bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
An Empirical Examination of Multiple Objective Risk Attitudes
Authors: Klimack William K. , Kloeber Jack M. , Bauer Kenneth W. , Oxley Mark E.
Published: April 2015

We experimentally examined the relationships between the measurable value and utility functions of a nonmonetary multidimensional decision situation for a number of subjects. We found that value and utility were not equivalent constructs. We tested five families of functions and found the sigmoid function performed best as a transform from value to utility. Constant relative risk aversion was not observed. The methods of probability equivalent and certainty equivalent utility elicitation provided similar results, which differs from previous work using economic decisions.
The Effect of Self-Control on the Construction of Risk Perceptions
Authors: Jia Jayson S. , Khan Uzma , Litt Ab
Published: April 2015

We show that the way decision makers construct risk perceptions is systematically influenced by their level of self-control: low self-control results in greater weighting of probability and reduced weighting of consequences of negative outcomes in formulating overall threat perceptions. Seven studies demonstrate such distorted risk construction in wide-ranging risk domains. The effects hold for both chronic and manipulated levels of perceived self-control and are observed only for risks involving high personal agency (e.g., overeating, smoking, drinking). As an important implication of our results, we also demonstrate that those lower (higher) in self-control show relatively less (more) interest in products and lifestyle changes reducing consequences (e.g., a pill that heals liver damage from drinking) than those reducing likelihood of risks (e.g., a pill that prevents liver damage from drinking). We also explore several possible underlying processes for the observed effect and discuss the theoretical and managerial relevance of our findings.

This paper was accepted by Yuval Rottenstreich, judgment and decision making.
Modified Sociometric Technique Facilitating Group Psychotherapy: Using a Sociogram with Sharing and Reverse Sharing in a Process Group Psychotherapy Session
Authors: Korshak Shelley J.
Published: April 2015

Psychodramatists often use structured techniques for creating cohesion in psychotherapy groups, but process group psychotherapy is ordinarily unstructured. When one group member in an ongoing psychotherapy process group voiced her ambivalence about being in the group, the therapist introduced a structured exercise of a pen-and-paper sociogram and directed the sharing both forward and in reverse. The result was greater connectedness among group members, as well as increased liveliness and cohesion in the group as a whole. This article presents the use of this directed technique and discusses the rationale, the intervention, and the outcome.
Healing Eating Disorders with Psychodrama and Other Action Methods: Beyond the Silence and the Fury. By Karen Carnabucci and Linda Ciotola. Jessica Kingsley Press, 2013.
Authors: Cossa Mario
Published: April 2015

Healing Eating Disorders with Psychodrama and Other Action Methods: Beyond the Silence and the Fury. By Karen Carnabucci and Linda Ciotola. Jessica Kingsley Press, 2013.
Particle flux on the continental shelf in the Amundsen Sea Polynya and Western Antarctic Peninsula
Authors: Ducklow Hugh W. , Wilson Stephanie E. , Post Anton F. , Stammerjohn Sharon E. , Erickson Matthew , Lee SangHoon , Lowry Kate E. , Sherrell Robert M. , Yager Patricia L.
Published: April 2015

We report results from a yearlong, moored sediment trap in the Amundsen Sea Polynya (ASP), the first such time series in this remote and productive ecosystem. Results are compared to a long-term (1992–2013) time series from the western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP). The ASP trap was deployed from December 2010 to December 2011 at 350 m depth. We observed two brief, but high flux events, peaking at 8 and 5 mmol C m−2 d−1 in January and December 2011, respectively, with a total annual capture of 315 mmol C m−2. Both peak fluxes and annual capture exceeded the comparable WAP observations. Like the overlying phytoplankton bloom observed during the cruise in the ASP (December 2010 to January 2011), particle flux was dominated by Phaeocystis antarctica, which produced phytodetrital aggregates. Particles at the start of the bloom were highly depleted in 13C, indicating their origin in the cold, CO2-rich winter waters exposed by retreating sea ice. As the bloom progressed, microscope visualization and stable isotopic composition provided evidence for an increasing contribution by zooplankton fecal material. Incubation experiments and zooplankton observations suggested that fecal pellet production likely contributed 10–40% of the total flux during the first flux event, and could be very high during episodic krill swarms. Independent estimates of export from the surface (100 m) were about 5–10 times that captured in the trap at 350 m. Estimated bacterial respiration was sufficient to account for much of the decline in the flux between 50 and 350 m, whereas zooplankton respiration was much lower. The ASP system appears to export only a small fraction of its production deeper than 350 m within the polynya region. The export efficiency was comparable to other polar regions where phytoplankton blooms were not dominated by diatoms.
Factors influencing access to antenatal services and delivery care in sub-Saharan Africa
Authors: Ebu Nancy Innocentia , Gross Janet
Published: April 2015

