Domestic technology,consumption economies of scale and poverty: evidence from Sri Lanka

While it is well known that new technologies enhance consumer welfare, the manner in which these technologies impact the ability to realize economies of scale in consumption is not well understood. We use Sri Lankan household data to examine how the adoption of new technologies by households positively impacts their ability to achieve household economies of scale. This suggests that new technologies not only deliver a greater variety of consumption goods to consumers, but they may also play an important role in enabling large households to escape poverty by lowering the per-capita costs of maintaining a given standard of living. Given the importance of consumption economies of scale in the measurement of poverty, this study provides some insights on the extent to which the number of poor households changes when food consumption scale economies due to technology adoption in the domestic sphere are incorporated.     

Cost-effectiveness analysis of sequential biologic therapy with ixekizumab versus secukinumab as first-line treatment of moderate-to-severe psoriasis in the UK

Aims: Patients with psoriasis often undergo treatment with a sequence of biologic agents because of poor/loss of response to initial therapy. With the availability of newer agents like ixekizumab and secukinumab, there is a need for cost-effectiveness analyses to better reflect current clinical practice. This study aimed to assess the cost-effectiveness of a sequence of biologic therapies containing first-line ixekizumab vs first-line secukinumab in patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis in the UK.

Materials and methods: A Markov model with a lifetime horizon was developed to compare the cost-effectiveness of ixekizumab and secukinumab treatment sequences: ixekizumab → ustekinumab → infliximab → best supportive care (BSC) vs secukinumab → ustekinumab → infliximab → BSC. The model used monthly cycles, and included four health states: trial period, treatment maintenance, BSC, and death. At the end of the trial period, responders transitioned to maintenance therapy; non-responders transitioned to the next biologic in the sequence. An annual discontinuation rate of 20% was assumed for maintenance therapy.

Results: The ixekizumab sequence provided cost savings of £898 (£176,203 vs 177,101) [year 2015 values] and gained 0.03 more quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs: 1.45 vs 1.42) vs the secukinumab sequence over the lifetime horizon. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis showed an 89.8% likelihood that the ixekizumab sequence would be cost-effective at a threshold of £20,000 per QALY gained.

Limitations: The analysis used list prices for drugs rather than confidential, preferentially priced Patient Access Scheme costs. In addition, efficacy input data were based on a network meta-analysis, as there were no head-to-head trials comparing ixekizumab and secukinumab.

Conclusion: First-line treatment with ixekizumab as part of a specific sequential biologic therapy for moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis in the UK provided slight advantages in cost savings and QALYs gained over a similar treatment sequence initiated with secukinumab. In view of the small magnitude of these differences, factors such as patient preferences (e.g. for number of injections) and long-term safety (e.g. related to time on the market) may also be important for clinical decision-making.     

The Use of Attendance Incentive Differentials for Managing Worker Shortages: A Study of Export Manufacturers in Global Supply Chains

Amidst frequent and consequential worker shortages, export manufacturers in developing economies use incentives to reward workers for perfect attendance each month. However, it is unclear to what extent the attendance incentive differentials observed between export manufacturers are shaped by both employers' and workers' interests. By applying prior pay setting theory in the context of evidence of when consequential worker shortages occur due to workers' pursuit of personal or professional interests during workdays, I develop a framework that explains export manufacturers' policy decisions on the incentive level to reward workers' perfect attendance. Hypotheses are tested using data on 104 export apparel manufacturing establishments in Sri Lanka. The findings imply that attendance incentive pay setting is shaped not only by export manufacturers' strategic interest in minimizing vulnerability to worker shortages but also by their understanding of workers' willingness to forgo personal/professional interests (e.g., time-off, alternative careers/jobs) to attend on every workday.     

Teaching effectiveness of non-native English-speaking teachers in business disciplines: intercultural communication apprehension and ethnocentrism

Teaching effectiveness of non-native English-speaking teachers (NNEST) in accounting, economics and finance has become a significant issue due to the increasing trend of hiring NNEST in business schools. However, the literature has focused on the English language competence of NNEST, which is only one element of the factors that influence teaching effectiveness. This study examines students’ perceptions of teaching effectiveness of NNEST in business disciplines in an Australian university to understand relevant NNEST issues of teaching from a cross-cultural communication perspective. Data were gathered via focus groups and student evaluation of teacher performance surveys. The thematic content analysis of the data indicated that students acknowledge that NNEST are knowledgeable and hardworking teachers; however, issues of intercultural communication apprehension hinder their teaching effectiveness. Besides, ethnocentric world views of students tend to adversely influence the teaching evaluation of NNEST. This study concludes that NNEST’s issues are broader than mere linguistic competence, which suggests that business schools should focus on enhancing cultural understanding and minimising intercultural communication apprehension of NNEST in efforts aimed at enhancing NNEST’s teaching effectiveness.     

Value relevance of human capital based disclosures: Moderating effects of labor productivity,investor sentiment,analyst coverage and audit quality

Voluntarily disclosed employee costs in annual reports of listed firms are value relevant, according to US based studies. However, investors appear to fail to take full advantage of the signaling opportunities presented by these disclosures. This study suggests that labor productivity, audit quality, analyst coverage and high technology categorization moderate the value relevance of voluntarily disclosed employee costs in Malaysia, contributing a novel set of moderating variables to the human capital accounting and value relevance literature, and extending the extant literature to an emerging economy. The results are consistent with the findings from US based settings, after incorporating these moderating factors. Pertinent policy recommendations, based on these findings, are suggested.     

