Transaction cost economics applied? – consortia within process plant contracting

An increasing development in the competition for large engineering projects overseas is the formation by engineering contractors of consortia, which this article examines through the transaction cost economics paradigm. Consortia are contract specific governance structures designed to meet the particular requirements of individual clients. Hence, such governance modes are analysed through the comparative institutional approach. This approach leads to the conclusion that a consortium is a hybrid of institutional types. The major critical conclusions suggest that consortia are viewed by industry members as efficient, but for individual reasons. Also, efficiency considerations appear to be underpinned by the authority of capitalist market relations. In combination these conclusions suggest that in the conceptual hybrid of overall ‘efficiency’ motivations for consortia design or membership are individual, being based on relative power positions of industry members.     

Chaos and Economics

Is the economy chaotic? Dr Mike Ball of the University of Liverpool, applies the new mathematics of chaos to the economy. He concludes that the connection between cause and effect in the economy is far from certain.     

The role of the process plant contracting industry in technological change

The function of process plant contractors is to design and engineer plants, supply process technology, procure plant equipment and supervise the construction and commissioning of plant for producers in various process industries such as chemicals, gas and steel. As such they play a major part in the process of capital formation and are one of the major inputs for facilitating technological change.
This paper describes recent attempts to identify the factors which determine contractor involvement and use this information as a basis for analysing the part contractors will play in developing trchnologies such as coal conversion and biotechnology.     

The military in politics: Who benefits and how

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the complexity of evaluating the political role of Third-World militaries and to underline the necessity of including many different kinds of information into analyses of that role.Four broad societal groups are identified which might be expected to benefit the most by some degree of military involvement in the economic and political life of a country: domestic civilian groups, the military as an institution, individuals within the military, and foreign groups. Some of the major reasons why each of these groups may favour a political and economic role for the military are outlined and examples are provided throughout of how these elements have operated in practice. The way in which the interests of the four broad groups may coincide is also discussed.     

Risk management and consumer safety

Abstract

Risk assessment and risk management techniques are being developed in many fields as an aid to safety investment decision making. Already these techniques are having impacts upon aspects of consumer safety which overlap with other sectors where safety is important and where these methods are being applied. Recent examples where this has happened range from public transportation to the safety of children's playgrounds. This paper reports on progress in risk management in some of these sectors. Key elements include the notion of ‘acceptabl’ and ‘tolerabl’ risk, the optimisation of safety according to principles known as ALARP (as low as reasonably practicable) or ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable), and the use of quantitative methods such as cost-benefit analysis as an aid to decision making. Attention is drawn to a number of factors which consumer safety practitioners may wish to consider should it be decided to follow the trend towards a risk-based approach to the management of consumer safety.     

The risk to the public of tree fall

This paper is concerned with the quantification of tree risk to the British public as a whole; with factors which influence actual risk, such as location and meteorology; and with perceived risk which can be a driver of control actions. The emergent risk is found to be very small and the perceptual factors examined do not support anything other than a proportionate approach to safety management. Policy implications are discussed.     

Treatment patterns and cost-effectiveness of first line treatment of advanced non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer in Medicare patients

Aim: To assess the cost-effectiveness of first-line pemetrexed/platinum and other commonly administered regimens in a representative US elderly population with advanced non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Materials and methods: This study utilized the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) cancer registry linked to Medicare claims records. The study population included all SEER-Medicare patients diagnosed in 2008–2009 with advanced non-squamous NSCLC (stages IIIB–IV) as their only primary cancer and who started chemotherapy within 90 days of diagnosis. The study evaluated the four most commonly observed first-line regimens: paclitaxel/carboplatin, platinum monotherapy, pemetrexed/platinum, and paclitaxel/carboplatin/bevacizumab. Overall survival and total healthcare cost comparisons as well as incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were calculated for pemetrexed/platinum vs each of the other three. Unstratified analyses and analyses stratified by initial disease stage were conducted.

Results: The final study population consisted of 2,461 patients. Greater administrative censorship of pemetrexed recipients at the end of the study period disproportionately reduced the observed mean survival for pemetrexed/platinum recipients. The disease stage-stratified ICER analysis found that the pemetrexed/platinum incurred total Medicare costs of $536,424 and $283,560 per observed additional year of life relative to platinum monotherapy and paclitaxel/carboplatin, respectively. The pemetrexed/platinum vs triplet comparator analysis indicated that pemetrexed/platinum was associated with considerably lower total Medicare costs, with no appreciable survival difference.

Limitations: Limitations included differential censorship of the study regimen recipients and differential administration of radiotherapy.

Conclusions: Pemetrexed/platinum yielded either improved survival at increased cost or similar survival at reduced cost relative to comparator regimens in the treatment of advanced non-squamous NSCLC. Limitations in the study methodology suggest that the observed pemetrexed survival benefit was likely conservative.