Maternal mortality is a public health concern worldwide, and especially so in developing nations. Antenatal services and delivery care are key strategies to reduce avoidable maternal deaths, and achieve Millennium Development Goal 5. This review investigated the different factors influencing access to antenatal services and delivery care among women of childbearing age in sub-Saharan Africa. The results suggested that the level of education of women and their partners, transportation difficulties, socioeconomic status, wealth, income, age, distance, quality of care, cost and religious background influenced access to antenatal services and delivery care. Inequalities in access to antenatal care services and delivery care had an impact on the health of childbearing women in sub-Saharan Africa. Improvement in the social, economic, and political environment was essential to address the multiple barriers women encounter and to promote safe motherhood.
Exploring women's satisfaction with intrapartum care at a teaching hospital in Ghana
Authors: Ebu Nancy Innocentia , Owusu Mavis , Gross Janet
Published: April 2015

Women's satisfaction with intrapartum care is critical as it may have a positive impact on service use. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted to describe women's level of satisfaction with delivery services in Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, Ghana. A total of 100 randomly selected postnatal women participated in the study using a semi-structured interview schedule. Data were collected over a 4-week period in March–April 2013 and were analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics 20. The results revealed that 62% of postnatal mothers were satisfied with delivery care. Although satisfaction level was high, respondents raised the issues of poor communication (44%), bad attitudes of midwives (24%) and sleeping on the floor (18%) as some of the general experiences they encountered on the labour ward. Women's satisfaction with delivery was related to doctors and midwives showing concern about respondents' labour pain, and the time service providers spent managing women's pain. Health care providers adopting effective care strategies and providing a conducive environment will help in delivering care that is more woman-centred.
Weight loss surgery and improvements in the psychological profile of obese patients: a literature review
Authors: McCarthy Helen
Published: April 2015

Obesity is a public health epidemic in developed countries and is the leading cause of preventable health-care costs. There has been a 400% rise in obesity in England in the last 20 years. The direct cost of obesity to the NHS is £4.2 billion, with wider costs to the economy estimated at £16 billion. With recent proposals from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to change guidelines (previously CG43), a larger number of people may be eligible for weight loss surgery. The aim of this article is to review existing evidence and discuss whether bariatric surgery improves the psychological wellbeing of obese patients.
Evaluation of the Results of Yerevan State Medical University (YSMU) HOSPITALS’ Landscaping Reorganization According to Climate and Acoustic Level
Authors: Vardanyan K.K. , Hayrapetyan A.K.
Published: April 2015

The aim of the presented research was to study the effect of hospital greenery on the noise, humidity and temperature of the air status. The study has shown, that even small green planted areas influence on the microclimate alleviating the temperature and relative humidity of the air on the territory and allow to testify that the rational plantation of MPI (Medical Preventive Institutions) is able to reduce the acoustic level and provide a proper treating-preventive regimen in the hospital. The comparison of microclimatic indices of the planted territory of the hospital area both in the morning and evening investigations has revealed a great difference. Morning investigations, carried out in 2009 and 2010 have proved that compared with the open territory in green plantations the temperature of the air is, on average, lower by 1,8 and 1.4ºC correspondingly. In the evening investigations of 2009 and 2010, on average, the indices studied in the green plantations are by 2,5 and 2 ºC lower compared with the results obtained in the open territory. Yerevan differs for its continental climate and is characterized by stable hot, dry summer, which is of special interest due to the unfavorable influence of the surplus heat on the human organism resulting in the organism overheating and tension of the thermo regulating apparatus function. The study has shown that in the morning investigations, carried out in green plantations in 2009 and 2010 the relative humidity was on average 17,3% and 18,9% correspondingly higher compared with the open territory. In the evening investigations, carried out in 2009 and 2010, the indices in green plantations were on average 6,6% and 9% correspondingly higher compared with those obtained on the open territory. Two-year dynamics, when investigating the acoustic level in different areas of the hospital and adjacent to the hospital territories, has revealed higher indices in Abovyan Street, where the acoustic pollution was the highest. A significant difference is noted comparing the results obtained in Abovyan Street with the ones obtained from the green territory of the hospital and the garden-park zone.
Impact on Patient Management and Outcome of Switching between 2 Contemporary Sensitive Cardiac Troponin Assays
Authors: Wilen Craig B , Szymanski Jeffrey J , Hung Steven , Rajan Anand , Lavigne Paul M , Char Douglas M , Geltman Edward M , Scott Mitchell G
Published: April 2015

BACKGROUND

Myocardial infarction is characterized by an increase of cardiac troponin I (cTnI) above the 99th percentile of a reference population. Our hospital switched from 1 contemporary cTnI assay to another and observed a doubling of cTnI results above the assays' respective 99th percentile cutoffs. We investigated the potential impact on inpatient management and outcomes.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective cohort study of 45 498 individuals with ≥1 cTnI result between January 2013 and June 2014. The Dimension cTnI assay was used in 2013; the Abbott Architect cTnI assay was used in 2014.

