Narek M. Kesoyan

As health systems worldwide increasingly focus on mitigating the burden of non-communicable diseases, the strategic role of insurance schemes in facilitating early detection and preventive care, thereby reducing the substantial costs associated with advanced-stage treatment, has become a critical area of policy and research attention. This study aims to evaluate the impact of various health financing models, specifically voluntary, compulsory, and social insurance, on the burden of cardiovascular diseases and neoplasms, measured by Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs), across working-age and older populations. The analysis is based on unbalanced panel data from 51 countries covering the period 2000–2021, drawing from the Global Burden of Disease database for DALY rates and the OECD and WHO Global Health Expenditure Database for health financing indicators. Fixed and random effects panel regression models with clustered robust standard errors were employed to estimate the associations. Results show that voluntary private insurance significantly reduces DALY rates from cardiovascular diseases, by approximately 19-28%, among working-age (15-49) and older adults (50-69). Compulsory and social insurance models also exhibit protective effects, but of smaller magnitude. Government health financing schemes similarly correlate with improved outcomes. In contrast, enterprise-based financing is positively associated with higher DALY rates, especially in older age groups. Insurance schemes demonstrate weaker and more inconsistent associations for neoplasms, with compulsory insurance and government schemes showing the most stable links to reduced burden among older adults.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
Money laundering threatens global financial integrity, while digital governance is increasingly seen as a tool to enhance transparency and regulatory capacity. This study operationalized digital governance through the United Nations E-Government Development Index, which captures the scope and quality of online public services, telecommunications infrastructure, and human capital. The paper aims to examine whether improvements in e-government development are associated with measurable reductions in systemic money-laundering vulnerabilities at the country level. The study uses an unbalanced panel of 171 countries for 2012–2024 (982 observations). Fixed- and random-effects models with Box–Cox transformations were estimated, with the Hausman test guiding model selection and cluster-robust and Driscoll–Kraay standard errors ensuring reliable inference. The results demonstrate a statistically significant and economically meaningful inverse relationship between e-government development and money-laundering risk, measured by the Basel AML Index. In the preferred fixed-effects specification, the coefficient on the transformed EGDI is –1.56 (p < 0.001), indicating that within-country improvements in digital governance capacity are associated with substantial reductions in AML vulnerability over time. This effect remains robust across alternative error structures, with 95% confidence intervals of [–1.96, –1.17] under cluster-robust estimation and [–1.75, –1.38] under Driscoll–Kraay correction. The inclusion of country-specific fixed effects reveals considerable structural heterogeneity in baseline AML risk (approximately 1.15–3.90), while time effects display limited variation over the sample period (approximately 2.11–2.19), confirming that the risk-reducing role of digital governance is not driven by specific countries or particular years.

Acknowledgment
This article was prepared based on the results of a study funded by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, “GovTech for Ukraine: A Digital, Secure, Transparent, and Equitable State in Times of War and Post-War Reconstruction” (registration number: 0126U000544).