Open access,common property and scarcity rent in fisheries

Open access resources are frequently not managed efficiently, resulting in falling stock levels and a declining income for fishermen. In the late 1970's, the policy response to this problem was the implementation of 200-mile fishing zones, which enabled the European Union to formulate and implement the Common Fisheries Policy, aimed at (among other things) conservation and distribution of available stocks. In Germany, this shift from an open access regime towards a common property regime had favourable outcomes. The trend of falling prices was reversed. The conclusion was that intertemporal efficiency had increased as a result of (inter)governmental policy. Apparently, a wedge was formed between price and marginal harvesting costs, implying that scarcity rent had returned as a component of prices.     

Technologies,preferences, and policies for a sustainable use of natural resources

We discuss eight contributions that combine the topics of sustainable natural resource use and economic dynamics. In the first part we consider enhanced oil recovery (EOR), carbon capture and storage (CCS), as well as innovations allowing for energy-efficiency improvements and renewable energy cost reductions. We discuss how to include these technologies and innovations in CGE models, how each of them has different effects on the timing of emissions and abatement and on total emissions, and how (first-best as well as second-best) complementary policies (in particular, emission taxes and innovation subsidies) differ across these technologies. In the second part we compare differences in intergenerational preferences towards resource conservation - altruistic preferences and concern for social status from relative consumption -and also found sharply contrasting effects across the alternative assumptions.     

Cost per remission and cost per response with infliximab,adalimumab, and golimumab for the treatment of moderately-to-severely active ulcerative colitis

Abstract

Objective:

To determine the short-term costs per sustained remission and sustained response of three tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (infliximab, adalimumab, and golimumab) in comparison to conventional therapy for the treatment of moderately-to-severely active ulcerative colitis.     

Time,Arbitrage, and the Law of One Price: The Case for a Paradigm Shift

Consider a Competitive, Efficient, and Frictionless Economy (CEFE) where resources are scarce at any date, and hence money as a valid claim against scarce resources is also scarce. In this economy, there is always price competition, which can at any date generate an unlimited number of arbitrage opportunities. For example, at any date, opportunities can exist to buy and sell each one of the contracts for delivery of the same good or asset at multiple prices currently as well as on an infinite number of future dates. I prove all arbitrage transactions, including “spot” transactions, tie up arbitrageurs’ capital representing money, good or asset such that this capital cannot be used for any other purpose for a non-zero quantity of time. This makes it impossible to exploit all arbitrage opportunities with the scarce capital available at any date and leads to an infinite number of unexploited opportunities and a non-negligible opportunity cost of the capital tied-up in arbitrage transactions, represented by each arbitrageur’s best missed arbitrage opportunity, if no better opportunity exits, hence the breakdown of the law of one price in its standard sense. This helps construct a new paradigm of CEFE which resolves long-standing theoretical, empirical, and experimental puzzles.     

Trade,Migration, and Inequality in a World without Factor Price Equalization

The behavior of trading economies in the absence of factor price equalization is not well understood, although empirical evidence against factor price equalization is overwhelming. We map regions of diversification and specialization for competitive world economies with different factor endowment partitions. Goods and factor price responses as economies move within and across different regions of specialization are explored using a series of novel diagrams. The usefulness of endogenizing patterns of specialization is illustrated by considering the impact on inequality of migration flows (such as US–Mexico), the substitutability of trade and migration, and the impact of the entry of a large unskilled labor‐intensive economy (such as China) on factor prices and factor flows.     

Innovation, efficiency, and the quantitative and qualitative demand for human resources

The effects of three kinds of technological changes on employment are considered: (1) basic and major improvement innovations, (2) medium improvement and incremental innovations, and (3) small incremental and pseudoinnovations. The relation between innovation, investment, and employment is studied for the German Democratic Republic (GDR) are the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). Finally, conclusions are drawn concerning the relation of education or skills to technological stages of industry development.     

People,skills, and resources: an interaction model for world population growth

A model is set up that yields the equation followed by world population (P), past and present: P = A/(D - t)^M, where t is time and A, D, and M are constants. Cumulated historical population estimates confirm this hyperbolical pattern first noticed by Cailleux, Meyer, and Foerster. Technological indices should grow according to the same pattern; partial confirmation of this part of the model is presented. The growth acceleration crisis that we are now facing may have had a counterpart around 4500 B.C., during the neolithic agricultural revolution. World-population projections up to 2000 A.D. are discussed in the light of the interaction model, with and without resource limitations.     

