Assessing the incorporation of latent variables in the estimation of the value of a statistical life.

For many years, the economic literature has recognized the role of attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions in estimating the value of a statistical life (VSL). However, few applications have attempted to include them. This article incorporates the perceived controllability and concern about traffic and cardiorespiratory risks to estimate VSL using a hybrid choice model (HCM). The HCM allows us to include unobserved heterogeneity and improve behavioral realism explicitly. Using data from a choice experiment conducted in Santiago, Chile, we estimate a VSL of US$3.78 million for traffic risks and US$2.06 million for cardiorespiratory risks. We found that higher controllability decreases the likelihood that the respondents would be willing to pay for risk reductions in both risks. On the other hand, concern about these risks decreases the willingness to pay for traffic risk reductions but increases it for cardiorespiratory risk reductions

Microplastics in seafood: Consumer preferences and valuation for mitigation technologies

Microplastics, an emerging pollutant, have garnered widespread attention due to potential repercussions on human health and the environment. Given the critical role of seafood in food security, growing concerns about microplastics might be detrimental to meeting future global food demand. This study employed a discrete choice experiment to investigate Chilean consumers' preferences for technology aimed at mitigating microplastic levels in mussels. Using a between-subjects design with information treatments, we examined the impact of informing consumers about potential human health and environmental effects linked to microplastics pollution on their valuation for the technology. We found that the information treatments increased consumers’ willingness to pay for mussels. Specifically, consumers were willing to pay a premium of around US$ 4 for 250g of mussel meat with a 90% depuration efficiency certification. The provision of health impact information increased the price premium by 56%, while the provision of environmental information increased it by 21%. Furthermore, combined health and environmental information significantly increased the probability of non-purchasing behavior by 22.8% and the risk perception of microplastics for human health by 5.8%. These results emphasized the critical role of information in shaping consumer preferences and provided evidence for validating investment in research and development related to microplastic pollution mitigation measures

Evaluando las condiciones de racionalidad y plausibilidad en la valoración de conservar la biodiversidad de un país megabiodiverso. El caso del Manu en Perú

Según la NOAA, los resultados de una valoración económica son aplicables como política pública si cumplen dos condiciones: racionalidad y plausibilidad. En el presente estudio, se realiza la valoración económica de conservar la biodiversidad del Parque Nacional del Manu en Perú (país megabiodiverso), a partir de tres representaciones: especies, hábitat y funcionalidad. Se identificó la presencia de sensibilidad al alcance en la mayor parte de atributos empleados. Al incluir características socioeconómicas se identificó que el género y los niveles salariales afectan las preferencias. Los resultados muestran que las especies de flora amenazada y la funcionalidad cumplen con ambas condiciones

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Correction to: Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Economy-wide Impacts of Climate Change on Water Resources in Africa: A CGE Approach

Water resources are facing several stresses in terms of quantity and quality. These pressures are closely related to the human interventions in fields like: agriculture, land-use/land use change, and pollutant emissions, among others. Within this context, the expected changes in climate pattern will exacerbate the challenges faced by water resources. Considering the critical role that water plays for agricultural production, any shock in water availability will have great implications for agricultural production, and through agricultural markets these impacts will reach the whole economy with economy-wide consequences. In this paper a new modeling approach is developed aiming to include water explicitly within the ICES CGE model. In order to reach this objective a new database was built considering explicitly the water endowment, precipitation changes, and unitary irrigation costs. The results suggest different economic consequences of climate change on depending on the specific country. The impacts are related to change in crop production, endowment demands, and international trade

Economy-wide Impacts of Climate Change on Water Resources in Africa: A CGE Approach

Water resources are facing several stresses in terms of quantity and quality. These pressures are closely related to the human interventions in fields like: agriculture, land-use/land use change, and pollutant emissions, among others. Within this context, the expected changes in climate pattern will exacerbate the challenges faced by water resources. Considering the critical role that water plays for agricultural production, any shock in water availability will have great implications for agricultural production, and through agricultural markets these impacts will reach the whole economy with economy-wide consequences. In this paper a new modeling approach is developed aiming to include water explicitly within the ICES CGE model. In order to reach this objective a new database was built considering explicitly the water endowment, precipitation changes, and unitary irrigation costs. The results suggest different economic consequences of climate change on depending on the specific country. The impacts are related to change in crop production, endowment demands, and international trade

Water Resources and Governance Approaches: Insights for Achieving Water Security

Integrated river basin management (IRBM) has been proposed as a means to achieve water security (WS), maximizing economic and social well-being in an equitable manner and maintaining ecosystem sustainability. IRBM is regulated by a governance process that benefits the participation of different actors and institutions; however, it has been difficult to reach a consensus on what good governance means and which governance perspective is better for achieving it. In this paper, we explore the concept of “good water governance” through the analysis of different governance approaches: experimental (EG), corporate (CG), polycentric (PG), metagovernance (MG) and adaptive (AG) governances. We used the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) water governance dimensions (effectiveness, efficiency and trust and engagement) as a “good enough water governance” that regards water governance as a process rather than an end in itself. Results indicate that each of the five governance theories presents challenges and opportunities to achieve a good governance process that can be operationalized through IRBM, and we found that these approaches can be adequately integrated if they are combined to overcome the challenges that their exclusive application implies. Our analysis suggests that a combination of AG and MG encompasses the OECD water governance dimensions, in terms of understanding “good enough water governance” as a process and a means to perform IRBM. In order to advance towards WS, the integration of different governance approaches must consider the context-specific nature of the river basin, in relation to its ecologic responses and socioeconomic characteristics

Female Underperformance Hypothesis Revisited: Methodological Review and Empirical Testing

Comparison between the performance of female and male-managed firms has long been a subject of research interest. Although the argument is that firms run by women have lower performance than those run by men, there is no agreement on the effects of managerial gender on companies’ financial outcomes. This study conducts a methodological review of quantitative research on the relationship between female business leadership and firm performance from 2010 to 2020. This review identifies the most frequently used dependent and explanatory variables and econometric models in the literature. Most studies have not considered endogeneity bias in their model specifications; therefore, these results could be biased and unreliable. We select empirical models to test the female underperformance hypothesis using a sample of Chilean firms. Our findings suggest that managers’ gender does not significantly affect business performance when endogeneity is addressed. Our methodological review reveals a significant gap in the research on female managers and firm performance in the Latin American context, and the empirical test provides new evidence in this vein