IMMIGRANT EARNINGS: A LONGITUDINAL ANALYSIS

This paper uses the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia to analyze the determinants of the level and growth in earnings of adult male immigrants in their first 3.5 years in Australia. The theoretical framework is based on the immigrant adjustment model, which incorporates both the transferability of immigrant skills and selectively in migration. The cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses generate similar findings. The level and relative growth of earnings are higher for immigrants with higher levels of skill and who are economic/skills tested migrants, as distinct from family based and refugee migrants. The analysis indicates that immigrant economic assimilation does occur and that in these data the cross-section provides a good estimate of the longitudinal progress of immigrants. The findings are robust across statistical techniques.     

Understanding mobile data services adoption: Demography, attitudes or needs?

Emerging technology enables industry to create products and services to fulfill previously unmet needs. Yet, the higher fixed costs and shrinking product life cycles associated with new digital technologies also generate business risk. While many companies engage in continuous innovation to maintain their market share, an innovation in itself does not guarantee success. Given these strategic shifts, traditional methods of segmentation are inadequate, especially in markets driven by flexible information and communication technologies (ICT). This study bridges this gap by examining existing innovation and market segmentation literature, proposing an integrative framework that incorporates knowledge from both, and validating this model through field research. Application of this integrative model can help service developers, facilitators and operators design, distribute and communicate new services to fulfill the needs of potential adopters.     

Cost effectiveness analysis of a next generation risk assessment score for cardiovascular disease

Objectives:

The goal of this study is to determine the cost-effectiveness of MIRISK VP, a next generation coronary heart disease risk assessment score, in correctly reclassifying and appropriately treating asymptomatic, intermediate risk patients.

Study design:

A Markov model was employed with simulated subjects based on the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). This study evaluated three treatment strategies: (i) practice at MESA enrollment, (ii) current guidelines, and (iii) MIRISK VP in MESA.

Methods:

The model assessed patient healthcare costs and outcomes, expressed in terms of life years and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), over the lifetime of the cohort from the provider and payer perspective. A total of 50,000 hypothetical individuals were used in the model. A sensitivity analysis was conducted (based on the various input parameters) for the entire cohort and also for individuals aged 65 and older.

Results:

Guiding treatment with MIRISK VP leads to the highest net monetary benefits when compared to the ‘Practice at MESA Enrollment’ or to the ‘Current Guidelines’ strategies. MIRISK VP resulted in a lower mortality rate from any CHD event and a modest increase in QALY of 0.12–0.17 years compared to the other two approaches.

Limitations:

This study has limitations of not comparing performance against strategies other than the FRS, the results are simulated as with all models, the model does not incorporate indirect healthcare costs, and the impact of patient or physician behaviors on outcomes were not taken into account.

Conclusions:

MIRISK VP has the potential to improve patient outcomes compared to the alternative strategies. It is marginally more costly than both the ‘Practice at MESA Enrollment’ and the ‘Current Guidelines’ strategies, but it provides increased effectiveness, which leads to positive net monetary benefits over either strategy.     

The effectiveness of international knowledge spillover channels

Using panel data from 16 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries for the period 1981–2000, we examine the significance of international knowledge spillovers through inward and outward foreign direct investment (FDI), intermediate goods imports, and a disembodied direct channel. Knowledge spillovers through the disembodied direct channel are approximated by using a measure of technological proximity and patent citations between countries. Using estimation models that reflect recent developments in non-stationary panel data econometrics, we show that international knowledge spillovers through inward FDI and the disembodied direct channel are significant and robust. In contrast, outward FDI and imports of intermediate goods are not conducive to international knowledge spillovers.     

Forecasting future demand for large-screen television sets using conjoint analysis with diffusion model

The methodological framework proposed in this paper addresses two limitations of the basic Bass diffusion model: that it does not reflect competition among products nor does it forecast demand for products that do not exist in the marketplace. The model consists of four steps. First, to investigate consumer preferences for product attributes, we use conjoint analysis to estimate the utility function of consumers. Next we estimate the dynamic price function of each competing product to reflect technological changes and the evolving market environment. Then we derive dynamic utility function by combining the static utility function and the price function. Finally, we forecast the sales of each product using estimated market share and sales data for each period, which are derived from the dynamic utility function and from the Bass diffusion model, respectively.We apply this model to South Korea's market for large-screen televisions. The results show that (1) consumers are sensitive to picture resolution and cost and (2) in the near future, should the market see the introduction of liquid crystal display (LCD) TVs with screens larger than 50 inches, the high resolution and steep price drop of LCD will lead LCD TVs to capture a larger market share than TVs with other display types. Finally, our results show that TVs with 40-inch screens are preferred over TVs with larger screens.     

Direct and indirect effects of continuous treatments based on generalized propensity score weighting

This paper proposes semi- and nonparametric methods for disentangling the total causal effect of a continuous treatment on an outcome variable into its natural direct effect and the indirect effect that operates through one or several intermediate variables called mediators jointly. Our approach is based on weighting observations by the inverse of two versions of the generalized propensity score (GPS), namely the conditional density of treatment either given observed covariates or given covariates and the mediator. Our effect estimators are shown to be asymptotically normal when the GPS is estimated by either a parametric or a nonparametric kernel-based method. We also provide a simulation study and an empirical illustration based on the Job Corps experimental study.     

Welfare-improving cooperation with a consumer-friendly multiproduct corporation

We consider a multiproduct corporation that adopts consumer-friendly activities and cooperates with single-plant firms for improving welfare. We show that full cooperation is socially beneficial if products are strong complements, whereas partial cooperation with higher consumer-friendly activities is beneficial if products are substitutes. We also examine a sequential choice game of endogenous cooperation in which the multiproduct corporation can induce (partial or full) cooperation and show that our findings are still consistent at equilibrium. We finally compare different ownership of the single-plant firms and find that foreign ownership decreases the benefits of cooperation.     

Education–Job Match,Salary, and Job Satisfaction Across the Public,, Non-Profit,and For-Profit Sectors: Survey of recent college graduates

Using data from the 2006 Survey of Recent College Graduates, this study examines how education–job match and salary may explain recent college graduates’ job satisfaction in the public, non-profit, and for-profit sectors. The results imply that while education–job match increases job satisfaction in all three sectors, for-profit workers may compensate the loss in job satisfaction due to poor match with increased satisfaction from higher salary. The findings suggest that, in the public and non-profit sectors, increased salary cannot make up the loss in job satisfaction from poor education–job match as much as it does in the for-profit sector.