Exploiting the variation in the amount of subsidy for child health care by municipality, age and time in Japan, this paper examines the effect of patient cost-sharing on child health care utilization. Using longitudinal claims data and triple difference-in-difference framework, we find that reduced cost-sharing significantly increases utilization of outpatient care among children. We further investigate whether these increase in outpatient visits solely reflects moral hazard or increases in beneficial care.
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Hitoshi Shigeoka received a B.A. (2001) and an MA (2003) in chemical engineering from University of Tokyo, and master of international affairs (2006) and PhD in economics (2012) from Columbia University. Hitoshi’s research interests include health, labor, public economics, and experimental economics. His current research involves estimating the demand elasticity of health care utilization, examining the degree of supplier-induced demand by physicians and hospitals, examining the effects of competition and peer-to-peer teaching on learning, and investigating how the long-term incentives of mothers affect the timing of births.
This past July, I returned from my sabbatical. During my eight months away from the Stanford campus, I was based in Korea at the Graduate School of International Studies of Seoul National University and traveled through many other parts of Asia. It allowed me to take a step back and reflect—it was the longest time I had spent in Korea since leaving for the United States as a graduate student in 1983.
While I have visited Korea many times on business and other matters, living there for an extended period of time was quite a different experience. Korea is certainly a place with lots of excitement and convenience but also concerns and worries.
What struck me most during my conversations with many colleagues and friends in Asia was a realization that they were all grappling with how to address and find breakthrough solutions to current societal challenges. They referred to numerous, interrelated problems arising from low birth rate, aging population, brain drain, pollution, political corruption and low cultural tolerance, to mention a few examples. Based on those conversations and my overall experience living in Korea, I am now preparing a book manuscript Korea seen from Inside and Outside.
Next Monday, we begin the new academic year at Stanford. And with that occasion, I extend my sincere thanks to colleagues who stepped in during my leave last year, in particular, to Takeo Hoshi who served as acting director.
Reengaging with academic writing and my duties as director has been invigorating. I remain convinced that Shorenstein APARC continues to play an important role in developing new knowledge and encouraging dialogue on policy-relevant challenges in contemporary Asia.
The Center will soon be launching a new multiyear research project, the New Asia Project, which aims to offer insight on the question: “what’s next for Asia?” Our faculty, fellows and researchers will delve into social, cultural and educational areas that could push Asia ahead. We will have completed our Divided Memories and Reconciliation Project after a decade of scholarly work on historical narratives of World War II in Asia. The Center will continue to convene seminars, workshops and conferences that bring together scholars, policymakers and regional experts from around the world and strive to make the multimedia available to all online.
Three postdoctoral scholars and four emerging and mid-career professionals are joining us this year as fellows. They carry a broad range of research interests—from hospital reform in Vietnam to the economic consequences of elite politics in China. The Center remains committed to nurturing a new generation of scholars and professionals working on Asia-Pacific issues. We also welcome a diverse cohort of Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellows, who will work on ambitious research endeavors under the mentorship of our faculty.
Through our partnerships with Brookings Institution Press and Stanford University Press, we continue to publish our work. We have published 9 books in the past year and expect 4 books in the coming months. They include Divergent Memories, Challenges in the Process of China’s Urbanization and a translation from Korean of Peace on a Knife’s Edge, among other publications in leading journals and presses around the world.
The Center has changed quite a bit since I first began my directorship in 2005. We now have five vibrant research programs, one initiative and one corporate affiliate program. They are integral parts of the Center but also have emerged as robust entities in their own right. This year we will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of our China Program and Asia Health Policy Program.
For readers in Asia, a number of our faculty and fellows will be coming to Seoul and Tokyo for a public seminar series following the U.S. presidential election this November. A special alumni gathering will also be hosted in Seoul (Nov. 15) and Tokyo (Nov. 17). There will also be a conference on world-class universities on Nov. 4-5 at Stanford Center at Peking University. Stay tuned for an official announcement.
As I resume my duties as Center director, I look forward to another engaging year.
Ambassador Osius will make remarks on U.S.-Vietnam relations in the wake of President Obama’s May 2016 visit. He will focus on the unfinished task of reconciliation. Relations were normalized in 1995. Yet many in Vietnam’s diaspora community, especially those most affected by the legacies of the war, oppose rapprochement and engagement. Overseas communities can play important and constructive roles in relations between their countries of origin and the rest of the world. Ambassador Osius will argue that a fully engaged Vietnamese-American community could and would contribute a lot toward growing the U.S. partnership with Vietnam, including helping to shape a beneficial future of greater trade, improved regional stability, and an expanded role for civil society.
