What explains this slowdown in health care spending? How much of it is attributable to the weak economy, and how much is the result of changes in provider and consumer behavior?

BERKELEY Over the last five years, the growth of health care spending in the United States has slowed dramatically to the lowest rate in the past 50 years. The slowdown is not a surprise.

Containing China s Slowdown

The slowdown is not a surprise. It is a predictable result of the recession and slow recovery that have left millions of Americans without health insurance and dampened household spending.

China successfully navigated the crisis, avoiding a significant slowdown, by ramping up public spending. But, as a result, it now has no further scope for increasing public consumption or investment.

Long Live China s Slowdown

Health spending Health spending Spending

Instead, they have cut back on spending. Gains in inflation adjusted personal consumption expenditure have averaged a mere 0.8 over the past five years the most severe and protracted slowdown in consumer demand growth in the post World War II era.

Trends in the US budget reflect an inconvenient truth If the growth of spending on health care programs cannot be slowed, stabilizing the federal debt at a sustainable level will require deep cuts in spending on other priorities and increases in taxes on the middle class. The recent slowdown in the growth of health care spending is a promising sign that America s budgetary tradeoffs may turn out to be less difficult than expected.

In certain cases, the process of slowdown becomes one of delay.

The past three months, however, have seen a significant slowdown in China s exports, domestic investment, industrial output, and tax revenues. A major slowdown seems to be looming.

China acknowledges that high levels of air and water pollution create discomfort and harm the public s health. Government spending on remedying environmental damage could absorb substantial funds if demand side weakness exacerbates the expected supply side slowdown.

A higher level of consumer spending would raise the average Chinese family s standard of living, a primary component of what China s leaders now call the Chinese Dream. Faster growth in consumer spending would also reverse the recent slowdown in GDP growth, providing the extra demand needed to create employment for the millions of Chinese who are leaving agriculture and the millions more who are graduating from the country s universities.

Of spending the night in her arms

You'll be spending the night in jail.

Even a small reduction in the growth of these programs would save billions of dollars. Based on the unexpected slowdown in spending growth during the last few years, the Congressional Budget Office recently cut its ten year projections for these programs by 3.5 , reducing the ten year deficit by 382 billion.

Recession will hit banks and governments already weak balance sheets, increasing pressure for faster deleveraging. But, while gradual adjustment is essential, faster and deeper cuts are largely self defeating big reductions in private credit and government spending will cause a sharper slowdown and thus a vicious downward spiral.

Spending rate

Social spending

Spending it?

(f) Military spending, and the extent to which spending on external security can be translated into spending on social security .

A new study by Drew Altman, a respected health care expert and President of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, concludes that slower growth in real GDP, along with a lower inflation rate, accounts for more than three quarters of the slowdown in health care spending in the US after 2001. The weak economy has caused people to postpone consumption of health care services and has encouraged states and employers to restrain their spending on health.

A new study by Drew Altman, a respected health care expert and President of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, concludes that slower growth in real GDP, along with a lower inflation rate, accounts for more than three quarters of the slowdown in health care spending in the US after 2001. The weak economy has caused people to postpone consumption of health care services and has encouraged states and employers to restrain their spending on health.

Such spending resulted in 812 million logistics orders.

The outcome of premature fiscal consolidation is all but foretold growth will slow, tax revenues will diminish, and the reduction in deficits will be disappointing. And, in our globally integrated world, the slowdown in Europe will exacerbate the slowdown in the US, and vice versa.

Moreover, donor countries had reduced their official development assistance owing to a slowdown in their economic growth.

Public spending patterns

In fact, no, education spending should not be cut.

Overall spending is still dwarfed by US federal research and development spending, which will total 137 billion in the 2007 fiscal year.

Overall spending is still dwarfed by US federal research and development spending, which will total 137 billion in the 2007 fiscal year.

Because of the greater presence of Asian economies in the world, that would also mean a slowdown in world growth.

Spending on training and education amounted to 15 per cent of the State budget in 2000 and 17.4 per cent in 2004, while spending on making primary and secondary education universal totalled 52.6 per cent of all education spending.

In Bangladesh, spending in the social sector far exceeded that target.

But I also suspect that their heads are cautioning against spending a lot of money in an attempt to accomplish a difficult, if not impossible, task. After all, there is little to suggest that emerging economies could counter, effectively and sustainably, a large synchronized slowdown in the West, especially when it comes with the risk of another banking crisis.

World output cruising at 3 per cent growth in 1998 despite emerging market slowdown ... , press release issued in English in December 1997

It perpetuates deficit spending.

State spending on health

PUBLIC SPENDING ON HEALTH

A little spending money.

I look forward to spending time with you in Scotland.

These risks are already exacerbating the economic slowdown equity markets are falling everywhere, leading to negative wealth effects on consumption and capital spending. Borrowing costs are rising for highly indebted sovereigns, credit rationing is undermining small and medium size companies, and falling commodity prices are reducing exporting countries income.

A further slowdown in China is a distinct possibility. China s leaders must do what it takes to ensure that such a slowdown is not viewed as secular trend a perception that could undermine the consumption and investment that the economy so badly needs.

The outlook for 2005 is for a slowdown in economic growth as commodity prices decline but for a slight increase in inflation.

Tell the men we'll be spending tonight here in this place.

But we're spending 36 percent.