Boosting the spread of new technologies: an integrative propositional analysis of diffusion policies

ABSTRACT

Although many studies have recognised the importance of defining specific public policies to encourage technology diffusion, many authors fail to provide a clear view about either the policies that affect the diffusion of technologies or the effect of the different political instruments. Adopting a content analysis of papers that directly or indirectly refer to the diffusion of a new technology, this study applies the integrative propositional analysis (IPA) methodology to: (a) identify the repertoire of the different diffusion policies identified by previous studies; (b) classify these policies according to the type of instruments that they use; (c) analyse the impact of each policy on the different adoption factors that may inhibit or foster the diffusion of a new technology; and (d) evaluate the scope of each type of policy in terms of the number of affected adoption factors.     

Cost effectiveness of benralizumab for severe,uncontrolled oral corticosteroid–dependent asthma in Sweden

Abstract

Aim: We investigated cost effectiveness of benralizumab vs. standard of care (SOC) plus oral corticosteroids (OCS) for patients with severe, eosinophilic OCS-dependent asthma in Sweden.

Materials and methods: A three-state, cohort-based Markov model of data from three Phase III benralizumab clinical trials (ZONDA [NCT02075255], SIROCCO [NCT01928771], and CALIMA [NCT01914757]) was used to assess the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of benralizumab vs. SOC plus OCS. Health outcomes were estimated in terms of quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs). The model included costs and disutilities associated with extrapolated OCS-related adverse events. Patients with severe asthma were defined as those receiving OCS ≥5?mg/day.

Results: Benralizumab demonstrated a cost-effectiveness ratio vs. SOC plus OCS of 2018 Swedish Kronor (SEK) 366,855 (€34,127) per QALY gained, based on increases of 1.33 QALYs and SEK 488,742 (€45,344) per patient. Benralizumab treatment costs contributed most to incremental costs. The probability of benralizumab’s being cost-effective with willingness-to-pay (WTP) thresholds between SEK 429,972 (€40,000) and SEK 752,452 (€70,000) ranged from 75% to 99%.

Limitations: Potential limitations of these analyses include the use of combined data from three different clinical trials, a one-way sensitivity analysis that did not include mortality and transition estimates, and Observational & Pragmatic Research Institute (OPRI) data from the UK as a proxy of the Swedish health care system.

Conclusions: The results of these analyses demonstrate that benralizumab has a high probability of being cost-effective compared with SOC plus OCS for a subgroup of patients with severe, eosinophilic asthma receiving regular OCS treatment and may support clinicians, payers and patients in making treatment decisions.     

医患关系的模式考量、伦理分析和制度理性

中国正处于经济社会体制转型时期,利益分配格局被打破和再组合,医疗领域也发生了深刻的变化。要想取得医疗卫生体制改革的成功就必须客观公正和辨证地评价医患关系。现有医患关系是良莠并存、错综复杂的矛盾体。利用医患关系模型对医患关系作了技术层面的分析,从伦理学的视角剖析了医患关系的内在本质,分析了两种不和谐医患关系的表现和产生机理,结合"新医改"探索了构建和谐医患关系的制度理性。     

干旱区绿洲城镇绿色基础设施网络构建 研究——以新疆阿拉尔市为例

随着全球气候变暖、生物多样性减少、生境破碎化等 环境问题日趋严重，“一带一路”沿线国家和地区在生态文明 建设上面临着共同的挑战。如何在有限的资源条件下合理布局 绿色基础设施以满足人类福祉的需求，仍是当前理论研究的热 点和景观管理实践的主要难题。以新疆阿拉尔市为例，基于形 态学空间格局分析、最小路径分析等方法识别对地区景观生态 格局具有重要影响的源地与廊道，通过补充战略点的方式对网 络进行优化，进而结合区域实际状况提出绿色基础设施网络的 构建思路。研究结果可为阿拉尔市及阿克苏地区生态修复和绿 地系统规划提供理论及实证依据，也为“一带一路”其他干旱 区城镇绿色基础设施布局与生态安全格局构建提供可资借鉴的 思路和方法。     

森林认证对林产品贸易的经济效应分析

森林认证作为一种维护全球可持续发展的市场机制,其最初并不是以贸易保护的姿态而出现的,但是,各国的森林认证实践却使它具有了某种贸易保护性质。本文通过对大国小国两种情形的讨论,认为森林认证基本上可被视为一种生态关税壁垒,只是它的实施基础较之关税壁垒更为合情、合理和合法化,而且在作用机理和长期效应上又有其自身的特点。     

Stabilizing and destabilizing mechanisms: A new perspective to understand business cycles

Economists believe that economic fluctuations can be smoothed by stabilization mechanisms, such as price adjustment, embedded in the economy. While price adjustment can be seen as a stabilization mechanism, are there mechanisms that can destabilize an economy? We find that as early as 1939, Harrod discussed a destabilization mechanism, the firm's investment adjustment, illustrated in his knife-edge puzzle. We build a macro-dynamic model with investment and price as the core macroeconomic variables. Our analysis shows that the interaction between the stabilization mechanism (price adjustment) and the destabilization mechanism (investment adjustment) generates fluctuations and cycles. However, due to price stickiness, the price adjustment mechanism may not be enough to stabilize the economy. In this case, a government stabilization policy is necessary for further stabilization. As this paper also addresses the microfoundations of Keynesian quantity theory, including the choice of output and investment in optimization, it can be related to traditional Keynesian economics, with a new perspective to understand business cycles.     

Implications of variant efficiency measures for policy evaluations in UK higher education

Policy goals in UK higher education encourage the publicly funded universities to become more-specialised and larger in size without compromising output quality. Efficiency gains are expected to flow from this increased specialisation in accordance with universities’ comparative research and teaching strengths. Mergers to reap further gains from economies of scale are also being actively encouraged. Given this scenario, the paper investigates whether best-practice efficiency measurement based on data envelopment analysis (DEA) provides empirical support for the current policy goals. It also assesses whether such support is dependent on the specific type of efficiency measure used in the DEA modelling. This assessment finds that a selection of (nine) commonly used, variant efficiency measures generally support the current policy goals. The paper also uses the principal-agent framework to explore the issues involved in using computed DEA-based efficiency scores for policy evaluations and possible funding guidance in UK higher education. This highlights empirically how policy-makers and universities can have very different preferences about which efficiency measure is to be used for policy evaluations and possible funding guidance.     

西安市绿地系统景观空间格局分析

运用景观生态学的理论与方法,选取了斑块数量、面积均值、周长均值、绿化覆盖率等若干景观指数来研究西安市城市绿地的景观格局,探讨现状绿地景观格局存在的原因及其对城市居民生活质量及城市环境质量的作用及影响,在此基础上对西安市城市绿地系统建设提出建议,以期对城市空间发展进行有效监测,为城市规划与发展提供决策依据。     

物流配送管理教学系统分析与设计

物流配送管理是物流管理专业教学的核心内容。为使学生能够成为社会需要的专业技能人才,应设计适合并能被学生接受的物流配送管理教学系统,改变我国物流教育滞后的局面。     

中国地表水资源利用效率区域差异研究

本文将中国31省区分为地表水资源丰富、比较丰富和比较稀缺的地区,运用数据包络分析法(DEA)对其2010年地表水资源效率进行研究。研究显示:31省区地表水资源差异较大,地表水资源比较稀缺的地区利用效率比较高,地表水利用效率和当地经济发展水平没有必然联系。