title: Patenting in nineteenth century New Zealand: An economic and historical analysis

authors: Gibbons, Matthew

subjects: Patents

abstract: This thesis has studied the relationship between patenting and economic development in nineteenth century New Zealand, and the extent to which different population groups patented. These topics are studied using all patents applied for in New Zealand between 1860 and 1899, with the data being weighted by fees and other required expenditure on each patent. 
Patent application costs were substantially reduced in the 1880s when the government sought to broaden access to patenting. This thesis has confirmed that the lower cost of patent applications was associated with increased patent applications by New Zealanders. In addition, the proportion of patenting by some skilled trades workers increased after application fees were reduced. However, despite reduced application costs, patenting by low income earners, such as labourers, remained low. New Zealand farmers made a higher proportion of patent applications than farmers in comparable patenting systems, but the rate at which they patented was below average for male workers. Engineers, who had trained through apprenticeships, were the occupational group that applied for the most patents. Patenting by women increased from the mid-1880s, but even in 1899 women applied for only 2.5% of total patent applications. Maori made little use of the patenting system. No New Zealand region had the highest patenting rates for very long. 
The highest spending New Zealand patentees were typically engineers who patented products, such as agricultural or mining equipment, they had invented. Furthermore, they usually owned a business that produced goods and services they had patented. Some of the highest spending patentees became prosperous, although those who developed mining technology were relatively economically unsuccessful. For individual output series there were more cointegrating relationships between patent expenditure and economic output than between patent applications and economic output. Output series usually led patenting, particularly using patent expenditure data, which indicates patentees were concentrating on economic needs. Nevertheless, there were important examples, such as agriculture, where output followed expenditure on patents. Furthermore, total patent applications per capita and total patent expenditure per capita both Granger caused GDP per capita in New Zealand. This suggests that patent applications and expenditure helped increase living standards in New Zealand over the period studied.

text: Patenting in nineteenth century New Zealand: An economic and historical analysis This thesis has studied the relationship between patenting and economic development in nineteenth century New Zealand, and the extent to which different population groups patented. These topics are studied using all patents applied for in New Zealand between 1860 and 1899, with the data being weighted by fees and other required expenditure on each patent. 
Patent application costs were substantially reduced in the 1880s when the government sought to broaden access to patenting. This thesis has confirmed that the lower cost of patent applications was associated with increased patent applications by New Zealanders. In addition, the proportion of patenting by some skilled trades workers increased after application fees were reduced. However, despite reduced application costs, patenting by low income earners, such as labourers, remained low. New Zealand farmers made a higher proportion of patent applications than farmers in comparable patenting systems, but the rate at which they patented was below average for male workers. Engineers, who had trained through apprenticeships, were the occupational group that applied for the most patents. Patenting by women increased from the mid-1880s, but even in 1899 women applied for only 2.5% of total patent applications. Maori made little use of the patenting system. No New Zealand region had the highest patenting rates for very long. 
The highest spending New Zealand patentees were typically engineers who patented products, such as agricultural or mining equipment, they had invented. Furthermore, they usually owned a business that produced goods and services they had patented. Some of the highest spending patentees became prosperous, although those who developed mining technology were relatively economically unsuccessful. For individual output series there were more cointegrating relationships between patent expenditure and economic output than between patent applications and economic output. Output series usually led patenting, particularly using patent expenditure data, which indicates patentees were concentrating on economic needs. Nevertheless, there were important examples, such as agriculture, where output followed expenditure on patents. Furthermore, total patent applications per capita and total patent expenditure per capita both Granger caused GDP per capita in New Zealand. This suggests that patent applications and expenditure helped increase living standards in New Zealand over the period studied.

year: 2016

title: A note on the average propensity to consume, wealth and threshold adjustment

authors: Holmes, Mark J.

subjects: threshold error correction

abstract: We explore the connection between the average propensity to consume (APC) and wealth to income ratio (WY) in the US. We find evidence of a long-run relationship characterised by threshold error correction. It is the APC that responds to long-run disequilibrium where the speed of adjustment is asymmetric insofar as being most likely fastest in regimes characterised by a high APC and low WY.