RESULTS

Before switching cTnI assays, 19.2% (4742/30 872) of patients had at least 1 of the first 3 cTnIs above the 99th percentile (0.07 μg/L). After switching to the Architect cTnI assay, 31.4% (4034/14 626) of patients had at least 1 cTnI above the 99th percentile (0.03 μg/L). This increase was due to the difference in the assays' 99th percentile cutoffs. Having an increased cTnI reported on the Architect assay that would not have been reported as such on the Dimension assay (0.03–0.06 μg/L) correlated with increased inpatient mortality, length of stay, non–ST elevation myocardial infarction diagnosis, therapeutic heparin use, and percutaneous coronary intervention, relative to individuals with cTnI <0.03 μg/L.

CONCLUSIONS

The changes observed in patient outcomes and management were likely due to the increased sensitivity and lower 99th percentile cutoff of the Architect assay. It is important to recognize the potential impact that differences in sensitivity and assay configuration may have on patient management.
Collage, a crucible for transformative learning
Authors: Towlson Kaye
Published: April 2015

This article relates the personal experience and reflections of the author in her pedagogic use of collage as an aid to exploration, thinking, planning and reflection. The article recounts her use of this and other radical visual and kinaesthetic learning techniques within the contexts of assignment exploration, project planning and careers mapping. The revelatory and self-reflective results of these activities generate an environment of trust and peer experience sharing which creates an atmosphere ripe for a truly transformative learning experience.
Review
Authors: Friggens Greta
Published: April 2015

East Midlands Writing-PAD Centre launch: Journeys in visual learning, De Montfort University, Thursday 26 June 2014
Catching prey with the antennae
Authors: Schneeberg Katharina , Förster (first author) Maria
Published: April 2015

The Corethrellidae (frog-biting-midges) is a small group among the lower Diptera. The family contains approximately 110 species. Their predaceous larvae feed mainly on other insect larvae. They capture prey with their antennae; a mechanism which also can be found in the closely related Chaoboridae. This unusual feature and the lack of morphological data of internal structures induced us to investigate the cephalic structures of the larvae of Corethrella appendiculata (Grabham 1906). The closely adjacent antennae are one segmented and insert on the anterior margin in a horizontal position in specific pockets of the head capsule. A strongly developed antennal muscle causes the abduction of the antennae leading to catch prey. In larvae of Chaoboridae the antennae are also located on the anterior margin of the head; but in a vertical position. In contrast to the Corethrellidae the abduction is caused indirectly by increasing the hemolymph-pressure. The adduction is caused by the antennal muscle. Because of this unique mechanism a sistergroup relationship of Corethrellidae and Chaoboridae is confirmed.
New database of all marine species biological and traits
Authors: Claus Simon , Dekeyzer Stefanie , Vandepitte Leen , Lear Dan , Langmead Olivia , Tyler-Waters Harvey
Published: April 2015

The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is being expanded to include species biological and ecological traits, and their socio-economic status. In contrast to traits, a species status may vary in place and time. However, a species status is of great importance to society and thus species of conservation concern, introduced, fishery or aquaculture resource, harmful, or used as an ecological indicator, are so noted in the database. WoRMS is a complete inventory of named marine species, managed by over 200 experts, and contains additional information and links on many species. We prioritised inclusion of traits where they could be applied to most taxa, were easily available, and their inclusion would result in new research and/or management applications. Numerical traits were favoured over categorical. The top ten prioritized were taxonomic classification, environment, geography, depth, substratum, mobility, skeleton, diet, body size and reproduction. Habitat can be derived from a selection of these traits. New use-cases may further subdivide and expand upon these traits. Each new attribute (trait or status) multiplies the number of analyses possible from the database. Contributions and enquiries are welcomed.
Global biodiversity and biogeography of razor clams (Solenidae: Bivalvia)
Authors: Saeedi Hanieh
Published: April 2015

Solenidae are deep-burrowing bivalves that inhabit shallow waters to a depth of 100 m in tropical, sub-tropical, and temperate seas worldwide. They are absent from Polar Regions and some oceanic islands such as New Zealand. We mapped and modelled their geographic distribution using environmental data. The geographic distribution of species in 5 latitudinal bands showed a distinct bimodal pattern, and exceptionally high regional endemicity. The Indo-Pacific area exhibited the greatest species richness while the Philippines had a higher number of species (13) than any other biogeographic province in the whole of the Indo-Malayan realm. The most important environmental factors in determining Solenidae environment suitability were distance to land, depth, productivity, wave height, and sea surface temperature.
Topographic statistics for the surface and seabed area, volume, depths, and slopes for the world's seas, oceans and countries
Authors: Cheung Alan , De Hauwere Nathalie
Published: April 2015

