Cost comparison of continued anticoagulation with rivaroxaban versus placebo based on the 1-year EINSTEIN-Extension trial efficacy and safety results

Aims: The EINSTEIN-Extension trial (EINSTEIN-EXT) found that continued treatment with rivaroxaban for an additional 6 or 12 months (vs placebo) after 6–12 months of initial anticoagulation significantly reduced the risk of recurrent venous thromboembolism (VTE) with a small non-significant increased risk of major bleeding (none fatal or in critical site). This study aimed to compare total healthcare cost between rivaroxaban and placebo, based on the EINSTEIN-EXT event rates.

Methods: Total healthcare cost was calculated as the sum of treatment and clinical event costs from a US managed care perspective. Treatment duration and event rates were obtained from the EINSTEIN-EXT study. Adjustment on treatment duration was made by assuming a 10% non-adherence rate. Drug costs were based on wholesale acquisition costs. Cost estimates for clinical events (i.e. recurrent deep vein thrombosis [DVT], recurrent pulmonary embolism, major bleeding, clinically relevant non-major bleeding) were determined from the literature. Results were examined over a ±20% range of each cost component and over 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of event rate differences in deterministic (one-way) and probabilistic sensitivity analyses (PSA).

Results: Total healthcare cost was $1,454 lower for rivaroxaban-treated (vs placebo-treated) patients in the base-case, with a lower clinical event cost fully offsetting drug cost. The cost savings of recurrent DVT alone (–$3,102) was greater than drug cost ($2,723). Total healthcare cost remained lower for rivaroxaban in the majority (73%) of PSA (cost difference [95% CI]?=?–$1,454 [–$2,396, $1,231]).

Limitations: This study was conducted over the 1-year observation period of the EINSTEIN-EXT trial, which limited “real-world” applicability and examination of long-term economic impact. Assumptions on drug and clinical event costs were US-based and, thus, not applicable to other healthcare systems.

Conclusions: Total healthcare costs were estimated to be lower for patients continuing rivaroxaban therapy compared to those receiving placebo in VTE patients who had completed 6–12 months of VTE treatment.     

我国秸秆综合利用面临形势与对策研究

[目的]为加快推动秸秆资源化利用,促进农业绿色发展。[方法]文章在系统梳理我国秸秆综合利用政策文件、相关文献的基础上,全面分析了我国农作物秸秆禁烧和综合利用的发展阶段,提出了秸秆利用面临的形势和存在的主要问题。[结果]我国秸秆综合利用从时间序列上,可以划分为起步阶段、强力推进阶段和攻坚阶段。城镇化的快速推进、农村能源结构的调整、农业供给侧结构性改革的实施、农作物季节矛盾突出等,成为秸秆综合利用面临的新形势、新挑战。当前推进秸秆综合利用存在四大方面问题:秸秆还田成本较高,区域技术规范和技术适宜性缺乏;受"成本地板"和"价格天花板"双重挤压,秸秆产业化利用发展困难;秸秆收储运成本高,技术装备水平低,用地、运输问题尚未解决,收储运体系建设不健全;关键性政策工具尚未破题,缺乏普惠性、针对性的资金扶持。[结论]针对形势与问题,提出了推进秸秆资源化利用的4条对策建议:开展县域秸秆全量化利用、分区施策确定秸秆利用方向、加强政策工具集成创设、扩大试点示范引导。     

The Resource Curse Hypothesis: Dynamic Heterogeneous Approach

Natural resources influence economic performance through many different mechanisms, both beneficial and harmful. Some of these mechanisms tend to set in fast while others are rather slow. This suggests that pooling the long- and short-run effect as typical in the resource empirical literature may lead to incorrect inferences. This article provides an evaluation of the income contribution of natural resources using a panel cointegration approach that allows for short-run dynamic heterogeneity while imposing the restriction of long-run homogeneity. It finds, in a sample of developing countries over the period 1990–2012, that natural resources are a curse in the long run. The evidence is robust to alternative dynamic specifications, different measures and types of natural resource wealth, and controlling for regional effects.     