Regional trade agreements and trade in agri-food products: evidence for the European Union from gravity modeling using disaggregated data

The proliferation of regional trade agreements in recent years has intensified the debate on the desirability of these agreements in themselves and their coexistence with multilateral free trade under the WTO. This study contributes to this debate by analyzing trade creation and trade diversion effects of the European Union on trade flows of six major agri‐food products from 1985 to 2000. An extended gravity model is estimated employing pooled data and generalized least squares methods. The results show that the developments in the EU since the mid‐1980s have served to boost agri‐food trade significantly among the members. Some of the growth in intra‐EU trade in agri‐food products came at the expense of nonmembers as the EU reduced the degree of relative openness to trade with nonmembers during this period and diverted trade from the rest of the world into the intra‐EU channels.     

How sustainable is sustainable hospitality research? A review of sustainable restaurant literature from 1991 to 2015

This research was designed to evaluate our current state of knowledge by systematically reviewing tourism and hospitality academic literature concerning sustainability in the restaurant sector by undertaking a systematic review and content analysis. The characteristics of 76 articles are listed in a comprehensive table, presenting research design and research variables, and the articles are examined for their approach to the sustainability concept as applied to the restaurant industry (i.e. the range of responsible practices addressed in each work). The findings indicate that the majority of the literature only engages with parts of sustainability, particularly ecological, rather than holistic sustainability. This matters because it may mean we fail in our attempts to achieve more sustainable restaurant operations.

This research suggests that tourism and hospitality studies need to re-engage with the evolving conceptualisation of sustainability to ensure that best practice responses to changing requirements are undertaken. The narrow focus on ecological aspects of sustainability featuring in restaurants does not acknowledge the full meaning of sustainability and therefore may constrain efforts to secure more sustainable futures. Illuminating such gaps in knowledge is important in order to strengthen our conceptual understandings, refine our practices and thereby secure more sustainable futures through tourism and hospitality.     

Cost-effectiveness of TYRX absorbable antibacterial envelope for prevention of cardiovascular implantable electronic device infection

Aims: Infection is a major complication of cardiovascular implantable electronic device (CIED) therapy that usually requires device extraction and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The TYRX Antibacterial Envelope is a polypropylene mesh that stabilizes the CIED and elutes minocycline and rifampin to reduce the risk of post-operative infection.

Methods: A decision tree was developed to assess the cost-effectiveness of TYRX vs standard of care (SOC) following implantation of four CIED device types. The model was parameterized for a UK National Health Service perspective. Probabilities were derived from the literature. Resource use included drug acquisition and administration, hospitalization, adverse events, device extraction, and replacement. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were calculated from costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs).

Results: Over a 12-month time horizon, TYRX was less costly and more effective than SOC when utilized in patients with an ICD or CRT-D. TYRX was associated with ICERs of £46,548 and £21,768 per QALY gained in patients with an IPG or CRT-P, respectively. TYRX was cost-effective at a £30,000 threshold at baseline probabilities of infection exceeding 1.65% (CRT-D), 1.95% (CRT-P), 1.87% (IPG), and 1.38% (ICD).

Limitations and conclusions: Device-specific infection rates for high-risk patients were not available in the literature and not used in this analysis, potentially under-estimating the impact of TYRX in certain devices. Nevertheless, TYRX is associated with a reduction in post-operative infection risk relative to SOC, resulting in reduced healthcare resource utilization at an initial cost. The ICERs are below the accepted willingness-to-pay thresholds used by UK decision-makers. TYRX, therefore, represents a cost-effective prevention option for CIED patients at high-risk of post-operative infection.     

The Impact of Suppliers’ Adoption of Voluntary Labour Codes/Certifications on Job Quality in Global Supply Chains: The Sri Lankan Case of Garments without Guilt

Codes of conduct and certifications on labour standards are designed to distinguish export manufacturing suppliers offering higher quality jobs from those offering poor quality jobs. However, previous research suggests that such codes/certifications have a limited impact on job quality. These studies do not differentiate between ‘compliance-based codes of conduct’ that retailers enforce on suppliers and ‘voluntary labour codes/certifications’ that suppliers adopt at their discretion. We examine the relationship between suppliers’ adoption of the Garments without Guilt (GwG) voluntary labour code/certification and job quality using fieldwork and longitudinal data on Sri Lankan export apparel suppliers. We find that GwG adoption is associated with higher base pay and safer work, while base pay is lower for GwG adopters that are simultaneously subject to retailers’ enforcement of compliance-based codes.     

Exchange Rate Exposure of Sectoral Returns and Volatilities: Further Evidence From Japanese Industrial Sectors

In this paper we argue that the commonly employed exposure coefficient/beta is inadequate for capturing the entire impact of exchange rate changes on firms' future operating cash flows. Instead, we employ the bivariate Glosten–Jagannathan–Runkle generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity mean model to investigate four aspects of exchange rate exposure, including sensitivity of stock returns to exchange rate changes, sensitivity of stock returns to the volatility of exchange rate changes, sensitivity of conditional variance of returns to exchange rate volatility, and the dynamic conditional correlation between returns and exchange rate changes, respectively, using data from 10 industrial sectors in Japan. We find significant evidence of such exchange rate exposure which is not captured by the conventional measure. The diagnostic statistics confirm the adequacy of our model, and, hence, the robustness of the results.