Examining individuals preferences for hybrid electric and alternatively fuelled vehicles

This paper examines individuals motivations when purchasing vehicles, focusing upon what factors would encourage individuals to purchase hybrid electrical vehicle (HEV) or alternatively fuelled vehicle (AFV). AFVs in this paper refer to any cars run on alternatives to petrol and diesel. This research attempts to ascertain whether reductions in fuel costs, vehicle registration tax (VRT), or green house gas emissions would encourage individuals to purchase a HEV or an AFV instead of a conventional vehicle. VRT is an Irish tax that is levied on the purchase of new vehicles. One of the motivations to conduct this research was to examine a new car tax and VRT scheme introduced by the Irish government in 2008. This new policy rewards the purchase of environmentally friendly cars, with lower VRT and car tax rates. To understand individuals’ perceptions of these new taxes a survey was sent to recent customers of a car company in Ireland. The survey asked respondents about their recently purchased vehicle and how important they considered vehicle attributes such as environmental performance, fuel cost, and safety, before making their car purchase. The survey also contained a number of stated preference experiments that were designed to ascertain what factors influence individuals’ decisions when purchasing their new car. The results showed that respondents did not rate green house gas emissions or VRT as crucial attributes when purchasing a new vehicle. The vehicle attributes that respondents rated most highly were reliability, automobile safety, fuel costs, and the cost price. The majority of respondents agreed that HEVs and AFVs are better for the environment, cheaper to run than conventional vehicles and would be the vehicle of choice in ten years time.     

Human resource diversity management practices in the Australian manufacturing sector

We examined employee perceptions of the benefits and challenges of workforce diversity and human resource (HR) diversity management practices adopted in the Australian manufacturing sector. We found that overt discrimination does not exist in the Australian manufacturing sector. However, Australian employers appear to adopt a ‘legalistic compliance approach’ and have not considered workforce diversity as a source of competitive advantage. Employers have not adopted effective HR diversity management practices. The Australian manufacturing sector has failed to value diversity or capitalize on the benefits of workforce diversity. Inadequate recognition of overseas skills, ineffective communication, increased training costs and social isolation were perceived as the main challenges, whereas a stronger work ethic among multicultural employees, greater opportunities to learn from other cultures, lower absenteeism and less labor turnover were regarded as major benefits of workforce diversity. Overall, we found migrant workers are disadvantaged in the Australian workplace.     

Strategic public land use assessment and planning in Victoria,Australia: Four decades of trailblazing but where to from here?

While various attempts have been made to establish strategic environmental assessment (SEA) processes and institutions in various jurisdictions within Australia, the success of these often short lived attempts at institutional approaches for managing public land use conflict has been patchy. The experience in the State of Victoria has been somewhat different, with public land use assessment and planning having been informed by a series of independent statutory bodies since 1970 (the Land Conservation Council, Environment Conservation Council, and Victorian Environmental Assessment Council). These SEA bodies have played a major role in mediating environmental conflict over public land use, and have significantly contributed to the increased size and coverage of Victoria's protected area system. However, while there has always been a statutory body in operation, the roles and responsibilities of these bodies have been subject to significant legislative change, with existing bodies replaced by new bodies in 1997 and 2001. Justifications for these reforms included changing circumstances and new understandings about environmental management, as well as changing views about public administration. As a way of contributing to enhancing the design of institutions and processes for strategic environmental assessment, this paper provides an assessment of Victoria's approach and discusses possible future directions.     

Container freight rates and the role of surcharges

This paper demonstrates that the structure of ocean container freight rates has become more complex. A growing number of surcharges are being imposed by the carriers on their customers, surcharges that are not only adding significant extra costs but are highly variable over time. These elements are examined based on a data set of export rates from ports on the Northern European Range that have been compiled from a major global carrier. The paper compares the surcharges to the base rates and discusses some of the implications for shippers who face increasing uncertainty in planning supply chains. Some of the issues for academic research on freight rates is also examined and points to the need to clearly identify what is included in the freight rate data employed. In addition, questions are raised concerning the suitability of many of the variables traditionally used to explain or predict freight rates.     

