Re-inventing New Zealand: Institutions Output and Patents 1870-1939

New estimates of commodity output and patenting are used to explore New Zealand’s transition from extensive to intensive growth. By investigating the cointegrating and causal relationships among the output of 25 industries we show that a small number of common trends shaped the contours of her economic development. In turn the leading industries were driven by knowledge growth as reflected in patents statistics. New Zealand's distinctive institutions and human capital fostered the knowledge which transformed the farming landscape, promoted wider land ownership, and created a production system which integrated farm and factory to promote intensive growth.Growth; Institutions; Patents; Common trends; Commodity output, New Zealand Research and Development

Testing for long-run "sustainability": Genuine Savings estimates for Britain, 1760-2000

Genuine Savings has been proposed as an economic indicator of sustainable development, and has been the focus of World Bank sustainability assessments for countries globally. However, whilst the theoretical basis for Genuine Savings is well-established (Arrow et al, 2011; Hamilton and Withagen, 2007; Pezzey, 2004), its ability to forecast long-run trends in well-being remains un-tested. In this paper, we take a first step towards such an assessment by constructing a time series of estimates for produced, natural and human capital for Britain over the period 1760-2000, and use them to derive estimates of Genuine Savings. The next step in the project will be to compare these Genuine Savings estimates with a range of well-being indicators to answer the question: does positive Genuine Savings predict improvements in average well-being

Comprehensive investment and future well-being in the USA, 1869-2000

This paper reports long-run tests of how comprehensive investment (CI) predicts future well-being in the USA. Theory suggests that a country with a positive level of CI should experience non-declining future utility. Despite the widespread uptake of CI, previous tests of its predictive power are for short time intervals. We assemble data for increasingly-comprehensive measures of US capital back to 1869 which are used to predict future consumption per capita. Our results show that with the inclusion of natural and human capital, CI can predict changes in future well-being reasonably well over 20 years into the future. Extending CI, to include measures of intangible or social capital, yield results that closely predict consumption over 20-50 years horizons

How Environmental Pollution from Fossil Fuels can be included in measures of National Accounts and Estimates of Genuine Savings

In this paper, we examine means to incorporate the environmental effects of fossil fuel use into national accounts and genuine savings estimates. The main focus is on the rationales for the inclusion of carbon dioxide, and its appropriate price tag. We do this in the context of the pricing of historic carbon emissions in United Kingdom over the long run (from the onset of the industrial revolution to the present). Furthermore, we examine the reasonableness of taking into account other greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide. The global effects of carbon dioxide are compared to the local detrimental effects of the production and consumption of coal in the UK

SEDP-2014-03-Oxley-Hanley-Greasley-Blum-McLaughlin-Kunnas-Warde

Genuine Savings has emerged as a widely-used indicator of sustainable development. In this paper, we use long-term data stretching back to 1870 to undertake empirical tests of the relationship between Genuine Savings (GS) and future well-being for three countries: Britain, the USA and Germany. Our tests are based on an underlying theoretical relationship between GS and changes in the present value of future consumption. Based on both single country and panel results, we find evidence supporting the existence of a cointegrating (long run equilibrium) relationship between GS and future well-being, and fail to reject the basic theoretical result on the relationship between these two macroeconomic variables. This provides some support for the GS measure of weak sustainability. We also show the effects of modelling shocks, such as World War Two and the Great Depression

Quantifying the integrated physiological effects of endothelin-1 on cardiovascular and renal function in healthy subjects:a mathematical modeling analysis

Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a potent vasoconstrictor with strong anti-natriuretic and anti-diuretic effects. While many experimental studies have elucidated the mechanisms of ET-1 through its two receptors, ETA and ETB, the complexity of responses and sometimes conflicting data make it challenging to understand the effects of ET-1, as well as potential therapeutic antagonism of ET-1 receptors, on human physiology. In this study, we aimed to develop an integrated and quantitative description of ET-1 effects on cardiovascular and renal function in healthy humans by coupling existing experimental data with a mathematical model of ET-1 kinetics and an existing mathematical model of cardiorenal function. Using a novel agnostic and iterative approach to incorporating and testing potential mechanisms, we identified a minimal set of physiological actions of endothelin-1 through ETA and ETB receptors by fitting the physiological responses (changes in blood pressure, renal blood flow, glomerular filtration rate (GFR), and sodium/water excretion) to ET-1 infusion, with and without ETA/ETB antagonism. The identified mechanisms align with previous experimental studies on ET-1 and offer novel insights into the relative magnitude and significance of endothelin’s effects. This model serves as a foundation for further investigating the mechanisms of ET-1 and its antagonists.</p

