Tackling China’s Pension Fund Payment Crisis:Will the “Two-Child Policy” Be the Answer?——An example with the basic pension insurance program for urban employees

Based on the reality that 29 Chinese provinces have already implemented the policy allowing a couple to raise a second child if either parent is an only child, this paper provides an empirical study on the effect of this policy on the financial status of the social pooling fund of basic pension insurance for urban employees. Our study suggests the followings. First, under the previous unchanged family planning policy, current deficits and cumulative deficits will occur in the social pooling fund in the year 2047 and 2063 respectively. Second, if lO% to 50% of qualified couples choose to raise a second child, the financial status of the social pooling fund will improve; relative to the previous unchanged family planning policy, the contribution ratio can decrease from 20% to the range between 18.06% and 19.57% without causing any changes to the original financial status of income and expenditure. Third, if the percentage of couples choosing to raise a second child rises to 60% to 100%, the contribution ratio can even decrease to the range between 16.55% and 17. 7% without causing any changes to the financial status as under the previous unchanged family planning policy. The above conclusions have all passed the sensitivity test. Therefore, the ＂two-child policy＂ for qualified couples is favorable to alleviating the payment pressures of pension insurance but the policy effectiveness is subject to fertility desire and the intensity of government implementation.

A Note on a One-Parameter Weibull Distributed Deteriorating Item EOQ Inventory Model with Varying Quadratic Demand and Delay in Payments

In this paper, an EOQ inventory model is developed for deteriorating items with variable rates of deterioration and conditions of grace periods when demand is a quadratic function of time. The deterioration rate considered here is a special type of Weibull distribution deterioration rate, i.e., a one-parameter Weibull distribution deterioration rate and it increases with respect to time. The quadratic demand precisely depicts of the demand of seasonal items, fashion apparels, cosmetics, and newly launched essential commodities like android mobiles, laptops, automobiles etc., coming to the market. The model is divided into three policies according to the occurrence of the grace periods. Shortages, backlogging and complete backlogging cases are not allowed to occur in the model. The proposed model is well-explained with the help of a simple solution procedure. The three numerical examples are taken to illustrate the effectiveness of the EOQ inventory model along with sensitivity analysis.

TAM-based Study on Factors Influencing the Adoption of Mobile Payment

This study uses TAM to examine the factors that influence the adoption of mobile payment in China.The proposed model is empirically evaluated based on TAM by using data collected from 370 users concerning their perceptions of mobile payment.The findings indicate that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use have significant effects on users'attitude.Furthermore,network externality is also an important factor influencing the adoption.But customers have weak perceptions of the risks of M-payment.The results may provide further insights into mobile payment strategies.

Evaluation of the inclusive payment system based on the diagnosis procedure combination with respect to cataract operations in Japan------A comparison of lengths of hospital stay and medical payments among hospitals

Following the recommendations of a report submitted by the Central Social Insurance Medical Council concerning the 2002 revision of the Medical Service Fee Schedule, a new inclu-sive payment system, which is based on the Diagnosis Procedure Combination (DPC) sys-tem, was introduced in 82 special functioning hospitals in Japan, effective beginning in April 2003. Since April 2004, the system has been gradually extended to general hospitals that satisfy certain prerequisites. In this paper, the new inclusive payment system is analyzed. Data pertaining to 1,225 patients, who were hospital-ized for cataract diseases and underwent lens operations from July 2004 to September 2005, are used. The lengths of hospital stay and medical payments among hospitals are com-pared. Even after eliminating the influence of patient characteristics, there are large differ-ences among hospitals in average lengths of hospital stay and DPC-based inclusive pay-ments. The highest average inclusive payment is 3.5 times as high as the lowest payment. On the other hand, there are relatively small differ-ences in non-inclusive payments based on the conventional fee-for-service system—the larg-est deviation from the average of all hospitals is approximately 10%. Thus, although payments based on the DPC account for only one-third of the total medical payments for this disease, the major differences in medical payments among hospitals are caused by differences in their DPC-based inclusive payments. The results of the study strongly suggest that revisions of the payment system in Japan are necessary for the efficient use of medical resources in the future.

