Medical scans are big business and investors are circling. Here are 3 reasons to be concerned

wedmoments.stock/ShutterstockTimely access to high-quality medical imaging can be lifesaving and life-altering. Radiology can confirm a fractured bone, give us an early glimpse of our baby or detect cancer.

But behind the x-ray, ultrasound, CT and MRI machines is a growing, highly profitable industry worth almost A$6 billion a year.

Spending review delivers big boosts for health and defence – but Rachel Reeves is focused on investment

UK chancellor Rachel Reeves has delivered the government’s spending review, setting out its plans and priorities for the next three years. The aim of the review is of course to allocate spending over that time period – but this government is keen for economic growth and so has directed the funds to try to boost GDP. This approach could work but is particularly challenging in an uncertain global environment.

Where should governments spend your money? The impossible maths of political and moral decisions

Whenever the UK government decides to spend public money on a new project, it needs to weigh up the costs against the value of the benefits it hopes to achieve. And it’s rarely a simple calculation.

This is why Chancellor Rachel Reeves is changing the Treasury’s “green book” of rules which dictate how investment plans are made. Those rules, and the calculations they support, do not always work.

You’re probably richer than you think because of the safety net – but you’d have more of that hidden wealth if you lived in Norway

You may be wealthier than you realize. Deagreez/iStock via Getty Images PlusHow wealthy are you?

Like most people, you probably would do some math before answering this question. You would add up the money in your bank accounts, the value of your investments and any equity in a home you own, then subtract your debts, such as mortgages and car loans.

From losses to buffer - calibrating the positive neutral CCyB rate in the euro area

We study the impact of cyclical systemic risks on banks’ profitability in the euro area within a panel quantile regression model, with the ultimate goal to inform the calibration of the Countercyclical Capital buffer (CCyB). Compared to previous studies, we augment our model to control for unobserved bank-specific characteristics and year-fixed effects and find a lower degree of heterogeneity in the estimated effects across the conditional distribution of bank returns on assets.

Organized crime and banks: assessing the effects of anti-mafia police actions on lending

This study examines how dismantling Mafia-connected firms affects banks’ lending practices. Using a unique dataset of 667 such firms and loan-level data from the European Central Bank, our analysis shows that anti-Mafia operations precede an increase in bank loans to businesses that operate in areas that are directly affected by these actions. Specifically, overall loan volumes increase by approximately 0.8 percent, which translates to an increase of €1.38 billion in bank loans to these firms.

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