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Ted Osius is the sixth U.S. ambassador to Vietnam (December 2014-Present). Previously he was an associate professor and a senior fellow, respectively, at the National War College and the Center for Strategic and International Studies; deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta; and political minister-counselor at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi. His earlier career included service as regional environment officer for Southeast Asia and the Pacific in the U.S. State Department and as senior advisor on international affairs in the Office of the Vice President.
This event is co-sponsored by the U.S. - Asia Security Initiative and the Southeast Asia Program
Does entrepreneurship cause local employment and wage growth, and if so, how large is the impact? Empirical analysis of such a question is difficult because of the joint determination of entrepreneurship and economic growth. This article uses two different sets of variables—the homestead exemption levels in state bankruptcy laws from 1975 and the share of metropolitan statistical area (MSA) overlaying aquifers—to instrument for entrepreneurship and examine urban employment and wage growth between 1993 and 2002. Despite using different sets of instrumental variables, the ranges of two-stage least squares estimates are surprisingly similar. A 10% increase in the birth of small businesses increases MSA employment by 1.3–2.2%, annual payroll by 2.4–4.0%, and wages by 1.2–2.0% after 10 years. Furthermore, an accounting exercise shows that the employment and payroll growth from entrepreneurship are not confined to the initially created businesses but spillover to the aggregate urban economy.
Director Shorenstein APARC China Program; William Haas Professor of Chinese Politics
Ambassador HE Yafei served as Vice Minister of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China.; Counselor of the Chinese Permanent Mission to the United Nations; Deputy Director General of the Arms Control Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Minister Counselor and Minister of the Embassy of China in the United States; Director General of the America and Pacific Department; Assistant Minister and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and Representative and Ambassador of the Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations Office at Geneva and other international organizations in Switzerland.
Since its formation in 2014, the administration of Indonesian President Joko Widodo (“Jokowi”) has faced opportunities and challenges in many sectors and on many issues: security and economy, terrorism and radicalism, maritime resources and incursions, not to mention foreign-policy dynamics with the US, China, and the rest of Southeast Asia. How has Indonesia responded to these chances and concerns? How will it manage them going forward? Few Indonesians are better equipped to address these questions than retired Brig. Gen. Pandjaitan, who has dealt with them daily since joining Jokowi’s administration in 2014 as the president’s chief of staff and in subsequent cabinet positions.
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Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan began his current ministership in July 2016 after serving as Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs in 2015-16. Earlier civilian positions include vice-chair of the Golkar Party’s advisory council (2008-2014); founding president of a resources company (2004-2014); trade and industry minister (2000-01); and ambassador to Singapore (1999-2000). His Indonesian army service dates back in time from an assignment as training and education commander (1997-99) through a series of leadership positions to his award as the best graduate of the army academy (1970). Other honors include Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year (2011) and a national best coaching award related to his work on behalf of karate in Indonesia (2001-2010). In 1990-91 he studied in Washington DC at the National Defense University and George Washington University, earning an MPA from GWU (1991), and he is an alumnus of the Indonesia Army Staff College (1983).
As he explained during the recent Rosenkranz Prize Symposium, Stefano M. Bertozzi used this slogan to promote health reform in the Mexico City prison system. By encouraging inmates to step up and get themselves tested for HIV and other chronic illnesses, Bertozzi, dean and professor of health policy and management at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, was able to decrease the spread of illnesses in Mexican prisons and the surrounding communities.
The Rosenkranz Prize Symposium celebrated research projects that—like Bertozzi’s—address the health care needs of the world’s most vulnerable populations. With support from the Rosenkranz Prize for Health Care Research in Developing Countries, Stanford scholars have stepped up to tackle health issues in regions in need.
Since 2010, the award has funded six young Stanford researchers who aim to improve health in developing countries. The symposium celebrated their achievements.
The award honors the work of Dr. George Rosenkranz who spent his career reducing health disparities around the globe. Rosenkranz, who was the first to synthesize cortisone and the active ingredient in the first oral contraceptive, also celebrated his 100th birthday at the symposium.
