The Usual Excess-Burden Approximation Usually Doesn't Come Close

This paper shows that the usual excess-burden triangle' formula performs poorly when used to assess the excess burden from taxes on intermediate inputs or consumer goods, and derives a practical alternative to this formula. We use an analytically tractable general equilibrium model to reveal how interactions with pre-existing taxes in other markets critically affect the excess burden of new taxes on intermediate inputs or consumer goods. The usual excess-burden formula ignores these interactions, and consequently yields highly inaccurate assessments of excess burden. Prior economic theory implicitly acknowledges the relevance of general-equilibrium interactions to excess burden, but does not indicate which interactions are most important or reveal the fundamental (first-order) contribution of these interactions. Moreover, prior studies do not offer a practical alternative to the usual excess-burden approximation. This paper helps fill the gap between theory and practice. First, it shows analytically that the importance of the interaction with a given pre-existing tax is roughly proportional to the amount of revenue raised by that tax. Second, the paper derives a practical alternative formula for approximating the excess burden from a commodity tax. Finally, it performs numerical simulations to illustrate the significance of adopting our alternative to the usual approximation formula. For realistic parameter values and a wide range of assumed rates for prior taxes, the usual formula captures less than half of the excess burden of taxes on commodities. When the rate of the new tax is small,' this formula captures less than five percent of the true excess burden. In contrast, the alternative approximation formula derived here yields estimates that are consistently within five percent of the actual excess burden.

INTERNATIONAL LAW -- ANTI-SMUGGLING BILL -- JURISDICTION ON THE HIGH SEAS

The control which a littoral state may exercise over the adjacent sea has never been the subject of complete agreement among the nations of the world. Inability to agree and resulting confusion have arisen in many instances from a failure to distinguish between a claim of control over a definite strip of adjacent water, often spoken of as territorial waters, analogous to the control exercised on land and a claim that, for the well-being of the littoral state, control for limited and specific purposes may be extended beyond these territorial waters. The most obvious example of this latter type of control is the enforcement of preventive measures upon vessels, foreign and domestic, which are attempting to violate the revenue laws of the littoral state by smuggling activities

ADMIRALTY - RIGHT OF SEAMEN TO INDEMNITY - DUTY OF SHIPOWNER TO WARN AND INSTRUCT INEXPERIENCED SEAMEN

In the recent case of The State of Maryland, the United States Circuit Court of Appeals of the Fourth Circuit held that a seaman could recover indemnity against a vessel in an in rem proceeding in admiralty, for burns received when oil-burning equipment of the vessel exploded. The explosion occurred while the libellant was attempting to light the oil burner in the pit furnace beneath the boilers without having first opened the lower draft. It was a part of the libellant\u27s duties to light the oil burner. He was inexperienced, and no one had instructed him as to the proper method to follow in lighting the furnace, nor as to the danger involved. The court ruled that the owner of the steamship was under a duty to instruct the seaman as to the nature of his duties and to warn him against the dangers to be encountered. The opinion stated that this duty to instruct and warn the seaman is based upon the same principle as that which makes the owners and the vessel liable to seamen for damages arising out of the unseaworthiness of the vessel or the failure to furnish proper appliances

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW - FEDERAL CRIMINAL PROCEDURE - SHORT FORM INDICTMENT

It is the purpose of this comment to discuss the validity under the Federal Constitution of an indictment, drawn in accordance with the proposed code, which would merely accuse the defendant of having committed some kind of offense, and would leave the particulars of the offense to a bill of particulars

Validation and characterisation of a new method for in vivo assessment of human donor cells

This thesis encompasses a range of experiments designed to characterise and validate a method of desensitising rodent hosts in the neonatal period to human tissue in order to promote the survival of human striatal grafts in the adult host. Thus, the successful application of this method is important to allow the preclinical testing of potential human donor cells for therapeutic transplantation, specifically in neurological disease. Demonstrating safety and functionality of transplanted human cells in rodent hosts requires long term assessment of surviving grafts, for which current immune suppression methods are insufficient. The experiments presented in this thesis were therefore designed to determine the optimum parameters of a previously described method of desensitising rats to human tissue and to validate this method in mice. The findings provide further support for the neonatal desensitisation method in rat hosts, and suggest the potential for use of non-neural tissue types for desensitisation of neonates. The data presented in this thesis also has implications for the mechanisms underlying the success of the method in the rat. However interpretation was difficult as graft survival was generally poor and even mouse to mouse allografts did not survive to the level expected. Thus this highlights the need to reassess standard immunosuppression protocols in mice, and determine what differs between the rat and mouse rejection response to xenografts

Male and female mice lacking Neuroligin-3 modify the behavior of their wild-type littermates

