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The study aims to address a critical gap in existing healthcare payment schemes and care service pricing by recognizing the influential role of patients' decisions on self-management efforts. These decisions not only impact health outcomes but also shape the demand for care, subsequently influencing care costs. Despite the significance of this interplay, current payment schemes often overlook these dynamics. The research focuses on investigating the implications of a novel behavior-based payment scheme, designed to align incentives and establish a direct connection between patients' decisions and care costs. The primary objective is to comprehensively understand whether and how this innovative payment scheme structure influences key stakeholders, including patients, care providers, insurers and overall social welfare.

In this paper, we propose a game-theoretical model to incorporate the performance of self-management with the demand for healthcare service, compare the patient's effort decision for self-management and provider's price decision for healthcare service under a behavior-based scheme with that under two implemented widely payment schemes, that is, co-payment scheme and co-insurance scheme.

Our findings confirm that the behavior-based scheme incentives patient self-management more than current schemes while reducing their possibility of seeking healthcare service, which indirectly induces the provider to lower the price of the service. The stakeholders' utility under various payment schemes is sensitive to the cost of treatment and the perceived health utility of patients. Especially, patient health awareness is not always benefited provider profit, as it motivates patient self-management while diminishing the demand for care.

We provide a novel framework for characterizing behavior-based payment schemes. Our results confirm the need for modification of the current payment scheme to incentivize patient self-management.

Efforts to reduce farmers' market risks and improve buyers' access to farm commodities have encouraged contract farming (CF) in Ghana's cashew sector in recent years. Consequently, the existence of CF shows that farmers who use it may be benefiting from it, as it is their economic responsibility to decide how to sell agricultural products. However, the magnitudes of these benefits or otherwise have been inadequately explored. This paper aims to empirically estimate the impact of CF on farm performance and welfare of smallholder cashew farmers.

The study used probit-two-stage least square (probit-2sls) as a primary estimator to account for self-selection bias and endogeneity that could arise from both observed and unobserved heterogeneities among farming households to estimate the causal effects of CF on farm performance and household welfare.

The results indicated that participation in CF contribute significantly to the gains in farm performance (price margins, yields and net farm revenue) and welfare (consumption expenditure per capita), and that the non-participants of CF would have benefited substantially if they had participated. An analysis of the farm size disaggregated into small, medium and large with regards to the outcome variables produces mixed results.

It can be concluded that participating in CF enhances farm performance and household welfare.

While many other studies do not account for changes in farm performance and welfare due to differences in farm size or other observed factors, this study fills a crucial void.

This study aims to investigate the factors influencing the citrus trade in Indonesia, the effects of tariff and non-tariff policies on the industry and the welfare of producers and consumers.

The research used annual series data from 1991 to 2021 and employed inferential, simulation, and descriptive analyses. The two-stage least squares (2SLS) of 19 simultaneous equations were used to estimate parameters.

The results indicate that free trade policies and restrictions have influenced the citrus industry, leading to a reduction in Indonesian citrus imports, and increased consumer and producer prices. However, eliminating import tariff policies on citrus from China and import restrictions increased producer surplus while decreasing consumer surplus, government revenue, and total welfare. Therefore, trade policies should be combined with non-trade policies such as citrus region development policies and advancing cultivation technology.

This study provides empirical evidence for the Indonesian government to formulate effective citrus trade and development policies. It emphasizes the importance of carefully considering the impact of trade policy on the citrus industry and the need to implement non-trade policies such as citrus zone development policies and advancing cultivation technology to benefit both producers and consumers.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-02-2023-0148

The purpose of this paper is to analyze manufacturers' production decisions and governments' low-carbon policies in the context of influencer spillover effects.

This paper investigates the impact of the social influencer spillover effect on manufacturers' production decisions when they collaborate with intermediary platforms to sell products through marketplace or reseller modes. Game theory and static numerical comparison are used to analyze our models.

