bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
U.S. States, the Medicaid Program, and Tax Smoothing
Authors: Kula Maria Comachione
Published: July 2021

This paper tests the tax smoothing theory by focusing on its implication that a change in permanent government spending should result in an equal sized change in the tax rate. The effect of Medicaid, a state administered, federal and state funded medical insurance program for the poor, on state tax rates is investigated. The Medicaid program provides a natural experiment for this test as states are required to cover certain groups in order to receive federal matching money. Additionally, during the 1980s, a series of federal mandates greatly increased state Medicaid expenditures. Two stage least squares is used on a panel of U.S. states (1978‐1994) to test whether changes in permanent state Medicaid expenditures resulted in equal sized tax rate changes. Tax smoothing as a positive theory of state government behavior is rejected. Additionally, it is found that this rejection cannot be attributed to the stringency of balanced budget rules.
The Manufacturers' Choice of Distribution Policy under Successive Duopoly
Authors: Moner‐Colonques Rafael , Sempere‐Monerris José J. , Urbano Amparo
Published: July 2021

We examine an asymmetric noncooperative game between two manufacturers selecting the number of retailers who can distribute their products. In deciding whether to distribute through one or both retailers, there are two conflicting effects: the output expansion effect, because the product is sold in more outlets; and the competitive effect, associated with the introduction of intrabrand competition. Product differentiation and demand asymmetries between the two products determine which of these two effects dominates the other. When product differentiation is strong and brand asymmetry is moderate, both manufacturers distribute through both retailers in equilibrium. However, when both product differentiation and brand asymmetry are weak, exclusive dealing through a single retailer is the equilibrium. Perhaps the most interesting finding is that there also exist asymmetric equilibria in which one manufacturer distributes through both retailers but the other manufacturer distributes through one retailer. These equilibria can arise when both product differentiation and brand asymmetry are strong.
The Impact of Macroeconomic Announcements on Stock Prices: In Search of State Dependence
Authors: Poitras Marc
Published: July 2021

Federal bureaus make regularly scheduled public announcements of macroeconomic variables such as employment, the price level, and the money stock. Recently, several studies claim to establish an empirical relationship between the impact of these announcements on financial markets and the state of the business cycle. The present article estimates the impact of several announcement variables on daily closing values of the Standard and Poor's (S&P) 500. Contrary to previous studies, this study finds no significant evidence that the marginal effects of announcements vary with the state of the economy.
A Classroom Unemployment Compensation Experiment
Authors: Hazlett Denise
Published: July 2021

This classroom experiment demonstrates how unemployment compensation can affect unemployment rates and wages. Students take the roles of workers and employers who use double oral auction labor markets to negotiate employment contracts. The instructor takes the role of a government that offers progressively higher levels of unemployment compensation. The experiment generates data that students can analyze to test the general predictive power of economic theory. Students also use their data to test the specific hypothesis that higher unemployment compensation increases the unemployment rate and causes wage compression.
Beneficial Inequality in the Provision of Municipal Services: Why Rich Neighborhoods Should Get Plowed First
Authors: Conley John , Dix Manfred
Published: July 2021

This paper provides an explanation for the common observation that higher income neighborhoods typically receive better public services compared with lower income neighborhoods. Intuitively, one might expect that lower income groups, which usually form the voting majority of cities, would object to an unfair allocation of this nature. Wealthy individuals, however, have the option of moving to the suburbs. As we learn from the tax competition literature, mobile factors are generally able to command a premium. Since institutional constraints prevent regressive taxation and public goods are by definition consumed in equal quantity by all agents, only public services remain as an instrument for municipalities to use to keep wealthy agents in their tax base. We show that both rich and poor agents benefit from this differential access to public services and explore how factors like the ratio of rich to poor and the differences between their incomes affect the equilibrium allocation.
Welfare Program Reentry among Postreform Leavers
Authors: Bruce Donald , Barbour Karie , Thacker Angela
Published: July 2021

The dramatic welfare reforms of 1996 affected public assistance usage patterns, possibly leading to more cycling on and off welfare as opposed to long‐term continuous participation. We examine 128,775 Tennessee families that left welfare between October 1996 and April 2001. Of these, about one‐third returned to the program at least once during this period. We provide statistical portraits of these families and compare reentrants with those who remained off public assistance. We conclude with a multivariate analysis of the determinants of reentry, Results suggest that families with younger, female, or black caretakers and those with more children are more likely to return. Those less likely to return include families whose caretakers were married or who had more education or were not working as of case closure. Families who left because of a time limit or who accumulated more months of program participation were also more likely to return.
Long‐Run Economic Performance and the Labor Market
Authors: Alonso Alberto , Echevarria Cristina , Tran Kien C.
Published: July 2021

