The relation between two different notions of direct and indirect input requirements

Ki-Jun Jeong (1982) proposed to distinguish between the notion of direct and indirect input requirements to support a unit of final demand (r_f) and that to produce a unit of gross output (r_g) in the open input-output model. In this note the two notions are related by the relation r_f = r_gc₁₁, where c₁₁ is direct and indirect output requirements to support a unit of final demand, or c₁₁ = 1 + r_f.     

Social orders,and a <Emphasis Type="Italic">weak</Emphasis> form of the Hayek–Friedman Hypothesis

This paper contributes to a theoretical underpinning of the economic freedom–political freedom relationship. We use the theory of social orders (North et al. in Violence and social orders: a conceptual framework for understanding recorded human history, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2009) to look at the Hayek–Friedman Hypothesis (HFH), which leads us to propose a novel interpretation. The core insight of our weak interpretation of the hypothesis is that economic freedom is a necessary condition for maintaining political freedom in open access order countries (countries with high levels of both freedoms), i.e., once achieved, political freedom needs economic freedom to be stable; but the HFH is not relevant for limited access orders (rent-seeking-dominated orders). We find empirical support for the weak interpretation with canonical correlations and conditional logit regressions, using a panel database for 122 countries for the period 1980–2011.     

Persistency of Turkish export shocks: a quantile autoregression (QAR) approach

This study analyzes the persistency of total and disaggregated Turkish exports for different shock magnitudes using the quantile autoregression (QAR) method in line with Koenker and Xiao (J Am Stat Assoc 99:775–787, 2004). The results suggest that the persistence of shocks are not similar across different quantiles of Total Exports and disaggregated export sectors, indicating an asymmetry in the case of negative and positive shocks across different export sectors. The persistency behavior of Total Exports as well as Food and Beverages, Chemicals, Basic Metals, Raw Materials, Motor Vehicles and Radio & TV exports are asymmetric to negative versus positive shocks, which cannot be captured by traditional unit root tests. Thus, sound interpretation of QAR results is necessary for policy makers to identify shock characteristics and thereby pursue appropriate policies for overcoming adverse impacts on the economy.     

Spatial econometric Monte Carlo studies: raising the bar

We discuss Monte Carlo methodology that can be used to explore alternative approaches to estimating spatial regression models. Our focus is on models that include spatial lags of the dependent variable, e.g., the SAR specification. A major point is that practitioners rely on scalar summary measures of direct and indirect effects estimates to interpret the impact of changes in explanatory variables on the dependent variable of interest. We argue that these should be the focus of Monte Carlo experiments. Since effects estimates reflect a nonlinear function of both \(\beta \) and \(\rho \), past studies’ focus exclusively on \(\beta \) and \(\rho \) parameter estimates may not provide useful information regarding statistical properties of effects estimates produced by alternative estimators. Since effects estimates have recently become the focus of inference regarding the significance of (scalar summary) direct and indirect impacts arising from changes in the explanatory variables, empirical measures of dispersion produced by simulating draws from the (estimated) variance–covariance matrix of the parameters \(\beta \) and \(\rho \) should be part of the Monte Carlo study. An implication is that differences in the quality of estimated variance–covariance matrices arising from alternative estimators also plays a role in determining the accuracy of inference. An applied illustration is used to demonstrate how these issues can impact conclusions regarding the performance of alternative estimators.     

Estimating direct and indirect rebound effects for U.S. households with input–output analysis Part 1: Theoretical framework

This is the first part of a two-part paper providing an analytical model of the indirect rebound effect, given a direct rebound estimate, that integrates consumer demand theory with the embodied energy of household spending from environmentally-extended input–output analysis. The second part applies the model developed in part one to simulate the direct and indirect rebound for the average U.S. household in terms of primary energy, CO₂e, NO_x, and SO₂ emissions and for energy efficiency investments in electricity, natural gas, or gasoline services. Part one provides a critical review of the largely independent economic and industrial ecology literatures on the indirect rebound. By studying the two-goods case and the n-goods case, we demonstrate that the indirect rebound is bounded by the consumer budget constraint, and inversely related to the direct rebound. We also compare the common proportional spending and income elasticity spending assumptions with our model of cross-price elasticities including both substitution and income effects for the indirect rebound. By assuming zero incremental capital costs and the same embodied energy as conventional technologies for efficient appliances, we model an upper bound of the indirect rebound. Future work should also consider the increase in consumer welfare possible through the rebound effect.     

Tops-only domains

In this paper we consider the standard voting model with a finite set of alternatives A and n voters and address the following question: what are the characteristics of domains \({\mathcal D}\) that induce the property that every strategy-proof social choice function \({f: {\mathcal D}^n \rightarrow A}\) satisfying unanimity, has the tops-only property? We first impose a minimal richness condition which ensures that for every alternative a, there exists an admissible ordering where a is maximal. We identify conditions on \({\mathcal D}\) that are sufficient for strategy-proofness and unanimity to imply tops onlyness in the general case of n voters and in the special case, n = 2. We provide an algorithm for constructing tops-only domains from connected graphs with elements of A as nodes. We provide several applications of our results. Finally, we relax the minimal richness assumption and partially extend our results.     