Firstly, under low-carbon policies, the spillover effect does not always benefit manufacturer profits and changes non-monotonically with an increasing spillover effect. Secondly, in cases where there are both a carbon emission constraint and a spillover effect present, if either the manufacturer or intermediary platform holds a strong position, then marketplace mode benefits manufacturer profits. Thirdly, regardless of business mode used when environmental damage coefficient is high for products; government should implement cap-and-trade regulation to optimize social welfare while reducing manufacturers’ carbon emissions.

This study offers theoretical and practical research support to assist manufacturers in optimizing production decisions for compliance with carbon emission limits, enhancing profits through the development of effective influencer marketing strategies, and providing strategies to mitigate carbon emissions and enhance social welfare while sustaining manufacturing activities.

This paper addresses the limitations of prior research by examining how the social influencer spillover effect influences manufacturers' business mode choices under government low-carbon policies and analyzing the social welfare of different carbon emission restrictions when such spillovers occur. Our findings provide valuable insights for manufacturers in selecting optimal marketing strategies and business modes and decision-makers in implementing effective regulations.

To examine how shareholding affects optimal profits, R&D innovation, NEV market scale and social welfare in two supply chain models with partial and cross ownership patterns.

The gradual retreat of government subsidies has directly weakened the financial support available to the stakeholders of new energy vehicles (NEVs). In this context, upstream and downstream enterprises of NEV are constantly seeking new business models of cooperation to achieve possible win-wins. NEV supply chain shareholding is an emerging new practice for such explorations. However, its performance in the NEV supply chain is seldom investigated. In this paper, we employ a Stackelberg game model to investigate how partial and cross-ownership affect the optimal decisions in a NEV supply chain.

Results showed that: (1) Compared with the unilateral shareholding model, the battery supplier will benefit from cross-ownership in the supply chain, while the NEV manufacturer will not necessarily benefit from it. At the same time, cross-ownership will bring the greatest incentive for battery R&D (2) Supply chain downstream competition will not necessarily lead to the improvement of the total consumption of NEVs or the level of battery design. Pareto improvement can be brought only when one of the manufacturers holds less than a certain equity threshold. In addition, downstream competition will also not necessarily bring more benefits to the battery supplier.

At present, NEV supply chain management has attracted widespread attention from scholars from all walks of life. Previous studies have been carried out that covers topics such as pricing strategies and optimal profits and the role of NEV in the sustainable development of the automotive industry supply chain, or disparate impacts of government subsidies and carbon emission regulation on supply chain members. However, as far as the authors know, compared with the new emerging NEV corporate practice, the shareholding phenomenon between upstream and downstream in the supply chain of NEV has not been studied in the existing studies.

The new Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) has prioritised a new healthcare model that will establish the additional community healthcare facilities (CHFs). The paper proposes a methodology for supporting decision-making on location of the future facilities according to new parameters that consider how proximity to healthcare benefits communities. Rethinking the spatial parameters for locating future CHFs, focusing on fragile areas, creates a novel decision support system.

The methodology is based on multifactor analysis and on geographic information system (GIS) mapping to simulate the potential and risks associated with the proposed location of CHFs, focusing on territorial contexts of metropolitan cities, medium-sized cities, and Inner Areas, characterized by different fragilities. This method aims to innovate urban planning practices by updating the practice of per-capita urban planning standards and promoting implementation of the 15-minute city model.

The method defines new spatial parameters useful to inform the appropriate location of CHFs in Italy's Inner Areas. This offers a new integrated approach to spatial design mixing urban planning and healthcare dimensions.

The methodology will bring about an integrated urban planning approach, which guides both transformative urban choices and health services' implementation according to the needs of communities.

Although the majority of Ethiopians continue the on-farm and off-farm work, the country still struggles to secure food for its citizens and farmer welfare is very low. To increase farmers' welfare, improving farmers' entrepreneurial competency is believed to be the solution. However, entrepreneurial competencies are diversified, and investigating the most important dimensions specific to the agricultural sector is important. As a result, the objective of this research is to look into important entrepreneurial competencies that could help farmers.