Fiscal Spending,Relative‐Price Dynamics,and Welfare in a World Economy*

This paper analyzes the dynamics of a 2 × 2 × 2 Heckscher–Ohlin model where foreign asset holdings and capital accumulation are independently determined by optimizing agents. Each country has two production sectors, both of whose products are used for consumption, and an investment sector, which uses one of the two commodities to accumulate real capital. In this setting we examine the effects of fiscal spending on the equilibrium paths of interest rates and prices and each country's lifetime utility. The welfare effect is found to consist of the static terms‐of‐trade effect, the dynamic foreign asset effect and the direct income‐loss effect.     

Price stickiness, trend inflation, and output dynamics: a cross‐country analysis

Abstract.  Sticky price models based on menu costs predict that countries with high trend inflation should have (i) smaller impact effects of demand shocks on output and (ii) less persistent output fluctuations, relative to low‐trend inflation countries. These predictions are tested, controlling for changes in trend inflation, using a country‐specific approach. The results do not support the second prediction. That prediction is also not robust to a modified measure of trend inflation that excludes episodes of hyperinflation. These findings suggest that while price stickiness is important for understanding short‐run impact effects, real propagation mechanisms may drive persistence in output fluctuations.     

Applying a third party access model for China’s gas pipeline network: an independent pipeline operator and congestion rent transfer

This paper investigates third party access regulatory issues in China’s natural gas industry. We study the development of China’s gas market-oriented reform and how third party access becomes a pressing issue in that context. This paper aims to report stakeholders’ benefit and distributional effects during a hypothetical third party access process. To that end, we apply an oligopolistic equilibrium model, based on the mixed complementarity problem, to China’s gas pipeline network. We compare two scenarios: a scenario without third party access and the other scenario where an independent pipeline operator optimizes flows. This latter scenario aims to guarantee that the maximum social benefit is achieved. In addition, the latter scenario transfers the congestion rent to former integrated gas companies to compensate their actual loss control of the pipeline operation, in order to minimize the adverse distributional effects for pipeline companies. The solution of the model indicates that operational separation is feasible with Pareto improvement in China’s context. Moreover, it merits particular attention from policy makers in China that pipeline capacity scarcity should be properly evaluated and managed.     

Predicting FDI inflows: Exploring a nonlinear relationship between peace years,oil wealth,and the rule of law

Despite previous studies investigating the impacts of various factors such as peace years, natural resources, and the rule of law on foreign direct investment (FDI), empirical findings remain inconclusive. Therefore, this study investigates the interplay between these factors in shaping host country conditions that facilitate FDI inflows. Using generalized additive models, we examine the simultaneous effects of peace years, oil wealth, and the rule of law on FDI inflows in a sample of non-OECD countries from 1970 to 2009. Our results reveal that established peace is a critical factor in attracting FDI inflows for both oil-exporting and non-oil-exporting countries. However, the effects of the rule of law vary depending on oil wealth. Oil-exporting countries receive more FDI inflows when they have a weak rather than a strong rule of law, while non-oil-exporting countries tend to receive more foreign investments when they have a moderately strong rule of law. We argue that countries with oil wealth combined with a moderately weak rule of law provide an environment that is conducive to multinational corporations (MNCs) in extractive industries seeking monopoly rents. Conversely, countries without oil wealth should create stable yet efficient environments that protect property rights and promote labor market flexibility to appeal to non-resource-seeking MNCs.     

Characteristics,comorbidities, and use of healthcare resources of patients with phenylketonuria: a population-based study

Abstract

Background: Phenylketonuria is a well-known disease, yet the characteristics of the affected population and their use of healthcare resources have not been comprehensively evaluated. Patient characteristics and use of resources are subjects of interest for most governments, especially for a disease included in newborn screening programs.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine characteristics and use of healthcare resources of patients with phenylketonuria in the region of Catalonia.

Methods: Records of 289 patients admitted with phenylketonuria between 2007 and 2017 were extracted from the PADRIS database that includes admission data from primary care centers, hospitals (inpatient and outpatient care), extended care facilities, and mental health centers.

Results: The patient population was composed of 140 male patients and 149 female patients, and 102 patients were registered via newborn screening during the study period. Patients were admitted on average 2.19 times per year, mostly into primary care centers which concentrated the largest portion of direct medical expenses. Similar percentages of urgent and scheduled admissions were registered both in primary care and hospitals. Annual direct medical cost of treating patients with phenylketonuria was €667 per patient. Finally, 66.80% of the patients suffered from chronic conditions affecting two or more systems, likely to correspond to a wide variety of conditions.

