Worship Associations in Taiwan

We analyse why Taiwanese families during the Ch'ing Dynasty still held communal assets vested in worship associations (chi ssu kung yeh) even after the division of family assets. Our analysis shows that worship associations benefitted the living as well as the dead. Although the high cost of managing common assets meant the associations were established infrequently, they arose often in a response to clan feuds and served as martial‐style corporations for the protection of family property before the twentieth century.     

Structure of distortion equilibria and welfare in a multiregional economy

Summary We consider a convex economy with multiregions, each region facing different specific tax-subsidies. The model reduces to a model of a closed economy with an aggregate production set when there is a single region. It can also represent a model of an international economy through a reinterpretation of variables. We show that there is a unique path of allocations from a distortion equilibrium to the optimum that can be followed by proportionate changes of price distortions. Welfare monotonically increases as one follows the path towards optimum. The information on the structure of equilibria reduces multidimensional comparative statics into a one dimensional problem. The global Newton method of Smale can be used to follow the path in the direction of increasing welfare, allowing us to do comparative statics computationally. Global considerations directly show that, under a sign condition of the Jacobian of a tax function, piecemeal proportional reductions of price distortions improve welfare. A variation of the condition unifies other such conditions in the literature.I would like to thank William Brock, Takashi Fukushima, Tatsuo Hatta, Michael Jerison, Taesung Kim and referees of this Journal who provided me with many constructive comments and references. Previous versions of this paper were presented at the Far Eastern Meeting of the Econometric Society, the Midwestern Mathematical Economics Conference, and the International Conference of Korean Economists. I wish to thank the participants of these conferences for many nice comments. I also wish to thank Bruce Dieffenbach, Thad Mirer and editors of this journal who helped to streamline exposition.     

Yield measure for the process with multiple streams

Process capability indices, such as C _pk , have been widely used in the manufacturing industry to provide common quantitative measures for process performance. The index C _pk only provides an approximate rather than an exact measure of the process yield. To obtain an exact measure of the process yield, Boyles proposed a yield index S _pk . Capability measures for processes with single stream have been investigated extensively; however, multiple streams processes often occur in practice. Bothe presented a capability index for multiple streams process. In the present paper, a new index that is able to provide an exact measure of yield for a multiple streams process is developed. Three examples are given for illustration. From the results of the yield measure in the three examples, the conventional approach, using the arithmetic average of the estimated yield indices of all streams, will certainly over-estimate the process yield.     

Triggers of Patrons’ Repeat Purchase for Hotel Restaurant Products

This study was designed to investigate the formation of patrons’ repurchase intentions of a luxury hotel restaurant product by considering the impact of image congruence, quality, and satisfaction. This research also examined if such decision formation differs between first-timers and repeaters and tested the direction of causality between quality and satisfaction. Results indicate that our model sufficiently accounted for the prominent relationships among image congruence, satisfaction, and repurchase intention. Overall, our empirical findings provide both industry practitioners and researchers with a deeper understanding of patrons’ decision-making process for repurchasing the luxury hotel restaurant product.     

Comparison of medical costs and healthcare resource utilization of post-menopausal women with HR+/HER2− metastatic breast cancer receiving everolimus-based therapy or chemotherapy: a retrospective claims database analysis

Objective:

To analyze medical costs and healthcare resource utilization (HRU) associated with everolimus-based therapy or chemotherapy among post-menopausal women with hormone-receptor-positive, human-epidermal-growth-factor-receptor-2-negative (HR+/HER2?) metastatic breast cancer (mBC).

Methods:

Patients with HR+/HER2? mBC who discontinued a non-steroidal aromatase inhibitor and began a new line of treatment with everolimus-based therapy or chemotherapy (index therapy/index date) between July 20, 2012 and April 30, 2014 were identified from two large claims databases. All-cause, BC-related, and adverse event (AE)-related medical costs (in 2014 USD) and all-cause HRU per patient per month (PPPM) were analyzed for both treatment groups across patients’ first four lines of therapies for mBC. Adjusted differences in costs and HRU between the everolimus and chemotherapy treatment group were estimated pooling all lines and using multivariable generalized linear models, accounting for difference in patient characteristics.

Results:

A total of 3298 patients were included: 902 everolimus-treated patients and 2636 chemotherapy-treated patients. Compared to chemotherapy, everolimus was associated with significantly lower all-cause (adjusted mean difference?=?$3455, p?<?0.01) and BC-related ($2510, p?<?0.01) total medical costs, with inpatient ($1344, p?<?0.01) and outpatient costs ($1048, p?<?0.01) as the main drivers for cost differences. Everolimus was also associated with significantly lower AE-related medical costs ($1730, p?<?0.01), as well as significantly lower HRU (emergency room incidence rate ratio [IRR]?=?0.83; inpatient IRR?=?0.74; inpatient days IRR?=?0.65; outpatient IRR?=?0.71; BC-related outpatient IRR?=?0.57; all p?<?0.01).