Producing research that will increase care for vulnerable populations globally is the ultimate goal of the Rosenkranz Prize.
Andrés Moreno-Estrada, the 2012 winner, has used the award to study genetics in Latin American and Caribbean populations, aiming to increase knowledge of potential genetic illnesses. He said, “The Rosenkranz Prize is a clear, important step forward to demonstrate that we can do cutting edge science in developing countries that is of international relevance.”
Other winners include Eran Bendavid, Sanjay Basu, Marcella Alsan, Jason Andrews and Ami Bhatt. Their projects range from the effect of AIDS relief efforts on health care delivery to the treatment of diabetes in India to low-cost diagnostic tools for regions lacking infrastructure.
“I can’t think of a better way to celebrate (my father’s) birthday than listening to the bright future of science,” said Ricardo T. Rosenkranz, son of Dr. George Rosenkranz and a prize donor. “We can’t wait to hear what the next Rosenkranz Prize winners tell us.”
Dr. George Rosenkranz celebrated his 100th birthday at the symposium. The first to synthesize cortisone as well as the active ingredient in the first oral contraceptive, Rosenkranz spent his life reducing health disparities around the globe.
Sunil Khilnani’s new book, Incarnations, tells India’s history through 50 biographical essays, ranging from the Buddha to a contemporary billionaire. Building on rich recent scholarship about Indian history and culture, Khilnani’s work ventures to integrate the fragmented character of disciplinary knowledge of India, and to suggest an alternative to both popular religious and secular nationalist accounts of India’s past. Recovering the stories of remarkable individuals, his talk will highlight experiments in living and radical, dissenting ideas as drivers of Indian history, and contend that many of India’s choices about its future depend on which historical lessons get drawn from its past.
Speaker Bio:
Sunil Khilnani is currently Avantha Professor and Director of the India Institute, established by him at King’s College London in 2011. From 2002 to 2011 he was Starr Foundation Professor and Director of South Asia Studies at the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, in Washington D.C.; and before that, Professor of Politics at Birkbeck College, University of London. He received his BA and PhD from the University of Cambridge, and he has been a Fellow of Christ’s College Cambridge; the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin; and the American Academy in Berlin, as well as holding a Leverhulme Fellowship.
His publications include: Arguing Revolution: The Intellectual Left in Postwar France (Yale, 1993), The Idea of India (Penguin/FSG, 7th edn. 2016), and several collaborative volumes, including: Civil Society: History and Possibilities (Cambridge, 2000); NonAlignment 2.0: a Foreign Policy for India in the 21st Century (Penguin, 2013); An Indian Social Democracy (Academic, 2013); and Comparative Constitutionalism in South Asia (Oxford, 2013). His most recent book is Incarnations: A History of India in Fifty Lives (Penguin/FSG 2016), accompanied by his 50-part BBC radio and podcast and radio series.
Sunil Khilnani
Avantha Professor and Director of the India Institute, King's College, London
By 2050, two out of three people will live in cities worldwide. The addition of 2.5 billion urban dwellers requires cities to accommodate the needs of a rapidly growing population. As Chinese and American cities confront environmental problems, housing costs, congestion, and widening social inequity, the Stanford Human Cities Initiative (HCI) works to address these urgent issues by advancing a human-centered approach to cities in order to benefit the environment, economy, and society at large.
The Stanford Human Cities Initiative is an interdisciplinary effort based out of the Program on Urban Studies. Recognizing that cities are complex, the HCI works to cultivate a 21st-century century mindset and tools to address urban challenges. Drawing from rigorous methods from engineering, architecture, planning, and design, its mission is to combine these approaches and enable cities to reach their full potential beyond the siloed approach of one discipline. The HCI works simultaneously at the global and local scales to ensure that these approaches are complementary, while prioritizing human relationships and social inclusion.
Join Deland Chan and Kevin Hsu, co-founders of the Stanford Human Cities Initiative, in a conversation about the future of cities. They will discuss the framing of the “human city” and the benefits of an interdisciplinary and multi-sector approach. Learn how you can get involved with the Initiative’s efforts to engage departments from within and outside Stanford, as well as partnerships with international NGOs, community-based organizations, and the private sector.
The talk will follow student presentations from the International Urbanization Seminar, a Human Cities course offered in long-term collaboration with Tsinghua University.
