Health security for the rural poor? A case study of a health insurance scheme for rural farmers and peasants in India

This is a case study of an important innovation in providing healthcare for the rural poor: the Yeshasvini Health Insurance Scheme for rural farmers and peasants in Karnataka, India. Arguably the world's largest health insurance scheme for the rural poor, the scheme commenced in 2003. Designed in ways that overcome several obstacles to providing health security for rural populations, the scheme covered, in its second year, about 2.2 million widely dispersed peasant farmers for surgical and out patient care for a low annual premium of approximately US$ 2. In this paper, we describe and evaluate the scheme in its first year of operation, and explore its potential to be a model for the developing world generally.     

American trade unions and public approval: Can unions please all of the people all of the time?

Public opinion about labor unions has long been viewed as an important determinant of industrial relations outcomes. Yet, analyses of changes in union popularity over time have been largely qualitative and have focused on the impact of short-term idiosyncratic events. This paper provides a quantitative analysis of the determinants of American public approval of unions from 1936 to 1991. Hypotheses relating to the union wage advantage, strike activity, the national unemployment rate, and World War II, receive the strongest support. The implications of these results for organized labor and future research on attitudes toward unions are discussed.