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With expenditures totaling $227 billion in 2007, prescription drug purchases are a growing portion of the total medical expenditure, and as this industry continues to grow, prescription drugs will continue to be a critical part of the larger health care industry. This chapter presents a survey on the economics of the US pharmaceutical industry, with a focus on the role of R&D and marketing, the determinants (and complications) of prescription drug pricing, and various aspects of consumer behavior specific to this industry, such as prescription drug regulation, the patient's interaction with the physician, and insurance coverage. This chapter also provides background in areas not often considered in the economics literature, such as the role of pharmacy benefit managers in prescription drug prices and the differentiation between alternative measures of prescription drug prices.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the effectiveness of the Buy-and-Hold (BNH), Fee-for-Service (FFS), and Direct-to-pharmacy (DTP) agreements for the US pharmaceutical industry and its individual participants. There have been mixed responses to these agreements and the industry is currently under debate as to which contract would be best for the industry and its individual participants. The question is answered by comparing the agreements and settling the industry debate regarding the impact of these distribution agreements.

The model features multi-period production-inventory planning with time varying parameters in a decentralized setting. Under each distribution agreement, mathematical programming models are formulated to determine the profit maximizing production, inventory, and ordering decisions for the manufacturer and the wholesaler in a finite time horizon. The applicability of the model in the US pharmaceutical industry using real-world data is demonstrated.

It is shown that the DTP agreement always outperforms the BNH and FFS agreements. Furthermore, the DTP agreement is flexible because it allows the manufacturer and the wholesaler to split the additional profit in an arbitrary way. The findings reveal that the DTP agreement can improve total profit by about 0.08 - 1 percent (relative to FFS) and 5 percent (relative to BNH).

Considering the size of the pharmaceutical industry, efficient distribution agreements are imperative. Unfortunately, the existing literature provides insufficient guidance to help managers make this important decision. This knowledge gap is addressed in literature, and provides important insight for practitioners on what agreement is most beneficial for this industry.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the pharmaceutical supply chain for artemisinin‐based combination therapies (ACT) in Ghana.

This study employed an inductive approach in examining the dynamics of the pharmaceutical supply chain. The study also used analytical hierarchical process in identifying factors that are detrimental to the ACT supply chain.

The study revealed that there are basically two main supply channels through which ACT enters the Ghanaian pharmaceutical system – private and public. The ACT network depicts a strong evidence of actor interdependence and long‐term relationships. However, the key supply chain enabler – the use of information technology – was found to be lacking, leading to delays and disruptions in the supply chain system. Disruption was found to be the main detrimental factor to the supply chain although delay was found to be occurring more frequently. Price increases indicated a low effect on the supply network at the pharmacy level, but the general price of the highly subsidised effective ACT (Coartem) remains very high.

Owing to constraints in accessibility, it was challenging to contact all the actors in the network individually, especially the consumer. Drugs considered in the study were the WHO approved ACT, even though efforts were made to compile available anti‐malarial drugs on the market.

This study has provided insights into the supply chain for ACT. The findings of the study are relevant in improving the supply chain system.

The paper brings to the fore the need for a proper pharmaceutical supply chain management in the health sector with regards to one of the world's most infectious and deadly diseases – malaria.

This paper seeks to identify policy and regulatory bottlenecks that need to be overcome in order to stimulate private sector investment in backbone networks in selected African countries (Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda).

It does so by exploring policy and regulatory frameworks and market structures that influence investment decisions on backbone infrastructure roll‐out; it investigates models and strategies adopted by the public sector to finance national backbone infrastructure; and it provides recommendations on how to stimulate private investment in backbone roll‐out by creating an enabling policy and regulatory environment.

Research findings show that the telecommunications sector in the selected African countries has witnessed the return of state‐led investment in the roll‐out of fibre backbones. The rationale for state‐led intervention has often been cited as market failure regarding investment in broadband backbone roll‐out. However, many of the policy and regulatory barriers to market entry remain, including protectionist legislation, which has limited private sector participation in investing in backbone.

The reality is that African governments are maintaining control over national backbones and, in some markets where the telecommunications infrastructure sector has been liberalised, the state‐owned operators may enter into direct competition with the private sector or may delay delivery by the private sector.

The value of the paper is that it provides evidence on how to improve the roll‐out and extension of national broadband backbone networks through the development of a policy and regulatory framework which facilitates private sector investment in this sector. The paper also makes recommendations to governments for the facilitation of private investment in backbone networks through the development of an enabling policy and regulatory environment.

The challenge of accessibility to adequate housing in several countries by a large percentage of citizens has given rise to different housing programs designed to facilitate access to affordable housing. In South Africa, the National Housing Finance Corporation (NHFC) was created to provides housing loans to low- and middle-income earners. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the implication of the macroeconomic risk elements on the performance of the NHFC incremental housing finance.

This study used a mixed-method approach to examine the time-series data of the NHFC over 17 years (2003–2020), relative to selected macroeconomic indicators. Additionally, this study analysed primary data from a 2022 survey of NHFC Executives.

This study found that incremental housing finance addresses a housing affordability gap, caters to disadvantaged groups, adapts to changing macroeconomic conditions and can mitigate default risk. It also finds that the performance of the NHFC’s incremental housing finance is premised on the behaviour of the macroeconomic elements that drive its strategy in South Africa.

Unlike previous works on housing finance, this case study of the NHFC considers the implication of macroeconomic trends when disbursing incremental housing finance to low- and middle-level income earners as a risk mitigation measure for the South African market. Its mixed method use of quantitative and qualitative data also allows a robust insight into trends that drive investment in incremental housing finance in South Africa.