The decision-making processes and outcomes of male and female household heads differ due to gende... more The decision-making processes and outcomes of male and female household heads differ due to gender-based differences in preferences. In this paper we assess the impact of this heterogeneity on household healthcare consumption in Thailand. Past studies modeling healthcare expenditures using household survey data used a gender dummy in regression models to control for household gender headship at the household level. Due to the endogeneity and self-selection bias in the past modelling approach, we separately modeled health expenditures for male and female household head decision makers. Using household dataset from an earlier work, this study finds, using the double-hurdle model with dependent errors, that out-of-pocket health care spending tends to behave like a necessity across the income quintiles, household sizes, and differently for the separately modeled household gender heads. Moreover, male and female headed households responded differently to a major economic shock when adjusting household healthcare spending.
The generalized translog cost (GTLC) methodology is widely used in applied econometric modeling o... more The generalized translog cost (GTLC) methodology is widely used in applied econometric modeling of production. Usually without rationale, the mean expansion point is overwhelmingly the arithmetic. However, the arithmetic mean could yield biased estimates and inferences. Consequently, our core innovation is testing operational inferences from fitting a dual GTLC model to multiple expansion points of data concerning US physical therapy, an increasingly vital industry. Our panel data includes 4,500 bi‐weekly observations across 27 US states. The study clearly demonstrates how the economic contents (e.g., economies of scale and elasticities) of the underlying production technology differ markedly across the three Pythagorean means.
Recent developments in the U.S. pecan industry appear to limit the utility of past research. The ... more Recent developments in the U.S. pecan industry appear to limit the utility of past research. The importance of pecan variety has emerged as an issue which could alter past results. The linear and double-log models previously fitted to all-pecans (averaged) data may be too restrictive and hence, are less useful for variety-specific analysis. Past research also analyzed price turning points using nominal data. This study investigated functional form and data-averaging problems by fitting separate flexible Box-Cox price-dependent models for all-pecans and each variety of pecans (1970/71-1988/89 deflated data). Results indicate: other nuts substitute for different pecan varieties, estimated all-pecans price flexibility is biased and clouds variety-specific flexibilities, and restrictive functional forms are inappropriate.
A Diewert-flexible (dual) cost function was used to derive a system of conditional factor demand ... more A Diewert-flexible (dual) cost function was used to derive a system of conditional factor demand equations for Louisiana rice producers. Generalized Leontief cost and factor share equations were fitted for the 1955-87 period using Zellner's SURE system estimation procedure. The Aitken parameter estimates reveal that: (1) the optimal input mix of rice farmers varies with production scale, (2) the factor-augmenting technical change is labor and chemical saving but seed using, (3) pairwise input substitutions are limited, and (4) factor demands are own-price inelastic. An implication is that Louisiana rice farmers will not appreciably alter their factor utilizations when relative input prices change.
Over half the American population is overweight, nearly one quarter of Americans are obese. It is... more Over half the American population is overweight, nearly one quarter of Americans are obese. It is evident that this epidemic is increasingly taking its toll on both the physical and mental health of the population. Increasing number of studies point out to the relationship between obesity and mental health. Researchers agree on the fact that obesity is most often accompanied by depression. Whether depression leads to obesity or obesity causes depression is unclear but a recent study showed that obesity in women was associated with a 37% increase in major depression. Population based studies also report that obesity is associated with an approximately 25% increase in odds of lifetime diagnosis of major depression. Adverse health effects of obesity and comorbid depression may present problems at workplace. For example, high body mass index (BMI) is found to be associated with reduced cognitive abilities among older working-age adults. Some researchers argue that obesity coupled with d...
Medical and the social science disciplines, together with the global bodies (e.g., The UN Food an... more Medical and the social science disciplines, together with the global bodies (e.g., The UN Food and Agriculture Organization, and The World Health Organization) focusing on human health conditions, agree that the rising obesity epidemic (the US, worldwide) and related ill-health outcomes (e.g., poor quality of life, atrophied labor productivity, preventable mortality and morbidity) are increasingly problematic. The resource costs of unhealthy Body Mass Index (BMI) for individuals and the society (DHHS, Healthy People 2010. Washington, DC: USGPO, November 2000) are high and rising. The BMI, a measure adjusting body weight (lbs. or kgs.) for height (ft. or m.), classifies individuals as 'not overweight/obese' (BMI= 30). The wider human health and medical literature increasingly links specific-cause and all-cause mortality to unhealthy BMI values. Since the mid 1980s, poor diet and physical inactivity ranked second, next to tobacco, as the second leading actual causes of death i...
