Rivaroxaban for non-valvular atrial fibrillation and venous thromboembolism in the Netherlands: a real-world data based cost-effectiveness analysis

Background: Non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) have been included in international guidelines as important alternatives to vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) for the treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE) and stroke prevention in non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, NOACs are widely used next to VKAs. The objective of this study is to estimate the cost-effectiveness of treatment with rivaroxaban compared to VKAs in NVAF and VTE patients in the Netherlands, using data from international prospective observational phase IV studies.

Methods: Two models were developed to represent NVAF and VTE patients, populated with patients from the XANTUS (NCT01606995) and XALIA (NCT01619007) international prospective observational studies. The 1-year cost-effectiveness of rivaroxaban use, compared to VKAs, was explored in a population consisting of NVAF and VTE patients (base case) as well as for four scenarios with sub-populations: NVAF patients only, VTE patients only, NVAF patients with unstable international normalized ratio (INR), and NVAF patients using an INR self-measuring device.

Results: In the base case, rivaroxaban saved €72,350 and gained 21 quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) in a simulation of 2,000 patients over the use of VKAs. Ergo, rivaroxaban was dominant over VKAs. The probabilistic sensitivity analysis showed a probability of 85% for rivaroxaban being dominant and 100% at a willingness-to-pay threshold of €20,000/QALY. Rivaroxaban appeared to be dominant in all scenarios as well, except for the NVAF-patients-only scenario where the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was €157/QALY.

Conclusions: In patients with NVAF or VTE, rivaroxaban treatment is likely to be cost-effective and a potentially cost-saving alternative to VKA in the Netherlands.     

Shifting Strategies: the Pursuit of Closure and the ‘Association of German Auditors’

Drawing on Weber’s [(1972). Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft: Grundriss der verstehenden Soziologie [Economy and society. An outline of interpretive sociology]. (5th ed.). Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck] theories of social stratification and closure, and on Parkin’s [(1979). Marxism and class theory. London: Tavistock] development thereof, this paper contributes a case study of Germany to the literature on closure processes (rather than outcomes), and outcomes falling short of professionalization. It explores the early history of the first German association of auditors, the Verband Deutscher Bücherrevisoren (VDB), founded in 1896. The paper traces how closure was pursued, at various times, by different means and to different degrees, depending on the changing social, economic and political contexts and on changing perception of what would best serve the association’s interest. By thus focusing on the shifting aims and strategies of the VDB, the paper contributes new insights into the dynamics within professions and between professions and their environments, and the dynamics and conditions underlying failed professionalization projects. The paper shows that, while the VDB had a degree of success in creating many of the structure and processes of a modern professional body, its ambition to achieve market and professional closure was not fulfilled.     

Who Has the Time? Community College Students’ Time-Use Response to Financial Incentives

We evaluate the effect of performance-based scholarship programs for post-secondary students on student time use and effort and whether these effects are different for students we hypothesize may be more or less responsive to incentives. To do so, we administered a time-use survey as part of a randomized experiment in which community college students in New York City were randomly assigned to be eligible for a performance-based scholarship or to a control group that was only eligible for the standard financial aid. This paper contributes to the literature by attempting to get inside the “black box” of how students respond to a monetary incentive to improve their educational attainment. We find that students eligible for a scholarship devoted more time to educational activities, increased the quality of effort toward and engagement with their studies, and allocated less time to leisure. Additional analyses suggest that students who were plausibly more myopic (place less weight on future benefits) were more responsive to the incentives, but we find no evidence that students who are arguably more time constrained were less responsive to the incentives.

     

Citizen participation in public administration: investigating open government for social innovation

In recent years, public sector organizations have increasingly focused on citizen contribution by adopting instruments known from open innovation. By collaborating with the periphery and leveraging external knowledge, government institutions initiate social innovation and stimulate a positive change for society. This article examines the involvement of citizens in an ideation platform initiated by a local government and investigates the motivations affecting participation intensity. Drawing on self‐determination theory, we analyze what motivates citizens to participate in an open government platform and how these motivations influence participation quantity. Based on a survey among platform users and the analysis of usage data from the platform operator, we find that motivations of citizen participation in public administration greatly vary across forms of participation. Whereas, intrinsic motivation is positively associated with producing and consuming platform content, external and introjected regulation negatively relate to individuals’ active contribution. At the same time, external regulation is positively associated with evaluation behavior.     