城市化进程中的乡村衰落现象：成因及治理——“乡村振兴战略”实施视角的分析

党的十九大报告提出了“实施乡村振兴战略”。乡村振兴是“中国梦”不可或缺的组成部分，城市化进程中的乡村衰落现象不容忽视，乡村问题的解决关系到乡村振兴战略能否实现和现代乡村能否建成。为此，剖析了我国乡村衰落的成因，探索了乡村振兴战略落实的办法，提出了现代乡村建设的可能路径。     

Effects of pro-growth policies on employment: evidence of regional disparities

The main objective of our research is to study the direct impact of pro-growth economic policies on employment creation globally and regionally, as evidence has countered policy-makers’ expectation that output growth leads automatically to job creation. We innovate by using the ratio of employment to the population above 25 years as dependent variable instead of the customary employment elasticity. We apply generalized methods of moments’ econometrics on dynamic panel data models and find that growth stimulates employment creation on average across 76 countries. The policies promoting private sector credit, investments, openness, services, education spending, tertiary enrollment, and a fixed exchange rate are the ones that create employment. Larger government size undermines job creation, while policies promoting FDI and industrial development fail to stimulate employment. However, we establish that the effect of pro-growth policies on employment varies significantly across regions, with evidence of weaker links between economic policies and employment in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.     

The Human Development Approach: An Overview

The human development (HD) approach puts the improvement of people’s lives as the central objective of development. This paper provides an overview of major aspects of the approach. It shows how it emerged with the evolution of development thought and a widening of development objectives The paper explores the two-way relationship between HD and the rival objective, economic growth, is explored and broad characteristics of countries that have been exceptionally successful or unsuccessful , countries with three country cases considered in greater depth. The paper identifies major dimensions of HD, beyond the three elements included in the Human Development Index (HDI) and shows they are poorly captured by the HDI. An overview of global change on HD dimensions from 1980 to 2015 gives a mixed picture with progress on basic HD, uneven trends in some areas, and notable worsening on the environmental dimension. In conclusion, the paper discusses some outstanding issues which need more attention.     

制度差异、“一带一路”倡议与中国大型对外投资——基于投资边际、模式与成败的三重视角

本文基于2005—2016年中国609个企业2 440个大型对外投资微观样本，全面考察正式与非正式制度差异对企业投资边际、模式与成败的影响。研究发现：正式制度差异对投资规模化的影响不大，但显著影响投资多元化。企业为了避免正式制度差异带来的管理风险，倾向于选择全资股权结构，但企业选择绿地投资还是跨国并购并不受到正式制度差异的影响。相比之下，非正式制度差异的影响更为广泛。无论是正式制度差异还是非正式制度差异，均会显著增加企业投资的失败概率。进一步研究发现，“一带一路”倡议主要对正式制度差异存在优化互补效应。研究结论表明，夯实“一带一路”倡议，尤其大力发展与沿线国家的文化深度交流，有助于企业更快、更好地走出去。     

The impact on stock prices of deferral and elimination of internal control audit requirement for small firms

This paper examines the cumulative market reaction to the events related to deferral of internal control audit requirement under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and its elimination under the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 for nonaccelerated filers (small firms). We document that small firms experienced negative cumulative abnormal returns around these events; and the differences between the cumulative abnormal returns for small firms and the two control groups (accelerated and large accelerated filers) were negative and significant at the 1% level. These results support the notion that market participants value the reliability of financial information irrespective of the firm size. Within the small firms, we find no firm characteristic significantly explains the market reaction to the events considered. That is, all small firms lost market value in reaction to the events that delayed and eliminated their internal control audit requirement.     

Effects on the “self-organization- satisfaction” relationship of changes in the economic context

Noting increasingly independent traveling by tourists, as well as changes on the tourist activity worldwide due to the 2008 economic crisis, this study analyzes the relationships between an economic crisis, tourist’s self-organization in trip planning, and tourist’s trip satisfaction. Data from a panel (2006–2011) on how residents in Spain complete their accommodation and transport bookings are used, including data on their trip satisfaction. The study identifies a negative relationship between the 2008 economic crisis and trip satisfaction, a positive relationship between self-organization and satisfaction, as well as positive moderating effects of the crisis on the relationship between self-organization and satisfaction.     

颠覆性技术识别与预测方法研究进展

为了把握颠覆性技术识别与预测方法研究进展，首先对颠覆性的内涵、特征和运行机制进行论述；然后，通过对已有文献进行系统梳理，将识别与预测方法分为5类，分别展开详述；最后，对各类方法进行比较分析。研究发现，已有颠覆性技术识别与预测方法仍处于发展的初期阶段，所有识别研究方法均围绕颠覆性技术的外部影响或内在特征中的某一方面展开，并未将二者有机结合起来。未来，应综合把握颠覆性技术内外部特征，构建全面、系统的识别与预测框架。