text: A note on the average propensity to consume, wealth and threshold adjustment We explore the connection between the average propensity to consume (APC) and wealth to income ratio (WY) in the US. We find evidence of a long-run relationship characterised by threshold error correction. It is the APC that responds to long-run disequilibrium where the speed of adjustment is asymmetric insofar as being most likely fastest in regimes characterised by a high APC and low WY.

year: 2013

title: Outcomes in different ethnic groups of New Zealand patients with screen-detected vs. non-screen-detected breast cancer.

authors: Lawrenson, Ross

subjects: Breast screening

abstract: OBJECTIVE: To compare characteristics and survival of New Zealand European, Māori, and Pacific women with screen-detected vs. non-screen-detected breast cancer. 
METHODS: Women aged 45-69 diagnosed with invasive breast cancer between January 2005 and May 2013 were identified from the Waikato and Auckland Breast Cancer Registries. Patient demographics and tumour characteristics were described by detection mode and ethnicity. Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate the five-year breast cancer-specific survival of women with stage I-III breast cancer by ethnicity and detection mode. 
RESULTS: Women with screen-detected cancers were older, had smaller tumours, fewer stage IV (0.8% vs. 7.6%), fewer high grade (16.8% vs. 39.0%), and fewer lymph node positive diseases (26.3% vs. 51.5%) than women with non-screen-detected cancers. There were more Luminal A (70.0% vs. 54.0%), fewer human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 positive non-Luminal (4.4% vs. 8.8%), and fewer triple negative cases (7.0% vs. 13.8%) in screen-detected than non-screen-detected cancers. If not screen detected, 22.7% of breast cancers in Pacific women were stage IV compared with 2.4% if screen detected. If not screen detected, the five-year breast cancer-specific survival was 91.1% for New Zealand European women, 84.2% for Māori women, and 80.2% for Pacific women (p-value <0.001). For screen-detected breast cancer, survival between different ethnic groups was similar.
CONCLUSIONS: Breast cancers detected through screening are diagnosed at an earlier stage and have a greater proportion of subtypes, with better outcome. Variations in survival for Māori and Pacific women are only found in women with non-screen-detected breast cancer.

text: Outcomes in different ethnic groups of New Zealand patients with screen-detected vs. non-screen-detected breast cancer. OBJECTIVE: To compare characteristics and survival of New Zealand European, Māori, and Pacific women with screen-detected vs. non-screen-detected breast cancer. 
METHODS: Women aged 45-69 diagnosed with invasive breast cancer between January 2005 and May 2013 were identified from the Waikato and Auckland Breast Cancer Registries. Patient demographics and tumour characteristics were described by detection mode and ethnicity. Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate the five-year breast cancer-specific survival of women with stage I-III breast cancer by ethnicity and detection mode. 
RESULTS: Women with screen-detected cancers were older, had smaller tumours, fewer stage IV (0.8% vs. 7.6%), fewer high grade (16.8% vs. 39.0%), and fewer lymph node positive diseases (26.3% vs. 51.5%) than women with non-screen-detected cancers. There were more Luminal A (70.0% vs. 54.0%), fewer human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 positive non-Luminal (4.4% vs. 8.8%), and fewer triple negative cases (7.0% vs. 13.8%) in screen-detected than non-screen-detected cancers. If not screen detected, 22.7% of breast cancers in Pacific women were stage IV compared with 2.4% if screen detected. If not screen detected, the five-year breast cancer-specific survival was 91.1% for New Zealand European women, 84.2% for Māori women, and 80.2% for Pacific women (p-value <0.001). For screen-detected breast cancer, survival between different ethnic groups was similar.
CONCLUSIONS: Breast cancers detected through screening are diagnosed at an earlier stage and have a greater proportion of subtypes, with better outcome. Variations in survival for Māori and Pacific women are only found in women with non-screen-detected breast cancer.

year: 2019