A review of spatial targeting methods of payment for ecosystem services

Payments for Ecosystem Services(PES)have been studied extensively over the past decade as an important policy tool for coordinating ecological protection and regional socioeconomic development.One of the greatest challenges of PES implementation is to understand where to pay,i.e.,spatial targeting,which can directly impact PES effectiveness and efficiency.In this study,we conducted a systematic review of spatial targeting methods based on literature analysis using Citespace.Firstly,peer-reviewed articles related to spatial targeting of PES were selected from the Web of Science database based on keywords.Cases applying PES spatial targeting methods were then chosen and analyzed after all articles were read.In total,70%of the chosen cases focused on improving the compensation efficiency of biodiversity or another single environmental objective,whereas the remaining cases focused on coordinating trade-offs between equity and efficiency or multiple environmental objectives.The main PES spatial targeting approaches included cost-benefit analysis,multi-objective optimization,data envelope analysis and other methods aimed at specific issues.Of these,cost-benefit analysis has been most widely applied at different scales,including county,regional and watershed scales.Significant differences among the different PES spatial targeting methods were found,including in PES spatial targeting dimensions,efficiency optimization approaches and method application conditions.The practice of PES spatial targeting requires the selection of appropriate methods based on contextual biophysical and socioeconomic conditions as well as relevant environmental issues.The combined application of PES spatial targeting methods,compensation willingness of stakeholders and dynamic implementation of PES spatial targeting should be considered in future research.

Analysis of inpatient payments of breast cancer patients with different medical insurance coverages in China(mainland) in 2011–2015

Objective： An understanding of the levels and trends of medical cost is made for breast cancer patients with different medical insurance coverages in China（mainland）, in an attempt to offer a clue to further control the costs.Methods： The inpatient payments of 9,716,180 breast cancer patients spent in medical institutions of different types and grades during 2011–2015 were collected from the inpatient medical record home page（IMRHP） dataset.The data were then processed with SAS（Version 9.3; SAS Institute, Cary, NC, USA）. Indicators like means,increase（decrease） percentages were used to descriptively analyze the average hospitalization expense of each time（AHEET） and its trends of breast cancer patients with different medical insurance coverages treated in medical institutions of different types and grades.Results：In 2011–2015,the AHEET borne by breast cancer patients in China had been constantly increasing.Specifically,the self-pay inpatients had the largest increase,inpatients covered by Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance（UEBMI）and Urban Resident Basic Medical Insurance（URBMI）were the next,and those covered by New Rural Cooperative Medical System（NRCMS）had the least increase.Breast cancer inpatient treated in public hospitals had quite greater increase and higher expenditure level than those in private hospitals.The AHEET borne by the inpatients in Grade 3 hospitals had greater increase and higher cost than those in Grade 2 hospitals.Conclusions：The inpatient payments of breast cancer patients will be wisely controlled by reducing the number of self-pay inpatients,taking advantage of restriction mechanism of the medical insurances,and promoting healthy competition between private hospitals and public hospitals.The economic burden imposed on the society by breast cancer can be relieved through further control of inpatient payments of UEBMI-and URBMI-covered breast cancer patients and of Grade 3 hospitals.

Effects of Integrated Case Payment on Medical Expenditure and Readmission of Inpatients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease： A Nonrandomized, Comparative Study in Xi County, China

