35 research outputs found

    Learning abatement costs: On the dynamics of optimal regulation of experience goods

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    We study the introduction of new technologies when their costs are subject to idiosyncratic uncertainty and can only be fully learned through individual experience. We set up a dynamic model of clean experience goods that replace old polluting consumption options and show how optimal regulation evolves over time. In our base setting where social and private learning incentives coincide, the optimal tax of the polluting consumption is increasing over time. However, if social and private learning incentives diverge, we show that it will be optimal to temporarily increase the tax rate beyond net marginal external damages to induce optimal learning, before reducing the tax rate to the steady-state level. Alternatively, one needs to complement the tax by subsidies for first-time users which will be phased out over time. Similar results apply if consumers have biased expectations. We therefore give a rationale for introductory subsidies of new, clean technologies and non-monotonic tax paths from a perspective of consumer learning

    Correlation between case mix index and antibiotic use in hospitals

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    Background To compare the quantitative antibiotic use between hospitals or hospital units and to explore differences, adjustment for severity of illness of hospitalized patients is essential. The case mix index (CMI) is an economic surrogate marker (i.e. the total cost weights of all inpatients per a defined time period divided by the number of admissions) to describe the average patients' morbidity of individual hospitals. We aimed to investigate the correlation between CMI and hospital antibiotic use. Methods We used weighted linear regression analysis to evaluate the correlation between in-hospital antibiotic use in 2006 and CMI of 18 departments of the tertiary care University Hospital Zurich and of 10 primary and 2 secondary acute care hospitals in the Canton of Zurich in Switzerland. Results Antibiotic use varied substantially between different departments of the university hospital [defined daily doses (DDD)/100 bed-days, 68.04; range, 20.97-323.37] and between primary and secondary care hospitals (range of DDD/100 bed-days, 15.45-57.05). Antibiotic use of university hospital departments and the different hospitals, respectively, correlated with CMI when calculated in DDD/100 bed-days [coefficient of determination (R2), 0.57 (P = 0.0002) and 0.46 (P = 0.0065)], as well as when calculated in DDD/100 admissions [R2, 0.48 (P = 0.0008) and 0.85 (P < 0.0001), respectively]. Conclusions Antibiotic use correlated with CMI across various specialties of a university hospital and across different acute care hospitals. For benchmarking antibiotic use within and across hospitals, adjustment for CMI may be a useful tool in order to take into account the differences in hospital category and patients' morbiditie

    Verkehrsreduktion durch kompakte Raumstrukturen

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    'Disperse (d.h. zerstreute) Siedlungsentwicklung führt zu großen Belastungen der Ressourcen und zu einer Fülle von raumstrukturell bedingten Nutzungskonflikten. Obwohl darüber sowie über deren Folgen weitgehend Einigkeit herrscht, gibt es hinsichtlich der quantitativen Kosten bisher wenig konkrete Aussagen. Eine im Frühjahr 2004 im oberösterreichischen Zentralraum durchgeführte Motivenuntersuchung zum Wohnstandortwechsel sowie die Quantifizierung der Folgekosten der mangelhaft vernetzten Raumstruktur auf Basis eines nachfrageorientierten Verkehrsmodells schließen diese Lücke. Die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit zeigen für die gewählte Untersuchungsregion, dass durch kompakte Raumstrukturen selbst bei sehr vorsichtiger Berechnung Kosten in der Höhe von jährlich 3,4 Mio Euro eingespart werden können.' (Autorenreferat)'A disperse settlement development puts a heavy burden on resources and causes many conflicts concerning spatial structure. Though this statement is widely accepted there is hardly any evidence on the resulting quantitative impacts so far. Research on the motives of migration in central Upper Austria in spring 2004 as well as the quantification of the costs resulting from inferior spatial structure fill this gap. These costs were determined on the basis of a demand oriented traffic model. The results show that compact spatial structures that meet the principles of spatial and traffic planning could help saving an annual minimum of 3,4 Mio. Euro.' (author's abstract)

    Informed by wet feet: How do floods affect property prices?

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    We investigate the effect of multiple flood events on property prices in Zurich canton of Switzerland. By merging property transaction data with records from universal and mandatory building insurance, we are able to identify the effect of the informational content of floods separately from the damage caused. Our rich data allows us to control for a wide range of housing characteristics, thus reducing the bias from unobserved heterogeneity that routinely plagues hedonic regressions. We find that houses located in flood hazard zones sell at a discount relative to houses located outside, despite the presence of mandatory insurance that covers most (but not all) costs. Providing flood hazard information increases the value of houses that are assigned a low risk. Last, we look at the effect of floods on property prices and find that in the aftermath of flood events, properties that narrowly escaped damage were sold at a significant discount relative to houses located out of harm's way. This pure information effect decays shortly

    Total Ankle Arthroplasty in Patients with Hereditary Hemochromatosis

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    More than half of patients with hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) have painful arthritis, often including hindfoot osteoarthritis. Total ankle arthroplasty (TAA) is increasingly recommended for patients with painful ankle osteoarthritis. However, the pain relief and function experienced by patients continues to be debated particularly as compared with ankle fusion

    The effect of three-component total ankle replacement malalignment on clinical outcome : pain relief and functional outcome in 317 consecutive patients

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    Total ankle replacement has become an increasingly popular treatment for patients with end-stage ankle osteoarthritis. The surgery is technically demanding and generally performed by only experienced foot and ankle surgeons. An important complication of total ankle replacement is malposition of the talar component. The biomechanical effect of malposition has been reported; however, the functional outcomes of patients with varying degrees of talar component malposition have not. The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of talar component malposition on postoperative pain relief and functional outcome

    Learning abatement costs: on the dynamics of the optimal regulation of experience goods

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    We study the introduction of new technologies when their costs are subject to idiosyncratic uncertainty and can only be fully learned through individual experience.  We set up a dynamic model of clean experience goods that replace old polluting consumption options and show how optimal regulation evolves over time.  In our base setting where social and private learning incentives coincide, the optimal tax on the polluting consumption is increasing over time.  We show, however, that if social and private learning incentives diverge because the private discount rate exceeds the social discount rate, it may be optimal to temporarily increase the tax rate beyond net marginal external damages to induce more learning before reducing the tax rate to the steady-state level.  Alternatively, one could complement the tax with subsidies for first-time users which can be phased out over time.  Similar results apply if consumers have biased expectations.  We therefore give a rationale for introductory subsidies on new, clean technologies and non-monotonic tax paths from a perspective of consumer learning

    Insert position in three-component total ankle replacement

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    Total ankle replacement has become a valuable treatment option for end-stage osteoarthritis. The most recent generation of implants comprises a second interface between the polyethylene insert and the tibial prosthetic component. This may permit a better adaptation of position between the implant components and thereby prevent unphysiological loading of ankle ligaments and reduce polyethylene wear. To date, no available data have evaluated whether the relative position of talar and tibial implant components change over time
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