This article uses a simple variation of the Solow model to study the interrelations between economic growth and the labor market. We show, both analytically and empirically, that income and capital per worker in the steady state depend positively on flexibility of the labor market; that the steady‐state unemployment rate depends positively on the rate of population growth and the productivity growth rate and negatively on the savings rate and flexibility of the labor market; and, finally, that labor market flexibility affects convergence toward steady state.
The Linkage between Prices, Wages, and Labor Productivity: A Panel Study of Manufacturing Industries
Authors: Strauss Jack , Wohar Mark E.
Published: July 2021

This article investigates the long‐run relationship between prices and wage‐adjusted productivity as well as between real wages and average labor productivity at the industry level for a panel of 459 U.S. manufacturing industries over the period 1956‐1996. Panel reintegration test results strongly reject the null of no reintegration in the panel between both prices and wage‐adjusted productivity and between labor productivity and real wages for many (but not all) industries. Granger‐causality tests show that prices are weakly exogenous and cause movements in unit labor cost. Bidirectional Granger causality is found between real wages and productivity; however, a one‐to‐one relationship is strongly rejected between real wages and productivity. Increases in labor productivity are associated with a less than unity increase in real wages.
Evaluating Threshold Effects in Consumer Sentiment
Authors: Desroches Brigitte , Gosselin Marc‐André
Published: July 2021

This paper assesses the usefulness of consumer sentiment in forecasting aggregate consumer spending in the United States. The literature tends to dismiss the relevance of these sentiment indexes. Without formal modeling, however, some researchers suggest that consumer sentiment could be helpful during periods of major economic or political shocks. Such periods are usually associated with high volatility of consumer sentiment, suggesting that large swings in sentiment could be useful indicators of consumption. Our work distinguishes itself from previous research in that we provide a rigorous assessment of this possibility by estimating a consumption function in which only large variations of sentiment can affect spending. Our results show that economists and forecasters should pay attention to consumer sentiment, especially in times of elevated economic or political uncertainty.
Second‐Best Considerations in Correcting Cognitive Biases
Authors: Besharov Gregory
Published: July 2021

Studies in psychology and behavioral economics have found that decision‐making is replete with cognitive biases. Using examples of time inconsistency, regret, and overconfidence, this article investigates the implications for correcting biases of how they may offset each other. If only some biases are known, even correction of all known biases has ambiguous effects. With costly correction, the presence of some biases may be optimal. Further, if the correct decision is unknown, then the presence of biases does not imply that decision‐making is suboptimal.
Child Labor and the Interaction between the Quantity and Quality of Children
Authors: Fan C. Simon
Published: July 2021

This article analyzes the impacts of child labor on the interaction between the quantity and quality of children in the spirit of Becker and Lewis. It shows that, without child labor, the quantity of children can be a normal good so that it increases with parental income under some fairly standard formulations. However, the correlation between fertility and parental income becomes negative when the role of child labor is considered. The model also implies that fertility increases with the wage rate of child labor. Moreover, it suggests that government intervention not only directly affects the supply of child labor but also influences parents' decisions on fertility, which indirectly determines children's labor market participations.
Do Economic Effects Justify the Use of Fiscal Incentives?
Authors: Fox William F. , Murray Matthew N.
Published: July 2021

The siting of a large, new firm is often presumed to give rise to significant economic and tax benefits to the community of location. This presumption serves as the basis for the granting of lucrative economic development incentives to footloose businesses. This article examines whether large, mobile firms generate significantnetbenefits for the region of location. Panel data and nonrandom estimation techniques are applied to a primary database of large firms that made location decisions in the 1980s to explore the impact of location on regional economic performance, The empirical analysis explores different treatment regions (both effects within the county and the metropolitan statistical area [MSA] of location) and different control regions. The results show that large firms fail to produce significant net benefits for their host communities, calling into question the high‐stakes bidding war over jobs and investment.
Optimal Monitoring with External Incentives: The Case of Tipping
Authors: Azar Ofer H.
Published: July 2021

This article examines the optimal choice of monitoring intensity when workers face external incentives (incentives that are not provided by the firm), such as tips, satisfaction from working well, or the desire to build reputation in order to be more attractive to other employers. Increase in such external incentives reduces optimal monitoring intensity but nevertheless increases effort and profits unambiguously. The model explains why U.S. firms supported the establishment of tipping in the late 19th century and raises the possibility that European firms make costly mistakes by replacing tips with service charges.
Company Influence on Foreign Aid Disbursement: Is Conditionality Credible when Donors Have Mixed Motives?
Authors: Villanger Espen
Published: July 2021