In the past few decades, Chinese government attempted to reduce the economic burden of chronic diseases and lower family financial risk of patients by establishing a nationwide coverage of Social Health Insurance system. However, the payment mode of Social Health Insurance varies across Chinese healthcare settings, and the effectiveness of each mode differs. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of integrated case payment on medical expenditure and readmission of inpatients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease （COPD）, a complex, multicomponent, chronic condition. A nonrandomized, comparative method was used in this study. Inpatients with COPD before （n=1569） and after the integrated case payment reform （n=4764） were selected from the inpatient information database of the New Cooperative Medical Scheme Agency of Xi County. The integrated case payment comprises the case payment （including price-cap case payment and fixed-reimbursement case payment） and clinical pathway （including clinical pathway A, clinical pathway B and clinical pathway C）. Effects of integrated case payment were evaluated with indicators of per capita total medical expense and readmission within 30 days. A multivariate linear regression and a binary logistic regression were used to conduct statistical analysis. The results showed that case payment, comprising price-cap case payment （β=2382.988, P〈0.001） and fixed-reimbursement case payment β=2613.564, P〈0.001）, and clinical pathway C （β=1996.467, P〈0.001） were risk factors of per capita total medical expenses. Clinical pathway A （β=-1443.409, P〈0.001） and clinical pathway B （β=-1583.791, P〈0.001） were protective factors. The interactive effects of case payment with hospital level （β=0.710, P〈0.001） lowered the readmission rate within 30 days. Meanwhile, clinical pathways A （β=18.949, P〈0.001）, B （β=-19.752, P〈0.001） and C （β=-1.882, P〈0.1） were associated with the rate increase. The findings revealed that integrated case payment ensured the quality of care for inpatients with COPD to some extent. However, this payment mode increased the per capita total medical expense. Further, policy-makers should set reasonable reimbursement standards of case payment, unify the type of case payment, and strengthen the supervision of the reform to enhance its function on medical cost control.

Do biometric payment systems work during the COVID-19 pandemic?Insights from the Spanish users’viewpoint

Technological developments are changing how users pay for goods and services.In the context of the COVID-19(coronavirus disease 2019)pandemic,new payment systems have been established to reduce contact between buyer and seller.In addition to the pandemic,the future is payment processing is also uncertain due to the new EU security regulations of the Payment Services Directive(PSD2).Biometric payments one option that would guarantee the security of transactions and reduce the risk of conta-gion.This research analyses the intention to recommend the use of the mobile phone as a tool for collecting payments in a shop using iris reading as a biometric measure of the buyer.The moderating effect of the fear of contagion in the proposed relationships was also analysed.An online survey was carried out,which yielded a sample of 368 respondents.The results indicate that the main antecedents of intention to use,which precedes intention to recommend,are perceived trust,habit,personal innovativeness and comfort of use.Additionally,the moderating effect of COVID-19 was checked among users with a higher perception of risk.The results obtained have interesting implications for purchase management among manufacturers and retailers.

Payment for ecosystem services:emerging lessons

Market based initiatives for management of degrading ecosystems and their services have received the added attention as one of the innovative responses in the reent years. Those initiatives such as direct and indirect payment for ecosystem services like premium for rain forest honey, payment by the people at the lower reach to those at the upper reach for the watershed services etc. have drawn the attention of the decision makers as they have proved to be far more cost effective.This paper wynthesizes the key messages from some of the paper are carbon, watershed services and biodiversity, We find that while credible valuation of ecosystem services for all services remain a critical concern behind setting up the payment mechanism, absent of necessary institutional framework may seriously undermine this innovative response for management of ecosystems. In the paper, necessary institutional mechanisms enabling the market for those services have been sketched out, Key messages from those cases have been synthesized.

The willingness to pay for ecosystem services on the Tibetan Plateau of China

Ecosystem Services(ES)are common-pool resources that can be valued by people’s willingness to pay(WTP).In contrast to place-based WTP research at the community-level,the stakeholders tend to be geographically diverse,and the benefits are not spatially apparent on the national level.Aiming to find the geographical diversity of the WTP for ES at the large scale,this study implemented an online survey of more than 25,000 samples to detect the WTP of Chinese people for water conservation,soil retention,carbon fixation,pollution decomposition,biodiversity conservation,and aesthetic existence of the Tibetan Plateau.The results showed the top limit of payments was 1,080.95 CNY/year/capita on average,and people would like to pay 172.40 CNY/year/capita for water conservation,which is the highest among the six ES.The percent of people“Aged 16–35”,“Government agency staff”and“Know WTP”influenced payments at provincial level.On an individual level,people’s knowledge and attitudes directly drove the payment amounts,as well as their ecosystem management decisions.Consequently,geographical diversity of the payment for ES exists in China,and in contrast to the objective social structure and spatial accessibility of ES,people’s knowledge and attitudes were the main driving forces of this geographical diversity.These findings suggest that a bottom-up adaptive governance approach is encouraged for managing common pool resources in developing countries.