We produced a new terrain map of the oceans from the best available resolution global bathymetry using a Geographical Information System. From this map, we calculated the following statistics for each sea and ocean, and each countrys Exclusive Economic Zone2: sea surface and seabed area, volume, mean, maximum and standard deviation of depth and slope. We found a total sea surface area of 353 million km2, seabed area of 354 million km2, and volume of 1 trillion litres or 1.3 billion km3. The deepest depth was 10,898 m in Micronesia, North Pacific Ocean. We found that the ocean was very flat; 71% of seabed had a slope of < 1o. We predicted locations of 56,741 seamounts (> 1,000 m high) with 74% within 30-min distance of known seamounts. We also identified over 1 million circular seabed features that may be seamounts or sea-hills.
Fly on the wall: Evolution of Attachment Devices in Lower Diptera
Authors: Friedemann Katrin , Schneeberg Katharina
Published: April 2015

Diptera display a broad array of adhesive devices occurring on different parts of the legs. Characters of the distal leg region of 32 species and 10 outgroups were mapped onto the phylogeny of Wiegmann et al. (2011) to evaluate the evolution of attachment structures in Diptera.

Smooth and hairy attachment structures are present in Diptera. A smooth arolium is present in Tipulomorpha but missing in the remaining dipterans. It has very likely evolved independently from the arolia of the outgroups; though a possible re-evolution is discussed as well. Hairy empodia are a groundplan feature of Diptera; but missing in several genera. Hairy pulvilli can be found in most subgroups. However; two species evolved smooth pulvilli. Very often both pulvilli and empodia are present. The size and shape of these two structures is very variable. The shape of the tips of tenent hairs differs considerably between the different groups. The potential to modify pretarsal attachment devices in their structural details has probably contributed to the very successful diversification of Diptera.
Slotting Allowances and Optimal Product Variety
Authors: Shaffer Greg
Published: April 2015

Some commentators believe that slotting allowances enhance social welfare by providing retailers with an efficient way to allocate scarce retail shelf space. The claim is that, by offering their shelf space to the highest bidders, retailers act as agents for consumers and ensure that only the most socially desirable products obtain distribution. I show that this claim does not hold in a model in which a dominant firm and competitive fringe compete for retailer patronage. By using slotting allowances to bid up the price of shelf space, the dominant firm can sometimes exclude the competitive fringe even when welfare would be higher if the fringe obtained distribution.
Bounding Treatment Effects with Contaminated and Censored Data: Assessing the Impact of Early Childbearing on Children
Authors: Mullin Charles H
Published: April 2015

Empirical researchers commonly invoke instrumental variable (IV) assumptions to identify treatment effects. This paper considers what can be learned under two specific violations of those assumptions: contaminated and corrupted data. Either of these violations prevents point identification, but sharp bounds of the treatment effect remain feasible. In an applied example, random miscarriages are an IV for women’s age at first birth. However, the inability to separate random miscarriages from behaviorally induced miscarriages (those caused by smoking and drinking) results in a contaminated sample. Furthermore, censored child outcomes produce a corrupted sample. Despite these limitations, the bounds demonstrate that delaying the age at first birth for the current population of non-black teenage mothers reduces their first-born child’s well-being.
Do Cigarette Taxes Make Smokers Happier
Authors: Gruber Jonathan H , Mullainathan Sendhil
Published: April 2015

Some policy makers justify cigarette taxes by arguing that they actually make smokers better off. This argument has been hard to evaluate because behavioral data, such as that showing reduced cigarette consumption following a tax hike, cannot resolve the issue of whether smokers are made better off by the reduction or not. In this paper, we directly assess the effect of cigarette taxes on well-being, using subjective well-being data. We model the differential impact of excise taxes on those with a propensity to smoke, relative to others, in order to control for omitted correlations between happiness and excise taxation. Using US data on happiness and state-level changes in excise taxes, we find consistent evidence that excise taxes make those who have a propensity to smoke happier. To assess robustness, we repeat the exercise using Canadian data, which has independent information on well-being and also much larger tax changes, and find the exact same pattern. Moreover, these impacts are present for cigarette excise taxes, but not for other excise taxes. These results suggest that the welfare effects of cigarette taxation are far more complex than simple rational economic models might predict.
Risk and Career Choice
Authors: Saks Raven E , Shore Stephen H
Published: April 2015

Choosing a type of education is one of the largest financial decisions we make. Educational investment differs from other types of investment in that it is indivisible and non-tradable. These differences lead agents to demand a premium to enter careers with more idiosyncratic risk. Since the required premium will be smaller for wealthier agents, they will tend to enter careers with more idiosyncratic risk.

After developing a model of career choice, we use data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) to estimate the risk associated with different careers. We find education, health care, and engineering careers to have relatively safe streams of labor income; business, sales, and entertainment careers are more risky.