Conclusions:

This retrospective claims database analysis of commercially-insured patients with HR+/HER2? mBC in the US showed that everolimus was associated with substantial all-cause, BC-related, and AE-related medical cost savings and less utilization of healthcare resources relative to chemotherapy.     

Changes in factor supply,income distribution and the transfer problem

Zusammenfassung Anderungen des Faktorangebots sowie der Einkommensverteilung und das Transferproblem. — Obwohl allgemein anerkannt wird, da der Umfang des Au\enhandels, die Terms of trade und die Vorteile der internationalen Arbeitsteilung teilweise von der ursprünglichen heimischen Einkommensverteilung abh?ngen und da\ ?nderungen des Faktorangebots die Einkommensverteilung beeinflussen, ist die Wirkung von induzierten Ver?nderungen der Einkommensver-teilung auf den Handel und ihre Beziehungen zu dem Transferproblem selten eingehend untersucht worden. Um diese Lücke zu füllen, benutzt die vorliegende Arbeit eine Produktionsfunktion mit gegebener Substitutionselastizit?t. Es wird gezeigt, wie ein erh?htes (verringertes) Faktorangebot die Einkommensverteilung, die ihrerseits die Nachfrage nach verschiedenen Gütern beeinflu\t, ver?ndern würde, und auf welchem Weg die neue Nachfragestruktur zusammen mit dem Angebot die Preise der Güter, den Umfang des Au\enhandels und die Terms of trade bestimmt. Darüber hinaus wird dargelegt, da\ die Theorie der Einkommensverteilung in der Theorie des internationalen Handels einen gr?\eren Anwendungsbereich hat, als es auf den ersten Blick scheinen mag und insbesondere, da\ sie direkt auf Transfer-probleme angewendet werden kann.

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Résumé Les changes en offre des facteurs, la distribution de revenu et le problème de transfert. — Bien qu'on approuve généralement que le volume, les termes des échanges et les gains originaires du commerce extérieur partiellement dépendront de la locale distribution initiale de revenu et que les changes en offre des facteurs sont déterminés d'affectuer la distribution de revenu, on a rarement cónsideré l'effet des changes, induits en distribution de revenu, sur le commerce extérieur et leurs relations avec le problème de transfert sérieusement. Le papier présenté ici utilise une fonction de production d'une élasticité de substitution donnée pour combler cette lacune. Nous démontrons comment une augmentation (ou diminution) en offre des facteurs changera la distribution de revenu que de sa part affectue la demande en faveur des biens divers, aussi bien que la manière comment la nouvelle structure de demande ensemble avec l'offre déterminera les prix des biens, le volume et les termes des échanges. En outre, nous arguons que la théorie de la distribution de revenu a une application plus vaste dans la théorie du commerce international que semblerait en premier lieu et qu'on particulièrement peut l'appliquer directement aux problèmes de transfert.

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Resumen Cambios en la oferta de factores, distribución del ingreso y el problema de la transferencia. — A pesar de que se acepta generalmente, que el volúmen, términos del intercambio y beneficios del comercio dependen en parte de la distribución inicial del ingreso doméstico y que cambios en la oferta de factores afectan necesariamente la distribución del ingreso, raramente se han considerado en forma séria los efectos de cambios inducudos en la distribución del ingreso sobre el comercio y sus relaciones con el problema de la transferencia. Para llenar este vacío el présente artículo utiliza una función de producción con una elasticidas de sustitución dada. Se muestra cómo un aumento (o disminución) en la oferta de factores hace cambiar la distribución del ingreso, la que a su vez afecta la demanda de varios factores, como también la manera como el nuevo patrón de demanda junto con la oferta determinan los precios de los bienes, el volúmen y los términos del intercambio. Adicionalmente se argumenta, que la teoría de la distribución del ingreso tiene una aplicación más amplia en la teoría del commercio internacional de lo que parece a primera vista y que, en particular, se puede aplicar directamente a problemas de transferencia.

     

Effects of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Outbreaks on U.S. Cattle and Beef Prices

U.S. trade of beef and live cattle declined substantially after the discoveries of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Canada and the United States in 2003. In this study, an econometric model is developed to estimate the effects of lifting trade restrictions on U.S. cattle and beef prices. Results show that increases in imports of Canadian cattle and beef would lower prices of slaughter steers, feeder steers, and retail beef, but these negative impacts would be more than negated by the positive effects on prices that would result if beef exports return to near pre-BSE levels.