Empirical Test of Determinants of Accepting Mobile Payment

From a global perspective, the develop ment of 3G services in China is quite different from other countries. The factors that influence users＇ adoption of mobile payment are worth ex ploring. This study employs the Technology Ac ceptance Model （TAM） to examine determinant factors affecting consumers＇ acceptance intentions of mobile payment. We adopt Hofstede＇s cultural dimensions as moderators to extend the TAM model for exploring the impact of uncertainty a voidance on mobile payment acceptance.

Assessment of Willingness to Pay as a Source of Financing for the Sustainable Development of Barobbob Watershed in Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines

This study employed the Contingent Valuation Method to assess the willingness to pay of water users, as a source of financing for the sustainable development of Barobbob Watershed. The WTP study was conducted among 345 waters users in 19 barangays in the municipalities of Solano and Bayombong. Uncensored data revealed that 63.8% (58.84% for the adjusted) of the respondents revealed willingness to pay for improved watershed management. The mean WTP amount, estimated through a logit model, Turnbull Distributor-Free Estimator and Lower Bound Estimate, is found to be PhP39.35, PhP27.80 and PhP25.90/month/household, respectively. Respondents WTP is influenced by bid amount, age, membership in environmental organization, experience with water-related problems, civil status, house ownership, and awareness on the concept of watershed. Respondents were willing to pay because they wanted a sustainable water supply for the present and future generations. A payment scheme is possible and it could provide a sustainable flow of fund, however, the willingness percentages still needed to be increased. Community education and public awareness (CEPA) campaign is necessary to enhance the water users’ knowledge and understand about the importance and values of watersheds. Ultimately, WTP percentage and WTP amounts would increase.

Spherical Fuzzy WASPAS-based Entropy Objective Weighting for International Payment Method Selection

In international trade,exporters prefer to receive payments as quickly as possible,and importers want to make payments as late as possible.In this respect,the payment field,an essential condition for trade transactions,also represents the positions of exporters and importers conflict.In addition,there are many cases in which various variables must be considered rather than only one specific variable representatively affecting payment,particularly in the case of import-export Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises(SMEs)from emerging countries.A selection of proper payment methods can be categorized as a Multi-Criteria Decision-Making(MCDM)issue.Therefore,this study aims to propose a novel and efficient Spherical Fuzzy Weighted Aggregated Sum Product Assessment based Entropy Objective Weighting method(SF-EW and WASPAS-SF)to evaluate international payment methods with uncertain information.First,SF-EW model is applied to determine the relative weights of critical factors.Second,international payment method alternatives are prioritized by the WASPAS-SF approach.Five essential factors for four international payment methods are proposed based on experts’opinions and the existing literature.A real-world case study from Vietnamese import-export SMEs is presented to validate the applicability of the proposed framework.The results indicated that“Characteristics of payment method(PA)”had the most significant impact on international payment method selection.In comparison,“Letters of Credit(L/C)”was the most reliable payment method with the highest ranking available to international traders.Furthermore,a sensitivity analysis was performed to examine the validity and robustness of the proposed decision support model.Consequently,this study could contribute to international payment services and in the context of globalization and international trade.

Fair Electronic Payment Scheme Based on DSA

We present a multi-signature scheme based on DSA and describes a faireleetronic payment scheme based on improved DSA signatures. The scheme, makes both sides in e-qualpositions during the course of electronic transaction A Trusted Third Party (TTP)is involved in thescheme to guarantee the fairness of the scheme for both sides. However, only during the course ofregistration and dispute resolution will TTP be needed TTP is not needed during the normal paymentstage.

An Analysis of China's Physician Salary Payment System

Physician payment system （PPS） is a principal incentive system to motivate doctors to provide excellent care for patients. During the past decade, physician remuneration in China has not been in proportional to physician＇s average work load and massive responsibilities. This paper reviewed the constitution of the PPS in China, and further discussed the problems and issues to be addressed with respect to pay for performance. Our study indicated that the lower basic salary and bonus distribution tied to ＂profits＂ was the major contributor to the physician＇s profit-driven incentive and the potential cause for the speedy growth of health expenditures. We recommend that government funding to hospitals should be increased to fully cover physicians＇ basic salary, a flexible human resource and talent management mechanism needs to be established that severs personal interest between physicians and hospitals, and modern performance assessment and multiplexed payment systems should be piloted to encourage physicians to get the more legitimate compensation.

