A profit-maximizing model of Federal Home Loan Bank behavior

In this article the price-setting behavior of the district Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBs) is investigated. Previous studies have viewed the FHLB system as a policy authority that sets the interest rate on FHLB advances in an attempt to stabilize mortgage and housing markets. In this study a profit-maximizing model of FHLB behavior is developed and empirically tested, and the results compared to a model of the FHLB system as a policy authority. The empirical results offer support for the hypothesis of profit-maximizing behavior and indicate that, in addition to the FHLB's cost of funds, factors that influence thrift demand for FHLB advances, deposits, and capital stock are important in explaining FHLB choice variables.     

How people pay: Evidence from grocery store data

Empirical evidence based on grocery store transaction data shows that consumer payment behavior at the point of sale is important for understanding models of money demand. There are statistically significant effects of transaction costs, opportunity costs, and product characteristics on the choice of payment instrument, which then, in turn, affect money demand. These results emphasize the overlap between the work of empirical researchers in payment choice and theoretical modelers of monetary economics and should inform both literatures.     

An Examination of Changes in Specialists' Posted Price Schedules

New York Stock Exchange specialists disseminate informationto market participants by displaying price schedules consistingof bid prices, ask prices, bid depths, and ask depths. We examinehow specialists update these price schedules in a simultaneousequations model. We find that changes in the best prices anddepths on the limit order book have a significant impact onthe posted price schedule, while the effects of transactionsand order activity are secondary. Furthermore, we show thatspecialists revise prices and depths differently, but find noevidence that they revise the price schedule in response tochanges in inventory.     

Relationship management for innovation: the central role of communication in australia's participation in two hi-tech industries

Individuals make decisions about whether innovations are adopted and transferred to new uses or locations. This Paper argues that relational competence Is critical for innovation management and technology transfer and that personal communication, formal and informal, is the core component in such competence. It shows how “close ties” and communication are critical to innovation, particularly given the changing nature and role of technolop management in the context o f rapidly increasing globalization. This is illustrated with reference to the communication in he mindset and practice of technology partnering in Australia's participation in the aerospace and telecommunications industries.     

An empirical study of a new method for forming group judgments: Qualitative Controlled Feedback

The Qualitative Controlled Feedback (QCF) method was developed by Press [1] to assist policy makers in forming judgments and making decisions that reflect the careful interactive reasoning and arguments of all of the members of a group or population. Since the QCF method involves controlled feedback, it tends to minimize the effects of face-to-face group interaction pressures. Since the feedback is “qualitative,” however, the procedure tends not to artificially induce a consensus on the group. This paper summarizes a feasibility study of the procedure. A sample of 111 faculty and staff members of the University of British Columbia participated in the testing of the method. The participants were asked to make a judgment on the importance of building an aquatic center on campus. A second (control) group of 89 faculty and staff members was surveyed on the same issue, but using the conventional survey method, that is, no feedback. It was observed that Qualitative Controlled Feedback created a good interaction (in the sense of exchanging arguments and reasons) among group members. Changes in judgments occurred as subjects went from one stage to another after having qualitative feedback of information. It was also found that the judgments given by the subjects in the qualitative controlled feedback group were distributed quite differently from those given by the control group. The method suggests a significantly new way of collecting and interpreting group judgments.     

Economic burden associated with inadequate antidepressant medication management among patients with depression and known cardiovascular diseases: insights from a United States–based retrospective claims database analysis

Abstract

Aims: The current study examined the association between insufficient major depressive disorder (MDD) care and healthcare resource use (HCRU) and costs among patients with prior myocardial infarction (MI) or stroke.

Methods: This was a retrospective study conducted using the MarketScan Claims Database (2010–2015). The date of the first MI/stroke diagnosis was defined as the cardiovascular disease (CVD) index date and the first date of a subsequent MDD diagnosis was the index MDD date. Adequacy of MDD care was assessed during the 90 days following the index MDD date (profiling period) using 2 measures: dosage adequacy (average fluoxetine equivalent dose of ≥20?mg/day for nonelderly and ≥10?mg/day for elderly patients) and duration adequacy (measured as the proportion of days covered of 80% or higher for all MDD drugs). Study outcomes included all-cause and CVD-related HCRU and costs which were determined from the end of the profiling period until the end of study follow-up. Propensity-score adjusted generalized linear models (GLMs) were used to compare patients receiving adequate versus inadequate MDD care in terms of study outcomes.

Results: Of 1,568 CVD patients who were treated for MDD, 937 (59.8%) were categorized as receiving inadequate MDD care. Results from the GLMs suggested that patients receiving inadequate MDD care had 14% more all-cause hospitalizations, 4% more all-cause outpatient visits, 17% more CVD-related outpatient visits, 13% more CVD-related emergency room (ER) visits, higher per patient per year CVD-related hospitalization costs ($21,485 vs. $17,756), higher all-cause outpatient costs ($2,820 vs. $2,055), and higher CVD-related outpatient costs ($520 vs. $434) compared to patients receiving adequate MDD care.

Limitations: Clinical information such as depression severity and frailty, which are potential predictors of adverse CVD outcomes, could not be ascertained using administrative claims data.

Conclusions: Among post-MI and post-stroke patients, inadequate MDD care was associated with a significantly higher economic burden.     

SEN,ETHICS, AND DEMOCRACY

Amartya Sen's ethical theorizing helps feminists resolve the tensions between the claims of women's particular perspectives and moral objectivity. His concept of "positional objectivity" highlights the epistemological significance of value judgments made from particular social positions, while holding that certain values may become widely shared. He shows how acknowledging positionality is consistent with affirming the universal value of democracy. This article builds on Sen's work by proposing an analysis of democracy as a set of institutions that aims to intelligently utilize positional information for shared ends. This epistemological analysis of democracy offers a way to understand the rationale for reserving political offices for women. From a political point of view, gendered positions are better thought of as an epistemological resource than as a ground of identity politics v - v that is, of parochial identification and solidarity.     

Determinants of TFP growth: A close look at industries driving the EU–US TFP gap

This paper explores the determinants of the EU–US TFP growth gap using EU KLEMS. As found in previous analyses, TFP growth appears to be driven by catching-up phenomena associated with the gradual adoption of new technologies. TFP growth is also significantly driven by developments at the “technological frontier”, especially since the mid-1990s. Industries with higher R&D expenditures and higher adoption rates for ICT-intensive technologies appear to exhibit higher TFP growth rates, whilst human capital has mostly a significant effect across countries. Regarding determinants in industries relevant for the different TFP performance of the EU versus the US, ICT-producing industries appear to benefit from R&D in terms of stronger spillovers from TFP gains at the frontier, network utilities are strongly affected by product market regulations, whilst the retail and wholesale trade industry is significantly influenced by consumption dynamics which permit a better exploitation of scale economies.