Farmer organizations and maize productivity in rural Burkina Faso: The effects of the diversion strategy on cotton input loans

This study analyzes the impact of the diversion strategy of cotton inputs on maize productivity among farmer organization (FO) members in Burkina Faso, based on an endogenous treatment effect model. This impact is assessed by measuring the effects of the producers’ strategy of using part of their cotton inputs for growing other crops, such as maize. The data from a 2014 multisectoral survey in Burkina Faso were used. The main result is that maize productivity is 59.11% lower for FO members who divert their cotton inputs. We suggest the development of financing systems for cereals, similar to those in the cotton sector, and the establishment of monitoring the use of input credits.     

Service-Oriented Computing for intelligent train maintenance

The purpose of this work is to apply the servicization of enterprise information systems in maintenance, particularly in the management of the maintenance process of the component parts of trains. Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is an architectural approach that permits servicization since it provides a flexible set of design principles used during the modeling practices (abstraction and realization). With a view to supporting the model-driven engineering of software systems, Mode Driven Architecture (MDA) is a design approach delivering a set of guidelines for the configuring of specifications in systems development. Therefore, the combination of these two approaches can be fruitful to address the challenging issues the enterprise information system is facing today. Our study is based on a methodological approach using the MDA models for the automatic generation of web service. The case study concerns a Railways Maintenance Workshop (RMW) at Sidi Bel Abbes (Algeria). Finally, the information system for the management of maintenance of the component parts of passengers and baggage railcars, using the generated solution, is realized and deployed. This software helps to have better management of the RMW by the effective planning of interventions, improve performance by increasing reliability, traceability, and availability of the equipment (parts).     

The impact of income redistribution on aggregate consumption

Atlantic Economic Journal -     

Understanding wage determination in a multi-level bargaining system: a panel data analysis

This article presents an estimation of the elasticity of actual wages to industry-level collective bargaining thereby quantifying empirically the role of industry-level bargaining on wage determination. For this purpose, we use a unique employer–employee panel dataset covering the entire Belgian employment population over 9 years (1998–2006). Like several other European countries, e.g. Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands, Belgium has a relatively centralised wage bargaining system, with the industry level playing the most important role. Regression results confirm that wage increases collectively decided at the industry level are, on average, fully passed on to individual wages. In addition to industry-level bargaining, we are interested in the supplementary wage increases granted at the firm level, referred to as wage drift or wage cushion in the literature. Our estimates show that wage drift is affected by company size, by the economic performance of the industry and to a much lesser extent by labour market tensions as measured by the local unemployment rate. Interestingly, our results show that industry-level bargaining also takes most of these features into account.     

Cost-effectiveness of pembrolizumab in combination with chemotherapy in the 1st line treatment of non-squamous NSCLC in the US

Abstract

Aims: To describe cost-effectiveness of pembrolizumab plus platinum and pemetrexed chemotherapy in metastatic, non-squamous, NSCLC patients in the US.

Materials and methods: A model is developed utilizing partitioned survival analysis to estimate the cost-effectiveness of KEYNOTE-189 trial comparators pembrolizumab?+?chemotherapy (carboplatin/cisplatin?+?pemetrexed) vs chemotherapy alone. Clinical efficacy, treatment utilization, health utility, and safety data are derived from the trial and projected over 20 years. For extrapolating survival beyond the trial, a novel SEER population-data approach is applied (primary analysis), with separate estimation via traditional parametric extrapolation methods. Costs for drugs and non-drug disease management are also incorporated. Based on an indirect treatment comparison, cost-effectiveness of pembrolizumab?+?chemotherapy vs pembrolizumab monotherapy is evaluated for patients with programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1)?≥?50%.

Results: In the full non-squamous population, pembrolizumab?+?chemotherapy is projected to increase life expectancy by 2.04 years vs chemotherapy (3.96 vs 1.92), for an approximate doubling of life years. Resultant incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) are $104,823/QALY and $87,242/life year. In patients with PD-L1?≥?50% and 1–49%, life expectancy is more than doubled (4.53 vs 1.88 years) and (4.87 vs 2.01 years), with a 32% (2.60 vs 1.97 years) increase in PD-L1?<?1% patients. Corresponding incremental costs/quality-adjusted life year (QALY) are $103,402, $66,837, and $183,529 for PD-L1?≥?50%, 1–49%, and <1% groups, respectively. Versus pembrolizumab monotherapy in PD-L1?≥?50% patients, representing current standard of care, pembrolizumab?+?chemotherapy increases life expectancy by 65% (4.53 vs 2.74 years) at an ICER of $147,365/QALY.

Limitations and conclusions: The addition of pembrolizumab to chemotherapy is projected to extend life expectancy to a point not previously seen in previously untreated metastatic non-squamous NSCLC. Although ICERs vary by sub-group and comparator, results suggest pembrolizumab?+?chemotherapy yields ICERs near, or in most cases, well below a 3-times US per capita GDP threshold of $180,000/QALY, and may be a cost-effective first-line treatment for metastatic non-squamous NSCLC patients.