Browsing by Author "Watson, Barry"

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
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    Effect of capitation payment on membership, outpatient (OPD) utilization and cost under the national health insurance scheme in Ghana
    (University of New Brunswick, 2021) Bayong, Bintu; Watson, Barry
    In 2012, the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) in Ghana introduced a capitation policy within the districts of the Ashanti region, reducing the generosity of their previous insurance program. The key objective of this policy was to lessen escalating healthcare utilization and cost. Employing a natural experiment design, this study uses district-level longitudinal data from 2010-2015 categorized under two main groups, the intervention districts, and the control districts, to examine the impact capitation had on health insurance membership, along with outpatient department (OPD) utilization and cost. This difference-in-differences approach identifies the effect of capitation on each of these factors using ordinary least squares. Findings from this study suggest that a less generous insurance policy reduced program membership by 39 percent, putting resulting downward pressure on OPD utilization (falling 48 percent) and cost (falling 38 percent). Hence, initial results imply the policy met the expectation of the NHIA in that capitation would reduce or slow down OPD utilization and claims cost. However, capitation tended to impact economically vulnerable populations to a greater degree with large decreases in membership occurring especially among those in poverty (upwards of a 70 percent reduction in membership). Additionally, there appears to have been a cost-offset in that capitation also produced rising inpatient department costs by almost 29 percent among impacted districts, suggesting a negative fiscal externality. Thus, policy makers may wish to be cognizant of the inequitable impacts of capitation along with the potential for cost-offsets which reduce the intended objectives of capitation.
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    Examining the income gap between Canadian-born and immigrant working age adults
    (University of New Brunswick, 2023-02) Sarder, Deepty; Watson, Barry
    This study examines the income gap between immigrants and Canadian-born working-age adults using the 1996, 2006, and 2016 waves of the Canadian Census. Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition methods were used to analyze the explained (differences in observable characteristics) and unexplained (returns to observable characteristics) factors affecting this gap. Results show that immigrants typically earned less than Canadian-born respondents, and the gap grew due to unexplained factors. However, taxes reduced the gap by almost 37% in 2006 and 33% in 2016. Higher levels and returns to education reduced the gap in 1996 and 2006, but in 2016, returns to education contributed to its increase. Furthermore, returns to experience and group-identification increased the unexplained gap, which may be evidence of discriminatory practices. However, firms may also be reducing the valuation of immigrant human capital. Thus, policies to address international accreditation and disparities in global education and employment standards may help reduce the gap.
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    External technology sourcing and the dark side of open innovation
    (University of New Brunswick, 2024-08) Purdy, Lauren; Watson, Barry
    Firms in high-technology industries face a complex set of challenges to innovate successfully and continuously, to gain a sustainable competitive advantage. At the top of this list of challenges lies the choice firms must make regarding project sourcing in their pursuit of innovation. This research makes a significant and novel contribution to this discourse and examines the sourcing decision in the context of new product development. Specifically, we apply a project-level typology along the dimensions of new R&D project source and project familiarity. Drawing from transaction cost economics and knowledge-based view theories, we empirically test our theoretically-developed hypotheses on a dataset of 2,971 biopharmaceutical R&D projects. Results from these analyses show that both R&D project source and project familiarity have significant direct effects on focal project performance outcomes. We also determine that focal project familiarity has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between project source and performance outcome.
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    Federal Fiscal Policy & Interregional Redistribution
    Ruggeri, Joe; Watson, Barry
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    Federal Fiscal Policy & Interregional Redistribution
    Ruggeri, Joe; Watson, Barry
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    Health Care Investment by Provincial Governments
    Ruggeri, Joe; Doucet, Melanie; Watson, Barry
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    Health Care Investment by Provincial Governments
    Ruggeri, Joe; Doucet, Melanie; Watson, Barry
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    Stepping out of depression: Evaluating the effect of unconditional cash transfers on maternal mental health in South Africa
    (University of New Brunswick, 2022-07) Chilonda, Rebecca; Watson, Barry
    This paper examines the impact of the Child Support Grant (CSG) on the mental health of mothers between the ages 18 and 44. The CSG is an unconditional cash transfer used by the South African government to provide financial aid to children living in poor households. However, few studies consider the impact on mothers. Using five waves (2008-2018) of the longitudinal National Income Dynamics Survey, the impact of the CSG on maternal depression is estimated using pooled ordinary least squares (OLS), along with fixed effects regression methods and propensity score matching to account for concerns of unobserved heterogeneity and selection bias. Key findings using the latter two methods suggest a significant treatment effect of the CSG on maternal depression. However, the pooled OLS estimate is statistically insignificant, suggesting that sophisticated methods that control for unobserved heterogeneity and selection bias reveal a result that is not reflected in basic regression techniques.
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    Tracing the source of inequality in health among Canadian residents in 2018 –An evaluation of inequality of opportunity
    (University of New Brunswick, 2022-12) Zhang, Shiqi; Watson, Barry
    Using the 2018 wave of the Canadian Community Health Survey, I examine the impact of circumstances and efforts on health within an inequality of opportunity framework. Both Ex-ante and Ex-post methods are used, along with respective Shapley and KHB decompositions, to examine such impacts. Ex-ante regression results suggest that older respondents, those with less education, along with Indigenous Peoples of Canada, females, and non-married respondents are associated with a higher probability of poor health. The Shapely decomposition finds that 21.5% of health inequality is due to these observed circumstances. Ex-post regression results show that while smoking increases the risk of poor health, and physical activity decreases the risk of poor health (as expected), regular drinking decreases the probability of poor health. KHB methods indicate that efforts have minimal influence on circumstances, suggesting that policies directly addressing these circumstances may be particularly effective in improving the overall health of Canadians.