The ‘demographic timebomb’ and how some hospitality employers are responding to the challenge

The phrase ‘demographic timebomb’ has taken on the aura of a shibbholeth and that everyone knows they ought to be fearful about. But is it really understood and what needs to be done? This article seeks to answer these questions and to shed some light on the employment strategies being developed by some British hospitality employers to counteract the demographic changes of the 1990s. As a result, some of the myth that the hospitality industry is lagging behind other industries can be dispelled but other findings support popular testimony that the industry faces special problems.     

Comparative effectiveness of standard endotracheal tubes vs. endotracheal tubes with continuous subglottic suctioning on ventilator-associated pneumonia rates

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) accounts for the majority of nosocomial pneumonias, which may increase intensive care and prolonged hospital stays. Endotracheal tubes allowing continuous subglottic suctioning may reduce VAP; however, they are more expensive than standard endotracheal tubes not allowing continuous suctioning. he objective of this study was to measure the comparative costs associated with continuous subglottic suctioning endotracheal tubes (CSS-ETT) versus standard endotracheal tubes (S-ETT) among intubated patients and whether cost differential is offset by the occurrence of VAP in patients receiving either type of intubation. A retrospective chart review was conducted for 154 intubated adult patients (77 = S-ETT; 77 = CSS-ETT). The S-ETT group had one case of VAP; the CSS-ETT group had none. The mean total hospital charges were higher for the S-ETT group ($103,600; CSS-ETT= $88,500) (p = 0.3). Although the average number of intubation days and ICU days were greater for the CSS-ETT group, there were no cases of VAP compared to the S-ETT group. ased upon the one S-ETT VAP case and the VAP attributable costs, it is cost effective to use the CSS-ETT.     

Estimating the impact of showroom entertainment on the gaming volumes of Las Vegas hotel–casinos

Increases in showroom headcounts are found to increase casino gaming volumes in two Las Vegas Strip casinos. This study examines long-standing assumptions regarding the indirect contribution of investment-intensive showroom entertainment. Such contributions are difficult to measure and the literature contains no rigorously derived estimates of gaming contributions from in-house entertainment venues. Despite the paucity of research, gaming companies are willing to invest staggering sums in showroom entertainment, based in large part on the belief that traffic from these venues will increase gaming volumes. Using estimates produced by time series regression models, the two showrooms produced average gaming win contributions of $11.28 and $19.32, per paid showroom attendee. Based on these estimates alone, extravagant investment in showrooms would have to be justified by other means. Future studies aimed at understanding the showroom contributions to non-gaming profit centers and the role of showrooms in the high-roller's patronage decision are both recommended.     

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.     

The effect of information releases on the pricing and timing of equity issues

With time-varying adverse selection in the market for new equityissues, firms will prefer to issue equity when the market ismost informed about the quality of the firm. This implies thatequity issues tend to follow credible information releases.In addition, if the asymmetric in information increases overtime between information releases, the price drop at the announcementof an equity issue should increase in the time since the lastinformation release. Using earning releases as a proxy for informativeevents, we find evidence supporting these propositions.     

选择银行

<正> 投资者可能忽视了银行部门,但银行部门具有的优势正在抵消结构重组和不良贷款引起的诸多问题,众多机遇也开始在出现。银行:存放现金的安全可靠的地方——只要凑巧不是在印尼。大银行:投资者稳定的生财之处——只要凑巧不是在亚洲。果真如此?看来,这些至理名言今年听上去开始有点徒有其名。全球各地利率正在下跌,使存款似乎不怎么吸引人。对投资者而言,局势也在改变:假如全球经济放慢速度,那么贷     

Distinguishing market segments to assess price responsiveness

Economists and marketers have developed theoretical constructs which suggest that effective market segmentation can be used to identify differences in price sensitivity among market theory in the industrial marketing literature by using marketing research to distinguish market segments that are useful in industrial pricing decisions. Both macrosegmentation, using characteristics of customers (that is, end-use and usage level), as well as microsegmentation (using behavioral variables) were utilized in a survey of natural gas customers to determine if segments of the industrial market differ in price sensitivity.