Central Mandates and Local Incentives: The Colombia Education Voucher Program

AbstractThe Growth Enhancement Scheme and e-voucher program, rolled out across Nigeria in 2011 by the federal government, provided the institutional basis for private agro-dealers to engage in the distribution of subsidized fertilizer, improved seeds and extension services to farmers. However, the impact of this policy on different modes of extension service delivery is still missing in literature. We apply an Ordinary Least Squared and Difference-in-Difference methodology on the (2010 and 2012) Living Standard Measurement Study of the World Bank. The results suggest that extension visitations as well as public extension services positively influence farm revenue. Furthermore, a substantial increase in fertilizer expenditure by farmers was observed, due to the e-voucher program, which could have contributed to the improved agricultural output witnessed in Nigeria post-Growth Enhancement Scheme era. Governments across Sub-Saharan Africa should implement policies that harness the economy of scale and scope of the private sector as well as information and communication technologies in delivering on time and adequate agricultural inputs to farmers.

Download Full-text

Effects of the Active Kids voucher program on children and adolescents’ physical activity: a natural experiment evaluating a state-wide intervention

BMC Public Health ◽

10.1186/s12889-020-10060-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Bridget C. Foley ◽

Katherine B. Owen ◽

Adrian E. Bauman ◽

William Bellew ◽

Lindsey J. Reece

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Children And Adolescents ◽

Online Survey ◽

Specific Activity ◽

Financial Incentive ◽

Trial Registration ◽

Physical Activity Participation ◽

Activity Participation ◽

Clinical Trial Registry ◽

Voucher Program

Abstract Background There is an urgent need for scaled-up effective interventions which overcome barriers to health-enhancing physical activity for children and adolescents. In New South Wales (NSW), Australia, the state government implemented a universal voucher program, ‘Active Kids’ to support the cost of structured physical activity registration for school-enrolled children aged 4.5–18 years old. The objective of this study was to understand the effects a financial incentive intervention delivered in a real-world setting has on children and adolescent’s physical activity participation. Method In 2018, all children and adolescents registered for an Active Kids voucher provided sociodemographic characteristics, physical activity and research consent. This prospective cohort study used an online survey with validated items to measure physical activity and other personal and social factors in children and adolescents who used an Active Kids voucher. Generalized linear mixed models were used to examine changes from registration to after voucher use at ≤8 weeks, 9–26 weeks and ≥ 6 months. Results Study participants reported increasing their days achieving physical activity guidelines from 4.0 days per week (95%CI 3.8, 4.2) at registration (n = 37,626 children) to 4.9 days per week (95%CI 4.7, 5.1) after 6 months (n = 14,118 children). Increased physical activity was observed for all sociodemographic population groups. The voucher-specific activity contributed 42.4% (95%CI 39.3, 45.5) to the total time children participated in structured physical activities outside of school. Children and adolescents who increased to, or maintained, high levels of activity were socially supported to be active, had active parent/caregivers, had better concentration and were overall happier than their low-active counterparts. Conclusion The Active Kids program significantly increased children’s physical activity levels and these increases continued over a six-month period. The Active Kids voucher program shows promise as a scaled-up intervention to increase children and adolescents’ physical activity participation. Trial registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry ACTRN12618000897268, approved May 29th, 2018 - Retrospectively registered.

Download Full-text

Preserving an Incentive for Global Health R&D

American Journal of Law & Medicine ◽

10.1177/0098858816658278 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 42 (2-3) ◽

pp. 524-542

Author(s):

Andrew S. Robertson

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

The United States ◽

Secondary Market ◽

United States Government ◽

Market Size ◽

Priority Review ◽

Voucher Program ◽

Drug Companies ◽

States Government ◽

Powerful Incentive

In December 2014, the United States government expanded the Priority Review Voucher (“PRV” or “voucher”) program to include Ebola and other related Filoviruses. By doing so, lawmakers provided a potentially powerful incentive for drug companies to invest time and money in the development of novel medicines for terrifying diseases. This expansion is one of several additions made to the PRV programs since 2012. Many companies rely on voucher resale to recoup research and development (“R&D”) costs; however, it is unclear whether the PRV program could be overextended, thereby diluting the value of the incentives. In this paper, I use historical approval data from the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) and United States drug revenue data to better understand the secondary market value of a PRV. The data suggests that that purchase prices of a PRV could continue to climb; despite this, the market size for these vouchers is limited. The implications of these findings are discussed further.

Download Full-text

Source of Income Discrimination and Fair Housing Policy

Journal of Planning Literature ◽

10.1177/0885412216670603 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 32 (1) ◽

pp. 3-15 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

J. Rosie Tighe ◽

Megan E. Hatch ◽

Joseph Mead

Keyword(s):

Housing Policy ◽

Social Problems ◽

Housing Choice ◽

Fair Housing ◽

Voucher Program ◽

Poor Households ◽

The Social ◽

Housing Choice Voucher Program ◽

Local Law ◽

Do So

The housing choice voucher program was designed with two main goals in mind: to eliminate concentrations of poverty and the social problems it causes and to provide poor households with greater access to higher-opportunity neighborhoods. However, research suggests that voucher holders would like to move to higher-opportunity neighborhoods, but often are unable to do so. One of the most prominent reasons for this is that, in most cities and states, local law allows landlords to discriminate against potential tenants on the grounds of their “source of income” (SOI). This article reviews the literature on discrimination of voucher recipients and the potential for SOI antidiscrimination laws to mitigate some of these negative outcomes.

Download Full-text