Cost-effective care a phone call away: a nurse-managed telephonic program for patients with chronic heart failure

Health care providers and health care systems are challenged to find cost-effective ways to address the costs associated with heart failure. A multidisciplinary team of nurses, physicians, pharmacists, and dieticians was assembled at New Hanover Regional Medical Center (Wilmington, NC) to develop strategies to decrease the readmission rate without compromising patient care. The team developed a disease management program that included comprehensive inpatient education, as well as an outpatient telephonic program to reinforce education after discharge. Goals were to reduce readmissions of patients with heart failure, to decrease the cost per case of each patient with chronic heart failure, and to reduce the length of stay for patients who were readmitted. The CHF Telephonic Program was extremely successful in meeting patient-focused and organizational goals related to readmissions, length of stay, and cost of care.     

When nursing takes ownership of financial outcomes: achieving exceptional financial performance through leadership, strategy, and execution

With nurses and unlicensed supportive personnel composing the greatest percentage of the workforce at any hospital, it is not surprising nursing leadership plays an increasing role in the attainment of financial goals. The nursing leadership team at one academic medical center reduced costs by more than $10 million over 4 years while outperforming national benchmarks on nurse-sensitive quality indicators. The most critical success factor in attaining exceptional financial performance is a personal and collective accountability to achieving outcomes. Whether it is financial improvement, advancing patient safety, or ensuring a highly engaged workforce, success will not be attained without thoughtful, focused leadership. The accountability model ensures there is a culture built around financial performance where nurses and leaders think and act, on a daily basis, in a manner necessary to understand opportunities, find answers, and overcome obstacles. While structures, processes, and tools may serve as the means to achieve a target, it is leadership's responsibility to set the right goal and motivate others.     

Biased managers as strategic commitment: The relative profit approach

This paper analyzes a duopolistic model wherein each firm׳s owner can hire a biased manager for strategic reasons. We focus on the situation wherein each firm׳s owner evaluates the performance of her/his manager on the basis of her/his relative profit, which is equal to the weighted sum of her/his absolute profit and the absolute profit of her/his opponent firm. We show that in both price-setting and quantity-setting competitions, the owners of the two private firms employ aggressive managers rather than absolute profit maximizing managers regardless of the degree of importance of each firm׳s relative performance. Furthermore, in both the price competition and the quantity competition, as the degree of importance of each firm׳s relative performance increases, we show that the firms׳ owners tend to hire more aggressive managers when the degree of importance of each firm׳s relative performance is sufficiently low, whereas in both the price competition and the quantity competition, the firms׳ owners tend to hire less aggressive managers otherwise. Thus, in both the price competition and the quantity competition, the type of each firm׳s manager is not monotone with respect to the degree of each firm׳s relative performance. Thus, in both the price competition and the quantity competition, we find that the change in the optimal type of manager hired by each firm is non-monotone against the change of competitiveness in the market with the increase in the degree of importance of each firm׳s relative performance.     

建党百年之际率先开启常态化进程的中国宏观经济

2021年是中国共产党建党一百周年,是在党的坚强领导下中国经济持续复苏并在全球范围内率先开启常态化进程的关键一年。作为十四五规划的开局之年、两个百年目标交汇与战略转换之年,2021年中国宏观经济实现全面常态化具有十分重要的战略意义。本文重点分析了中国经济开启常态化进程的核心特征表现、面临的内外部压力以及政策性支撑力量。通过定性判断与设定系列参数,本文利用中国人民大学中国宏观经济分析与预测模型（CMAFM模型）对2021年中国宏观经济核心指标进行了预测。最后,基于定性判断和数值预测,本文提出了系列政策建议。     

Robustness to strategic uncertainty

We introduce a criterion for robustness to strategic uncertainty in games with continuum strategy sets. We model a player's uncertainty about another player's strategy as an atomless probability distribution over that player's strategy set. We call a strategy profile robust to strategic uncertainty if it is the limit, as uncertainty vanishes, of some sequence of strategy profiles in which every player's strategy is optimal under his or her uncertainty about the others. When payoff functions are continuous we show that our criterion is a refinement of Nash equilibrium and we also give sufficient conditions for existence of a robust strategy profile. In addition, we apply the criterion to Bertrand games with convex costs, a class of games with discontinuous payoff functions and a continuum of Nash equilibria. We show that it then selects a unique Nash equilibrium, in agreement with some recent experimental findings.     

Terrorist backlash, terrorism mitigation, and policy delegation

This paper presents a three-stage proactive game involving terrorists, elected policymakers, and voters. In each of two targeted countries, a representative voter chooses an elected policymaker, charged with deciding proactive countermeasures to ameliorate a transnational terrorist threat. Two primary considerations drive the voters' strategic choice: free riding on the other countries' countermeasures and limiting a reprisal terrorist attack. The resulting low proactive countermeasures benefit the terrorists, whose attacks successfully exploit voters' strategic actions. This finding stems from a delegation problem where leadership by voters has a detrimental consequence on the well-being of targeted countries. Domestic politics add another layer of concern when addressing a common terrorist threat.     

