Excise Tax Harmonisation in Australia at Federation

Constitutional changes at the time of Federation in Australia required the harmonisation of the excise tax rates of the former Colonies. This paper outlines the excise tax systems of the Colonies before Federation and that of the Commonwealth after Federation. Estimates are made of the consumer tax equivalent rates and of the implicit rates of protection in each Colony and in the Commonwealth after Federation. The Commonwealth Government harmonised the excise tax rates of the Colonies at about the mid‐points of the rates of the Colonies but the implicit rates of protection increased after Federation.     

Evaluating drug cost per responder and number needed to treat associated with lixisenatide on top of glargine when compared to rapid-acting insulin intensification regimens on top of glargine,in patients with type 2 diabetes in the UK,Italy, and Spain

Objectives: This study investigated the cost per responder and number needed to treat (NNT) in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients for lixisenatide compared to insulin intensification regimens using composite endpoints in the UK, Italy, and Spain.

Methods: Efficacy and safety outcomes were obtained from GetGoal Duo-2, a 26-week phase 3 trial comparing lixisenatide vs insulin glulisine (IG) once daily (QD) and three times daily (TID). Response at week 26 was extrapolated to 52 weeks, assuming a maintained treatment effect, based on long-term evidence in other T2DM populations. Responders were defined using composite end-points, based on an HbA1c threshold and/or no weight gain and/or no hypoglycemia. The HbA1c threshold was varied in sensitivity analyses. Annual treatment costs were estimated in euros (1 GBP?=?1.26 EUR), including drug acquisition and resource use costs. Cost per responder was computed by dividing annual treatment costs per patient by the proportion of responders.

Results: Lixisenatide was associated with the lowest cost per responder for all composite end-points that included a weight-related component. For the main composite end-point of HbA1c ≤7.5% AND no weight gain AND no symptomatic hypoglycemia, cost per responder results were: UK: 6,867€, 8,746€, and 12,410€; Italy: 7,057€, 9,160€, and 12,844€; Spain: 8,370€, 11,365€, and 17,038€, for lixisenatide, IG QD, and TID, respectively. The NNT analysis showed that, for every 6.85 and 5.86 patients treated with lixisenatide, there was approximately one additional responder compared to IG QD and TID, respectively.

Limitations: A limitation of the clinical inputs is the lack of 52-week trial data from GetGoal Duo-2, which led to the assumption of a maintained treatment effect from week 26 to 52.

Conclusions: This analysis suggests lixisenatide is an efficient economic resource allocation in the UK, Italy, and Spain.     

RAIFFEISEN AS SOCIAL INNOVATOR

In recent years the term social innovation has become widely used by policy makers, yet important ambiguities remain. One of these concerns what has been called the paradox of embedded agency – how social innovators conceive of something new when working with existing social institutions. So far few writers have considered whether historical examples can, with benefit of hindsight, shed light on the relationships between social innovators and social institutions. This paper considers the example of Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen, creator of rural credit unions and agricultural co‐operatives in 19th‐century Germany. Raiffeisen was a social conservative who worked in many ways within existing social institutions. At the same time, his desire to meet social needs drove him to create new forms of action and organization that resulted in social innovation. Raiffeisen's process of invention shows that social innovation, particularly in transitional eras like his, need not be a matter of using logical‐deductive processes to address a social need, but may depend critically on values, will, a readiness to experiment, and an ability to find allies. These qualities enabled Raiffeisen to break through existing institutions to do something fundamentally new, and they may be qualities that provide new focus for social‐innovation research and policy.     

建筑用水泥对空气污染的影响研究

目前,国内水泥一年消耗约为24.5亿吨,在这巨大的消耗量背后值得注意的是建筑用水泥对空气的污染。文章简要分析了水泥生产过程中产生的粉尘和有害气体对大气污染的影响,提出了相应的应对措施。     

Casino regulations and economic welfare

Abstract This paper studies the entry and tax regulation of oligopolistically competitive privately run casinos and government‐run casinos in a jurisdiction. We highlight three important external effects from casino‐style gambling: non‐casino income creation, social disorder costs, and cross‐border gambling. The laissez‐faire equilibrium need not be overcrowding compared with regulated or government‐run regimes. Entry regulation may lead to higher jurisdiction welfare than tax regulation. Government‐run casinos always operate on a larger scale and achieve higher welfare than other regimes, given the same number of casinos. With an endogenous fraction of external gamblers, a dispersed casino configuration yields higher welfare than a centralized one.     

