move to the more productive region.

Work in progress - Exploiting videoconferencing possibilities to promote the European convergence process

This paper introduces the experience of using videoconferencing and recording as a mechanism to support courses which need to be promoted or discontinued within the framework of the European convergence process. Our objective is to make these courses accessible as live streaming during the lessons as well as recorded lectures and associated documents available to the students as soon as the lesson has finished. The technology used has been developed in our university and it is all open source. Although this is a technical project the key is the human factor involved. The people managing the virtual sessions are students of the courses being recorded. However, they lack technical knowledge, so we had to train them in audiovisuals and enhance the usability of the videoconferencing tool and platform. The validation process is being carried out in five real scenarios at our university. During the whole period we are evaluating technical and pedagogical issues of this experience for both students and teachers to guide the future development of the service. Depending on the final results, the service of lectures recording will be available as educational resource for all of the teaching staff of our university.