On the political economy of minority rights. Three ways to manipulate a minority: Goals,rules, and border poles

Language rights for speakers of minority languages are analyzed as well-defined policy measures that are implemented in given jurisdictions. For the implementation of such rights in some countries, certain rules concerning the number and geographical distribution of the speakers of a minority language have to be fulfilled. We discuss, how a policy maker with a given attitude towards the minority can manipulate the policy to further his or her goals. We first provide a normative background for this type of language policy, a benchmark, analyzing language policy on the basis of welfare economics, first discussing why language policy is but one type of public policy, then defining and discussing the benefit or “demand” side assuming that benefits are basically proportional to the number of beneficiaries of the planning measure. We then argue that the costs of a planning measure can be described as a function of two variables, “number of beneficiaries” and “size of area of application”. This lets us analyze planning measures in a two-dimensional model fully characterized by the number of beneficiaries and their geographical distribution in the jurisdiction under consideration. Finally, we characterize the optimal size and extension of the jurisdictions where the language rights are to be implemented. It is then shown, how the policy maker can manipulate the goals of the policy, the implementation rules, as well as the borders of the jurisdictions in order to achieve her or his political goals when they differ from the cost-benefit optimum.     

Physician participation in health insurance plans: evidence on Blue Shield

Various health insurance programs, including Blue Shield, have developed arrangements whereby the physician agrees to accept the insurer's reimbursement as payment in full. Incentives facing the physician to accept an arrangement of this type are reviewed in this study. The empirical work uses data on individual physicians from a 1973 survey. The results indicate that physician willingness to accept insurer reimbursement as payment in full is sensitive to the amount the insurer pays for specific procedures and to other insurance program characteristics. Physicians located in high patient income areas and/or with relatively prestigious credentials are less likely to accept insurer payments as payment in full. The empirical findings are used to generate policy implications pertaining to the Medicare and Medicaid programs, to medical care quality-access tradeoffs, and to national health insurance.     

Network Games

In contexts ranging from public goods provision to information collection, a player's well-being depends on his or her own action as well as on the actions taken by his or her neighbours. We provide a framework to analyse such strategic interactions when neighbourhood structure, modelled in terms of an underlying network of connections, affects payoffs. In our framework, individuals are partially informed about the structure of the social network. The introduction of incomplete information allows us to provide general results characterizing how the network structure, an individual's position within the network, the nature of games (strategic substitutes vs. complements and positive vs. negative externalities) and the level of information shape individual behaviour and payoffs.     

New empirical evidence from assessing financial market integration,with application to Saudi Arabia

We examine whether data frequency, day of the week and econometric methodology matter in analyzing financial market integration. As case study, we investigate equity market comovements between Saudi Arabia and a set of international economies. Our findings take the literature forward and indicate that cross-market linkages are weak and subsample-dependent regardless of whether data are daily, weekly (whatever the weekday) or monthly and whatever the econometric approach. The results are relevant for investors who want to be more informed of promising investment opportunities, and for financial makers to take necessary policies to hedge against the effects of shocks.     

中国战略机遇期的财政问题

本文从总揽全局的高度探讨一些有时空跨度的重大问题，包括近10年来财政运行中的PI题与矛盾分析、财政矛盾产生的体制性分析、战略机遇期财政在改革发展中需要承担的任务、以及完成这些任务财政自身发展需要解决的问题四个方面。文章认为，经济中的诸多矛盾正呈现向财政集中的趋势；财政矛盾成为考察经济运行状况的一个窗口，其解决也必须着眼于体制；未来财政运行的效果直接影响到战略机遇期改革与发展目标的实现；财政职能总体上将进一步扩展。     

Reputation and Survival: Learning in a Dynamic Signalling Model

We consider the impact of reputation on the survival of a monopolist selling single units in discrete time periods, whose quality is learned slowly. If the seller learns her own quality at the same rate as customers, a sufficiently bad run of luck could induce her to stop selling. When she knows her quality, a good seller never stops selling though at low reputations a bad seller does with some probability. Furthermore, a seller with positive, though imperfect, information sells for the same number of periods whether her information is private or public. We further consider the robustness of the central result when the seller's opportunities for strategic behaviour are limited.     

