Bertrand and Walras equilibria under moral hazard

We consider a simple model of competition under moral hazard with constant return technologies. We consider preferences that are not separable in effort: marginal utility of income is assumed to increase with leisure, especially for high income levels. We show that, in this context, Bertrand competition may result in positive equilibrium profit. This result holds for purely idiosyncratic shocks when only deterministic contracts are considered, and extends to unrestricted contract spaces in the presence of aggregate uncertainty. Finally, these findings have important consequences upon the definition of an equilibrium. We show that, in this context, a Walrasian general equilibrium a la Prescott-Townsend may fail to exist: any 'equilibrium' must involve rationing.

Perks as Second Best Optimal Compensations

The finance literature views perks either as productivity enhancing expenditures or as a result of poor managerial control by shareholders. Using a corporate jet to attend a business meeting may be justified because of the returns generated for the firm; but flying on the same jet to reach a vacation resort reflects a misappropriation of the firm’s resources by the manager. Our paper challenges this view. We argue that complementarity between leisure and wages creates difficult incentive problems, because the bonuses or stock options that reward success increase the marginal disutility of effort. In such a context, we show that whenever there exist commodities (‘perks’) that are substitute to leisure (or even less complementary to leisure than money), the optimal incentive scheme involves overprovision of such commodities, in the sense that the agent should consume more of them that she would elect to, should she be given a choice between money and perks at the current market prices. This conclusion is valid even when perks must be provided independently of the manager’s performace. Finally, we discuss the role of governance by introducing manipulations a la Peng and Röell (2006), and show that, in contrast with standard intuition, perks are used even when governance is perfect, and poorer governance may result in less perks being offered to the agent.Perks, Moral Hazard, Incentives, Second Best

Commitment and the Dynamics of Household Labor Supply

The extent to which individuals commit to their partner for life has important implications. This paper develops a lifecycle collective model of the household, through which it characterizes behavior in three prominent alternative types of commitment: full, limited, and no commitment. We propose a test that distinguishes between all three types based on how contemporaneous and historical news affect household behavior. Our test permits heterogeneity in the degree of commitment across households. Using recent data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we reject full and no commitment, while we find strong evidence for limited commitment

Role of heart rate and stroke volume during muscle metaboreflex-induced cardiac output increase: differences between activation during and after exercise

We hypothesized that the role of stroke volume (SV) in the metaboreflex-induced cardiac output (CO) increase was blunted when the metaboreflex was stimulated by exercise muscle ischemia (EMI) compared with post-exercise muscle ischemia (PEMI), because during EMI heart rate (HR) increases and limits diastolic filling. Twelve healthy volunteers were recruited and their hemodynamic responses to the metaboreflex evoked by EMI, PEMI, and by a control dynamic exercise were assessed. The main finding was that the blood pressure increment was very similar in the EMI and PEMI settings. In both conditions the main mechanism used to raise blood pressure was a CO elevation. However, during the EMI test CO was increased as a result of HR elevation whereas during the PEMI test CO was increased as a result of an increase in SV. These results were explainable on the basis of the different HR behavior between the two settings, which in turn led to different diastolic time and myocardial performance

Clinical Efficacy and Predictive Molecular Markers of Neoadjuvant Gemcitabine and Pemetrexed in Resectable Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

BackgroundA trial of neoadjuvant gemcitabine and pemetrexed (GP) chemotherapy in patients with resectable non-small cell lung cancer was conducted. The goal was to achieve a disease response rate of 50% and to determine if the expression levels of genes associated with GP metabolism are predictive of response.MethodsPatients had staging with a computed tomography scan, whole body F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography, and mediastinoscopy. Four biweekly cycles of GP were given. Patients were restaged, and those with resectable stage IB-III disease had thoracotomy. Fresh frozen tumor specimens were collected before and after chemotherapy and the mRNA levels of 14 target genes determined by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction.ResultsFifty-two patients started therapy. The radiographic disease response rate was 35% (95% confidence interval 21.7-49.6%), and the progression rate was 6%. Forty-six patients had a thoracotomy. The complete tumor resection rate was 77% (40/52). There were no perioperative deaths or deaths related to chemotherapy. Tumor response to chemotherapy was inversely correlated with the level of expression of RRM1 (p < 0.001; regulatory subunit of ribonucleotide reductase) and TS (p = 0.006; thymidylate synthase); i.e., the reduction in tumor size was greater in those with low levels of expression.ConclusionsNeoadjuvant GP is well tolerated and produces an objective response rate of 35%. Tumoral RRM1 and TS mRNA levels are predictive of disease response and should be considered as parameters for treatment selection in future trials with this regimen