The marketing of love: how attachment styles affect romantic consumption journeys

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science - The experience of romantic love is closely interlocked with consumption journeys—yet how and why consumers engage in romantic consumption is not...     

Richard H. Thaler — Wirtschaftsnobelpreisträger 2017

Richard H. Thaler was awarded this year’s Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel “for his contributions to behavioural economics”. He studied systematic departures of human behaviour from the standard “homo oeconomicus” assumption. His famous work on boundedly rational behaviour considers both cognitive limitations and limited self-control. The cognitive limitations he studied are in particular the endowment effect, i.e. the observation that individuals assign a higher value to an object if they possess it, and mental accounting, a collection of theories regarding how individuals think about money. Furthermore, he provided path-breaking evidence on the nature of social preferences, which laid the groundwork for the development of several widely used economic theories incorporating altruism, fairness and reciprocity.     

Employee satisfaction and turnover intention: A comparative analysis between front-of-house and back-of-house employees in casino-entertainment venues

ABSTRACT

This study investigates job location and its relationship with employee turnover intention within the casino-entertainment industry. The researchers analyzed turnover intention at the supervisor and company level from the perspective of employees who hold front-of-house or back-of-house jobs in three Nevada casinos and their corporate office. The results of this research fill existing gaps in the academic literature related to turnover intention and provide beneficial implications for industry and academic practitioners. Organizations within the casino-entertainment industry may develop strategies related to the management of human capital that could provide fiscal and operational benefits.     

Determinants and Valuation Implications of Compulsory Stock Option Disclosures in a Weak Regulatory Setting—The Case of France

Using a sample of listed French firms in 2005, the year of mandatory IFRS adoption in the European Union (EU), we investigate the determinants of disclosure compliance of stock option expenses under IFRS 2, Share‐based Payment. Stock options are a popular means of executive compensation in France relative to other EU countries. Prior to 2005, French accounting standards and corporate governance regulations did not require recognition of option expense amounts and required minimal supplementary disclosures. There was also a perception that enforcement was imperfect, in particular with respect to IFRS 2. Given this setting, we explore what factors influence the willingness of firms to follow compulsory IFRS requirements in a weak regulatory setting. We find that overall compliance with IFRS 2 disclosure requirements increases with U.S. and U.K. institutional ownership, U.S. cross‐listing, provision of English language statements, and decreases with CEO and family ownership of the firm. We also investigate how stock market prices are affected by the recognition and disclosure of stock option expenses according to IFRS 2 in this regulatory setting and find that investors value option expenses positively, particularly when accompanied by high‐disclosure compliance. Our findings have implications for other jurisdictions in the process of adopting or converging to IFRS.     

Destination competitiveness: what we know,what we know but shouldn't and what we don't know but should

Two decades after the seminal work of Crouch and Ritchie [(1999). Tourism, competitiveness, and societal prosperity. Journal of Business Research, 44(3), 137–152], which triggered an avalanche of research on the topic, there is an extensive and still-growing body of literature on destination competiveness. Research on competitiveness, in the context of tourism destinations and even in its parent field of economics, has been characterized by controversy and strong criticism. Given the complexity of the phenomenon, the multiplicity of perspectives taken on it and the current stage of knowledge, there is a clear need for a reflective audit that enables a careful consideration on the knowledge acquired with past research as well as a well-thought-out identification of the needs for future research. Only such meticulous process will ensure the progress of this field of enquiry. The wide-spread acknowledgement of the importance of competitiveness for a destination's long-term success in addition to the constant comments that it is still a topic not well understood, suggests that research on it still has a long future ahead. This article embraces this challenging task by documenting, examining and critically assessing the existing literature on three dimensions: definitions, theoretical models and measurement. In addition, existing gaps are identified and research propositions are presented to guide future research.