How progressive are indirect taxes in Russia?

The interplay of a differentiated indirect tax structure and the variation in expenditure patterns across households leads to a possibly unequal distribution of indirect tax liabilities across the population. This paper uses the ninth round of the RLMS survey to assess the distributional consequences of the two major components of the Russian indirect tax system: VAT and excise taxes. According to the Kakwani index, the global indirect system can be considered to be progressive overall. Decomposition into constituent terms shows that this is due not only to a progressive VAT structure, but also to progressive excise taxes. This result is partly explained by the progressivity of the excise tax on car fuel, but is also sensitive to peculiarities in the data about alcohol consumption.     

On approximating the Indirect Malmquist Productivity Indices by Fisher indices

In this paper it is shown that under certain assumptions the Cost Indirect Malmquist Productivity Index, which is a natural productivity measure for a cost constrained firm, can be approximated as the ratio of the Fisher output quantity index and the cost index.The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policies of Statistics Netherlands.     

护士自愿离职成本的研究进展

新医改和优质护理工程都要求对护士的离职问题予以重视,但目前的研究多是集中于护士离职的前因变量或结果因素的分析,而对护士离职成本这一组织最关心的问题却很少涉及。根据文献研究和综合分析对护士自愿离职成本的因素和计算进行分类整理,显示护士自愿离职成本可分为直接成本和间接成本。关注护士离职成本,可采取有效措施解决护士离职率过高的问题,对未来的理论研究和医疗实践提供了参考。     

An evolutionary stable strategy for retailers selling complementary goods subject to indirect network externalities

A two-population evolutionary game model is constructed for retailers and used to investigate the effect of indirect network externalities (INEs) and product complementarity on the strategic choice of marketing objective of the retailers. The results show that their strategic choice of marketing objective is correlated with market reservation price (MRP) when the strength of the INE is low. When the MRP is low, the retailers tend to adopt a strategy of profit maximization. As MRP increases, low-cost retailers adopt a strategy of revenue maximization instead of profit maximization to maximize revenue at an earlier stage than high-cost retailers. However, when the strength of the INE is high, retailers only choose a strategy of revenue maximization as their marketing objective. The probability that a retailer uses a revenue maximization strategy increases as the strength of the INE grows, and product complementarity increases, when there is an equilibrium between two pure marketing objective strategies. An optimal preference ratio for retailers may exist when the strength of INE is found to be not large enough. Numerical examples reveal that the degree of preference of retailers to maximize profit is shown to be negatively correlated with both INE and product complementarity. On the other hand, their profits are positively correlated with both of these factors.     

举办2008年奥运会对我国经济效益的影响

采用文献法、调查法、问卷法对北京承办2008年奥运会预期经济效益进行探讨,以便寻求最大化地提高2008年北京奥运会经济效益的基本途径和对策。     

藐视法庭罪简介及其立法构想

西方学者把藐视法庭罪誉为维护国家法律至高无上地位的不朽基石,英国早在12世纪就有了藐视法庭罪的规定。在我国当前设立藐视法庭罪是维护司法秩序、捍卫司法权威、顺应司法改革、实现司法公正、提高司法效率的必然要求。结合西方国家的立法例,提出设立我国藐视法庭罪的具体设想。     

From teleology to evolution

This paper focuses on the uneasy alliance of rational choice and evolutionary explanations in modern economics. While direct evolutionary explanations rule out "purposeful" rational choice by assuming "zero-intelligence" and pure rational choice explanations leave no room for "selective" adaptation, the indirect evolutionary approach integrates both perspectives. Subsequently we go stepwise "from teleology to evolution" and thereby study the model spectrum ranging from pure rational choice over indirect to direct evolutionary approaches. We believe that knowledge of this spectrum can help us to choose more adequate models of economic behavior that incorporate both teleological and evolutionary elements.JEL Classification: C72, B52, B59We gratefully acknowledge the very helpful constructive comments, corrections and the encouragement of our referee. Of course, the conventional disclaimer applies.Correspondence to: S. Berninghaus     

间接执法成本、间接损害与选择性执法

在法律体系已经相对完备的情况下,学者把关注的焦点放在了执法层面,并以直接执法成本解释许多法律未能得到有效执行的现象。然而现实中的执法问题,并不仅限于有法不依或执法不严,而经常是执法者在不同时期,针对不同案件有选择性地采取不同的执法强度,既有执法不严,也有过度执法、以政策替代法律的问题。本文的研究表明,这种选择性执法现象,是作为执法主体的政府面临情势变化,为降低包括间接执法成本和间接损害的总成本,运用剩余执法权以保证实现其政治、经济及社会目标的结果。     

The economic burden of brain metastasis among lung cancer patients in the United States

Objective:

Brain metastases among lung cancer patients can impair cognitive and functional ability, complicate care, and reduce survival. This study focuses on the economic burden of brain metastasis in lung cancer—direct healthcare costs to payers and indirect costs to patients, payers, and employers—in the US.

Methods:

Retrospective study using claims data from over 60 self-insured Fortune 500 companies across all US census regions (January 1999–March 2013). Adult, non-elderly lung cancer patients with brain metastasis were evaluated over two study periods: (1) pre-diagnosis (≤30 days prior to first observed lung cancer diagnosis to ≤30 days prior to first-observed brain metastasis diagnosis) and (2) post-diagnosis (≤30 days prior to first observed brain metastasis diagnosis to end of continuous eligibility or observation).

Outcome measures:

Healthcare costs to payers and resource utilization, salary loss to patients, disability payouts for payers, and productivity loss to employers.

Results:

A total of 132 patients were followed for a median of 8.4 and 6.6 months in the pre- and post-diagnosis periods, respectively. At diagnosis of brain metastasis, 21.2% of patients were on leave of absence and 6.1% on long-term disability leave. Substantial differences were observed in the pre- vs post-diagnosis periods. Specifically, patients incurred much greater healthcare utilization in the post-diagnosis period, resulting in $25,579 higher medical costs per-patient-per-6-months (PPP6M). During this period, patients missed significantly more work days, generating an incremental burden of $2853 PPP6M in salary loss for patients, $2557 PPP6M in disability payments for payers, and $4570 PPP6M in productivity loss for employers.

Limitations:

Type of primary lung cancer and extent of brain metastasis could not be assessed in the data. The analysis was also limited to patients with comprehensive disability coverage.

Conclusions:

Development of brain metastasis among lung cancer patients is associated with a substantial economic burden to payers, patients, and employers.     

食品质量安全存在的问题及解决对策

人要生存必不可少的要摄入食物,而食品质量是否安全则严重影响到人们的健康和安全。影响食品质量安全的因素有:受到污染、商家造假、违规生产等。这不仅损害了消费者的利益,威胁其健康,也严重影响社会的安定以及经济的发展。本文主要分析食品质量安全的主要问题和其产生的危害,并对此提出一些解决该问题的建议。