International Differences in the Agricultural Price Level: Factor Endowments, Transportation Costs, and the Political Economy of Agricultural Protection

This paper presents a model of the agricultural producer price level as a function of a country's structure of agricultural trade and its protection of agriculture. In turn, the structure of a country's agricultural trade is a function of its resource endowment and its level of agricultural protection. The level of agricultural protection is a function of the political strength of farmers and of the structure of its agricultural trade. These relationships are estimated in a simultaneous equation framework.Agricultural Trade; Agriculture; Prices; Protection; Trade

Societal views on orphan drugs: cross sectional survey of Norwegians aged 40 to 67

Objective To determine whether a general societal preference for prioritising treatment of rare diseases over common ones exists and could provide a justification for accepting higher cost effectiveness thresholds for orphan drugs

Preferences for prevention programs against chronic disease: does expected cause of death matter?

Western countries devote significant resources to prevention of chronic illnesses, particularly cardiovascular disease (CVD). Consequently, life expectancy increases but deaths from other causes, such as cancer, also rise. Preferences for additional longevity later in life may be sensitive to expected cause of death, but this factor is typically ignored in economic evaluations of chronic disease prevention programs. We use current Norwegian mortality date to estimate life expectancy gains and changed distributions of cause of death associated with CVD and cancer prevention programs. For realistic levels of risk reduction, prevention programs against CVD and cancer increase longevity by 6 and 4 months, respectively. We survey a random sample of 2700 Norwegians, ages 40– 67, to examine preferences for prevention programs against CVD and cancer when individuals are informed about expected increases in life expectancy and resulting changes in the distribution of cause of death in the population. The survey is randomized for named vs. unnamed disease (CVD/cancer vs. Condition X/Y), medical vs. life-style interventions, and individual vs. societal perspective. A pilot study improved the design of the final survey. Results show little evidence that a desire for an “easy” death influenced respondents’ willingness to participate in a CVD prevention program; respondents accepted the offer of both CVD and cancer prevention at similar rates of 61%. Participation decisions were influenced by framing: more were willing to accept intervention if the disease was named and if treatment involved life-style changes rather than pharmaceutical treatment. Willingness-to-pay for prevention was low, with only 26% of the full sample agreeing to pay 150 NOK per month for CVD prevention, and 28% willing to pay for cancer prevention

Hyperbar oksygenbehandling av kronisk strålecystitt. Forenklet metodevurdering

Hyperbar oksygenbehandling er et mulig behandlingsalternativ for personer med kronisk strålecystitt etter kreftbehandling i underlivet. Behandlingen innebærer at pasienten puster inn rent oksygen under forhøyet lufttrykk i et trykkammer. Behandlingen varer gjerne i 90 til 120 minutter, og gis fem til syv ganger i uken, totalt 30 til 40 behandlinger. Kunnskapsgrunnlaget om effekten av hyperbar oksygenbehandling består av to små randomiserte kontrollerte studier. Hyperbar oksygenbehandling sammenliknet med standard behandling (ikke spesifisert) gir: • Trolig en liten forbedring i livskvalitet • Trolig en forbedring i urinveissymptomer • Muligens en liten eller ingen forskjell i smerter målt med SF-36 Det er usikkert hvorvidt det er noen forskjell i effekt mellom hyperbar oksygenbehandling og hyaluronsyre ved blødende strålecystitt. En forenklet helseøkonomisk vurdering viser at: • Total kostnad per pasient er NOK 116 010 • Budsjettvirkninger over fem år NOK 16 010 133 For å kunne gjennomføre en helseøkonomisk analyse som kan svare på prioriteringskriteriene for alvorlighet og for ressursbruk trenges bedre informasjon om sykdomsforløp, nåværende standard behandling og livskvalitetsvekter