Pay now or pay later? The economics within the private equity partnership

The economics of partnerships have been of enduring interest to economists, yet it is not clear what profit sharing within a private partnership should look like. We examine over 700 private equity partnerships and show that the allocation of fund economics to individual partners varies drastically, even among the most senior partners, and appears divorced from past success as an investor, being instead related to status as a founder. A smaller share of carried interest and ownership—and inequality in fund economics more generally—is associated with departures of senior partners which, in turn is negatively related to the funds’ ability to raise additional capital.     

Britain's future in Europe: a personal view

Differentiation is now 'official' in the EU and the idea of a several-speed Europe is acceptable. The major member-States, Germany apart, no longer favour a federal United States of Europe. Additions to the 'acquis communautaire' will be small in number and EU regulation will increase more lowly. Britain should work within the EU to keep it 'open and flexible'.     

Who Controls Selection under ‘Voluntary’ Redundancy? The Case of the Redundant Mineworkers Payments Scheme

Voluntary redundancy schemes which offer extra-statutory redundancy payments are often used as a mechanism for implementing redundancy in Britain. This paper reports the impact of one such scheme, the Redundant Mineworkers Payments Scheme of 1984, on the scale of and selection for redundancy in the coal industry. Formal agreements, and ultimately statutory obligations, which restrict managerial control over scale and selection in redundancy were bypassed by compensation offers made informally to individuals. It is demonstrated that, even under a scheme based entirely upon self-selection, the employer, through control over the structure of compensation, retains control over selection. The scale and selection effects facilitated by voluntary redundancy schemes have important implications for equity in the workplace and efficiency in the external labour market.     

Healthcare costs and utilization associated with muscle weakness diagnosis codes in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a United States claims analysis

Aims: Muscle weakness (MW)-attributable healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) and costs in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have not been well-characterized in US insurance claims databases. The primary objective of this study was to estimate HCRU in patients with evidence of COPD with and without MW diagnosis codes.

Materials and methods: This retrospective analysis used the MarketScan^® Commercial Claims and Encounters and Medicare Supplemental and Coordination of Benefits databases. Between January 2007 and March 2016, we identified patients aged ≥40 years with diagnosis codes for COPD (≥1 emergency department or inpatient claim or ≥2 outpatient claims within 1 year). The cohort was divided into patients with and without ≥1?MW diagnosis code. Propensity score matching was used to generate pairs of patients with and without MW (1:1). Multivariable regression analyses were used to estimate adjusted incremental costs and utilization attributable to the presence of MW diagnosis codes among patients with COPD.

Results: Of 427,131 patients who met the study inclusion criteria, 14% had evidence of MW. After matching, 107,420 unique patients remained equally distributed across MW status. Patients with MW diagnosis codes had greater predicted annual HCRU, $2,465 greater total predicted annual COPD-related costs, and $15,179 greater total all-cause costs than those without MW diagnosis codes. Overall, <1% of patients received COPD-related pulmonary rehabilitation services.

Limitations: Study limitations include the potential for undercoding of MW and lack of information on severity of MW in claims data.

Conclusion: The presence of MW diagnosis codes yielded higher HCRU in this COPD population and suggests that the burden of MW affects both all-cause and COPD-related care. However, utilization of pulmonary rehabilitation, a known effective treatment for MW, remains low. Future research should expand on our results by assessing data sources that allow for clinical confirmation of MW among patients with COPD.