The association between smoking cessation outpatient visits and total medical costs: a retrospective,observational analysis of Japanese employee-based public health insurance data

Aims: The short-term effects of smoking cessation (SC) on overall healthcare costs are unclear. This study aimed to compare the short-term medical costs between patients with SC outpatient visits (SCOVs) and those without SCOVs, consisting of SCOV itself and overall medical costs.

Materials and methods: This study is a retrospective, observational study using a Japanese employee-based health insurance claims database (January 1, 2005–December 31, 2013). It analyzed individuals who were registered as smokers based on their medical checkup details. It compared the per-patient-per-year (PPPY) medical costs for male smokers who made ≥1 claim for SCOVs with those who made no claims. We also assessed whether the number of SCOVs by male and female smokers impacted medical costs. The Index Year was the year after the first SCOV claim and that after the first registration as a smoker (non-SCOV group). Medical costs were calculated using regression analysis and adjusted for baseline costs.

Results: In Index Year ?1, PPPY medical costs for male smokers were ～USD 323.01 (JPY 36,500, as of November 2017) higher in the SCOV (n?=?5,608) vs the non-SCOV (n?=?81,721) group; however, by Year 6 the costs were similar. From Year 4–6, PPPY medical costs for SCOVs were lower than those in the adjusted non-SCOV group. For 2,576 male and female smokers in the SCOV group, the average rates of increasing medical costs before and after the SCOV for 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 SCOVs made were 58%, 44%, 50%, 41%, and 34%, respectively.

Limitations: The database includes limited data on individuals >65 years. Only SCOVs based on claims data and not on other outcomes were assessed.

Conclusions: Medical costs declined in the short-term following the first SCOV. Attendance at a greater number of SCOVs was associated with a lower increase ratio of medical costs.     

Implementation of multi-agent incentive contracts with the principal's renegotiation offer

The purpose of this paper is to explore a mechanism for supporting desired equilibrium actions in a one-principal, multi-agent model when the principal makes a renegotiation offer. We show that there exists a mechanism in which the principal's most preferred mixed strategy is always supported. Received: 30 May 1997 / Accepted: 10 October 1998     

SCIENTIFIC BREAKTHROUGHS AND NETWORKS IN THE CASE OF SEMICONDUCTOR LASER TECHNOLOGY IN THE US AND JAPAN, 1960s–2000s

United States organisations took a clear lead in semiconductor laser research until the mid‐1970s. After the 1980s, many important breakthroughs were developed by Japanese organisations. Exploring the journal Applied Physics Letters, this study examines how semiconductor laser technology developed in these two countries and how this change in the country‐level industrial leadership in the scientific research occurred. Examining the relationship among industrial organisations, research networks, and scientific breakthroughs, it discusses how these coevolved and how breakthroughs were channelled in different directions. R&D targets were channelled into small markets in the US, but were concentrated into the same markets in Japan.     

Productivity dispersion: facts,theory, and implications

This paper discusses the stylized facts, the theory, and the remaining problems of productivity dispersion, which is essentially related to the concept of equilibrium in the neoclassical theory. Empirical study of data relating to Japanese firms shows that they all obey the Pareto law, and also that the Pareto index decreases with the level of aggregation. In order to explain these two stylized facts we propose a theoretical framework built on the basic principle of statistical physics and on the concept of superstatistics, an approach that accommodates fluctuations of aggregate demand. We show that the allocation of production factors depends crucially on the level of aggregate demand, and that the higher the level of aggregate demand, the closer the economy is to the frontier of the production possibility set.     

Vertical trade and free trade agreements

We investigate the effects of free trade agreements (FTAs) on tariffs and welfare in vertical trade. We consider a three-country model, where an FTA is formed between a country exporting a final good and a country exporting an intermediate good. The FTA unambiguously leads to a reduction in the member country’s tariff, but may cause the non-member country’s tariff level to increase. In the case, where FTA raises the non-member country’s tariff level, the FTA increases that country’s welfare. In contrast, the FTA may render its member countries better off. This result implies that the formation of an FTA may not always be Pareto-improving.     

Optimal inflation target under uncertainty

We derive an optimal state-contingent inflation target in an economy under uncertainty. This inflation target can improve inefficiencies stemming from two sources: the lack of commitment to predetermined policies and the lack of coordination between the monetary and fiscal authorities. We then discuss the pros and cons of our proposal compared with the solution proposed by Beetsma and Bovenberg [Beetsma, R.M.W.J., Bovenberg, A.L., 2001. When does an inflation target yield the second best? Scandinavian Journal of Economics 103, 119–126], paying special attention to their practical feasibility. We will show that in some countries where there is a highly independent central bank, our proposal is more attractive.     

Repair Market Structure, Product Durability, and Monopoly

This paper shows that a durable goods monopolist makes consumers choose a level of repairs which is below the socially optimal level if it monopolises the repair market as well. This distortion occurs due to the possibility of substituting new and used goods and a time inconsistency problem concerning repair decisions. However, if the monopolist is unable to commit the repair price, it may prefer to invite competitors into the repair market. If the repair market is competitive, even when the product market is monopolistic, the socially optimal level of repairs, and thus also the socially optimal durability level is chosen.     

A note on the no arbitrage condition for international financial markets

We consider an international financial market model that consists ofN currencies. The purpose is to derive a no arbitrage condition which is not affected by the choice of numéraire between theN currencies. As a result, we show that a finiteness condition for an arbitrary chosen currency and the no arbitrage condition for the basket currency are necessary and sufficient for the no arbitrage property of all theN currencies. Research supported in part by Nomura Foundation for Social Science and by the European Community Stimulation Plan for Economic Science contract Number SPES-CT91-0089. The authors thank an anonymous FEJM referee for helpful comments.     

Cost accounting standard and cost accounting systems in Japan. Lessons from the past - recovering lost traditions

This paper aims to show two things. The first is how Japanese culture has contributed to the development of Japanese cost accounting history. The second is to reveal the research possibilities of cost accounting history. This paper also reviews the salient features of several important examples of these aspects of cost accounting practice in Japan. It therefore explores, through some practical illustrations, how and why Japanese cost accounting differs from that found in the West.