Economics and the treatment of AIDS: a preliminary assessment

This paper applied cost-effectiveness analysis to the use of drug therapy in the treatment of AIDS. The empirical approach adopted overcame the facts that the samples of patients had varying clinical prognoses, had variable entry dates into the samples and, because AIDS is a terminal disease, had variable exit dates. Holding these variables constant, administration of the drug AZT proved to be a less costly alternative than other existing palliatives for AIDS. The sub-sample of patients treated with AZT had lower hospitalization costs, lower caring costs and sufferers had an increased ability to continue to participate for longer as economically active members of society.     

Greater curvature antral flattening: A radiologic sign of NSAID-related gastropathy

We have occasionally encountered patients on nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in whom double contrast barium studies revealed persistent flattening and stiffening of the distal greater curvature of the stomach. We therefore performed a study to determine the frequency of this finding in patients with NSAID-related gastropathy. Twenty-one cases of erosive gastritis, gastric ulcers, and/or gastric scarring associated with a known history of NSAID use were reviewed by two radiologists who made a joint decision regarding the presence or absence of greater curvature antral flattening. This finding was seen radiographically in five of the 21 patients (24%). Four of the five patients with antral flattening had associated erosions or ulcers in the gastric antrum. The remaining patient had antral flattening as an isolated finding. Our experience suggests that flattening of the greater curvature of the distal antrum, particularly if associated with erosive gastritis or gastric ulcers, is a useful radiologic sign of NSAID-related gastropathy.     

A comparison of alternative methods of updating input-output coefficients

In recent years there has been a growing number of input-output models of economies ranging in scale from the rural to the national. While offering invaluable insights into the interaction of sectors within an economy, the input-output model suffers from the fact that its coefficient values are altered over time due particularly to technological change. Two of the prominent techniques designed to update these technical coefficients, the RAS and linear programming methods, are compared herein with regard to changes in U.S. national coefficients between 1963 and 1967. Suggestions for improvements to the latter method are outlined.     

A model of the skill composition of US immigration

A human capital model is specified to explain the skill composition of US immigration. A unique set of panel data (57 source countries and 15 annual observations) and a methodology not previously used to study a demographic phenomenon are employed to estimate the model. Coefficients on time-invariant variables are recovered by means of the Hausman - Taylor instrumental variable procedure, which yields considerably different results than the generalized least squares model.     

Wage protection systems, segregation and gender pay inequalities: West Germany, the Netherlands and Great Britain

This paper provides an empirical test of Rubery and Fagan's(1995) hypothesis that gender inequalities are influenced primarilyby the comprehensiveness of the overall wage protection systemin a country and by the extent of gender segregation. Genderdiscrimination in earnings is compared in West Germany, theNetherlands and Great Britain using 1989 ISSP data. Human capitalearnings functions for married males and married females areestimated. Discrimination is measured using standard decompositiontechniques. Earnings discrimination against females in the morecomprehensive systems was 37% in West Germany and 39% in theNetherlands, much less than the 61% found for the less comprehensivelyregulated Great Britain, the latter figure being higher thanprevious estimates using earlier data. Gender segregation isdemonstrated to have contributed to the relative magnitude ofdiscrimination in Great Britain.     

Book Reviews

Much research has shown that mortgage rates exert a negative influence on housing prices. This study analyses the long- and short-run relationships between housing prices and mortgage rates using advanced nonstructural estimation methods. As expected, a bivariate specification and a four-variable housing demand specification both show that these variables have a long-run relationship, and that there is a rather inelastic response of housing prices to changes in mortgage rates. However, contrary to previous research, the results from Granger non-causality tests, impulse response functions and variance decompositions reveal that there is virtually no short-run influence from mortgage rates to housing prices.     

Consumption volatility and financial openness

Economic theory predicts that the integration of financial markets lowers the volatility of consumption. In this article, we study long-term trends in the consumption volatility of the G7 countries. Using different measures of financial openness, we find evidence that greater financial openness has been associated with lower consumption volatility. However, volatility of consumption relative to output has not declined.