The effect of science and technology parks on firms’ performance: how can firms benefit most under economic downturns?

The objective of this research is to evaluate the effect of the economic recession on the performance of firms located in science or technological parks. Compared to off-park firms, we propose that under an economic crisis park benefits are more noticeable, since firms located inside parks have less resource restraints and access to external sources of information and knowledge. Moreover, we observe that as firms invest on internal R&D, they tend to reinforce these park benefits. Empirical evidence gathered data on employment and sales from 2007 to 2012 for the group of firms which participated in the Spanish Technological Innovation Panel. The results confirm the positive role played by science and technology park locations under economic downturn environments, especially when firms investing in internal R&D.     

Lessons from Constitutional Culture and the History of Constitutional Transfer: A Hope for Constitutionally Limited Government?

The literature shows a clear correlation between sound constitutional environments and human flourishing. However, the path to adoption of sound constitutions is much less clear. This paper turns to the history of constitutional transfer to propose an alternative to taxonomies offered in the literature, which typically classify constitutions either by governmental structure (presidential v. parliamentary, or centralized v. federalist) or by source of influence (e.g. US 1787, Spain 1812, France 1958). These classifications are found wanting; instead, this paper proposes a new taxonomy based on the origin of the constitutional ideas and adoption. Formal constitutional parchment must match informal constitutional culture, so a constitution’s likelihood of success is greatest when the ideas are indigenous; the source of adoption is ultimately secondary. The paper closes with four case studies of constitutional transfer and adoption.     

Going out of the Great Recession? Contrast between the United States and Europe: Proposed work from economic history, 1960–2014

In recent work, the authors have proposed to the United States a model that explains the trend behavior of the rate of profit from share surplus, capital productivity, and the coefficient of financialization. The main results of the explanatory model allow the authors to affirm that with the change of control of Keynesianism to neoliberalism since 1980, there has been a substantial fall in the profit rate to half the values achieved in the years of Keynesian regulation (1945–1973). This significant fall in the level of benefits is due to a substantial fall in capital productivity. The authors are currently working on adapting the explanatory model for the U.S. economy to the main countries of the European Union (Germany, France, Italy, United Kingdom, and Spain). The results show that the pattern of behavior of the variables described in the reference country—the world capitalist economic system, the United States—is repeated more or less precisely in the main countries of the European Union; Germany, France, Italy, United Kingdom, and Spain.     

Healthcare resource utilization in patients receiving idarucizumab for reversal of dabigatran anticoagulation due to major bleeding,urgent surgery,or procedural interventions: interim results from the RE-VERSE AD™ study

Aims: Patients treated with anticoagulants may experience serious bleeding or require urgent surgery or intervention, and may benefit from rapid anticoagulant reversal. This exploratory analysis assessed healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) in patients treated with idarucizumab, a specific reversal agent for dabigatran etexilate.

Materials and methods: RE-VERSE AD? (NCT02104947), a prospective, multi-center open-label study, is evaluating idarucizumab for dabigatran reversal in patients with serious bleeding (Group A) or undergoing emergency surgery/procedures (Group B). HCRU outcome measures evaluated in the first 90 patients enrolled were use of blood products and pro-hemostatic agents, length of stay (LOS) in hospital, and LOS in intensive care unit (ICU).

Results: Blood products or pro-hemostatic agents were given to 63% (32/51) of patients in Group A and 23% (9/39) of patients in Group B on the day of/day after surgery. An overnight hospital stay was reported for 82% (42/51) of patients in Group A with median LOS?=?7 (range?=?1–71) bed-days. For Group B, 92% (36/39) had an overnight hospital stay with a median LOS?=?9 (range?=?1–92) bed-days. In Group A, 17 patients were admitted to the ICU for at least 1?day with median LOS?=?4 (range?=?1–44) days; in Group B the number was 15 with median LOS?=?2 (range?=?1–92) days.

Limitations: The lack of a control group and the small patient numbers limit the strength of the conclusions.

Conclusions: The use of idarucizumab may simplify emergency management of dabigatran-treated patients with life-threatening bleeds and reduce perioperative complications in patients undergoing emergency surgery.     

Laying the Tracks for Successful Science,Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education: What Can We Learn from Comparisons of Immigrant–Native Achievement in the USA?

This paper examines the immigrant–native achievement gap in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields in college in the USA. Using student survey data from the Beginning Postsecondary Longitudinal Studies 2004/09, I find that on average immigrant students have significantly higher rates entering and persisting in STEM fields compared to their native counterparts. There is, however, considerable variation across immigrant generations and race and ethnicity. The immigrant attainment advantage is particularly large among first‐generation Asian and white immigrant students who attended foreign K–12 schools. I explore the channels leading to the achievement gap, including socioeconomic status, individual preferences, and academic preparation in math and science. Results suggest that the immigrant STEM advantage is largely due to better academic preparation in math and science in high school. This indicates that improvements in students' college STEM attainment may depend crucially on policy efforts devoted to strengthening the quality of high school math and science education.     

Registered nurses: the impact of wages on labour force participation and hours worked – are wages an effective mechanism for addressing RN shortages with evidence from 1960 to 2008?

Registered nurses (RNs) are critical producers and coordinators of patient care in acute and non-acute settings (Needleman et al. 2011). The Affordable Care Act coupled with an ageing population, are increasing demand for health care and, in turn, RNs. Numbering 3 million, RNs comprise the largest professional occupation in health care. Therefore, the labour force participation and hours worked are of keen interest to stakeholders and policymakers. Rising demand may exacerbate nursing shortages and have important effects on costs. We estimate the impact of wages on participation and hours worked as a possible policy tool to increase nursing supply. In 2008, the RN wage had a positive and significant effect on participation and a small positive but only marginally significant effect on hours worked given participation. The latter elasticity for married females (single females) was 0.11 (0.33). Therefore, the elasticity of hours worked with respect to the nurse wage is and unlikely to have an important effect on the participation rates or hours worked of currently trained female RNs. Consequently, wage increases are unlikely to be an effective policy to increase the labour supply among the currently licensed RNs and will not relieve any short-term nursing shortage.