When donors enforce conditionality upon recipients who do not implement the conditions, companies can suffer from cancellation of their contracts with the recipient when aid dries up. A strategic recipient may avoid implementing controversial conditions by only granting a contract to a company that puts pressure on the donor to keep aid flowing. In our model, each of these three agents takes account of each of the two other agents' actions. We show that this triadic structure can be crucial when explaining recipients' use of companies to influence donors to give aid unconditionally, and we offer a time‐consistent explanation for the failure of conditionality.
The Effects of Expected and Unexpected Volatility on Long‐Run Growth: Evidence from 18 Developed Economies
Authors: Rafferty Matthew
Published: July 2021

This article examines the relationship between output volatility and long‐run growth for 18 developed countries between 1880 and 1990. The analysis builds on the existing literature by decomposing output growth volatility into expected and unexpected components and then examining whether the types of volatility have different effects on long‐run growth. The results are consistent with the view that unexpected volatility reduces long‐run growth and that expected volatility increases long‐run growth. The results also suggest that the combined effect of expected and unexpected volatility is to reduce long‐run growth for most countries and most time periods.
Market Structure and Organizational Form
Authors: Zhou Haiwen
Published: July 2021

This article studies the determinants of a firm's organizational form in the context of an imperfectly competitive industry. There are two kinds of organizational forms: the multidivisional form (M‐form) and the unitary form (U‐form). An M‐form firm suffers from ignorance of demand externalities among different products and double marginalization is eliminated. In contrast, in a U‐form firm, demand externalities are taken into consideration and double marginalization exists. A firm's optimal choice of organizational form depends on the market structure.
The Tax Effect on Taxable Income from Privately Held Businesses
Authors: Wu Shih‐Ying
Published: July 2021

The implications of the tax elasticity of taxable income have been widely discussed in the literature. This study uses the reported rate of return to capture the effects of tax changes on taxable income from privately held businesses. Households' decisions concerning reporting rates of return are embedded in a selection model of business investment decisions. With 1983‐1989 Survey of Consumer Finances panel data, the tax elasticity of the reported rates of return on privately held businesses is found to be positive and large. The tax elasticity of taxable income from privately held businesses is thus crucial for policy evaluation. Several reasons for the high tax elasticity and the implications of it are also discussed.
Discounting according to Output Type
Authors: Liu Liqun , Rettenmaier Andrew J. , Saving Thomas R.
Published: July 2021

Federal discount rate policies advocate both a high rate representing the marginal productivity of capital and a low rate representing the government borrowing rate. These differential discount rate policies could be inconsistent and biased in favor of projects on which the lower discount rate is applied. This paper shows that the coexistence of different discount rates may be appropriate, depending on the type of project output. When a project's outputs are perfect substitutes for private consumption, both its costs and benefits should be discounted using the marginal productivity of capital. However, if the project's outputs are separable in the utility function, the benefits should be discounted using the net (of tax) rate of return.
Cyclicality and the Labor Market for Economists
Authors: Gallet Craig A. , List John A. , Orazem Peter F.
Published: July 2021

The 1987 academic market was strong, whereas the 1997 market was weak. A multimarket theory of optimal search suggests that job seekers will respond to a weakening market by changing their search strategies at the extensive margin (which markets to enter) and the intensive margin (how many applications to submit per market). Employers respond to the weakening market by raising their hiring standards. High‐quality applicants will obtain an increased share of academic interviews in weak markets while applicants from weaker schools will increasingly secure interviews outside of the academic market. Empirical results show that in the bust market, graduates of elite schools shifted their search strategies to include weaker academic institutions, while graduates of lower‐ranked schools shifted their applications away from academia and toward the business sector. In bust conditions, academic institutions increasingly concentrate their interviews on elite school graduates, women, and U.S. residents.
Market Substitution and the Pareto Dominance of Ad Valorem Taxation
Authors: Liu Liqun , Saving Thomas R.
Published: July 2021

Based on product homogeneity and Cournot competition, past literature has uniformly shown that ad valorem taxation welfare dominates unit taxation in noncompetitive markets. This paper allows goods in a market to be heterogeneous and firms to be Bertrand competing. We confirm the short‐run findings of others that consumer welfare and overall welfare are always higher under ad valorem taxation. However, ad valorem taxation generates larger profits (hence Pareto dominates) only when market demand is elastic, perhaps explaining the persistence of unit taxation in markets with inelastic demand. The effects on ad valorem Pareto dominance of within‐ and between‐market substitutability, number of firms in the taxed market, and the level of taxation are also investigated. In the long run, an equal‐revenue substitution of ad valorem taxation for unit taxation reduces consumer price, which is welfare improving, but also reduces variety when market demand is elastic, which is welfare decreasing. Nonetheless, ad valorem welfare dominance still holds in the long run.
A Global Analysis of Constrained Behavior: The LeChatelier Principle “in the Large”
Authors: Chavas Jean‐Paul
Published: July 2021