Governing new global health-care markets: the case of stem cell treatments

Stem cell innovation has enabled the growth of a global market of treatments for a wide range of diseases but most of this market operates outside the domain of orthodox forms of innovation governance. Much of the analysis of this issue has adopted a supply side perspective informed by the values of the orthodox scientific model of biomedical innovation, arguing that national and transnational regulation has failed to impose appropriate standards on the ‘illicit’ supply of stem cell treatments. In contrast, this paper shows how and why the analysis of global stem cell innovation governance must incorporate the market and health consumer demand into the conceptual framework. Central to the argument is the role of innovation models in mediating the relationship between demand and supply in the global market of new stem cell treatments. Different models of scientific and medical innovation mediate that relationship in different ways and, in jurisdictions where health consumer demand is frustrated, may result in parallel political demands for change in stem cell innovation governance. Such demands are likely to be resisted by the dominant scientific model, producing a further response from health consumers and a continuing dynamic in the political economy of stem cell treatments.     

Switching of biologic disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in a real world setting

Objectives:

This study examined total healthcare costs and rates of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who switch biologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (bDMARD) therapy in a real world setting.

Methods:

A retrospective longitudinal analysis was conducted in patients with RA using IMS PharMetrics Plus database from 1/1/2004 to 3/31/2010. The first-line cohort included patients newly initiated on abatacept or the tumor necrosis factor-alpha inhibitors (anti-TNFs) adalimumab, etanercept, or infliximab, with 12 months of continuous follow-up. The second-line cohort included patients initiating a bDMARD with evidence of a different bDMARD within the previous 2 years and with 12 months of continuous follow-up. Switching was defined as a different bDMARD claim within a 200% gap in days supply from the previous bDMARD claim. Non-switchers stayed on their bDMARD in the follow-up period. Monthly total healthcare costs for switchers and non-switchers and rates of bDMARD switching were examined. Switch rates for each bDMARD were also compared.

Results:

First-line switchers had significantly higher monthly total healthcare costs after the switch than non-switchers ($3759 vs $2343; p?p?Limitations:

There are no clinical data available in this database and, therefore, this study did not examine the clinical drivers of healthcare costs and switch rates.

Conclusions:

Monthly total healthcare costs were higher for bDMARD switchers following the switch compared to non-switchers. Patients on abatacept switched less frequently than patients on anti-TNFs. This study highlights the need to identify patients who are likely to switch in order to ensure they receive the appropriate therapy which may improve outcomes and decrease healthcare costs.     

New product deployment: The moderating influence of economic institutional context

We compare the determinants of new product deployment across transition and nontransition economy environments to show the importance of variance in economic institutional context. We argue that the expected positive relationships of institutional development, resource levels, and competitive pressure to new product deployment all weaken in transition economy contexts. Hypotheses are tested with survey data of over 7,000 firms in 7 industries from 33 countries. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dynamic adjustment in the US beef market with imports

This paper hypothesizes that while there are important qualitative differences in domestic beef and imported beef, beef and cattle imports also represent attempts by the US beef processing and wholesale sector to adjust to short-run changes in supply and demand. Dynamic production theory is applied to the problem to test for this adjustment process, and presents a production theory approach to meat trade that has previously been included in demand functions. The results of this analysis suggest that the method used provides a reasonable and appropriate representation of the import behavior of the US processing and wholesale beef sector.     

A Blotto game with multi-dimensional incomplete information

We examine a multi-dimensional incomplete information Colonel Blotto game in which each player’s n-tuple of battlefield valuations is drawn from a common n-variate joint distribution function that is uniform on the non-negative orthant of the surface of a sphere.     

A Uniform Price Auction for Conservation Easements in the Canadian Prairies

This paper describes the application of a uniform price auction with a hidden reserve price in a field project aimed at discovering Canadian landowners’ willingness to accept compensation for placing conservation easements on their lands. This is the only project of this kind in Canada to date, and one of the few worldwide. The paper discusses the design of the auction, describes its implementation, and presents its results. The bids received in the auction conformed with known factors affecting opportunity costs and willingness to accept. The information from this auction was successful in guiding a long-term easement procurement program.