By choosing a college major, many students make a costly human capital investment that allows them to enter a specific career. To examine the link between wealth and college major choice implied by the model, we use data on choice of college major from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Survey (NPSAS). Controlling for observable measures of ability and background, we find evidence that wealthier students tend to choose riskier careers, particularly business.
Estimating Behavioral Response to the AIDS Epidemic
Authors: Auld M. Christopher
Published: April 2015

The elasticity of risky sexual behavior to changes in local HIV infection prevalence is estimated using a longitudinal survey of the sexual behavior and health of gay men in San Francisco during the 1980s. An average respondent decreases risky behavior by about 5% in response to a 10% increase in disease prevalence. The average response obscures substantial variation across respondents: High-risk people reduce risky behavior less than low-risk people as prevalence increases. This result is consistent with the predictions of theoretical economic epidemiology and has implications for epidemic dynamics.
The Role of Wealth Transformations: An Application to Estimating the Effect of Tax Incentives on Saving
Authors: Pence Karen M.
Published: April 2015

Researchers may want to estimate the percentage change of a variable, such as household wealth or corporate profits, that takes on economically significant nonpositive values. Using the logarithmic transformation, however, requires discarding observations with nonpositive values. This paper describes a possible solution to this problem-the inverse hyperbolic sine transformation-and shows how to implement this transformation optimally in the case of median regression. As an illustration of the usefulness of this transformation, I revisit a specification sometimes used to estimate the effect of tax incentives on household saving.
A Distributional Analysis of the Gender Earnings Gap in Urban China
Authors: Millimet Daniel L , Wang Le
Published: April 2015

We compare several income distributions in urban China in the late 1980s and mid-1990s using tests for stochastic dominance in order to decompose gender differentials. Examination of the entire distribution gives insight into the uniformity of such differentials across the distribution. Moreover, tests based on stochastic dominance allow for robust welfare comparisons. Our analysis reveals: (i) large and increasing differentials in predicted earnings across gender in the lower tail of the distribution, but few differences in the upper tail, (ii) discrimination explains one-third to one-half of the total predicted earnings differential in the lower tail of the distribution, and little of the disparity in the upper tail, (iii) gender equity has eroded during China's economic transition, particularly for the youngest cohort, and (iv) significant nonuniformities in earnings differentials suggest the need to broaden analyses of gender differentials to incorporate earnings dispersion.
Efficiency and Sectoral Distributional Impacts of Output-Based Emissions Allowances in Canada
Authors: Dissou Yazid
Published: April 2015

Emissions trading with output-based allocation (OBA) of emissions allowances is gaining popularity as a mean to address sectoral distribution issues related to the use of market-based instruments in pollution control. Using a dynamic general equilibrium framework, this paper assesses the potential trade-off between efficiency and uneven sectoral distributional effects. It compares OBA and other alternative emissions trading systems, with special attention to the heterogeneity among energy-intensive industries. Because abatement is achieved at a higher marginal cost with OBA, it is less efficient than emissions trading systems in which permit revenues are used to reduce payroll taxes. Nonetheless, the implicit output subsidy in OBA improves the sectoral distributional outcome of the abatement policy to the benefit of energy-intensive industries as a whole. The simulation results also suggest that energy-intensive industries that do not produce energy are the main beneficiaries of OBA. In the new carbon-constrained environment, energy intensive industries that produce energy could not benefit from OBA.
Gluttony and Sloth: Symptoms of Trouble or Signs of Bliss? A Theory of Choice in the Presence of Behavioral Adjustment Costs
Authors: Bednarek Heather , Jeitschko Thomas D. , Pecchenino Rowena A
Published: April 2015

We present a model in which agents value food, leisure and health, and take into account how their food consumption and leisure affect their health. Drawing insights from behavioral psychology and medical practice, agents face adjustment costs in choosing consumption and leisure. We find that recent increases in obesity rates are not cause for concern from either the standpoint of individually assessed well-being, nor necessarily of the medical practitioner. However, the fact that agents who hope to adjust their lifestyles face adjustment costs indicates that there is potential for policy in increasing individual welfare: first, by taking measures that may decrease the incidence of supra-optimal consumption and leisure and, second, by taking measures that may facilitate behavioral change. However, it must be recognized, especially in the latter case, public policy may be limited by diverse circumstances faced by individuals that will not be amenable to general "one-size-fits-all" types of policies.
Disability Insurance Adjudication Criteria and the Incidence of Hard-to-Diagnose Medical Conditions
Authors: Campolieti Michele
Published: April 2015

I examine the effects of a change in Canada Pension Plan disability program adjudication criteria on individual reports of medical problems. The estimates from this paper suggest that more stringent screening requirements are associated with a statistically significant decline in the reports of hard-to-diagnose conditions, such as low back pain. On the other hand, my estimates also indicate that changes in adjudication requirements do not have a statistically significant effect on the reports of easier to diagnose conditions.
Moral Federalism
Authors: Janeba Eckhard
Published: April 2015