Classical regression estimates of the determinants of the OECD health expenditures are useful for... more Classical regression estimates of the determinants of the OECD health expenditures are useful for policy formulation and evaluation. However, if the underlying timeseries data are not collectively stationary in levels, the estimated parameters are faulty and can misguide ...
Classical regression estimates of the determinants of the OECD health expenditures are useful for... more Classical regression estimates of the determinants of the OECD health expenditures are useful for policy formulation and evaluation. However, if the underlying timeseries data are not collectively stationary in levels, the estimated parameters are faulty and can misguide ...
Despite rapid advances in medicine and beneficial lifestyle changes, the incidence and mortality ... more Despite rapid advances in medicine and beneficial lifestyle changes, the incidence and mortality rate of gynecologic carcinoma remains high worldwide. This paper presents the econometric model findings of the major drivers of breast cancer mortality among US women. The results have implications for public health policy formulation on disease incidence and the drivers of mortality risks. The research methodology is a fixed-effects GLS regression model of breast cancer mortality in US females age 25 and above, using 1990-1997 time-series data pooled across 50 US states and DC. The covariates are age, years schooled, family income, 'screening' mammography, insurance coverage types, race, and US census region. The regressions have strong explanatory powers. Finding education and income to be significantly and positively correlated with mortality supports the 'life in the fast lanes' hypothesis of Phelps. The policy of raising a woman's education at a given income app...
While poverty rates on Native American Indian reservations are triple the US average. Small busin... more While poverty rates on Native American Indian reservations are triple the US average. Small business incubation programs, available elsewhere in the US, scarcely exist on the Native American Indian Reservations (NAIRs). Our unique study tests the effects of the Lakota Fund (LF), a private sector small business development initiative on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, on the economic development of the NAIRs. Our objective is to determine whether the SBA-like programs (loans, training, and consulting) can improve economic conditions. The 1980–2006 annual county-level (Shannon Co. is ‘treatment,’and Todd Co. is ‘con-trol’) data are a natural experiment. Results indicate that the LF inception and duration significantly raised real per capita income (RPCI)—suggesting not only the success of the LF, but support for the broader notion that privately funded small business initiatives can be used to support economic development of isolated impoverished groups within the US economy.
The decision-making processes and outcomes of male and female household heads differ due to gende... more The decision-making processes and outcomes of male and female household heads differ due to gender-based differences in preferences. In this paper we assess the impact of this heterogeneity on household healthcare consumption in Thailand. Past studies modeling healthcare expenditures using household survey data used a gender dummy in regression models to control for household gender headship at the household level. Due to the endogeneity and self-selection bias in the past modelling approach, we separately modeled health expenditures for male and female household head decision makers. Using household dataset from an earlier work, this study finds, using the double-hurdle model with dependent errors, that out-of-pocket health care spending tends to behave like a necessity across the income quintiles, household sizes, and differently for the separately modeled household gender heads. Moreover, male and female headed households responded differently to a major economic shock when adjusting household healthcare spending.
The generalized translog cost (GTLC) methodology is widely used in applied econometric modeling o... more The generalized translog cost (GTLC) methodology is widely used in applied econometric modeling of production. Usually without rationale, the mean expansion point is overwhelmingly the arithmetic. However, the arithmetic mean could yield biased estimates and inferences. Consequently, our core innovation is testing operational inferences from fitting a dual GTLC model to multiple expansion points of data concerning US physical therapy, an increasingly vital industry. Our panel data includes 4,500 bi‐weekly observations across 27 US states. The study clearly demonstrates how the economic contents (e.g., economies of scale and elasticities) of the underlying production technology differ markedly across the three Pythagorean means.
Recent developments in the U.S. pecan industry appear to limit the utility of past research. The ... more Recent developments in the U.S. pecan industry appear to limit the utility of past research. The importance of pecan variety has emerged as an issue which could alter past results. The linear and double-log models previously fitted to all-pecans (averaged) data may be too restrictive and hence, are less useful for variety-specific analysis. Past research also analyzed price turning points using nominal data. This study investigated functional form and data-averaging problems by fitting separate flexible Box-Cox price-dependent models for all-pecans and each variety of pecans (1970/71-1988/89 deflated data). Results indicate: other nuts substitute for different pecan varieties, estimated all-pecans price flexibility is biased and clouds variety-specific flexibilities, and restrictive functional forms are inappropriate.