Conclusions: Altogether, phenylketonuria patient demographics and direct medical costs in Catalonia have been revised. Patients diagnosed with phenylketonuria appeared 1.3-times more likely to suffer from chronic conditions in distinct organ systems, which is expected to have an effect on their use of healthcare resources. These results support the need to adapt and improve the healthcare system, taking multimorbidity into consideration in an effort to control the medical expenses derived.     

Relative Price Changes, Wages and Unemployment in a Specific Factors Model with Search Frictions

This paper analyzes the effects of changes in the relative product price on wages and unemployment of a small open economy in a specific factors model characterized by search frictions. It shows that unemployment and wages move in opposite directions, i.e., high unemployment is associated with low wages and low unemployment with high wages. The reason for the employment effect is found to be individual wage bargaining.     

Optimal Price Rules,Administered Prices and Suboptimal Prevention: Evidence from a Medicare Program

Pricing methodologies in Medicare vary from one component of the system to another, often leading to conflicting incentives. Failure to recognize linkages may result in inefficient allocation of resources and higher overall costs. To motivate the analysis, I derive pricing rules for a welfare-maximizing regulator. I show that while optimal inpatient payments are standard Ramsey prices, optimal outpatient payments must incorporate net loss due to unnecessary hospitalizations, as well as supply elasticities. Ignoring this leads the myopic regulator to underprovide preventive services. The dialysis program is a useful case for empirical investigation, since payments for maintenance care are more rigidly determined than payments for related hospital care. Given constant prices, empirical analysis focuses on the effect of dialysis intensity on hospital use. Results indicate that greater dialysis intensity reduces hospital use, even at levels considered more than adequate. A simple cost-benefit calculation suggests that for every dollar of additional spending on outpatient intensity, about $2 in hospital expenditures can be saved. This suggests that the current pricing structure within aspects of the Medicare program is inefficient, underscoring the problem of regulatory myopia.     

Socio-ecological accounting: DPSWR,a modified DPSIR framework,and its application to marine ecosystems

In contrast to institutionally focussed environmental accounting, socio-ecological accounting frameworks organise information concerned with human–environment interactions at scales relevant to ecosystem change and thus encapsulate information more relevant to ecosystem-based management. The DPSIR (Driver–Pressure–State–Impact–Response) framework has been used to identify relevant information in a number of ecosystem contexts but suffers limitations in terms of its definitional clarity and conceptual foundations, which undermine comparability between studies. These limitations are addressed in the DPSWR (Driver–Pressure–State–Welfare–Response) framework, which defines information categories based on a synthesis of concepts in DPSIR and its predecessors so as to more clearly identify the object of measurement in each category and isolate information relating to social systems. Consequently, its categories dealing with social systems are better suited to assessing anthropocentric trade-offs in environmental decision-making, such as through cost–benefit analysis. A conceptual input–output analysis is used to highlight measurement issues connected with the inter-relations between information categories, particularly with regard to scale, and the application of the framework is illustrated by reference to issues affecting marine ecosystems included in a Europewide study for the European Commission. However, DPSWR's definitions are designed to be sufficiently general as to support application in other ecosystem contexts.     

Retirements at risk: employees lack a comprehensive, realistic view of resources and needs

Employees who are following conventional retirement-planning advice will be in for a rude awakening as they approach retirement and discover that they can't afford to retire just yet or are likely to outlive their retirement funds. The article discusses how we have arrived at this point, what the implications are, and what both employers and employees can do to remedy the situation.     

Bond Price and Impulse Response Function for the Balduzzi, Das, Foresi and Sundaram (1996) Model

In this paper, we analyse the Affine Term Structure Model (ATSM) proposed by Balduzzi, Das, Foresi and Sundaram (BDFS, 1996) and provide the closed-form expression of the bond price. In addition, we extend the notion of Impulse Response Function to the class of ATSM. We show that it is closely related to the duration measure, and we compute it explicitly in the BDFS model.     

股票期权激励:人力资源管理新机制

作为对传统年薪制的改进,股票期权激励方案把金融市场上规避风险的衍生金融工具——期权与公司治理相结合,产生了委托——代理关系中人力资源管理的最新激励机制。同时,它把期望理论的努力——绩效——奖励关系中的“绩效”变为长期经营绩效,约束了企业经营中的短期行为。在社会主义市场经济中,有必要和可能因地制宜地引进并构造出中国式的股票期权激励方案,以使企业在经营管理,特别是人力资源的管理方面走出一条新路。股票期权激励——现代企业管理中的创新随着现代企业制度的建立和完善,我国企业的所有权和经营权将进一步分离,从…