Many political issues like abortion, gay marriage or assisted suicide are strongly contested because individuals have preferences not only over their own choice but also about other individuals' actions. The paper models and compares the equilibria of three institutional regimes (ranging from centralized to decentralized decision making) in an economy where individuals choose their residence and vote over a single-dimensional regulatory policy at the regional and national level. Moral federalism describes a phenomenon where the majority of people who favor a restrictive policy try to impose their preferences through the federal government on jurisdictions where permissive policies are favored. The majority group's gain is larger, the smaller it is in size relative to the entire population. At the normative level, the outcome under centralized and decentralized decision making is the worst when societies are polarized. Allowing the federal government to restrict regional choices is never optimal.
A Dynamic Analysis of Child Labor with a Variable Rate of Discount: Some Policy Implications
Authors: Das Satya P , Deb Rajat
Published: April 2015

This paper analyzes the problem of child labor in an infinite-horizon dynamic model with a variable rate of time preference and credit constraints. The variability in the rate of time preference leads to the possibility of multiple steady states and a poverty trap. The paper considers the long-run and short-run effects of an array of policies like enrollment subsidy, improvement in primary education infrastructure, lump-sum subsidy, and variations in loan market parameters. We distinguish between policies that reduce child labor in the long run only in the presence of a variable discount rate and other policies which work whether or not the discount rate is variable. Credit-related policies belong to the former group. Policies that reduce child labor and increase family consumption in the long run may have an adverse effect of lowering consumption in the short run.
The Effect of Switching Private Insurance Plans on Health Care Utilization
Authors: Liu Fei , Zimmer David M.
Published: April 2015

The switching of health insurance plans and health care utilization are potentially correlated with both observable and unobservable information. This paper presents a two-period model of health care utilization, and attempts to account for unobserved heterogeneity that simultaneously affects utilization and the decision to switch plans. Data used in this paper are drawn from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. Results indicate that non-HMO enrollees increase their utilization of non-emergency related care prior to switching to HMOs, and they decrease utilization after switching. Conversely, individuals enrolled in HMOs report lower levels of utilization before and higher utilization after they switch to non-HMOs.
Why Tariffs, Not Subsidies? A Search for Stylized Facts
Authors: Ederington Josh , Minier Jenny
Published: April 2015

Barriers to trade are commonly viewed as a result of political systems in which politically influential groups benefit from and successfully lobby for protection. However, trade policy is a highly inefficient tool for redistributing income. Although recent theoretical research has focused on explanations of why (inefficient) trade barriers might be preferred to more direct means of redistribution, this research has been carried out with little empirical support. We address this gap in the literature with an exploratory cross-country empirical investigation of the economic factors correlated with a reliance on tariffs over subsidies. We find that the existing theoretical literature is consistent with the cross-country evidence.
Deposit Insurance Altered the Composition of Bank Suspensions during the 1920s: Evidence from the Archives of the Board of Governors
Authors: Chung Ching-Yi , Richardson Gary
Published: April 2015

Eight states established deposit insurance systems between 1908 and 1917. All abandoned the systems between 1921 and 1930. Scholars debate the costs and benefits of these policy experiments. New data drawn from the archives of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors demonstrate that deposit insurance influenced the composition of bank suspensions in these states. In typical years, suspensions due to runs fell. Suspensions due to mismanagement rose. During the penultimate year of each system, the bank failure rate rose to an unsustainable height and the system ceased operations.
Rational or Confused Polluters? Evidence from Hazardous Waste Compliance
Authors: Stafford Sarah L
Published: April 2015

Although most models of environmental compliance are based on a variation of the rational polluter model, regulated entities may not always intentionally decide to violate based on the relative costs and benefits of doing so. According to the complexity critique, a significant amount of noncompliance may be the result of ignorance about the requirements of the law. Using hazardous waste regulations as a case study, this paper examines the role that rationality and complexity play in environmental compliance. The results suggest that both are necessary to explain hazardous waste compliance behavior. In support of the rational polluter model, the results show that factors which increase the cost of compliance also increase the likelihood of a violation while factors that increase the likelihood of inspections and detection decrease the probability of a violation. In support of the complexity critique, the results show that larger facilities and facilities of multi-plant companies are less likely to violate, while facilities that are subject to more complex regulations are more likely to violate. Also in support of the complexity critique, facilities learn from past inspections and facilities in states with programs directed toward reducing complexity are less likely to violate. This mixed support holds across various subgroup of facilities, although there does appear to be some difference in the factors that contribute to different types of violations. In particular, non-management violations appear to be driven less by a rational comparison of the costs and benefits of violations than by the complexity of regulations.
Do Local Relative Factor Supplies Affect Local Relative Factor Prices?
Authors: Saad-Lessler Joelle
Published: April 2015

This paper examines whether local relative factor supplies affect local relative factor prices across US states. Using data on relative wages and relative labor supplies across the US, I find that state specific relative labor supplies significantly impact state specific relative wages across the US. Moreover, in an effort to reconcile my finding with that of Hanson and Slaughter (2000), I rerun their model and I prove that their interpretation is incorrect, and that in fact, differences in relative labor supplies across states determine relative wages and industry production techniques.