基于平衡计分卡的高校后勤管理工作绩效评估研究

运用平衡计分卡探讨高校后勤管理工作的绩效评估是一个新途径,平衡计分卡不仅注重将战略与短期目标相结合,还重视内部指标和外部指标之间的平衡,更全面更具体的来衡量高校后勤管理工作的绩效水平。根据高校后勤部门产出的不同将后勤部门划分为营利性部门和非营利性部门两种,分别基于平衡计分卡设计出高校后勤的绩效评估指标体系,并分析在应用平衡计分卡对高校后勤管理工作进行绩效评估时可能出现的困难。     

The Goals of Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality and China’s New Energy Revolution

Based on the full consideration of both domestic and global environments and conditions, the adherence to the conviction that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, and the comprehensive weighing of pros and cons, the Chinese government has made a major strategic decision to achieve the goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, which is crucial to the overall green transformation of the economy and society and the long-term benefits of the Chinese nation. With the new energy revolution and energy mix diversification driven by the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, nonfossil energy sources centered on photovoltaic energy will gradually dominate the energy mix, while the status of electricity and hydrogen energy will be significantly enhanced and the consumption of coal and petroleum will decline significantly. Carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals are both challenges and opportunities for China. Specific challenges are embodied in the large pressure of economic and energy restructuring, the rising manufacturing costs, the difficulties in withdrawing coal-fired power stations, the possibility of unstable grid operations due to large-scale integration of photovoltaic and wind power into the power distribution network, and the supply risks of key metals, while specific opportunities are emerging in the strong competitiveness of photovoltaic and wind power equipment, lower dependence on foreign petroleum and gas supply and accelerated low-carbon green transformation. China should strengthen the top-level design of the path to achieve carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, encourage innovation of green low-carbon technologies, accelerate economic and energy restructuring, strictly restrict the construction of new high-emission and energy-intensive projects, and steadily promote the adjustment and withdrawal of the existing high-emission and energy-intensive projects.     

面向战略管理的国家实验室评估工作机制研究

当前，我国国家实验室建设处于重要战略机遇期，在诸多方面面临重大挑战，亟需面向战略管理需求加快完善评估工作机制。在梳理相关研究成果的基础上，首先分析国家实验室战略管理特点，论述评估在战略管理全流程中的职能作用；其次，比较中国国家重点实验室、美国能源部下属国家实验室和德国马克斯·普朗克学会(MPG)等大型科研机构评估实践，从战略管理视角讨论存在的差距和短板；最后，结合现有管理问题和国外经验，提出推动我国国家实验室评估工作的政策建议。     

本电动汽车发展动向与中国的机遇

本文对日本政府与企业的电动汽车发展战略与动向以及中国发展电动汽车的机遇与挑战等进行了全面分析,并提出我国发展电动汽车产业的战略思路。     

优化合肥经济圈招商引资策略研究

随着中部崛起战略的推进与深入,安徽经济发展迎来了前所未有的战略机遇期,合肥经济圈能否抓住机遇,招商引资是关键。合肥经济圈招商引资具有其优势、劣势、机遇与挑战,结合经济圈发展目标,重点分析合肥经济圈目前在招商引资的现状和存在的不足,有针对性地提出新时期关于优化合肥经济圈招商引资策略的政策建议具有重要意义。     

Empirical determinants of physician incomes — Evidence from Canadian data

This paper makes use of the fact that the stock of medical manpower in Canada is institutionally and exogenously determined in order to develop a model predicting physician average net income. An econometric evaluation of this model on a sample involving Canada's ten provinces during 1968–1982 suggests that a one per cent increase in physician fees increases physician average net income by 0.70 per cent, and a one per cent increase in the physician to population ratio reduces average net income by 0.62 per cent. In both cases, the elasticities are less than unity because the supply function for an individual physician is backward bending — on average, a Canadian physician reduces his hours worked by an amount between 0.17 and 0.50 per cent (95 per cent confidence interval) if his real wage rate is increased by one per cent.     

高校协同创新计划资金绩效评价研究

高等学校创新能力提升计划是一项旨在促进科技与经济结合、优化社会资源配置的重要战略。在借鉴科技创新专项资金绩效评价体系的基础上,结合高校协同创新计划的实际情况,按照指标选取的综合性、层次性、逻辑性等原则,从项目决策、项目管理、项目绩效和日常评价4个方面选取18个指标,建立了高校协同创新计划资金绩效评价体系,为高校协同创新项目的绩效评定提供了依据。最后,从项目实施与管理角度提出了政策建议,可为提高高校协同创新计划资金绩效水平提供参考。     

Strategic planning III: Objectives and program options

This series of papers deals with technological forecasting in strategic planning. In the first paper the author examines forecasting and planning as a process, identifying five roles of forecasting (1) Identifying policy options; (2) Aiding strategy formulation; (3) Identifying program options; (4) Selecting programs for funding, and (5) Selecting opportunities for funding. The subsequent papers deal primarily with the first and third roles.The second paper of the series describes perspective trees—a form of relevance tree—for identifying policy options. A perspective tree is used to interrelate sets of social, economic, political, and technological forecasts that pote threats and present opportunities for strategic consideration.The third paper of the series describes the use of objective trees in structuring program options for selected strategies. R&D programs as well as marketing and other functional business programs are structured—clarifying options for the decision-making process.