The Costs and Benefits of Regulation: Review and Synthesis

Hahn and Hird provide the first comprehensive analysis of the costs and benefits offederal economic and social regulation. They assess several alternative methods of measuring the effects of regulatory policies, noting the advantages and drawbacks of each. They find that previous estimates of the costs of economic regulation probably overstated the true costs by failing to distinguish between transfer payments and net changes in economic efficiency. Their study separates transfers from efficiency costs for each estimate and updates the figures for sixteen industries and seven areas of social regulation. Overall, they find that the efficiency cost due to economic regulation is large and that the benefit from social regulation is positive but small. Their study also finds a huge variation in estimates of the costs and benefits of particular regulatory policies, particularly in the transportation sector and in environmental protection. This variation indicates that most estimates may be merely guesstimates. Nevertheless, Hahn and Hird argue that since the current political climate has increased the pressure on Congress to add regulatory burdens, the need to introduce such information into policy making has never been greate

Epitaxial strain adaption in chemically disordered FeRh thin films

Strain and strain adaption mechanisms in modern functional materials are of crucial importance for their performance. Understanding these mechanisms will advance innovative approaches for material properties engineering. Here we study the strain adaption mechanism in a thin film model system as function of epitaxial strain. Chemically disordered FeRh thin films are deposited on W-V buffer layers, which allow for large variation of the preset lattice constants, e.g. epitaxial boundary condition. It is shown by means of high resolution X-ray reciprocal space maps and transmission electron microscopy that the system reacts with a tilting mechanism of the structural units in order to adapt to the lattice constants of the buffer layer. This response explained by density functional theory calculations, which evidence an energetic minimum for structures with a distortion of c/a =0.87. The experimentally observed tilting mechanism is induced by this energy gain and allows the system to remain in the most favorable structure. In general, it is shown that the use of epitaxial model heterostructures consisting of alloy buffer layers of fully miscible elements and the functional material of interest allows to study strain adaption behaviors in great detail. This approach makes even small secondary effects observable, such as the directional tilting of the structural domains identified in the present case study

Assessing Regulatory Impact Analyses: The Failure of Agencies to Comply With Executive Order 12,866

None.Environment, Health and Safety, Regulatory Reform

Assessing the Quality of Regulatory Impact Analyses

This study provides the most comprehensive evaluation of the quality of recent economic analyses that agencies conduct before finalizing major regulations. We construct a new dataset that includes analyses of forty-eight major health, safety, and environmental regulations from mid-1996 to mid-1999. This dataset provides detailed information on a variety of issues, including an agency's treatment of benefits, costs, net benefits, discounting, and uncertainty. We use this dataset to assess the quality of recent economic analyses and to determine the extent to which they are consistent with President Clinton's Executive Order 12866 and the benefit-cost guidelines issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). We find that economic analyses prepared by regulatory agencies typically do not provide enough information to make decisions that will maximize the efficiency or effectiveness of a rule. Agencies quantified net benefits for only 29 percent of the rules. Agencies failed to discuss alternatives in 27 percent of the rules and quantified costs and benefits of alternatives in only 31 percent of the rules. Our findings strongly suggest that agencies generally failed to comply with the executive order and adhere to the OMB guidelines. We offer specific suggestions for improving the quality of analysis and the transparency of the regulatory process, including writing clear executive summaries, making analyses available on the Internet, providing more careful consideration of alternatives to a regulation, and estimating net benefits of a regulation when data on costs and benefits are provided.

What is a social determinant of health? Back to basics

The objective of this essay is to clarify the understanding and use of Social Determinants of Health by exploring basic characteristics of ‘determinants’ and ‘fundamental causes,’ the ‘social,’ ‘structure,’ and ‘modifiability,’ and to consider theoretical and practical implications of this reconceptualization for public health.  The analysis distinguishes SDOH from other determinants of health. Social determinants of health are defined as mutable societal systems, their components, and the social resources and hazards for health that societal systems control and distribute, allocate and withhold, and that, in turn, cause health consequences, including changes in the demographic distributions and trends of health.  A systems conceptualization holds concepts such as “race” as the creations of social systems and as having negative consequences, such as racism, when part of a racist system, but potentially ameliorative consequences when part of an anti-racist system. The integration of SDOH into public health theory and practice may substantially expand the benefits of public health, but will require new theorizing, intervention research, education, collaboration, policy, and practice

Föderalismuskommission II: Neue Schuldenregelung für Bund und Länder und Altschuldenhilfe - wie sollten die Finanzbeziehungen von Bund und Ländern neu geordnet werden?