New global results are obtained on the LeChatelier‐Samuelson principle reflecting the properties of constrained behavior. Relying on the saddle point characterization of the Lagrangean, simple yet powerful LeChatelier results are derived and investigated under general conditions. The results do not require differentiability assumptions or unique solution, and they hold for discrete changes. The usefulness of the approach is illustrated in several applications, showing how the analysis generates insights into global economic adjustments.
Public and Private Capital Productivity Puzzle: A Nonparametric Approach
Authors: Henderson Daniel J. , Kumbhakar Subal C.
Published: July 2021

Is public expenditure productive? Is there a shortfall or excess in public capital investment? We address these old issues in the light of new econometric tools. It is argued that the Cobb‐Douglas specification that ignores nonlinearity inherent in the functional relationship of the production technology causes incorrect estimates of input elasticities. To avoid possible model misspecification, we use Li‐Racine generalized kernel estimation. This procedure is used to estimate the returns to private capital, employment, and public capital in gross state product from a panel of 48 states for 17 years. In contrast to previous studies, we find that the return to public capital is positive and significantly different from zero.
Does a Foot in the Door Matter? White–Nonwhite Differences in the Wage Return to Tenure and Prior Workplace Experience
Authors: Goldsmith Arthur H. , Hamilton Darrick , Darity William
Published: July 2021

The theory of ability misperception posits that employers will offer greater rewards to whites than nonwhites for similar levels of prior experience (Proposition 1) but that racial/ethnic differences in the return to additional tenure or seniority with the current employer will be smaller (Proposition 2). To advance the existing empirical literature, this paper evaluates the validity of these propositions by using data on black, Latino, and white workers drawn from the Multi‐City Study of Urban Inequality. The analysis is conducted separately for women and men and controls for a wider range of workplace setting descriptors than was used in previous studies. Our results offer support for Proposition 1 and for Proposition 2. We find that nonwhites, regardless of job setting, receive relatively poor returns to prior workplace experience (the lone exception is Latinas). Second, nonwhites typically receive greater wage gains for accumulating additional tenure than whites.
Assigning Intentions when Actions Are Unobservable: The Impact of Trembling in the Trust Game
Authors: Cox James C. , Deck Cary A.
Published: July 2021

This article reports laboratory experiments investigating behavior in which players may make inferences about the intentions behind others' prior actions based on higher‐ or lower‐accuracy information about those actions. We investigate a trust game with first mover trembling, a game in which nature determines whether the first mover's decision is implemented or reversed. The results indicate that second movers give first movers the benefit of the doubt. However, first movers do not anticipate this response. Ultimately, it appears that subjects are thinking on at least three levels when making decisions: they are concerned with their own material well‐being, the trustworthiness of their counterpart, and how their own actions will be perceived.
Right‐to‐Work Laws and Manufacturing Employment: The Importance of Spatial Dependence
Authors: Kalenkoski Charlene M. , Lacombe Donald J.
Published: July 2021

Using 2000 decennial census data, we estimate the relationships between right‐to‐work (RTW) laws and employment in manufacturing and other industries. Estimates that do not account for geographically correlated omitted factors dramatically overstate the positive relationship between RTW legislation and manufacturing employment. We estimate that RTW legislation is associated with an increase in manufacturing's share of private wage and salary employment of 2.12%, an estimate almost 30% lower than the estimate that does not control for these spatially correlated omitted factors. Results for other industries indicate that RTW legislation is negatively associated with employment shares in the agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, and mining industries and some service industries, but is positively associated with employment shares in the information and professional, scientific, management, administrative, and waste management services industries. Improperly controlling for geographic factors can lead to incorrect inferences and misinform policy.
Domestic‐Foreign Interest Rate Differentials: Near Unit Roots and Symmetric Threshold Models
Authors: Strauss Jack , Wohar Mark E.
Published: July 2021

This paper investigates the near unit root behavior of interest rate differentials across countries using a symmetric Band‐TAR model that allows for a heteroscedastic error process. We find that the time series properties of monthly short‐term interest differentials over the period 1974–2005 between the United States and Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom can be characterized by a symmetric Band‐TAR process, which can explain its (near) unit root behavior reported in the extant literature. Results significantly reject a linear model in favor of the alternative hypothesis of a two‐regime symmetric threshold model that exhibits significantly greater persistence within the threshold bands than when outside the threshold bands.
The Relationship between Inflation and Inflation Uncertainty in Emerging Market Economies
Authors: Thornton John
Published: July 2021

