- MINIMAL RIGHTS IN CLAIMS PROBLEMS

This paper focuses on some appealing properties for claims problems. Our main result is that the Constrained Equal-Losses Rule is the only rule satisfying equal treatment of equals, composition from minimal rights, and path independence.

INDIVIDUAL EVIDENCE OF INDEPENDENCE IN HEALTH PROFILES EVALUATION

We analyze empirically the fulfillment of the property of Mutual Independence, traditionally assumed in the literature on health profiles evaluation. Mutual Independence turns out to be equivalent to the simultaneous fulfillment of two weaker properties: Independence of the Past with regard to the Future and Independence of the Future with regard to the Past. The purpose of this paper is to test if the latter property is better fulfilled than its alternative of Independence of the Past with regard to the Future, and than the stronger one of Mutual Independence. To do so, we propose three different sets of questionnaires, addressed to three groups of people, differing in age. Our main findings are the following: (1) at an aggregate level, Mutual Independence is accurately satisfied, even though there is a higher level of satisfaction of Independence of the future with regard to the past, particularly significant withing the Elderly group; (2) at an individual level, Independence of the future with regard to the past is significantly better fulfilled than the alternative assumption, for every group.Health profile; Preference Independence; QALY.

Allocation problems with indivisibilities when preferences are single-peaked.

We consider allocation problems with indivisible goods when agents' preferences are single-peaked. In this paper we identify the family of efficient, fair and non-manipulable solutions. We refer to such a family as M-temporary satisfaction methods. Besides, we provide arguments to defend these methods as extensions to the indivisible case of the so-called uniform rule.Allocation problem, indivisibilities, single-peaked preferences, standard of comparison, temporary satisfaction methods.

Quality of Life Lost Due to Non-Fatal Road Crashes

The objective of this paper is to evaluate the effect of a nonfatal road crash on the health-related quality of life of injured people. A new approach is suggested, based on the cardinalization of categorical Self-Assessed Health valuations. Health losses have been estimated by using different Time Tradeoff and Visual Analogue Scale tariffs, in order to assess the robustness of the results. The methodology is based on the existing literature about treatment effects. Our main contribution focuses on evaluating the loss of health up to one year after the non-fatal accident, for those who are noninstitutionalized, which aids the appropriate estimation of the aggregated health losses in quality-of-life terms.Health-related quality of life, health measurement, road crashes, scaling methods

ALLOCATION PROBLEMS WITH INDIVISIBILITIES WHEN PREFERENCES ARE SINGLE-PEAKED

We consider allocation problems with indivisible goods when agents’ preferences are single-peaked. Two natural procedures (up methods and temporary satisfaction methods) are proposed to solve these problems. They are constructed by using priority methods on the cartesian product of agents and integer numbers, interpreted either as peaks or opposite peaks. Thus, two families of solutions arise this way. Our two families of solutions satisfy properties very much related to some well-known properties studied in the case of perfectly divisible goods, and they have a strong relationship with the continuous uniform and equal-distance rules, respectively.Allocation problem, indivisibilities, single-peaked preferences, temporary satisfaction method, up method.

OPTIMAL SHARING OF SURGICAL COSTS IN THE PRESENCE OF QUEUES

We deal with a cost allocation problem arising from sharing a medical service in the presence of queues. We use a standard queuing theory model in a context with several medical procedures, a certain demand of treatment and a maximum average waiting time guarantee set by the government. We show that sharing the use of an operating theatre to treat the patients of the different procedures, leads to a cost reduction. Then, we compute an optimal fee per procedure for the use of the operating theatre, based on the Shapley value. Afterwards, considering the post-operative time, we characterize the conditions under which this cooperation among treatments has a positive impact on the average post-operative costs. Finally, we provide a numerical example constructed on the basis of real data, to highlight the main features of our model.Surgical Waiting Lists; Queueing Theory; Cost-Sharing Game.

Un ejemplo de ingeniería económica

Presentamos una introducción a los modelos de emparejamiento, la base de la concesión del Nobel de Economía 2012 a A. Roth y L. Shapley. La construcción de estos modelos constituye un ejercicio de análisis, experimentación y diseño, camino por el que la Economía está transitando en las últimas décadas, cada vez con más precisión. Sirven, además, para resolver muchos problemas de la vida real, yendo más allá de los modelos tradicionales, en que los precios de mercado son la base del equilibrio entre oferta y demanda

A new outcome measure for cost-utility analyses of screening programs

We show that, under some plausible assumptions, the gain in QALYs a screening program offers is a positive linear transformation of the program's sensitivity level. This result simplifies considerably the cost-utility analysis of mutually exclusive screening programs.

Opportunity analysis of newborn screening programs

There exist congenital diseases that reduce newborns' potential opportunities. This reduction is sometimes alleviated if the congenital disease is early detected thanks to a newborn screening program. We propose an outcome measurement of newborn screening programs based on the opportunity gains they offer. We show that, under plausible assumptions, the ranking of the available screening programs for a particular disease, according to this new outcome measurement, do not depend on the metric of opportunity. We also apply our model to the current debate about choosing between a selective or a universal newborn hearing screening program to detect congenital hearing impairment.opportunities, potential success, screening programs