Secondary cancer and relapse rates following radical prostatectomy for prostate-confined cancer

In the SEER database, it is relatively easy to identify secondary cancers that follow an initial diagnosis of cancer. However, the SEER public-use data does not explicitly capture relapse of the initial cancer. One can assume that organ-confined prostate cancer treated by radical prostatectomy will show no evidence of disease after treatment. Death due to prostate cancer in such cases can be assumed to follow a relapse of previously occult metastatic disease. We devised an estimate of the timing of these relapses and tabulated rates for both new primaries and relapses following radical prostatectomy for organ-confined prostate cancer.     

Pivot tables for mortality analysis, or who needs life tables anyway?

Actuarial life-table analysis has long been used by life insurance medical directors for mortality abstraction from clinical studies. Ironically, today's life actuary instead uses pivot tables to analyze mortality. Pivot tables (a feature/function in MS Excel) collapse various dimensions of data that were previously arranged in an "experience study" format. Summary statistics such as actual deaths, actual and expected mortality (usually measured in dollars), and calculated results such as actual to expected ratios, are then displayed in a 2-dimensional grid. The same analytic process, excluding the dollar focus, can be used for clinical mortality studies. For raw survival data, especially large datasets, this combination of experience study data and pivot tables has clear advantages over life-table analysis in both accuracy and flexibility. Using the SEER breast cancer data, we compare the results of life-table analysis and pivot-table analysis.     

Economics, Psychology, and Social Dynamics of Consumer Bidding in Auctions

With increasing numbers of consumers in auction marketplaces, we highlight some recent approaches that bring additional economic, social, and psychological factors to bear on existing economic theory to better understand and explain consumers' behavior in auctions. We also highlight specific research streams that could contribute towards enriching existing economic models of bidding behavior in emerging market mechanisms. This paper is based on the special session at the 6th Triennial Invitational Choice Symposium, University of Colorado Boulder, June 2004 (co-chaired by the first two authors).     

The big-bang-for-your-buck theory

Do it right, and your investment in information technology can have all sorts of strategic payoffs. Do it wrong, and you'll be paying, dearly, for nothing. Here's a guide to evaluating IT and measuring its impact.     

Two-Period Duopolies with Forward Markets

Review of Industrial Organization - We experimentally consider a dynamic multi-period Cournot duopoly with a simultaneous option to manage financial risk and a real option to delay supply. The...     

Strategic thinking in contests

Experimental Economics - We examine motives for ‘overbidding’ in contests between individuals using a “two-headed” approach to decision-making. In “two-headed”...