To achieve the objective, survey data, collected from 178 households in North Shoa, Amhara National Regional State, Ethiopia is analyzed through structural equation modeling (SEM).

The study revealed that of the six entrepreneurs' competencies considered, only two of them (Strategic competency and relationship competency) have a significant association with the welfare of farmers. Moreover, the study revealed that the moderating effect of agricultural extension (taking model and non-model farmers as a group) on the relationship between entrepreneurial competency and farmers' welfare is not significant.

This study focuses only on six entrepreneurial competencies from which two of them are found significant factors in farmers' welfare. Thus, future research could broaden the scope in terms of looking into additional variables.

The study investigated the moderating effect of the farmers' category as a model and non-model on the relationship between entrepreneurial competency and farmers' welfare, which is the first to discuss the moderation effect.

The aim of this study is to investigate and clarify how the triple helix actors can effectively implement the concepts of Kaizen to navigate and overcome the complex obstacles brought on by the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Through broad literature reviews, nine common parameters under triple helix actor have been recognized. A regression analysis has been done to study how the triple helix actors’ common parameters impact Kaizen implementation in business operations.

The results of this study revealed insightful patterns in the relationships between the common parameters of triple helix actor and the dependent variables. Notably, the results also showed that leadership commitment (LC) emerges as a very significant component, having a big impact on employee engagement as well as organizational performance.

In addition to offering valuable insights, this study has limitations including the potential for response bias in survey data and the focus on a specific set of common parameters, which may not encompass the entirety of factors influencing Kaizen implementation within the triple helix framework during the pandemic.

The originality of this study lies in its comprehensive exploration of the interplay between triple helix actors and Kaizen principles in addressing COVID-19 challenges. By identifying and analyzing nine specific common parameters, the study provides a novel framework for understanding how triple helix actors collaboratively enhance organizational performance and employee engagement during challenging times.

Focusing on micro-level indicators, we investigate financial inclusion levels in rural China, examining its determinants and impact on household welfare. We construct a financial inclusion index of four essential financial services: savings, digital payments, credit and insurance. We identify factors influencing financial inclusion among Chinese rural households and assess the effects of financial inclusion on household welfare.

With the entropy method, we use data from the 2019 China Household Finance Survey to assess financial inclusion levels in rural China. Determinants and their impact on welfare are analyzed through probit and ordinary least squares models, respectively. Propensity scoring matching is applied to address potential endogeneity.

We reveal that rural households exhibit limited usage of formal financial services, with notable regional disparities. The eastern region enjoys the highest financial inclusion and the central region lags behind. Household characteristics such as family size, education level of the household head, income, employment status and financial literacy significantly influence financial inclusion. Financial inclusion positively impacts household welfare as indicated by household consumption expenditure. The use of different types of financial services is crucial with varying but significant effects on household welfare.

This study offers valuable insights into China’s rural financial inclusion progress, highlighting potential barriers and guiding government actions.

In Ghana, legal and illegal artisanal small-scale mining (ASM) activities have attracted the attention of the general populace and academia with varied opinions. This study examined how adopting the coping strategies for ASM operations affected the welfare of farm households.

Primary data were solicited from respondents using a semi-structured questionnaire. This paper used the endogenous treatment effect model to quantitatively estimate whether or not farmers who adopt coping strategies for activities of ASM have improved or deteriorated welfare.

The results revealed that households adopted coping strategies such as diversification, social networking, land reclamation, borrowing, dependence on the market for food and resettlement in other communities. The endogenous treatment effect model results show that households that adopted land reclamation and social networking had improved welfare regarding consumption expenditure and food security compared to non-adopters. Conversely, diversification was associated with lower consumption expenditures and high food insecurity among adopters.

This paper recommends that farm households in mining communities form cooperatives and farmer-based organizations to ensure improved access to joint resources for enhanced capacity to cope with ASM-induced shocks. There is a need for government and civil society organizations to encourage and support land reclamation measures.

This paper covers a broader perspective and deploys more than one welfare proxy, which has not been considered before in previous studies.