Can Direct Payments Facilitate Agricultural Commercialisation: Evidence from a Transition Country

We investigate the impact of direct payments on agricultural commercialisation in Kosovo. Kosovo is one of the poorest countries in Europe but, with European assistance, provides substantial funds to support agriculture, made up of many small and often semi‐subsistence farms. Thus, the effect of this support is a central policy issue. Identifying the effect of direct payments on market participation faces endogeneity issues arising from the possible simultaneous determination of participation in support programmes and market participation. In order to achieve proper identification of the endogenous direct payments, we use a strategy of targeted identification search that employs several different methodological approaches. We find that direct payments for fruit and vegetables, and those for cereals and oilseeds have a positive effect on market participation. However, we cannot identify any definite effect of livestock payments.     

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.     

Gentlewomanly capitalism? Spinsters,widows, and wealth holding in England and Wales,c. 1800–1860

This article examines the demographic and geographical importance of wealthy middle-class women. It argues that in certain towns and cities, notably London, such women were of sufficient importance to merit attention in their own right. Drawing upon a sample of wills, it describes the types of wealth owned by these women. By examining women's investment in government securities, it argues that women's wealth was of crucial importance to the British state. Its findings challenge conventional understandings of the relationships between gender ideology, wealth holding, and economic development.     

UK Asian communities: A profitable market for nonprofits?

The ethnic minority communities in the UK are an increasingly powerful force. But UK charities have not had a great deal of experience in approaching this market, despite a readily acknowledged desire to increase their own levels of cultural diversity. How many want a better ethnic representation among their donor base? How many want greater cultural diversity among volunteers, let alone staff? This paper examines the Asian communities within the UK, and suggests that these are groupings with which UK charities should be engaging. The communities are identifiable, with strong philanthropic traditions, they have increasing economic power and they are accessible. The paper also looks briejly at a positive response generated by one organisation-the Aga Khan Foundation (UK) — to a non-denominational, intercommunal appeal for funds from the Asian Communities in the UK.     

Retesting Fair's (1978) model on infidelity

Modern econometrics stresses the diagnostic testing of estimated models as an important part of the model‐building process. In a survey article published in this journal (Pagan and Vella 1989 ), methods for testing the validity of the assumptions underlying the censored regression of the Tobit model were presented. This paper questions the numerical results presented there. Indeed, my results concerning the tests when applied to Fair's well‐known model for infidelity (1978) are the opposite of those presented in this journal. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Economic Reform and Macroeconomic Policy in New Zealand

In 1984 the Labour government in New Zealand began a wide-ranging process of reform with the objective of achieving a sustainable improvement in economic performance. The breadth and rapidity with which deregulation, tax reform, and privatisation were implemented has attracted widespread interest. The expected improvement in macroeconomic performance, however, has not yet been realised.
This article describes some background to the policy shift, and focuses on macroeconomic aspects of the reforms. It argues that while many improvements in microeconomic resource allocation have been made, the interaction between monetary, fiscal and wages policies has contributed substantially to the present high cost of structural change in New Zealand.     

Justice,sexual harassment,and the reasonable victim standard

In determining when sexual behavior in the workplace creates a hostile working environment, some courts have asked, ‘Would a reasonableperson view this as a hostile environment?’ Two recent court decisions, recognizing male-female differences in the perception of social sexual behavior at work, modified this standard to ask, “Would a reasonablevictim view this as a hostile environment?” As yet, there is no consensus in the legal community regarding which of these standards is just. We propose that moral theory provides the framework from which business people can construct just procedures regarding sexually hostile environments. We argue that the natural duty of mutual respect of persons and the natural duty not to harm the innocent compels business people to identify sexually hostile work environments from the perspective of the reasonable victim, usually from the woman's perspective. Within the context of this moral framework, a training approach designed to reduce the incidence of sexually harassing behaviors in the workplace is proposed.     

Accounting Research: Where Now?

This paper provides a commentary on the studies of Barth (2015), Dyckman and Zeff (2015), Ohlson (2015), Sunder (2015), and Whittington (2015) as they relate to past, present, and future directions in accounting research.