A Diewert-flexible (dual) cost function was used to derive a system of conditional factor demand ... more A Diewert-flexible (dual) cost function was used to derive a system of conditional factor demand equations for Louisiana rice producers. Generalized Leontief cost and factor share equations were fitted for the 1955-87 period using Zellner's SURE system estimation procedure. The Aitken parameter estimates reveal that: (1) the optimal input mix of rice farmers varies with production scale, (2) the factor-augmenting technical change is labor and chemical saving but seed using, (3) pairwise input substitutions are limited, and (4) factor demands are own-price inelastic. An implication is that Louisiana rice farmers will not appreciably alter their factor utilizations when relative input prices change.
Over half the American population is overweight, nearly one quarter of Americans are obese. It is... more Over half the American population is overweight, nearly one quarter of Americans are obese. It is evident that this epidemic is increasingly taking its toll on both the physical and mental health of the population. Increasing number of studies point out to the relationship between obesity and mental health. Researchers agree on the fact that obesity is most often accompanied by depression. Whether depression leads to obesity or obesity causes depression is unclear but a recent study showed that obesity in women was associated with a 37% increase in major depression. Population based studies also report that obesity is associated with an approximately 25% increase in odds of lifetime diagnosis of major depression. Adverse health effects of obesity and comorbid depression may present problems at workplace. For example, high body mass index (BMI) is found to be associated with reduced cognitive abilities among older working-age adults. Some researchers argue that obesity coupled with d...
Medical and the social science disciplines, together with the global bodies (e.g., The UN Food an... more Medical and the social science disciplines, together with the global bodies (e.g., The UN Food and Agriculture Organization, and The World Health Organization) focusing on human health conditions, agree that the rising obesity epidemic (the US, worldwide) and related ill-health outcomes (e.g., poor quality of life, atrophied labor productivity, preventable mortality and morbidity) are increasingly problematic. The resource costs of unhealthy Body Mass Index (BMI) for individuals and the society (DHHS, Healthy People 2010. Washington, DC: USGPO, November 2000) are high and rising. The BMI, a measure adjusting body weight (lbs. or kgs.) for height (ft. or m.), classifies individuals as 'not overweight/obese' (BMI= 30). The wider human health and medical literature increasingly links specific-cause and all-cause mortality to unhealthy BMI values. Since the mid 1980s, poor diet and physical inactivity ranked second, next to tobacco, as the second leading actual causes of death i...
Classical regression estimates of the determinants of the OECD health expenditures are useful for... more Classical regression estimates of the determinants of the OECD health expenditures are useful for policy formulation and evaluation. However, if the underlying timeseries data are not collectively stationary in levels, the estimated parameters are faulty and can misguide ...
Classical regression estimates of the determinants of the OECD health expenditures are useful for... more Classical regression estimates of the determinants of the OECD health expenditures are useful for policy formulation and evaluation. However, if the underlying timeseries data are not collectively stationary in levels, the estimated parameters are faulty and can misguide ...
Despite rapid advances in medicine and beneficial lifestyle changes, the incidence and mortality ... more Despite rapid advances in medicine and beneficial lifestyle changes, the incidence and mortality rate of gynecologic carcinoma remains high worldwide. This paper presents the econometric model findings of the major drivers of breast cancer mortality among US women. The results have implications for public health policy formulation on disease incidence and the drivers of mortality risks. The research methodology is a fixed-effects GLS regression model of breast cancer mortality in US females age 25 and above, using 1990-1997 time-series data pooled across 50 US states and DC. The covariates are age, years schooled, family income, 'screening' mammography, insurance coverage types, race, and US census region. The regressions have strong explanatory powers. Finding education and income to be significantly and positively correlated with mortality supports the 'life in the fast lanes' hypothesis of Phelps. The policy of raising a woman's education at a given income app...
While poverty rates on Native American Indian reservations are triple the US average. Small busin... more While poverty rates on Native American Indian reservations are triple the US average. Small business incubation programs, available elsewhere in the US, scarcely exist on the Native American Indian Reservations (NAIRs). Our unique study tests the effects of the Lakota Fund (LF), a private sector small business development initiative on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, on the economic development of the NAIRs. Our objective is to determine whether the SBA-like programs (loans, training, and consulting) can improve economic conditions. The 1980–2006 annual county-level (Shannon Co. is ‘treatment,’and Todd Co. is ‘con-trol’) data are a natural experiment. Results indicate that the LF inception and duration significantly raised real per capita income (RPCI)—suggesting not only the success of the LF, but support for the broader notion that privately funded small business initiatives can be used to support economic development of isolated impoverished groups within the US economy.
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Papers by Albert Okunade