Economic impact of severe and non-severe hypoglycemia in patients with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes in the United States

Abstract

Objective:

To identify the direct and indirect costs of hypoglycemia in patients with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) in the US setting.     

Burden of illness: direct and indirect costs among persons with hemophilia A in the United States

Abstract

Objective:

To examine the direct and indirect costs of hemophilia care among persons with hemophilia A in the US.     

Direct and indirect healthcare resource utilization and costs associated with ulcerative colitis in a privately-insured employed population in the US

Abstract

Objective:

To assess direct and indirect healthcare resource utilization and costs of privately insured US employees with ulcerative colitis (UC) from a societal perspective.     

The direct and indirect costs of long bone fractures in a working age US population

Abstract

Objective:

Information regarding the burden of fractures is limited, especially among working age patients. The objective of this study was to evaluate the direct and indirect costs associated with long bone fractures in a working age population using real-world claims data.     

Die Wahlabhängigkeit wirtschaftspolitischer Maßnahmen

Summary In the last years, some publications appeared where so-called political-economic cycles were postulated.Hubka andObermann in one of the last issues of Empirica tried to find empirical evidence for this theory from the economic development in Austria. An examination of the methods applied in this study shows: The result do not proof as a (secure) evidence for or against the existence of any cyclical setting of administered prices and public expenditures. Finally some conditions are discussed, which must be fulfilled to bring about cyclical economic policies; informational requirements are shown, which are important for empirical verification.     

Measuring inequality change in an economy with income growth

This paper analyzes how to measure changes in inequality in an economy with income growth. The discussion distinguishes three stylized kinds of economic growth:

• 1.(1) high income sector enrichment,
• 2.(2) low income sector enrichment,
• 3.(3) high income sector enlargement, in which the high income sector expands and absorbs persons from the low income sector.

Th e two enrichment types pose no problem for assessing inequality change in the course of economic growth: for high income sector enrichment growth, inequality might reasonably be said to increase, whereas for low income sector enrichment, inequality might be said to decrease. These adjustments are non-controversial and non-problematical. Where problems arise is in the case of high income sector enlargement growth. In that case, the two alternative approaches have been shown in this paper to yield markedly results:

• 1.(1) The traditional inequality indices generate an inverted-U pattern of inequality. That is, inequality rises in the early stages of high income sector enlargement growth and falls thereafter.
• 2.(2) The new approach suggested here, based on axioms of gap inequality and numerical inequality, generates a U pattern of inequality. That is, inequality falls in the early stages of high income sector enlargement growth and rises thereafter.

The discrepancy between the familiar indices and the alternative approach based on axioms of gap inequality and numerical inequality bears further scrutiny. Two courses of action are possible. One might try to axiomatize inequality in ways that generate an inverted-U pattern in high income sector enlargement growth, thereby rationalizing the continued use of the usual inequality indices with the inverted-U property. Alternatively, one might retain the axioms proposed here, embed them into a more formal structure, and construct a family of inequality indices consistent with them. Others might wish to pursue the first course; I am at work on the second.     

The origins and evolution of democracy: an exercise in history from a constitutional economics approach

In this article the conditions for the rise and fall of representative regimes are explored. High citizen mobility and unexploited opportunities for investment create the need of reassuring factor owners against the tax hunger of the State. This may lead to the emergence of representative institutions of government, a process that reverts when those conditions disappear. Factors that facilitate or restrain the mobility of citizenry are identified, mainly in the domain of military technology. Thus, a number of interrelations between production and war technologies, political development and economic performance are revealed, giving rise to an interpretation of historical evolution.

Trade-induced Industrialization and Economic Growth

Based on a modified Heckscher-Ohlin model of Deardorff and Park (2010 Deardorff, A. and Park, J.-H. 2010. A story of trade-induced industrialization. International Economic Journal, 24: 283–296. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]), this paper develops a dynamic model of trade-induced industrialization and economic growth. It shows that a developing country may grow out of its autarky steady state with no industrialization into a new steady state with full industrialization by opening to trade with a large industrialized country, exporting the labor-intensive intermediate input in exchange for the capital-intensive intermediate input for the modern good. Even when the developing country is on its path toward complete industrialization under autarky, free trade may induce it to grow faster with its return to capital being raised and sustained at a level that is higher than its autarky level during its industrialization process. Once it completes its industrialization process by having all of its resources in the modern sector, then diminishing returns to capital come back to accompany further capital accumulation, slowing down the growth of the economy. This trade-induced industrialization and economic growth, having an expansion of international trade both in its absolute value and in its ratio to the size of the developing country, correspond well with the dynamic profiles of East Asian Miracle countries’ economic growth based on their export-oriented industrialization strategy.     