These findings suggest that relative FPE does not hold across US states. In addition, the findings imply that immigration shocks to US states have a significant effect on relative wages, holding all else equal, as long as the immigrant inflows significantly impact states’ relative labor supplies.
State-Level R&D Tax Credits: A Firm-Level Analysis
Authors: Paff Lolita A
Published: April 2015

California’s changes in R&D tax credit rates on biopharmaceutical and software firms’ research investment during 1994-1996 and 1997-1999 is compared using two approaches. Consistent with the federal research tax credit literature, the difference-in-differences analysis provides some evidence of increased R&D expenditure in response to research tax credit rate increases. In contrast, the estimated tax price elasticities obtained by computing and testing the tax prices for in-house research are dramatically higher than the existing literature’s estimates near unity. Possible explanations include firms’ greater sensitivity to state-level policy, industry factors, sample characteristics and measurement error. For contract research with universities and other not-for-profit research organizations, the findings suggest a tax credit may not be the optimal policy tool. Finally, state-level R&D incentives do not appear to have equal incentive effects across industries.
Why do Municipalities Recycle?
Authors: Kinnaman Thomas C.
Published: April 2015

The disposal of municipal solid waste is believed to emit foul odor, threaten groundwater, and increase road congestion. As remote regional landfills have replaced local town dumps, these costs are no longer internalized by garbage-producing households or their municipalities. Instead, rural property owners located adjacent to large regional landfills and along the roadways accessing those landfills bear the external costs of garbage disposal. This paper uses a comprehensive nine-year panel data set of aggregated state data to empirically examine why 8,937 municipalities continue to operate costly recycling programs designed to reduce the external costs of garbage disposal.

Results suggest that local tastes for recycling drive municipal decisions. If household preferences for recycling are short lived, then we can expect a future decrease in the number of municipal recycling programs. Recent data indicate the number of recycling programs in operation in the U.S. has indeed fallen.
How Do "Point Oh-Eight" (.08) BAC Laws Work?
Authors: Carpenter Christopher , Harris Katherine
Published: April 2015

Over the past two decades, states have toughened their adult drunk driving laws by setting the legal blood alcohol content (BAC) threshold at .08, down from .10. Although several studies have shown that these laws have been effective at reducing alcohol-related traffic fatalities, there is very little evidence on the underlying behavioral mechanisms through which .08 BAC laws achieve the fatality reductions. We estimate reduced form models of the effects of .08 BAC laws on a wide range of self-reported alcohol-related risk behaviors using large samples from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and the National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) from 1999-2003 – a period when 32 states’ .08 BAC laws went into effect. Models with state and year fixed effects provide no evidence that .08 BAC laws reduced alcohol-involved driving, and we similarly find no effects on drinking participation or the likelihood of binge drinking. We do find robust evidence, however, that .08 BAC laws reduced past month alcohol consumption among moderate drinking males by about five percent. These reductions are larger for older, college educated, and married men. Taken together with results from previous research on other drunk driving interventions, our findings confirm a general deterrence effect and suggest that tougher drunk driving laws work primarily by reducing alcohol consumption.
On the Virtues of the Shame Lane
Authors: Richiardi Matteo G
Published: April 2015

In July 2003 a new Road Code was approved by the Italian parliament. Among other changes, the law states that on three-lane motorways the right lane should not be reserved anymore to slow vehicles. The model developed in this paper casts doubts on the wisdom of such a change, suggesting that reserving a separate lane for slow vehicles is generally better, in terms of number of accidents and slow-downs, than treating all vehicles the same way. In addition, a value for the speed threshold below which vehicles are considered slow can be found, for which the old rule also performs better in terms of average speed. This conclusion has applications beyond the Italian case. Moreover, it is shown to be extremely robust to refinements of the main assumptions concerning driving attitudes and the stochastic arrival of accidents.
File Sharing and International Sales of Copyrighted Music: An Empirical Analysis with a Panel of Countries
Authors: Zentner Alejandro
Published: April 2015

Global music sales have substantially fallen in the last four years. This paper uses a panel of country-level data to investigate the extent to which this is a consequence of file sharing. I find that countries with higher internet and broadband penetration have suffered higher drops in music sales, suggesting that music downloads may explain at least part of the recent reduction in sales. I also find some evidence that file sharing may explain a change in the composition of sales by types of repertoires, with a higher reduction of sales of types of music that are being shared more heavily.
The Effects of Leniency on Cartel Pricing
Authors: Houba Harold , Motchenkova Evgenia , Wen Quan
Published: April 2015

