Paris West University Nanterre La Défense

About: Paris West University Nanterre La Défense is a education organization based out in Paris, France. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Computer science & Politics. The organization has 895 authors who have published 1430 publications receiving 21712 citations.

Fixed fees and physician-induced demand: a panel data study on French physicians.

Abstract: This paper investigates on the existence of physician-induced demand (PID) for French physicians. The test is carried out for GPs and specialists, using a representative sample of 4500 French self-employed physicians over the 1979-1993 period. These physicians receive a fee-for-services (FFS) payment and fees are controlled. The panel structure of our data allows us to take into account unobserved heterogeneity related to the characteristics of physicians and their patients. We use generalized method of moments (GMM) estimators in order to obtain consistent and efficient estimates. We show that physicians experience a decline of the number of consultations when they face an increase in the physician:population ratio. However this decrease is very slight. In addition, physicians counterbalance the fall in the number of consultations by an increase in the volume of care delivered in each encounter. Econometric results give a strong support for the existence of PID in the French system for ambulatory care.

Empathy and recognition of facial expressions of emotion in sex offenders, non-sex offenders and normal controls.

Abstract: Research conducted on empathy and emotional recognition in sex offenders is contradictory. The present study was aimed to clarify this issue by controlling for some affective and social variables (depression, anxiety, and social desirability) that are presumed to influence emotional and empathic measures, using a staged multicomponent model of empathy. Incarcerated sex offenders (child molesters), incarcerated non-sex offenders, and non-offender controls (matched for age, gender, and education level) performed a recognition task of facial expressions of basic emotions that varied in intensity, and completed various self-rating scales designed to assess distinct components of empathy (perspective taking, affective empathy, empathy concern, and personal distress), as well as depression, anxiety, and social desirability. Sex offenders were less accurate than the other participants in recognizing facial expressions of anger, disgust, surprise and fear, with problems in confusing fear with surprise, and disgust with anger. Affective empathy was the only component that discriminated sex offenders from non-sex offenders and was correlated with accuracy recognition of emotional expressions. Although our findings must be replicated with a larger number of participants, they support the view that sex offenders might have impairments in the decoding of some emotional cues conveyed by the conspecifics' face, which could have an impact on affective empathy.

Fiscal Policy in the Transition to Monetary Union: A Structural VAR Model

Abstract: In order to assess the effect of fiscal rules in Stage Three of EMU for France and Germany, Bayoumi and Eichengreen's (1992) structural VAR analysis is extended by including the general government financial surplus and conditioning by external variables. This allows a distinction between fiscal and monetary shocks. During the period 1972.1-1995.4, monetary policy has a significant effect on prices in both countries. On the other hand, fiscal shocks, whose effect on the deficit provides a measure of the " structural deficit ", only contribute to a significant part of the dynamics of output in Germany. For that period, they appear to have little effect in France. In addition, fiscal shocks are uncorrelated between the two countries, although it is difficult to conclude that it reflects purely idiosyncratic shocks rather than a different policy-mix.