From Edward to Eric Garner and Beyond: The Importance of Constitutional Limitations on Lethal Use of Force in Police Reform

Syftet med denna rapport är att beskriva och analysera statens1 styrning av hälso- och sjukvården, särskilt sådana styrformer där sammanställning av information (t ex om aktuellt forskningsläge och om god klinisk praxis) och informationsspridning utgör centrala inslag. Sådana aktiviteter är inte nya i sjukvården, men betraktade som inslag i statens styrning av hälso- och sjukvårdssektorn är de under stark utveckling. Av allt att döma kommer intresset för att nyttja systematiskt sammanställd information som ett inslag i styrningen av hälso- och sjukvården att öka, vilket även medför behov av aktiviteter som stärker förutsättningarna att lokalt tillgodogöra sig information. Avsikten med rapporten är att tydliggöra statens roll vid ”kunskapsstyrning” av hälso- och sjukvården.2 Möjligheten att utveckla en nationell strategi för ett mer kunskapsbaserat beslutsfattande i hälso- och sjukvården diskuteras. Analysen har genomförts med hjälp av våra tidigare studier inom området, vilka har kompletterats med litteratur, utredningar m.m. som belyser olika aspekter i anslutning till kunskapsstyrning. Vår beskrivning av relevanta aktörer och pågående aktiviteter inom den svenska sjukvårdssektorn har varit föremål för kommentarer från berörda parter

Detailed and simplified non-equilibrium helium ionization in the solar atmosphere

Helium ionization plays an important role in the energy balance of the upper chromosphere and transition region. Helium spectral lines are also often used as diagnostics of these regions. We carry out 1D radiation-hydrodynamics simulations of the solar atmosphere and find that the helium ionization is mostly set by photoionization and direct collisional ionization, counteracted by radiative recombination cascades. By introducing an additional recombination rate mimicking the recombination cascades, we construct a simplified 3 level helium model atom consisting of only the ground states. This model atom is suitable for modeling non-equilibrium helium ionization in 3D numerical models. We perform a brief investigation of the formation of the He I 10830 and He II 304 spectral lines. Both lines show non-equilibrium features that are not recovered with statistical equilibrium models, and caution should therefore be exercised when such models are used as a basis in the interpretation of observations.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap

The Effect of Power Outages and Cheap Talk on Willingness to Pay to Reduce Outages

Using an open-ended contingent valuation survey, we analyze how (i) experience of a power outage due to one of the worst storms ever to hit Sweden and (ii) a cheap talk script affect respondents' WTP to avoid power outages. Experience significantly increases and a cheap talk script decreases the proportion of respondents with zero WTP. There is no significant effect in either case on stated WTP conditional on a positive WTP. The paper concludes with a discussion on the use of valuation studies shortly after the occurrence of an undesirable event.contingent valuation, cheap talk, experience, power outages

Measuring marginal values of noise disturbance from air traffic: Does the time of the day matter?

This paper analyzes the marginal willingness to pay for changes in noise levels related to changes in the volume of flight movements at a city airport in Stockholm, Sweden,by using a choice experiment. When estimating marginal willingness to pay for different times of the day and days of the week, we find that these vary with the temporal dimensions: mornings and evenings have higher marginal values. Interestingly, a substantial proportion of the respondents prefer no changes in the current noise level. The paper concludes with a policy discussion related to incentivebased pricing.Choice experiment; discrete choice; noise; airport

Consumer Benefits of Labels and Bans on GMO Foods: An Emprical Analysis Using Choice Experiments

Applying a choice experiment on the choice of consumer goods we show that Swedish consumers do not regard GMO food as being equivalent to conventional food. A central argument by proponents of GMO is that the end products are identical to those where GMO has not been used. That respondents in our survey disagree with this argument is supported by two observations. First, a positive significant WTP is found for a mandatory labeling policy. This result confirms previous observations that GMO food can be a credence good causing a market failure. Second, consumers are also willing to pay a significantly higher product price to ensure a total ban on the use of GMO in animal fodder. Even if scientists and politicians argue that most of today’s GMO food is indistinguishable from GMO free food, the consumers disagree.

Consumer benefits of labels and bans on genetically modified food - An empirical analysis using Choice Experiments

Applying an experiment on the choice of consumer goods, we show that Swedish consumers do not regard genetically modified (GM) food as being equivalent to conventional food. A central argument by proponents of GM is that the end products are identical to those where GM has not been used. That respondents in our survey disagree with this argument is supported by two observations. First, a positive significant WTP is found for a mandatory labeling policy. This result confirms previous observations that GM food can be a credence good causing a market failure. Second, consumers are also willing to pay a significantly higher product price to ensure a total ban on the use of GM in animal fodder. Even if scientists and politicians argue that most of today's GM food is indistinguishable from GM-free food, consumers disagree.Institutional and Behavioral Economics,

Household Decision Making and the Influence of Spouses' Income, Education, and Communist Party Membership: A Field Experiment in Rural China

We study household decision making in a high-stakes experiment with a random sample of households in rural China. Spouses have to choose between risky lotteries, first separately and then jointly. We find that spouses' individual risk preferences are more similar the richer the household and the higher the wife's relative income contribution. A couple's joint decision is typically determined by the husband, but women who contribute relatively more to the household income, women in high-income households, women with more education than their husbands, and women with communist party membership have a stronger influence on the joint decision.household decision making, risk, field experiment, China

Expression of mRNA for phospholipase A(2), cyclooxygenases, and lipoxygenases in cultured human umbilical vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cells and in biopsies from umbilical arteries and veins

Arachidonic acid (AA) is released by phospholipase A(2) (PLA(2)) and then converted into vasoactive and inflammatory eicosanoids by cyclooxygenases (COX) and lipoxygenases (LOX). These eicosanoids are important paracrine regulators of vascular permeability, blood flow, local pro- and anticoagulant activity and they play a major role in the local inflammatory response. We have investigated the presence of mRNAs for PLA(2) and for isoforms of COX and LOX in both human endothelial cells (EC) and in human smooth muscle cells (SMC) in culture and in vascular biopsies of human umbilical veins (HUVB) and arteries (HUAB) by using the reversed transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique. Results show detectable levels of PLA(2) type IV (cPLA(2)) in cultured EC and SMC and in vascular wall biopsies from HUAB and HUVB. The cultured EC and SMC demonstrate higher levels of both COX-1 and COX-2 with PCR analyses than do vascular wall biopsies from HUAB and HUVB. This indicates a difference in the native expression of COX-1 and COX-2 in cultures of EC and SMC compared to that in biopsies from intact vessel walls. The EC and SMC in culture do not express mRNA for 5-LOX, that was, however, expressed in the vascular wall biopsies. This speaks in favour of a constitutive, i.e, in vivo expression of 5-LOX in SMC in the vascular wall of both umbilical vein and arteries. Thus results from in vitro studies of constitutive COX and LOX expression in EC and vascular SMC in culture cannot simply be extrapolated to represent in vivo conditions

Household Decision Making in Rural China: Using Experiments to Estimate the Influences of Spouses

Many economic decisions are made jointly within households. This raises the question about spouses' relative influence on joint decisions and the determinants of relative influence. Using a controlled experiment (on inter-temporal choice), we let each spouse first make individual decisions and then make joint decisions with the other spouse. We use a random parameter probit model to measure the relative influence of spouses on joint decisions. In general, husbands have a stronger influence than wives. However, in richer households and when the wife is older than the husband, we find a significantly stronger influence of the wife on joint decisions.household decision making, spouses, relative influence, random parameter model, field experiment, time preferences