A standard Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedastic (q,v) model is employed to construct a measure of monthly inflation uncertainty in 12 emerging market economies, and the relationship between inflation and inflation uncertainty is examined using Granger‐causality tests. The results suggest that higher inflation rates increased inflation uncertainty in all the economies, providing strong support for the Friedman hypothesis. The evidence on the effect of inflation uncertainty on average monthly inflation is more mixed, with increased inflation uncertainty leading to lower average inflation in Colombia, Israel, Mexico, and Turkey, consistent with the Holland hypothesis, but to higher average inflation in Hungary, Indonesia, and Korea, consistent with the hypothesis of Cukierman and Meltzer.
Atypical Work and Pay
Authors: Addison John T. , Surfield Christopher J.
Published: July 2021

Atypical work has long been criticized in popular debate as providing poorly compensated, precarious employment. Yet the empirical evidence is both incomplete and mixed. The main contribution of the present paper is to estimate wage differences for the full set of these alternative work arrangements while simultaneously controlling for observed demographic characteristics and unobserved person‐specific fixed effects. The paper also allows for the skewness in atypical worker earnings while retaining the Mincerian human capital earnings function. Our improved estimates are consistent with some of the more optimistic findings reported in the literature, the caveat being that we are examining here only the wage component of the total compensation package.
Contracts under Wage Compression: A Case of Beneficial Collusion
Authors: Shin Dongsoo
Published: July 2021

This paper considers a principal‐agent model with adverse selection and limited wage discrimination. Under wage compression, an agent may have an incentive to free ride on other agents by manipulating his private information. When collusion among the agents is not possible, the principal distorts the output schedule to reduce information rent associated with the free‐riding opportunity. Under collusion, however, the principal can reduce the information rent by inducing side contracts among the agents, thus partly removing the distortion in the output schedule. We show that side contracts among the agents take place in equilibrium and that the prospect of collusion is beneficial.
Equilibrium Selection in an Experimental Macroeconomy
Authors: Lei Vivian , Noussair Charles N.
Published: July 2021

In this paper we report the results of an experiment designed to study the behavior of a laboratory macroeconomy with two stable steady states. The economy has the structure of an optimal growth model in which resources are allocated between consumption and investment over a sequence of time periods. The economy is decentralized, with a market for capital in operation. We find that the economy often falls into the Pareto‐inferior steady state, which can be viewed as a poverty trap. The initial endowment of capital stock is varied as a treatment variable in the experiment, and the economy is more likely to reach the optimal steady state when its initial endowment is high than when it is low. Organizing the economy with a central planner directing economic activity fails to induce it to reach the optimal steady state.
Increasing Returns, the Choice of Technology, and the Gains from Trade
Authors: Zhou Haiwen
Published: July 2021

This paper studies the implications of international trade in a general equilibrium model in which the returns to scale are internal and firms choose their production technologies. The production function generated from internal increasing returns and the choice of technology leads to returns to scale similar to those based on external increasing returns. Trade always increases a country's welfare in a two‐sector model in which the agricultural sector has constant returns to scale and average cost in the manufacturing sector may decrease without being bounded asymptotically by a given level of marginal cost. Why a small country may lose from trade under external increasing returns is also illustrated.
An Experimental Investigation of Moral Hazard in Costly Investments
Authors: Deck Cary A. , Reyes Javier
Published: July 2021

Frequently, parties make sequential decisions regarding investments for which the probability of success or failure is dependent on the amount of total investment. This paper reports a series of experiments involving a costly investment game that is derived from the catalytic finance model of Morris and Shin (Global games: Theory and applications. In Advances in Economics and Econometrics, Proceedings of the Eighth World Congress of the Econometric Society, edited by M. Dewatripont, L. Hansen, and S. Turnovsky. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, pp. 56‐114). The sequential nature of investments is such that the second investment could function as a complement to the initial investment or simply serve as a substitute to it, thereby creating moral hazard. The features of this game are similar to those of the ultimatum game. However, there are several key differences between the games that may account for the high frequency of materially self‐interested behavior that we observe, particularly among second movers.
Will Competitive Bidding Decrease Medicare Prices?
Authors: Katzman Brett , McGeary Kerry Anne
Published: July 2021

Recent measures to reduce Medicare spending include the use of competitive bidding in determining reimbursement prices. Several competitive bidding experiments have been conducted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to determine reimbursement prices. This paper investigates the use of competitive bidding to set reimbursement prices for durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies. First, the competitive bidding process is examined on a theoretical level. It is shown that the CMS competitive bidding process (auction) is inefficient, leads to price increases, and may cause decreases in the quality of services. Next, data supporting the theoretical predictions are presented. Finally, we suggest that a descending variant of the Ausubel, Cramton, and Milgrom (2006) clock‐proxy auction be used.
Flexible versus Dedicated Technology Adoption in the Presence of a Public Firm
Authors: Gil‐Moltó María José , Poyago‐Theotoky Joanna
Published: July 2021

