An Empirical Analysis of Income Elasticity of Out-of-Pocket Healthcare Expenditure in Mauritius

A free universal healthcare provision exists in Mauritius. Yet the share of out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure out of total household expenditure has been growing over time. This study estimates income elasticity of out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure using Mauritian household data within an Engel curve framework. In the absence of longitudinal data on out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure patterns, the study proposes the application of the pseudo-panel approach using cross-sectional Household Budget Survey waves from 1996/97 to 2017. Income elasticity of out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure is estimated to be 0.938, which is just below unity. This implies that out-of-pocket healthcare demand is not considered to be a luxury, but a necessity in Mauritius. In order to see the differences in income elasticities by income groups, separate regressions are estimated for each income quartile over different years. The results indicate that income elasticities of out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure vary non-monotonically.

Impact of COVID-19 Vaccines on Tourism Demand and Culture

The low supply of vaccines for COVID-19 has disrupted tourism development in Asia. The question is if the vaccine may change cultural divergence into cultural convergence at the tourist destination. The purpose of this study is to examine the culture and price elasticity of hotel demand to find the cultural convergence. The study has conducted autoregressive distributed lag model to test whether the vaccine would change the price and income elasticities of hotel demand to find the cultural transformation from divergence to convergence through tourism. Findings indicate that the impact of the vaccine on transferring culture from divergence to convergence was confirmed. Tourists from the divergent cultures specified by less levels of Hofstede's cultural dimensions will visit the country destination with high levels of Hofstede's cultural dimensions after COVID vaccination. Japan and the US that possess divergent levels of power will visit Vietnam for power convergence. China, Korea, and Russia that possess divergent levels of indulgence will visit Vietnam for indulgence convergence.

The income elasticity of lottery revisited: a worldwide perspective

Using panel data information from The WLA Global Lottery Data Compendium this paper estimates aggregate demand functions for lottery tickets in order to examine variation in the income elasticity of lottery tickets worldwide. The analysis uses a panel data quantile regression approach. The estimated elasticities are compared across income quartiles and world regions. The results provide evidence that a significant variation in the income elasticities across both geographic areas and the income distribution exists. Also, a clear heterogeneity in the incidence of lottery expenditures is observed. Overall, it is found that lottery is a normal good.

The Income Elasticity of Gross Sports Betting Revenues in Nevada: Short-Run and Long-Run Estimates

In May 2018, the Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, thereby allowing all states to offer sports betting. Prior to this, Nevada was the only state with unrestricted sports betting. Using sports betting data from Nevada, we estimate long-run and short-run income elasticities to determine the growth and volatility of sports betting as a tax base. Sports gambling grows at a similar rate as state income and is stable and insensitive to short-run shocks to income. However, the amount of money kept by casinos, and hence the state, is small compared to other traditional tax bases.

The effect of health shocks on labour market outcomes in Russia

This study examines the effects of individual health shocks on labour market outcomes in the Russian Federation during the period 2000–2018. Employing data from the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey—Higher School of Economics, we demonstrate that adverse health shocks have negative consequences for employment, wages, and income. We find that the effects are strongest for males, the less educated, those on lower incomes, those in middle-ranking and professional occupations, and for those experiencing the most severe health shocks. However, consistent with our knowledge of the Russian labour market, we also observe that the wage and income elasticities are considerably higher than the employment elasticities and above those reported for other countries. Understanding how to attenuate the negative labour market consequences associated with health shocks is paramount and we, therefore, consider the potential role that labour, health and social policies can play in mitigating risk.