The Social Value of Asymmetric Information Revisited

In contrary to previous literature, we show in the Grossman-Stiglitz model of noisy rational expectation that the social value of asymmetric information can be improved with more informative prices when being informed is uncertain. Investors always benefit from a privately payoff-relevant information, but they have to pay more to increase the probability of observing the information. In equilibrium, this trade-off can lead to high-risk, high return investments. Consequently the marginal expected utility gain from observing the information is not completely washed out by the cost of information acquisition, which leads to Pareto-optimal equilibrium and improves investors' welfare

New Approaches to Preventing, Diagnosing, and Treating Neonatal Sepsis

Karen Edmond and Anita Zaidi highlight new approaches that could reduce the burden of neonatal sepsis worldwide

Early versus delayed neonatal administration of a synthetic surfactant: the judgment of Osiris

Although exogenous surfactants are of known efficacy in the prevention and treatment of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), questions remain about the best regimens. During 1990-91, 6774 babies were recruited to an international multicentre trial to assess when administration of Exosurf, a synthetic surfactant should be started and how often it should be given. The clinical outcome is known for 6757 (99.7%) infants. 2690 babies, judged to be at high risk of RDS when less than 2 hours of age, were randomly allocated to either early administration or delayed selective administration; 96% versus 73% received surfactant, at median ages of 118 and 182 min. The risk of death or dependence on extra oxygen at the expected date of delivery was 16% (95% Cl 25% to 7%) lower among infants allocated early administration. Early administration was also associated with a 32% lower risk of pneumothorax. These 2690 infants were further randomised in a factorial design to either two doses of surfactant 12 hours apart, or the option of third and fourth doses at 12-36 hour intervals if signs of RDS persisted or recurred. 4067 other infants who later developed RDS were also recruited to this comparison, giving a total of 3376 infants allocated up-to-four doses (of whom, 45% received more than two) and 3381 allocated two doses. The outcome was similar in the two groups in respect of death, long-term oxygen dependence, and other major morbidity, even in secondary analyses restricted to infants who met the criteria for additional administration. There were more reports of poorly tolerated administration in the up-to-four doses group but no clear increase in serious morbidity, such as pulmonary haemorrhage. The OSIRIS trial suggests that early administration of surfactant to an estimated 32 babies, when compared with treatment of established RDS, would prevent 1 baby from dying and another from being dependent on extra oxygen long-term, but would entail the additional use of surfactant in 8 of these babies. It provides no evidence that a regimen including the option of third and fourth doses when signs of RDS persist or recur is clinically superior to a regimen of two doses

Development, democracy, and mass killings

Using a newly assembled dataset spanning from 1820 to 1998, we study the relationship between the occurrence and magnitude of episodes of mass killing and the levels of development and democracy across countries and over time. Mass killings appear to be more likely at intermediate levels of income and less likely at very high levels of democracy. However, the estimated relationship between democracy and probability of mass killings is not linear in the full sample. In the XXth century, discrete improvements in democracy are systematically associated with episodes involving fewer victims. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2006Mass killings, Democracy, Growth, N40, O10,