Uniform payoff security and Nash equilibrium in compact games

We introduce a condition, uniform payoff security, for games with compact Hausdorff strategy spaces and payoffs bounded and measurable in players’ strategies. We show that if any such compact game G is uniformly payoff secure, then its mixed extension is payoff secure. We also establish that if a uniformly payoff secure compact game G has a mixed extension with reciprocally upper semicontinuous payoffs, then G has a Nash equilibrium in mixed strategies. We provide several economic examples of compact games satisfying uniform payoff security.     

Clinical and economic impact of mirabegron compared with antimuscarinics for the treatment of overactive bladder in Canada

Background: The β₃-adrenoceptor agonist, mirabegron, and antimuscarinic agents provide similar efficacy for the treatment of overactive bladder (OAB), but mirabegron appears to be associated with better persistence, perhaps due to an absence of anticholinergic side-effects. This study estimated the expected costs associated with the management of OAB in Canada from a societal perspective by utilizing real-world evidence.

Methods: An economic model with monthly cycles and a 1-year time horizon was developed to depict a treatment pathway for a hypothetical cohort of 100 patients with OAB. At model entry, patients receive mirabegron or an antimuscarinic. Patients who do not persist may switch treatment, undergo a minimally invasive procedure, or remain symptomatic (uncontrolled). The model includes direct costs (e.g. physician visits) and indirect costs (e.g. lost productivity). A one-way univariate sensitivity analysis assessed a ±20% variation in each of the key model inputs.

Results: At 1 year, a greater proportion of patients persisted on treatment with mirabegron compared with antimuscarinics (33% vs 15–23%), and a smaller proportion switched treatment (17% vs 20–22%). The number of healthcare visits (292 vs 299–304), pads used (74,098 vs 77,878–81,669), and work hours lost (4,497 vs 5,372–6,249) were all lower for mirabegron vs antimuscarinics. The estimated total annual cost of treatment per patient with mirabegron was $2,127.46 Canadian dollars (CAD) ($5.82 CAD/day) compared with $2,150.20–$2,496.69 CAD ($5.89–$6.84 CAD/day) for antimuscarinics. The one-way sensitivity analysis indicated the results are robust.

Conclusions: Improved persistence observed in routine clinical practice with mirabegron appears to translate into benefits of reduced healthcare resource use, and lower direct and indirect costs of treatment compared with antimuscarinics. Overall, these data suggest that mirabegron may offer clinical and economic benefits for the management of patients with OAB in Canada.     

Antiepileptic drug treatment patterns and economic burden of commercially-insured patients with refractory epilepsy with partial onset seizures in the United States

Abstract

Objective:

To assess the economic burden in direct healthcare utilization and costs for refractory epileptic patients with partial onset seizures (POS) and assess the antiepileptic drug (AED) treatment patterns among these patients.     

Aggregation and the existence of a social utility function

In a well-known paper Gorman (Econometrica21 (1953)) established that the necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of an aggregate, or social, utility function, independent of the distribution of income, is that all individuals' income consumption paths be parallel straight lines. Recently Chipman (J. Econ. Theory8 (1974)), building on the paper of Hurwicz and Uzawa (in “Preference Utility and Demand”) has shown that if the distribution of income is proportional and individual preferences are homothetic, aggregate consumption behavior obeys the necessary integrability conditions. It is shown here that the consistency of aggregate behavior can be derived from more general conditions than the ones used by Chipman and Gorman. Examples of demand systems from which aggregate behavior implies a social utility function are provided. It is then shown that if individual demand functions are linear in income—a form employed by both Gorman and Chipman—it is not necessary that the distribution of income be fixed.     

Economic impact of hypoglycemia among insulin-treated patients with diabetes

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the cost of hypoglycemic events among insulin-treated patients with diabetes and the potential cost savings to a hypothetical US health plan and employer of reducing hypoglycemic events with a device intervention.

Methods: A cost-calculator model was developed to estimate the direct costs of hypoglycemic events, accounting for diabetes type, age, and event severity. Model inputs were derived from published incidence rates of hypoglycemic events and direct medical costs. Assumed intervention efficacy was based on published studies of an emerging technology which yielded 72.2% (LGS Trial; ACTRN12610000024044) and 31.8% (ASPIRE Trial; NCT01497938) reductions in severe and non-severe hypoglycemic events, respectively. Model outcomes—including the number of severe (requiring medical assistance) and non-severe events, and direct/indirect medical costs (excluding intervention costs)—were evaluated over a 1-year period for a hypothetical health plan and employer perspectives.

Results: In a health plan with 10 million enrollees, patients without the intervention would have experienced 0.09 and 14.60 severe and non-severe hypoglycemic events per patient per year (PPPY), respectively (vs 0.02 severe and 9.96 non-severe events with the intervention). This translated into total direct medical cost savings of $45 million ($177 PPPY) for the health plan. For an employer with 100,000 employees, the intervention would have yielded additional savings of $492 PPPY in indirect costs.

Conclusion: Insulin-treated patients experience hypoglycemic events, which are associated with substantial direct and indirect medical costs. The cost savings of reducing hypoglycemic events need to be weighed against the costs of using diabetes device interventions.