A Causal Configuration Analysis of Payment Decision Drivers in Paid Q&A

Purpose:This paper examines factors of payment decision as well as the role each factor plays in casual configurations leading to high payment intention under systematic and heuristic information processing routes.Design/methodology/approach:Based on heuristic-systematic model(HSM),we propose a configurational analytic framework to investigate complex casual relationships between influencing factors and payment decision.In line with this approach,we use fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis(fsQCA)to analyze data crawled from Zhihu.com.Findings:The number of previous consultations is a necessary element in all five equivalent configurations which lead to high intention in payment decision.The heuristic processing route plays a core role while the systematic processing route plays a peripheral role in payment decision-making process.Research limitations:Research is limited in that moderating effect of professional fields has not been considered in the framework.Practical implications:Configurations in results can assist managers of knowledge communities and paid Q&A service providers in the management of information elements to motivate more payment decision.Originality/value:This paper is one of the few studies to apply HSM theory and fsQCA method with respect to the payment decision in paid Q&A.

Optimization of project payment schedules with Nash equilibrium model and genetic algorithm

To minimize the deviations of the net present values of project payment for both the owner and the client and optimize project payment schedules, a Nash equilibrium model based on game theory was set up and a genetic algorithm was developed to work out the Nash equilibrium solution with a two-stage backward inductive approach that requires the client responds to the owner’s payment schedule with an activity schedule so as to maximize the client’s net present value of cash flows. A case study demonstrated that a payment schedule at the Nash equilibrium position enables both the owner and the client to gain their desirable interests, thus is a win-win solution for both parties. Despite the computation time of the proposed algrithm in need of improving, combining Nash equilibrium and genetic algorithm into a complete-information dynamic-game model is a promising method for project management optimization.

Consumer choices under new payment methods

This study suggests a payment portfolio model that includes new payment methods that have emerged from the development of cryptocurrency markets and central bank digital currencies(CBDCs).Our model analyzes the optimal payment choice for consumers under various macroeconomic conditions.We determine that an individual economic agent chooses payment methods under specific conditions by incorporating policy interest rates on CBDCs and stablecoins used on cryptocurrency exchanges.We analyze the impacts of CBDCs and stablecoins on the choice of whether to use cash or deposits.We also examine how the agent changes her portfolio compositions in response to exogenous macroeconomic policies.If a government replaces cash with a CBDC,the convenience of digital currency would not affect consumer choices.The higher the government’s interest rate on CBDCs,the more consumers will use CBDCs than deposits.

Cashless payment and economic growth

Background:This study examines the effect of adopting cashless payment in five European Union(EU)countries,namely,Austria,Belgium,France,Germany,and Portugal,for the period of 2000-2012.Methods:The within and between effect of adopting cheque payment,telegraphic transfer,card payment and electronic money on these EU’s economy are examined by applying the Pedroni residual cointergration and Panel Vector Error Correction Model(VECM).Results:There is short run causality running from cheque payment to telegraphic transfer and card payment,as well as causality running telegraphic transfer to card payment.In the long run,there is significant effect of adopting cashless payment on the economy of the five EU countries.Conclusions:The adoption of one type of cashless payment will affect another type of cashless payment in the short run.The impact of adopting cashless payment on economic growth can only be significantly observed in the long run.Hence,any policy that promotes cashless payment will not affect the economy immediately.

The Expected Discounted Tax Payments on Dual Risk Model under a Dividend Threshold

In this paper, we consider the dual risk model in which periodic taxation are paid according to a loss-carry-forward system and dividends are paid under a threshold strategy. We give an analytical approach to derive the expression of gδ(u) (i.e. the Laplace transform of the first upper exit time). We discuss the expected discounted tax payments for this model and obtain its corresponding integro-differential equations. Finally, for Erlang (2) inter-innovation distribution, closedform expressions for the expected discounted tax payments are given.