Utilization of Target Lesion Heterogeneity For Treatment Efficacy assessment in Late Stage Lung Cancer

RATIONALE: Recent studies have discovered several unique tumor response subgroups outside of response classification by Response Evaluation Criteria for Solid Tumors (RECIST), such as mixed response and oligometastasis. These subtypes have a distinctive property, lesion heterogeneity defined as diversity of tumor growth profiles in RECIST target lesions. Furthermore, many cancer clinical trials have been activated to evaluate various treatment options for heterogeneity-related subgroups (e.g., 29 trials so far listed in clinicaltrials.gov for cancer patients with oligometastasis). Some of the trials have shown survival benefit by tailored treatment strategies. This evidence presents the unmet need to incorporate lesion heterogeneity to improve RECIST response classification. METHOD: An approach for Lesion Heterogeneity Classification (LeHeC) was developed using a contemporary statistical approach to assess target lesion variation, characterize patient treatment response, and translate informative evidence to improving treatment strategy. A mixed effect linear model was used to determine lesion heterogeneity. Further analysis was conducted to classify various types of lesion variation and incorporate with RECIST to enhance response classification. A study cohort of 110 target lesions from 36 lung cancer patients was used for evaluation. RESULTS: Due to small sample size issue, the result was exploratory in nature. By analyzing RECIST target lesion data, the LeHeC approach detected a high prevalence (n = 21; 58%) of lesion heterogeneity. Subgroup classification revealed several informative distinct subsets in a descending order of lesion heterogeneity: mix of progression and regression (n = 7), mix of progression and stability (n = 9), mix of regression and stability (n = 5), and non-heterogeneity (n = 15). Evaluation for association of lesion heterogeneity and RECIST best response classification showed lesion heterogeneity commonly occurred in each response group (stable disease: 16/27; 59%; partial response: 3/5; 60%; progression disease: 2/4; 50%). Survival analysis showed a differential trend of overall survival between heterogeneity and non-heterogeneity in RECIST response groups. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to evaluate lesion heterogeneity, an underappreciated metric, for RECIST application in oncology clinical trials. Results indicated lesion heterogeneity is not an uncommon event. The LeHeC approach could enhance RECIST response classification by utilizing granular lesion level discovery of heterogeneity

Nursing care for patient with Crohn's disease in the surgical department

U radu se prikazuje vanjskotrgovinska razmjena Republike Hrvatske od 2012. do 2016. godine. Glavne komponente vanjskotrgovinske razmjene su, izvoz i uvoz, a njihov odnos iskazuje se na vanjskotrgovinskoj bilanci, u pozitivnom iznosu kao suficit, u negativnom kao deficit. Rad prikazuje kretanje izvoza i uvoza u apsolutnim iznosima i strukturu vanjskotrgovinske bilance te daje pregled vanjskotrgovinske razmjene s najvažnijim zemljama partnerima Republike Hrvatske. Činjenica je da sve zemlje teže ostvarivanju suficita, stoga se u radu naglašava važnost i mogućnosti stimuliranja izvoza u Republici Hrvatskoj. Metodom intervjua, na primjeru iz prakse jednog izvoznika, prikazani su problemi s kojima se susreće u poslovanju.This thesis discusses foreign trade in the Republic of Croatia since 2012 until 2016. Relations in the foreign trade are determined by Croatia's foreign trade policy. Key foreign trade components have been defined, as well as import and export. Their relations are shown in the foreign trade balance, in the positive amount as surplus and in the negative as deficit. This thesis shows the movement of exports and imports in absolute terms and structure of foreign trade balance and it gives an overview of foreign trade with the most important Croatia's partner countries. It is a fact that all countries seek to achieve a surplus, therefore, the importance and the possibility of export stimulation has been emphasized. This paper shows, in an interview, all the problems that a Croatian exporter has had during his business experience