We analyze how leniency affects cartel pricing in an infinitely repeated oligopoly model where the fine rates are linked to illegal gains and detection probabilities depend on the degree of collusion. A novel aspect of this study is that we focus on the worst possible outcome. We investigate the maximal cartel price, the largest price for which the conditions for sustainability hold. We analyze how the maximal cartel price supported by different cartel strategies adjusts in response to the introduction of (ex-ante and ex-post) leniency programs. We disentangle the effects of traditional antitrust enforcement, leniency, and cartel strategies on the maximal cartel price. Ex-ante leniency cannot reduce the maximal cartel price below the price under antitrust without leniency. On the other hand, for ex-post leniency, improvement is possible and granting full immunity to single-reporting firms achieves the largest reduction in the maximal cartel price. To reduce adverse effects under both leniency programs, fine reductions to multiple-reporting firms should be moderate or absent. Finally, ex-post leniency should provide less generous fine reductions to multiple-reporting firms, which is supported by the current practice in the US and the EU.
Reliability of biological variation data available in an online database: need for improvement
Authors: Carobene Anna
Published: April 2015

Biological variation (BV) data enable assessment of the significance of changes in serial measurements observed within a subject and are used to set analytical quality specifications. This data is available in a database held in Westgard website (

The BV data currently hosted on the Westgard website was examined. Distribution of measurands stratified by the number of cited references upon which the database entry is based and the distribution of papers stratified by publication year, are shown. Moreover, BV data available in literature for glycated hemoglobin, C-reactive protein, glycated albumin, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase and γ-glutamyl transferase are evaluated.

The results obtained show that most BV data come just from a few papers or only one paper and that a lot of publications are dated, therefore this data is too obsolete to be used. Furthermore critical review of the BV database highlights a number of factors that might impact on the reliability of the BV data entries and translation into current practice.

A number of issues clearly undermine the value of the current database. These issues are being considered by the European Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, biological variation working group, in collaboration with a Spanish group responsible for the database updating.
Performance criteria based on true and false classification and clinical outcomes. Influence of analytical performance on diagnostic outcome using a single clinical component
Authors: Petersen Per Hyltoft
Published: April 2015

In the general classical model for diagnoses based on a single analytic component, distributions of healthy and diseased are compared and several investigations of varying analytical performance on the percentage of misclassifications have been published. A new concept based on an alternative type of diagnosing, based on sharp decision limits has been introduced in diagnostic guidelines, but only a few publications on investigation of analytical performance have been seen.

The two diagnostic models (bimodal and unimodal) based on natural logarithmic Gaussian distributions are simulated.

In the bimodal model it is possible to evaluate the influence of prevalence of disease in combination with varying analytical performances. In the unimodal model the prevalence is pre-decided by the chosen decision limit. In this model the influence of analytical performance is investigated for diagnosing diabetes using haemoglobin A

For HbA
Volume of minimal hypersurfaces in manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature
Authors: Sabourau Stéphane
Published: April 2015

We establish a min-max estimate on the volume width of a closed Riemannian manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature.
More precisely, we show that every closed Riemannian manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature admits a PL Morse function whose level set volume is bounded in terms of the volume of the manifold.
As a consequence of this sweep-out estimate, there exists an embedded, closed (possibly singular) minimal hypersurface whose volume is bounded in terms of the volume of the manifold.
The effect of cognitive debiasing training among family medicine residents
Authors: Smith Brent W. , Slack Michael B.
Published: April 2015

Background: Debiasing education has been recommended for physicians in training. We report on the efficacy of a workshop designed to aid family medicine residents recognize and respond to their risk of misdiagnosis due to cognitive biases during patient care.

Methods: Residents participated in a debiasing workshop in which they were taught to recognize and respond to cognitive biases likely to contribute to misdiagnosis. Metacognition was introduced and cognitive forcing strategies were demonstrated and practiced. While precepting clinic visits, attendings evaluated residents in the following areas: 1) diagnostic concordance between resident and attending, 2) ability of the resident to perceive their risk of cognitive bias, 3) the quality of the resident’s plan to mitigate this risk, and 4) the presence of an unrecognized cognitive bias. Pre and post workshop data were compared.

Results: Preceptor concurrence with the residents’ diagnoses was unchanged – 74% (63 of 85) vs. 78% (45 of 58, p=0.64). Residents’ ability to recognize their risk of cognitive bias was unchanged – 51% (43 of 85) vs. 57% (33 of 58, p=0.46). Residents’ formulation of an acceptable plan to mitigate the effect of cognitive bias increased from 84% (36 of 43) to 100% (33 of 33, p=0.02). Preceptors’ perception of an unrecognized cognitive bias in the residents’ presentation was unchanged – 12% (10 of 85) vs. 9% (5 of 58, p=0.55).

Conclusions: A debiasing workshop for family medicine residents demonstrated improvement in one of four studied outcomes.