Financial Integration,Growth and Volatility

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the welfare gains from financial integration for developing and emerging market economies. To do so, we build a stochastic endogenous growth model for a small open economy that can: (i) borrow from the rest of the world; (ii) invest in foreign assets; and (iii) receive foreign direct investment. The model is calibrated on 46 emerging market and developing economies for which we evaluate the upper bound for the welfare gain from financial integration. For plausible values of preference parameters and actual levels of financial integration, the mean welfare gain from financial integration is around 13.5% of initial wealth. Compared with financial autarky, actual levels of financial integration translate into higher annual growth rates.     

Do prices count? A micro-econometric study of illicit drug consumption based on self-reported data

Using a unique data set of almost 2,500 interviews with people attending a needle exchange service in Oslo, this paper sets out to estimate the impact of economic factors on heroin and amphetamine injectors drug consumption, including cross-price effects. To examine the robustness of the conclusions, four model versions are considered: with focus on (i) switching regression mechanisms treating dealing/non-dealing as an endogenous decision, (ii) spline function versions examining possible kinks in the price response, (iii) a dynamic model version focusing on addiction, and (iv) pseudo panel data model versions focusing on unobserved heterogeneity. Negative and significant price elasticities and positive and significant income elasticities come out as robust results. Their magnitude vary, however, depending on the type of model, on the main drug for injecting, and on whether the consumer also is a dealer.First version received: November 2002/Final version received: June 2003This paper builds in part on Bretteville-Jensen and Sutton (1996): Under the influence of the market: An applied study of illicitly selling and consuming of heroin, Discussion paper no. 147, Centre for Health Economics, University of York, in which the authors thank Andrew Jones and Jes Søgaard for helpful advice during early stages of the work. We also express our thanks to Jan Erik Askildsen, Kjell Erik Lommerud, Aina Uhde, and a referee for valuable comments on this extended version.     

Migraine burden and costs in France: a nationwide claims database analysis of triptan users

Objectives: To estimate the burden of migraine in the population of French patients identified as specific migraine acute treatment users compared to a control group.

Methods: A cross-sectional retrospective analysis was performed on the Echantillon Généraliste des Bénéficiaires claims database, a 1/97 random sample of the French public insurance database. A representative sample of all adults with at least one delivery of triptans, ergot derivatives or acetylsalicylic acid/metoclopramide (all drugs with a specific label in migraine acute treatment – SMAT) in 2014 was selected with a control group matched on age, gender and geographic region. Among triptan users, a sub-group of over-users was defined according to their level of triptan uptake expressed in defined daily doses (DDD – a standard daily dose of treatment of acute migraine) per month over 3?months and more, was also compared with controls. The cost analysis was performed in a societal perspective for direct costs. Sick leave indirect costs were estimated using the human capital approach.

Results: In total 8639 SMAT users (mean age: 44.6?years; 78.7% women) were selected representing a crude prevalence rate of 1.7%. The annual per capita total healthcare expenditures were higher by €280 in this group compared to controls (€2463 vs. €2183). Triptans contributed 47.8% to this extra cost. They used significantly (p?Conclusions: Due to its high prevalence, migraine costs generate a significant societal burden. The group of over-users concentrates high per capita direct and indirect costs.     

Looking back and going forward: what should the new European Commission do in order to promote evidence-based policy-making?

In this paper, we first give an overview of what has happened in Europe within the area of regulation over the past 5 years or so. We then examine where the new European Commission and the Parliament are with regard to evidence-based and risk-informed policy-making taking a specific look at the importance of transparency among European regulatory agencies, the calls for better regulation that were initiated by First Vice President Timmermans, and the continued mis-use of the precautionary principle. In the final section, we provide a number of recommendations on what the Commission and the Parliament should do going forward including moving away from fish bowl to science-based transparency, making the member states more receptive to science-based policy-making and strengthening the capacity of the European Commission to further promote evidence-based and risk-informed policy-making.     

Correction Processes in Consumer Choice

Consumers sometimes recognize that irrelevant contextual factors may influence their judgments and decisions. When such factors are detected, consumers might engage in correction processes to counteract unwanted influences in their judgments and decisions. An experiment demonstrated that correction processes can reduce the magnitude of the compromise effect and the attraction effect.     

日-美跨文化谈判研究及其对中国商务谈判的启发

经济全球化使得跨文化商务谈判在学术和实践领域都受到广泛关注。中国作为最大的发展中国家,跨文化谈判随着国际商务合作的增多而越来越频繁。由于中日文化存在很大的相似性,而东西方跨文化谈判研究主要以日美谈判居多,本文从谈判前准备、信息沟通方式和谈判过程的节奏三个角度回顾和总结了日美谈判的研究成果,归纳出文化差异下东西方谈判风格的区别,进而为中国跨文化谈判研究以及谈判实践提供借鉴和启示。