Effects of the sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitor dapagliflozin on estimated plasma volume in patients with type 2 diabetes

Aims To compare the effects of the sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitor dapagliflozin on estimated (ePV) and measured plasma volume (mPV) and to characterize the effects of dapagliflozin on ePV in a broad population of patients with type 2 diabetes. Materials and methods The Strauss formula was used to calculate changes in ePV. Change in plasma volume measured with I-125-human serum albumin (mPV) was compared with change in ePV in 10 patients with type 2 diabetes randomized to dapagliflozin 10 mg/d or placebo. Subsequently, changes in ePV were measured in a pooled database of 13 phase 2b/3 placebo-controlled clinical trials involving 4533 patients with type 2 diabetes who were randomized to dapagliflozin 10 mg daily or matched placebo. Results The median change in ePV was similar to the median change in mPV (-9.4% and -9.0%) during dapagliflozin treatment. In the pooled analysis of clinical trials, dapagliflozin decreased ePV by 9.6% (95% confidence interval 9.0 to 10.2) compared to placebo after 24 weeks. This effect was consistent in various patient subgroups, including subgroups with or without diuretic use or established cardiovascular disease. Conclusions ePV may be used as a proxy to assess changes in plasma volume during dapagliflozin treatment. Dapagliflozin consistently decreased ePV compared to placebo in a broad population of patients with type 2 diabetes

The Emperor Has New Clothes: Empirical Tests of Mainstream Theories of Economic Growth

Modern macroeconomic theory utilises optimal control techniques to model the maximisation of individual well-being using a lifetime utility function. Agents face choices over current and future consumption (with resultant implied savings decisions) seeking to maximise the present value of current plus future well-being. However, such inter-temporal welfare-maximising assumptions remain empirically untested. In the work presented here we test whether welfare was in (historical) fact maximised in the US between 1870-2000 and find empirical support for the optimising basis of growth theory, but only once a comprehensive view of what constitutes a country's wealth or capital is taken into account

Effects of combined treatment with zibotentan and dapagliflozin compared to dapagliflozin alone in patients with diabetic and non-diabetic chronic kidney disease

AIMS: To evaluate whether type 2 diabetes status modifies the efficacy and safety of combining zibotentan (zibo), a selective endothelin receptor antagonist, and dapagliflozin (dapa) compared to placebo plus dapagliflozin in individuals with chronic kidney disease (CKD). METHODS AND MATERIALS: We conducted a post hoc analysis of the ZENITH-CKD trial, a multicentre 12-week, double-blind, randomized, active-controlled, phase 2b study involving 447 participants with CKD (261 with and 186 without type 2 diabetes). Participants were assigned to zibotentan (0.25 or 1.5 mg) plus dapagliflozin 10 mg or placebo plus dapagliflozin 10 mg. Changes in urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) and markers of fluid retention (bodyweight and B-type natriuretic peptide [BNP]) were compared in participants with and without type 2 diabetes. RESULTS: Zibo/dapa 0.25/10 mg changed UACR by -37.7% (90% CI: -40.4, -23.4) compared to placebo/dapa in participants without diabetes and by -17.9% (90% CI: -31.3, -2.0) in participants with diabetes (p-interaction 0.096). Effects of zibo/dapa 1.5/10 mg on UACR were consistent regardless of diabetes status (-34.0% (90% CI: -45.0, -20.8) vs. -33.0% (90% CI: -42.2, -22.5), p-interaction 0.921). Changes in body weight and BNP did not differ by diabetes status. Fluid retention occurred in five participants with diabetes assigned to zibo/dapa 1.5/10 mg and one participant with diabetes in the zibo/dapa 0.25/10 mg group. Fluid retention did not occur in those without diabetes in both zibo/dapa groups. With placebo/dapa, fluid retention occurred in one participant without diabetes and in none with diabetes. CONCLUSIONS: Combination therapy with zibotentan and dapagliflozin demonstrated consistent efficacy and safety across CKD patients with and without type 2 diabetes