Modelling risk premia in CO2 allowances spot and futures prices

This article analyzes the modelling of risk premia in CO₂ allowances spot and futures prices, valid for compliance under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). Similarly to electricity markets, a salient characteristic of CO₂ allowances is that the theory of storage does not hold, as CO₂ allowances only exist on the balance sheets of companies regulated by the scheme. The main result features positive time-varying risk premia in CO₂ spot and futures prices, which are strictly higher for post-2012 contracts (€6–9/ton of CO₂) than for Phase II contracts (€0–6/ton of CO₂). Contrary to Benth et al.'s (2008) for electricity markets, a positive relationship between risk premia and time-to-maturity is found in the EU ETS. As for relative differences between CO₂ futures and spot prices, CO₂ futures traded between + 1% (December 2008 contract) and + 33% (December 2014 contract) above spot prices during February 2008–April 2009. Contrary to Bessembinder and Lemmon (2002) for the electricity market, a positive relationship between risk premia and the variance/skewness of CO₂ spot prices is found. The futures-spot bias to the EU ETS explains around 1–6% of the variance of CO₂ futures premia.     

Aid and public sector fiscal behaviour in failing states

This paper looks at interactions between foreign aid and the public sector in developing countries, especially those considered to be fragile or failing states. A model is proposed which employs actual budgetary appropriations and revenue estimates (rather than estimated target variables) and allows for asymmetric preferences. Variants of the model are estimated using time-series data for Papua New Guinea (PNG). PNG is classified as a fragile state by the international community owing to perceived policy and institutional inadequacies. Results obtained suggest that foreign aid increases consumption and investment expenditures and decreases tax revenues and the level of borrowing.     

协同商务模式的选择机制研究

在社会专业化分工日趋明细和协作化程度不断提高的经济全球化背景下,企业间分工合作、相互依存已成为一种常态,企业参与协同电子商务是必然趋势,参与协同商务成功与否,很大程度上取决于协同商务模式的选择,因其直接涉及到企业的赢利能力。本文从协同商务模式运作机制的视角出发,分析了协同商务模式的类型和特征,即生产商主导供应链协同商务模式、零售商主导供应链协同商务模式、中间商主导供应链协同商务模式、信息服务型第三方协同商务模式和增值服务型第三方协同商务模式;总结出了企业选择协同模式的主要影响要素：企业类型、信息化水平、财力、管理能力、合作伙伴、信任关系、风险与收益;最后,从实际运用的角度出发,为企业成功选择协同商务模式提出了充分运用成熟协同商务模式、利用条件创立新模式、灵活采用混合模式、先小范围协同再逐步放开的建议。     

中国能源消耗、二氧化碳排放与经济可持续增长

在低碳经济已成为未来经济发展模式新趋势的背景下,运用处理非期望产出的SBM模型计算出2000-2007年我国30个省区的碳环境技术效率,对能源消耗、二氧化碳与经济可持续增长的状况进行评价,进而尝试探究碳环境技术效率的影响因素。研究发现:(1)区域间能源消耗、二氧化碳排放与经济可持续发展状况差别显著。北京、上海、福建、浙江、广东、海南、江苏等东部地区处于低碳经济发展,而中部和西部地区碳环境技术效率普遍较低,特别是中部地区大部分省份高碳经济特征明显。(2)生活水平和技术进步都会极大促进碳环境技术效率的改善,工业结构重型化、粗放式增长方式及城市化阻碍碳环境技术效率的提高,制度因素尚未对碳环境技术效率改善产生显著影响。     

P2P网络小额信贷探析

在对P2P小额信贷网站这一新生第三方金融创新借贷平台的商业模式予以总结概括的基础上,对国外四家、国内三家代表网站各自的运营特色及具体状况进行描述、分析,进而针对网站运营及发展的机遇与风险提出合理化对策建议。