We study firms' adoption of flexible technologies in the context of a mixed versus a private duopoly with product differentiation. As opposed to a dedicated technology, a flexible technology allows a firm to become multiproduct or multimarket without bearing additional costs. We find that a configuration where both firms adopt flexible technologies is more likely to arise in equilibrium in the private duopoly. A similar result occurs when both firms use a dedicated technology in the case of almost independent or close substitute products. Privatization of the public firm is socially beneficial in limited circumstances.
A systematic review on the effect of inorganic surface coatings in large animal models and meta‐analysis on tricalcium phosphate and hydroxyapatite on periimplant bone formation
Authors: Damerau Jeanne‐Marie , Bierbaum Susanne , Wiedemeier Daniel , Korn Paula , Smeets Ralf , Jenny Gregor , Nadalini Johanna , Stadlinger Bernd
Published: July 2021

The aim of the present systematic review was to analyse studies using inorganic implant coatings and, in a meta‐analysis, the effect of specifically tricalcium phosphate (TCP) and hydroxyapatite (HA) implant surface coatings on bone formation according to the PRISMA criteria. Inclusion criteria were the comparison to rough surfaced titanium implants in large animal studies at different time points of healing. Forty studies met the inclusion criteria for the systematic review. Fifteen of these analyzed the bone‐to‐implant contact (BIC) around the most investigated inorganic titanium implant coatings, namely TCP and HA, and were included in the meta‐analysis. The results of the TCP group show after 14 days a BIC being 3.48% points lower compared with the reference surface. This difference in BIC decreases to 0.85% points after 21–28 days. After 42–84 days, the difference in BIC of 13.79% points is in favor of the TCP‐coatings. However, the results are not statistically significant, in part due to the fact that the variability between the studies increased over time. The results of the HA group show a significant difference in mean BIC of 6.94% points after 14 days in favor of the reference surface. After 21–28 days and 42–84 days the difference in BIC is slightly in favor of the test group with 1.53% points and 1.57% points, respectively, lacking significance. In large animals, there does not seem to be much effect of TCP‐coated or HA‐coated implants over uncoated rough titanium implants in the short term.
Concentration and competition in the Brazilian credit market
Authors: Borilli Felipe
Published: July 2021

Competition and concentration effects in the banking sector is still a highly object questioned in the public policy. Problems of asymmetric information and high interest rates prompt the discussion on whether bank competition is good or bad for efficiency, or more generally, for social welfare. In recent years, a lot of research work has been carried out investigating the nature of competition in the banking industry. Since the 2008 financial crisis, competition in the banking industry has been characterized with low interest rates, low credit growth, increased regulation and compliance requirements. The objective of this study is to analyze the national credit market by calculating and analyzing concentration and competition indicators, between 2010 and 2020. To compare and estimate indexes of concentration, such as the Herfindahl‐Hirschman index and competition through the Lerner index. The results suggest that the concentration has decreased in the period considered so as competitiveness, suggesting that there is less competition in the market. Despite the limitations pointed out, the results suggest that bank concentration in the Brazilian financial market has been decreasing over the last few years due to an increase position and importance of new players such as Digital Banks, Fintechs and High‐Techs firms, which caused a decrease in the market share of large banks. Although, competition levels are not improving, showing that the market share is being absorbed by Financial Institutions with a considerable size and perhaps not by new entrants in the market.
The Italian version of the Reflective Functioning Questionnaire: Validity within a sample of adolescents and associations with psychological problems and alexithymia
Authors: Bizzi Fabiola , Riva Anna , Borelli Jessica L. , Charpentier‐Mora Simone , Bomba Monica , Cavanna Donatella , Nacinovich Renata
Published: July 2021

Objectives

This study aims to test the psychometric proprieties of the Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (RFQ) applied to younger (13–16 years) and older (17–20 years) Italian adolescents examining (1) the factorial structure of RFQ; (2) its invariance across age and sex; (3) correlations between RFQ subscale scores, as well as the associations of the RFQ with (4) psychological problems and alexithymia dimensions.

Methods

A cross‐sectional study was conducted with 593 adolescents between the ages of 13 and 20 years old recruited from the community within Italy. These participants completed the RFQ, Symptom Checklist‑90, and Toronto Alexithymia Scale.

Results

The two‐factor structure of the RFQ was confirmed. However, higher internal consistency of RFQ was obtained by removing two items that seemed problematic within this sample. Using a six‐item version of RFQ, the two‐factor structure was invariant across adolescent age and sex. Significant correlations among RFQ subscale scores, and between RFQ subscales with both psychological problems and alexithymia dimensions were found.

