Background: In recent years, interest in the study of inequalities in health has not stopped at quantifying their magnitude; explaining the sources of inequalities has also become of great importance. This paper measures socioeconomic inequalities in self-reported morbidity and self-assessed health in Thailand, and the contributions of different population subgroups to those inequalities.

This paper develops several indicators to measure the extent and depth of rules governing international migration. It is set in the context of moves towards further liberalisation of services trade and associated labour mobility (Mode 4) under GATS and related regional trading arrangements. Ten Southeast Asian countries at various stages of economic development are examined as a case study, with special reference to health care and information technology. These sectors are priority sectors for regional cooperation in services trade in ASEAN, but were expected to represent opposite extremes in terms of the regulation of migration. The study finds that the more advanced countries tend to have more liberal regimes for international movements of skilled manpower, although there were smaller differences regarding general visa and work permit arrangements. Generic restrictions on mobility were related to trade policies, as well as to direct barriers (often country-specific) to migration. They included minimum salary requirement, levies on foreign workers, economic needs tests, and limitations related to language, education and job experience. Controls were more extensive in the health care sector, related to social considerations as well as professional organisational interests. Copyright 2007 The Authors Journal compilation Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2007 .

The concept of a ‘digital divide’—inequality in access to modern information and communication technologies (ICTs) between industrialised and developing countries, and between urban and rural populations—has attracted much attention from policymakers, aid organisations, media and the general public. This paper places discussion of the digital divide in a broader economic context, linking it with the theory of economic growth and technological change. The network effects of diffusion of the Internet are related to the possibility of leap‐frogging by latecomers. This is seen as a ‘digital opportunity’ presented to developing countries by the ‘new economy’. This paper discusses the appropriate policy environment for bridging the digital divide, and concludes that the East Asian region has much to gain from the complementarities of its economies, their openness to trade in ICT products, and policy cooperation.

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The paper discusses models of health insurance, including compulsory (social) health insurance, voluntary insurance, and community-based financing schemes. It illustrates the features of these models in terms of coverage, funding, sustainability, payment mechanisms, public-private mix, risk protection, and cost-containment properties, and outlines some emerging challenges to health financing arrangements. Health financing systems used in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, ASEAN and China are discussed, and implications are drawn for the developing countries in the Asia Pacific contemplating health insurance reform. Copyright © 2007 The Authors Journal compilation © 2007 Crawford School of Economics and Government, The Australian National University and Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd. .