Um die öffentliche Verschuldung in Deutschland tatsächlich zurückzuführen, ist eine grundsätzliche Neuordnung der Bund-Länder-Finanzbeziehungen nötig. Nach Meinung von Jörg-Uwe Hahn, FDP Hessen und Mitglied der Föderalismuskommission II, bedarf es, neben eines möglichst strikten Neuverschuldungsverbots, einer Stärkung der Finanzautonomie insbesondere der Bundesländer, aber auch von Bund und Gemeinden. Notwendig sei es, im Sinne einer echten Steuerautonomie den Ländern dort, wo ihnen der Steuerertrag zusteht, auch die Gesetzgebungskompetenz einzuräumen. Kai A. Konrad, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung und Freie Universität Berlin, sieht weniger beim Bund, sondern vor allem bei den Ländern das zentrale Problem. Sie könnten in der extremen Haushaltsnotlage auf eine Rettung durch die Bund-Länder-Gemeinschaft hoffen. Die Reform werde anscheinend von vielen Akteuren "als willkommene Chance gesehen, damit Umverteilungsgewinne zu Lasten anderer Gebietskörperschaften zu erzielen". Eckhard Janeba, Universität Mannheim und Mitglied des wissenschaftlichen Beirats beim Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie, unterstreicht, dass konstitutionelle Regeln zur Begrenzung von Verschuldung ein wichtiges Instrument seien, um eine langfristig solide Finanzpolitik zu erreichen, sieht aber darin die Gefahr, "dass die Entscheidung über den Haushalt und damit die Verschuldung zu einem Expertenproblem wird, von der die politische Öffentlichkeit abgekoppelt ist. Diesem sollte entgegengewirkt werden. Der Vorschlag des Wissenschaftlichen Beirats beim BMWI geht in die richtige Richtung, indem er auf eine Identifikation der Verschuldungsursachen verzichtet und durch eine qualifizierte Mehrheitsentscheidung den Haushaltsbeschluss in den politischen Mittelpunkt zurückführt." Max Groneck und Robert C. Plachta, Universität zu Köln, stellen ein Reformkonzept vor.Föderalismus, Reform, Öffentliche Schulden, Deutschland

Bimodal release ondansetron for acute gastroenteritis among adolescents and adults: A randomized clinical trial

Importance: Vomiting resulting from acute gastroenteritis is commonly treated with intravenous antiemetics in acute care settings. If oral treatment were beneficial, patients might not need intravenous administered hydration or medication. Furthermore, a long-acting treatment could provide sustained relief from nausea and vomiting. Objective: To determine whether an experimental long-acting bimodal release ondansetron tablet decreases gastroenteritis-related vomiting and eliminates the need for intravenous therapy for 24 hours after administration. Design, Setting, and Participants: This placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized clinical trial included patients from 19 emergency departments and 2 urgent care centers in the United States from December 8, 2014, to February 17, 2017. Patients 12 years and older with at least 2 vomiting episodes from presumed gastroenteritis in the previous 4 hours and symptoms with less than 36 hours\u27 duration were randomized using a 3:2 active to placebo ratio. Analyses were performed on an intent-to-treat basis and conducted from June 1, 2017, to November 1, 2017. Intervention: Bimodal release ondansetron tablet containing 6 mg of immediate release ondansetron and 18 mg of a 24-hour release matrix for a total of 24 mg of ondansetron. Main Outcomes and Measures: Treatment success was defined as no further vomiting, no need for rescue medication, and no intravenous hydration for 24 hours after bimodal release ondansetron administration. Results: Analysis included 321 patients (mean [SD] age, 29.0 [11.1] years; 195 [60.7%] women), with 192 patients in the bimodal release ondansetron group and 129 patients in the placebo group. Treatment successes were observed in 126 patients in the bimodal release ondansetron group (65.6%) compared with 70 patients in the placebo group (54.3%), with an 11.4% (95% CI, 0.3%-22.4%) absolute probability difference. The proportion of treatment success was 21% higher among patients who received bimodal release ondansetron compared with those who received a placebo (relative risk, 1.21; 95% CI, 1.00-1.46; P = .04). In an analysis including only patients with a discharge diagnosis of acute gastroenteritis and no major protocol violations, there were 123 treatment successes (69.5%) in the bimodal release ondansetron group compared with 67 treatment successes (54.9%) in the placebo group (relative risk, 1.27; 95% CI, 1.05-1.53; P = .01). Adverse effects were infrequent and similar to the known safety profile of ondansetron. Conclusions and Relevance: This randomized clinical trial found that a long-acting bimodal release oral ondansetron tablet was an effective antiemetic among adolescents and adults with moderate to severe vomiting from acute gastroenteritis. The drug benefits extended to 24 hours after administration. Bimodal release ondansetron may decrease the need for intravenous access and emergency department care to manage acute gastroenteritis. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02246439

Analysis of clogging in constructed wetlands using magnetic resonance

In this work we demonstrate the potential of permanent magnet based magnetic resonance sensors to monitor and assess the extent of pore clogging in water filtration systems. The performance of the sensor was tested on artificially clogged gravel substrates and on gravel bed samples from constructed wetlands used to treat wastewater. Data indicate that the spin lattice relaxation time is linearly related to the hydraulic conductivity in such systems. In addition, within biologically active filters we demonstrate the ability to determine the relative ratio of biomass to abiotic solids, a measurement which is not possible using alternative techniques