New roles of nonprofit organizations and partnership with government and/or business

The term NGO has been used more specifically to encompass nonprofit organizations engaged in international programs. In recent years, what Professor Lester Salamon of the Institute of Policy Studies of Johns Hopkins University has referred to as the ‘nonprofit sector’ seems popular worldwide. He defines nonprofit organizations as ‘organizations that share seven common features: they are formally constituted; organizationally separate from government; non‐profit‐seeking; self‐governing; voluntary to some significant degree; nonreligious; and nonpolitical (Salamon and Anheier 1994).’ To avoid confusion, the term ‘NGO’ is used in this paper in reference to nonprofit, nongovernmental organizations that are independent from any particular government office or private corporation and which are pursuing public interests.     

Preparing for disaster: a comparative analysis of education for critical infrastructure collapse

This article explores policy approaches to educating populations for potential critical infrastructure collapse in five different countries: the UK, the US, Germany, Japan and New Zealand. ‘Critical infrastructure’ is not always easy to define, and indeed is defined slightly differently across countries – it includes entities vital to life, such as utilities (water, energy), transportation systems and communications, and may also include social and cultural infrastructure. The article is a mapping exercise of different approaches to critical infrastructure protection and preparedness education by the five countries. The exercise facilitates a comparison of the countries and enables us to identify distinctive characteristics of each country’s approach. We argue that contrary to what most scholars of security have argued, these national approaches diverge greatly, suggesting that they are shaped more by internal politics and culture than by global approaches.     

Market behavior and the types of production functions

The paper presents a unified approach to theory and estimation of production functions based on a simple observation that any production function has a unique representation of its isoquants in terms of the differential equation which may be observable in market. Expressing the marginal rate of substitution between two inputs as the differential equation in these two inputs, various classes of production functions are obtained by integrating this differential equation. Not only does this general approach yield a systematic framework for all known forms but it also generates new types of production functions. Empirical application is also indicated.     

Economic growth,capital movements and the international transfer of technical knowledge

The paper analyzes the role of technological transfers in an international capital movement model by assuming that these transfers depend on the extent of foreign ownership of a country's capital stock. Compared to the standard model, two differences emerge. First, a negative relationship exists between a country's indebtedness and its capital intensity. Second, changes in saving ratios can affect a country's capital intensity. We also relax the assumption of continual equality between capital's domestic marginal product and the world interest rate. It is shown that multiple equilibria and cyclical approaches to the steady state can arise in a technological transfer model.     

Cost minimization analysis of beta-blocker at the time of CT imaging for suspected of coronary heart disease in Japan

Objectives:

To conduct a cost-minimization analysis of landiolol for CT diagnosis of coronary heart diseases in patients with tachycardia in Japan.

Methods:

A decision-tree model was constructed to analyze costs from the healthcare payer’s perspective. Drug costs and diagnosis costs, computer tomography coronary angiography (CTCA), and coronary angiography (CAG), are adopted to the model. Landiolol is administered only to slow the heart rate to take CT images appropriately. Since some trials proved that there was no difference between landiolol and placebo in terms of efficacy and safety, this study conducted cost-minimization analysis. Of those suspected of coronary heart diseases, 22.5% are thought to be taking beta-blockers. The success rates for CT scanning for landiolol and placebo, derived from domestic trial data, were 81.4% (96/118, 77.8–84.9%) and 54.2% (64/118, 49.7–58.8%). Patients who failed to take a CT image were thought to take CAG. The healthcare cost was derived from a Japanese fee schedule. Costs of landiolol, CT imaging, and CAG are JPY2634 (USD1?=?JPY100, as of November 20, 2013), JPY38,116, and JPY101,322, respectively. The positive rate for CAG, derived from domestic trial data, was 37.1% (33/89, 32.0–42.2%). Various sensitivity analyses, both univariate and probabilistic ones, were conducted.

Results:

In the base case analysis, expected costs per patient for landiolol and placebo were JPY78,956 and JPY82,232, respectively. In budget impact analysis, 81,062 patients are eligible for landiolol and it can save JPY266million for whole patients. Sensitivity analyses suggested the robustness of the results.

Limitations:

This study did not consider any adverse effects in the decision-tree model. This model was developed especially for measuring the cost-saving effect of landiolol, through decreasing the number of patients who require CAG, due to imaging failure.

Conclusions:

Landiolol for CTCA diagnosis in patients suspected of coronary heart disease with tachycardia is thought to be cost saving.     

Living on a plot of land as a tenure choice: The case of Panama

In this paper, we use analyze data from a survey of over thirteen hundred household housing-tenures in Panama. Our objective is to identify the features which determine whether households in a developing country such as Panama choose to rent or to buy housing properties, or alternatively to seek somewhat alternative tenure arrangements. In particular, we investigate the common characteristic of Panamanian households undertaking plot purchases with a view to future building. In order to analyze these alternative tenure arrangements we develop a series of log-linear models, in which dichotomous rent-versus-buy models are extended to include the possibility of plot purchasing with a view to future building. The extended models including plot purchases are seen to be superior to the dichotomous rent-versus-buy model in identifying which household characteristics are associated with particular housing-tenure decisions.     

Foreign direct investment,technology transfer and domestic employment effects

The paper investigates the relationship between foreign direct investment and domestic employment opportunities within the context of a multinational firm which is involved in transferring technology from its domestic to its foreign operations. The transfer of technology takes the form of a managerial input, which reflects the benefits of learning-by-doing acquired through cumulative gross domestic investment, in the foreign production function. The model predicts a positive domestic employment effect over the longer run because of a favorable interaction which is generated between the firm's domestic and foreign operations as a result of the transfer of managerial expertise.