Conclusions

Preliminary results reveal a short version of RFQ (six‐item) is a suitable measure to assess mentalizing in adolescents in the Italian context.
Clients in context: Environment, class, race, and therapists' perceptions of generalized anxiety disorder
Authors: Joy Eileen E. , Bartholomew Theodore T.
Published: July 2021

Evidence‐based practice necessitates the inclusion of client identity and contextual information when conceptualizing diagnosis.

Objective

To examine how therapists' perceptions of Generalized Anxiety Disorder is influenced by client environmental contextual and identity factors, like class and race.

Method

Therapists (n = 138; 76% women; Mage = 38.3) were randomly assigned three of six client vignettes and asked to provide diagnostic recommendations, confidence in diagnosis, and perception of client's concerns. Vignettes differed in their description of client class, race, and contextual factors. A linear mixed‐model was used to test confidence in diagnosis and generalized linear mixed‐models were conducted to predict diagnosis and client concerns.

Results

Therapists altered diagnosis, confidence, and client concerns based on client contextual factors—but not identity factors.

Conclusions

Therapists consider contextual factors in making clinical decisions, with overall tendency towards diagnosis regardless of if symptoms met the diagnostic criteria of being “excessive” given the environmental context.
Population Pharmacokinetics of Ipatasertib and Its Metabolite in Cancer Patients
Authors: Yoshida Kenta , Wilkins Justin , Winkler Julia , Wade Janet R. , Kotani Naoki , Wang Nina , Sane Rucha , Chanu Pascal
Published: July 2021

Ipatasertib is a selective AKT kinase inhibitor currently in development for the treatment of several solid tumors, including breast and prostate cancers. This study was undertaken to characterize pharmacokinetic profiles of ipatasertib and its metabolite M1 (G‐037720) and to understand the sources of variability. Population pharmacokinetic models of ipatasertib and M1 were developed separately using data from 342 individuals with cancer from 5 phase 1 and 2 studies. The final population pharmacokinetic models for ipatasertib and M1 were 3‐compartmental, with first‐order elimination and sequential zero‐ and first‐order absorption. Ipatasertib bioavailability and M1 formation increased after multiple dosing, resulting in an increase in exposure beyond that expected from accumulation alone. Covariate effects of ipatasertib include decreased oral clearance with increasing age and with coadministration of abiraterone, as well as decreased bioavailability with increasing weight. For ages 37 and 80 years, steady‐state area under the curve (AUCss) was predicted to be 81% and 109%, respectively, of the typical population value (64 years). For body weight of 49 and 111 kg, AUCss was predicted to be 132% and 78%, respectively, of the typical population value (75 kg). The small magnitude of change in ipatasertib exposure is not likely to be clinically relevant. For M1, the peripheral distribution volume and intercompartmental clearance increased with increasing weight. Coadministration of abiraterone was estimated to increase M1 exposure by 61% at steady state. Mild and moderate renal impairment, mild hepatic impairment, and race were not identified as significant covariates in the final models for ipatasertib and M1.
AAA stewardship: managing high‐risk medications with dedicated antimicrobial, anticoagulation and analgesic stewardship programs
Authors: Bui Thuy , Bortz Hadley , Cairns Kelly A. , Graudins Linda V. , Corallo Carmela E. , Konstantatos Alex , Tran Huyen , Cheng Allen , Dooley Michael J.
Published: July 2021

The first and most widely publicised pharmaceutical stewardship program has been for antimicrobials. Lack of care with antimicrobial management is a recognised risk to both patient and community safety. The core components of antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) can also be applied to other high‐risk medications, such as anticoagulants and analgesics. The authors discuss the implementation of anticoagulation and analgesic stewardship programs, based on the local AMS program principles, together forming the Antimicrobial, Anticoagulation, Analgesic (AAA) program. Amalgamated stewardship programs that focus on improving patient safety and optimising clinical outcomes beyond antimicrobials should be encouraged and adopted.
Origin of the blue‐shifted hydrogen bond in the vibrational Raman spectra of pyridine–water complexes: A density functional theory study
Authors: Sharma Vinay , Schlücker Sebastian , Srivastava Sunil K.
Published: July 2021

