Unilateral vs. Bilateral Incentives: Evidence from the U.S. Pork Industry

The idea that individuals adapt their behaviors in response to changes in incentive systems is fundamental to most economic analysis. This paper incorporates the concept of price discovery costs into the incentive theory to offer a theoretical model and empirical evidence on the differential incentive effects of long-term contracts and spot markets. Using the US pork industry case where procuring intertemporally consistent weights of hogs have been critical to pork processors, we show why the effectiveness of unilaterally determined and posted incentive price for the hog quality by the pork packers on the intertemporal consistency erodes and why a bilateral incentive structure built through long-term hog procurement contracts is demanded, in the presence of volatile hog price and feed price movements. The MGARCH model analysis of USDA AMS data supported our hypotheses that long-term hog procurement contracts would help moderate the erosion relative to the spot markets, resulting greater intertemporal consistency of hog weights.long-term contracts, incentive effects, price discovery costs, MGARCH model, Livestock Production/Industries,

The Best of Times, the Worst of Times: Understanding Pro-cyclical Mortality

A growing literature documents cyclical movements in mortality and health. We examine this pattern more closely and attempt to identify the mechanisms behind it. Specifically, we distinguish between mechanisms that rely on fluctuations in own employment or time use and those involving factors that are external to the individual. Our investigation suggests that changes in individuals’ own behavior contribute very little to pro-cyclical mortality. Looking across broad age and gender groups, we find that own-group employment rates are not systematically related to own-group mortality. In addition, we find that most of the additional deaths that occur during times of economic growth are among the elderly, particularly elderly women, who have limited labor force attachment. Focusing on mortality among the elderly, we show that cyclicality is especially strong for deaths occurring in nursing homes, and is stronger in states where a higher fraction of the elderly reside in nursing homes. We also demonstrate that staffing in skilled nursing facilities moves counter-cyclically. Taken together, these findings suggest that cyclical fluctuations in the mortality rate may be largely driven by fluctuations in the quality of health care.

Comment on “A numerical investigation of the acoustic mode waves in a deviated borehole penetrating a transversely isotropic formation”

In the paper “A numerical investigation of the acoustic mode waves in a deviated borehole penetrating a transversely isotropic formation” by Liu et al. [1] numerical experiments are reported for a dipole sonic logging scenario with a deviated borehole penetrating a VTI anisotropic medium. In such a situation it is important to clearly define the meaning of group and phase velocities as this has led to much confusion in the literature as discussed by Miller, Horne and Walsh [2]

Transport and retention of the mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) in a Mid-Atlantic estuary: Predictions from a larval transport model

Invasive species cause extensive ecological damage in freshwater and marine habitats and are a threat to biodiversity in aquatic ecosystems world-wide. One such species, the Chinese mitten crab, Eriocheir sinensis, has invasive populations in northern Europe and San Francisco Bay, and there are confirmed reports of breeding female crabs in both the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. Despite their threat to these ecosystems, there are still large gaps in the current understanding of this species\u27 larval biology that are critical to predicting the potential for large populations to establish in East Coast bays and estuaries. We addressed these issues by using a physical circulation model of Delaware Bay and the adjacent coastal ocean coupled to a modified particle advection scheme. We used this model to examine the effects of different physical mechanisms and larval behavior on transport, retention, and settlement of larvae in the bay. The circulation model produced flow fields using observed winds and river discharge for 2006 as well as systematic variations of river discharge and wind direction. Since little is known regarding mitten crab larval behavior, the larval component was purposefully general and incorporated a suite of behaviors such as tidal, diel, and ontogenetic vertical migration; however, results of this study showed that vertical migration affects the magnitude, but not locations of larval settlement. Simulations revealed that changes in the time and location of spawning can result in large variations in retention and settlement of larvae in Delaware Bay and the coastal ocean, due to seasonal variations of the physical flow field. Overall results of our study showed that the estuarine and coastal circulation typically found along the Middle Atlantic coast of the United States can result in significant retention of new and established E. sinensis populations in large estuaries as well as transport of larvae to new coastal locations

Improving the validity of activity of daily living dependency risk assessment

OBJECTIVES: Efforts to prevent activity of daily living (ADL) dependency may be improved through models that assess older adults' dependency risk. We evaluated whether cognition and gait speed measures improve the predictive validity of interview-based models. METHOD: Participants were 8,095 self-respondents in the 2006 Health and Retirement Survey who were aged 65 years or over and independent in five ADLs. Incident ADL dependency was determined from the 2008 interview. Models were developed using random 2/3rd cohorts and validated in the remaining 1/3rd. RESULTS: Compared to a c-statistic of 0.79 in the best interview model, the model including cognitive measures had c-statistics of 0.82 and 0.80 while the best fitting gait speed model had c-statistics of 0.83 and 0.79 in the development and validation cohorts, respectively. CONCLUSION: Two relatively brief models, one that requires an in-person assessment and one that does not, had excellent validity for predicting incident ADL dependency but did not significantly improve the predictive validity of the best fitting interview-based models

Novel mutation in CCBE 1 as a cause of recurrent hydrops fetalis from Hennekam lymphangiectasia-lymphedema syndrome-1.

Whole exome sequencing (WES) was used to determine the etiology of recurrent hydrops fetalis in this case of Hennekam lymphangiectasia-lymphedema syndrome-1. WES is a useful approach for diagnosing rare single-gene conditions with nonspecific phenotypes and should be considered early in the diagnostic process of investigating fetal abnormalities

Elective cardiovascular care in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic: managing tragic choices

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant morbidity and mortality globally. As health systems grapple with caring for patients affected with COVID-19, cardiovascular procedures that are deemed 'elective' have been postponed. Guidelines concerning which cardiac procedures should be performed during the pandemic vary by specialty and geography in the USA. We propose a clinical heuristic to guide individual physicians and governing bodies in their decision making regarding which cardiac procedures should be performed during the COVID-19 pandemic using the behavioural economics concept of heuristics and ecological rationality