Impacts of Foreign Direct Investment on Economic Growth in the East African Community(EAC):Empirical Evidence from Burundi

This study analyzes how Foreign Direct Investment affects the rate of economic development among nations in the EAC with the empirical evidence of Burundi.The paper indicates that there is a link between foreign direct investment(FDI),gross domestic product(GDP),human capital,and openness with support of yearly time-series data from 1989 to 2017.The results from the Vector Error Correction Model(VECM)analysis technics discover that all the variables in long-term they move together.The findings also discovered that there is short-term causality running from GDP and human capital to FDI and no short-run causality found from openness to FDI as a result of Burundi’s policies that do not implement market seeker FDI.For VECM validation,the paper went through some post estimation diagnostic tests such as Lagrange multiplier tests and Jarque-Bera test,the results did not indicate any autocorrelation among the variables as the residuals were normally distributed.Openness being an important factor to attracting foreign investors,it is very crucial for Burundi to revise its trade policies and encourage a conducive environment that promotes foreign investment penetration by promoting and encouraging both domestic and foreign investors and keep improving human capital for more FDI attraction as a goal for Burundi economic growth.

Impact of Foreign Direct Investment on Welfare in Africa:Empirical Evidence from Guinea

The recent economic and financial hardship has resuscitated controver­sies over the role of Foreign Capital in economic growth and welfare enhancement in emerging nations,particularly in Guinea.The literature that scrutinizes the causal interaction among FDI and poverty allevia­tion is relatively abundant,the fundamental statement shared by these empirical studies is that GDP growth is assumed to be relevant proxy of people well-being.However,Guinea and its FDI attraction policies have not been well approached by some of these paper.This empirical study examines the interaction between FDI inflows and poverty alleviation in Guinea from 1990 to 2017.The Human Development Index(HDI)and the per capita FDI net inflows are respectively employed as key welfare and FDI indicators.The findings from the Error Correction Model(ECM)confirm that,in the long term the variables converge in the same direction.The out­comes also exhibit that per capita FDI in the long run,negatively im­pacts welfare but not significantly,while Inflation’s coefficient remains positive and significant.With trade openness,we still found the same positive interaction but not significant.The results from the Auto Regressive Distributed Lag Model(ARDL)exhibit that per capita FDI flows[current value and L2.]have positive but not significant impact on HDI whereas FDI[L1]has a negative interaction with welfare at 10%significance level.The trade openness variable[current value]is negatively but not significantly associated with HDI,while inflation[L1 and L2]influence on human advancement is positive and significant.Overall,Foreign direct investment in Guinea is still resource seeking investment which impact on the domestic economy is very limited.Hence,government should introduce new policies and incentives in order to attract more market seeking or other types of FDI that may pro­mote inclusive growth and alleviate poverty.

中国互联网医疗的发展历程、商业模式及宏观影响因素

利用相关研究文献、新闻报道、政府文件以及企业和平台的数据信息,对我国互联网医疗的发展历史、市场规模、商业模式等进行整理、归纳和比较,同时介绍了美国的互联网医疗模式,指出了影响中国互联网医疗发展的宏观环境因素。中国的互联网医疗始于上世纪80年代的远程医疗,时代和技术进步及政府政策的推动是过去几年互联网医疗快速发展的原因。2014年被称为中国互联网医疗爆发元年,资本的涌入更加提升了过去几年互联网医疗市场的热度。我国的互联网医疗先后产生了非互动医疗健康信息服务、在线问诊、医药电商、健康监测管理、医疗服务流程优化等不同模式;互联网医疗企业与健康保险行业的结姻是最近的动态。美国互联网医疗市场的发展大致经历了4个阶段,从收费方式看,可以分为向药企收费、向医生收费、向保险公司收费、向参保企业收费4种模式。我国互联网医疗的不同模式各有自己的运营形式、适用人群、优缺点及发展方向,各有侧重和适用场景。我国互联网医疗的发展受到筹资机制、社会医疗保险和商业保险环境下的市场空间、医疗服务提供体制以及医疗健康服务需求特性等因素影响。

老年长期照护保险制度的筹资来源和筹资标准

目的基于国家现有制度、政策和其他学者的相关研究,对老年长期照护保险在全国推行时的筹资标准和筹资来源提出建议。方法将筹资来源分为政府、企业和个人三个方面,基于“现收现付制”的思想分阶段测算不同费率分摊方案下的筹资标准。假定2020年至2050年的参保人群为城乡经济活动人口和非经济活动人口,使用“霍尔特两参数指数平滑法”估测2020年至2050年各筹资主体的缴费基数,将医保账户结余、民政部“福利彩票公益金结余”和整合后的老年人相关补贴作为政府补贴来源。结果在2025年及之后的年度,城镇职工和农村医保账户上年结余额度将低于本研究中参保人员所对应的老年长期照护资金需求,且二者的差值迅速增大,预计到2030年该差值将达5 000亿元左右;2025年至2050年期间不将医保账户结余作为老年长期照护保险筹资来源,转而由参保人员和企业缴费,由民政部整合相关补贴并提取年度福利彩票公益金结余的50%投入老年长期照护保险资金池,在不同费率分摊方案及不同缴费年龄假设下,参保人员缴费占自身收入的平均比例最高约为3.89%,企业缴费占员工工资总额的平均比例最高约为3.51%。结论建议老年长期照护保险从2020年开始逐步覆盖全国经济活动人口,2020年至2024年用城镇职工医保账户和农村医保账户结余满足老年长期照护资金需求,2025年开始由个人、企业缴费和政府补贴共同满足老年长期照护保险的资金需求。