Despite extensive scientific efforts to understand the exact nature of hydrogen bonding in Pyridine (Py) aqueous solutions, the exact mechanism causing the blue‐shift in Py ring breathing mode has remained unclear so far. The present study is an attempt to investigate the possible causes of the experimentally observed blue‐shifts using density functional theory (DFT) by computing the complexation‐induced electronic charge redistribution due to hydrogen bonding in distinct Py–water complexes. Electron density difference map (EDDM) calculations, natural population analysis (NPA), and natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis were used to explore the blue‐shift in Py ring breathing mode upon complexation with water. The combined NPA and NBO analysis yielded that interaction between the nitrogen lone pair in Py and hydrogen atom of W causes a net charge transfer from Py to W, which—through hyperconjugation—depopulates the σ* (C–C) orbitals. This finally leads to the strengthening of the local C–C force constants. The relative contributions of normal coordinates were obtained by potential energy distribution (PED) calculations. Our computation reveals that increasing contributions of C–C stretching motions to the Py ring breathing mode (ν1) are de facto causing a blue‐shift in the ν1 vibration upon water addition. Overall, this analysis suggests that complementary information from both (a) electronic charge redistribution and (b) potential energy distribution of normal coordinates is required to explain the blue‐shift in ν1 (Py) mode in aqueous solutions.
Accuracy of the Standardized Early Fetal Heart Assessment in Excluding Major Congenital Heart Defects in High‐Risk Population: A Single‐Center Experience
Authors: Turan Sifa , Asoglu Mehmet Resit , Ozdemir Halis , Seger Lindsey , Turan Ozhan Mehmet
Published: July 2021

Objective

To evaluate the ability of standardized early fetal heart assessment (EFHA) that includes the 4‐chamber view, outflow tract relationship (OTR), and transverse arches views (TAV) of the great arteries in excluding major congenital heart defects (CHDs) in high‐risk populations.

Methods

This retrospective study included high‐risk pregnancies for CHDs undergoing EFHA at 11–14 weeks of gestation. Risk factors for CHDs were diabetes mellitus, a family history of CHDs, a history of a CHD use of teratogenic medications, seizure disorder, assisted reproductive treatment‐conceived pregnancy, presence of at least one of the ultrasound markers: enlarged nuchal translucency (>95th percentile), tricuspid regurgitation, and reversed a‐wave in the ductus venosus, presence of an extracardiac or a suspected cardiac anomaly, a high‐risk first trimester combined screen result, and multiple pregnancies. EFHA consisted of visualization of 4ChV, OTR, and TAV, with and without power Doppler ultrasound. The primary outcome was the negative predictive value of EFHA in excluding major CHDs.

Results

EFHA was performed on 1055 fetuses. Of these, 1024 were used for the final analysis. Of these, 94.9% (n = 923) were singleton. The most common indication for EFHA was maternal DM (n = 231, 22.6%). The sensitivity, specificity, false positive, false negative, and accuracy of EFHA were 93.2%, 99.9%, 1.4%, 0.4%, and 99.5% (P < .0001), respectively, in entire included cases. The performance of EFHA was 88%, 99.9%, 1.4%, 0.4%, and 99.5% (P < .0001) respectively when the terminated cases were excluded.

Conclusion

Early fetal heart assessment is feasible for screening for major CHDs in high‐risk populations. This approach may be expanded to the general obstetric population.
An Ultrasound Screening Exam During Medicare Wellness Visits May Be Beneficial
Authors: Rosborough Terry K. , Becker Joshua S. , Desautels Christine N. , Fennell Naomi N. , Lange Anna K. S. , Porter Jean L. , Post Bryan D. , Shepherd Michele F. , St. Hill Catherine A. , Tierney David M.
Published: July 2021

Objectives

The physical exam component of a periodic health visit in the elderly has not been considered useful. Standard Medicare Wellness visits require no physical exam beyond blood pressure and most physicians perform limited exams during these visits. The objective of this study was to test the feasibility, potential benefit, and costs of performing a screening ultrasound (US) exam during Medicare Wellness visits.

Methods

A physician examiner at an academic internal medicine primary care clinic performed a screening US exam targeting important abnormalities of patients 65–85 years old during a Medicare Wellness visit. The primary care physician (PCP) recorded the follow‐up items for each abnormality identified by the US examiner and assessed the benefit of each abnormality for the participant. Abnormality benefit, net exam benefit per participant, follow‐up items and costs, participant survey results, and exam duration were assessed.

Results

Participants numbered 108. Total abnormalities numbered 283 and new diagnoses were 172. Positive benefit scores were assigned to 38.8%, neutral (zero) scores to 59.4%, and negative benefit scores to 1.8% of abnormalities. Net benefit scores per participant were positive in 63.9%, 0 in 34.3%, and negative in 1.8%. Follow‐up items were infrequent resulting in 76% of participants without follow‐up cost. Participant survey showed excellent acceptance of the exam.

Conclusions

The US screening exam identified frequent abnormalities in Medicare Wellness patients. The assessed benefits were rarely negative and often mild to moderately positive, with important new chronic conditions identified. Follow‐up costs were low when the PCPs were also US experts.