In most mammals, including humans, the postnatal acquisition of normal social and nonsocial behavior criticallydepends on interactions with peers. Here we explore the possibility that mixed-group housing of mice carrying adeletion of Nlgn3, a gene associated with autism spectrum disorders, and their wild-type littermates induceschanges in each other’s behavior. We have found that, when raised together, male Nlgn3 knockout mice and theirwild-type littermates displayed deficits in sociability. Moreover, social submission in adult male Nlgn3 knockoutmice correlated with an increase in their anxiety. Re-expression of Nlgn3 in parvalbumin-expressing cells intransgenic animals rescued their social behavior and alleviated the phenotype of their wild-type littermates, furtherindicating that the social behavior of Nlgn3 knockout mice has a direct and measurable impact on wild-typeanimals’ behavior. Finally, we showed that, unlike male mice, female mice lacking Nlgn3 were insensitive to theirpeers’ behavior but modified the social behavior of their littermates. Altogether, our findings show that theenvironment is a critical factor in the development of behavioral phenotypes in transgenic and wild-type mice. Inaddition, these results reveal that the social environment has a sexually dimorphic effect on the behavior of micelacking Nlgn3, being more influential in males than females

The Incidence of Pollution Control Policies

This paper reviews theoretical and empirical literature on the household distribution of the costs and benefits of pollution control policies, and ways of integrating distributional issues into environmental cost/benefit analysis. Most studies find that policy costs fall disproportionately on poorer groups, though this is less pronounced when lifetime income is used, and policies affect prices of inputs used pervasively across the economy. The policy instrument itself is also critical; freely allocated emission permits may hurt the poor the most, as they transfer income to shareholders via scarcity rents created by higher prices, while emissions taxes offer opportunities for progressive revenue recycling. And although low-income households appear to bear a disproportionate share of environmental risks, policies that reduce risks are not always progressive, for example, they may alter property values in ways that benefit the wealthy. The review concludes by noting a number of areas where future research is badly needed.

Predicting the Need for Ventilation in Term and Near-Term Neonates

To determine whether the need for respiratory support can be predicted by oxygen requirement within the first 72 h in term and near-term infants. Methods: To mimic the population of infants that would often be delivered outside a tertiary centre we studied a retrospective cohort of infants greater than or equal to 32 weeks requiring oxygen, divided into three groups: cot oxygen only, nasal continuous positive airway pressure (NCPAP) only, or intermittent positive pressure ventilation (IPPV). We recorded each infant's peak fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2) - i.e. FiO 2 in the first 72 h in the cot oxygen only group or maximum FiO2 prior to commencing the highest level of respiratory support. The peak FiO2 was used as a diagnostic test to predict any respiratory support or IPPV-sensitivity and specificity were calculated and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves plotted (FiO2 0.21-1.00) to identify the best balance point for prediction. Results: The cohort included 592 infants: 516 cot oxygen only, 46 NCPAP only and 30 IPPV. The proportion ventilated increased with increasing peak FiO2 - above 0.45 the proportion of infants ventilated exceeded 50%. To predict any respiratory support, the cut-point balancing sensitivity and specificity was a FiO2 greater than or equal to 0.35-58/136 required respiratory support (sensitivity = 0.76, specificity = 0.85, positive predictive value (PPV) = 43%, negative predictive value (NPV) = 96%). To predict IPPV the cut-point was a FiO2 greater than or equal to 0.5-28/47 treated with IPPV (sensitivity = 0.93, specificity = 0.97, PPV = 60%, NPV = 100%). Conclusion: The need for respiratory support can be predicted by oxygen requirement within the first 72 h in term and near-term infants with reasonable sensitivity and excellent specificity

Local delivery of tacrolimus using electrospun poly-ε-caprolactone nanofibres suppresses the T-cell response to peripheral nerve allografts

OBJECTIVE: Repair of nerve gap injuries can be achieved through nerve autografting, but this approach is restricted by limited tissue supply and donor site morbidity. The use of living nerve allografts would provide an abundant tissue source, improving outcomes following peripheral nerve injury. Currently this approach is not used due to the requirement for systemic immunosuppression, to prevent donor-derived cells within the transplanted nerve causing an immune response, which is associated with severe adverse effects. The aim of this study was to develop a method for delivering immunosuppression locally, then to test its effectiveness in reducing the immune response to transplanted tissue in a rat model of nerve allograft repair. APPROACH: A coaxial electrospinning approach was used to produce poly-ε-caprolactone fibre sheets loaded with the immunosuppressant tacrolimus. The material was characterised in terms of structure and tacrolimus release, then tested in vivo through implantation in a rat sciatic nerve allograft model with immunologically mismatched host and donor tissue. MAIN RESULTS: Following successful drug encapsulation, the fibre sheets showed nanofibrous structure and controlled release of tacrolimus over several weeks. Materials containing tacrolimus (and blank material controls) were implanted around the nerve graft at the time of allograft or autograft repair. The fibre sheets were well tolerated by the animals and tacrolimus release resulted in a significant reduction in lymphocyte infiltration at three weeks post-transplantation. SIGNIFICANCE: These findings demonstrate proof of concept for a novel nanofibrous biomaterial-based targeted drug delivery strategy for immunosuppression in peripheral nerve allografting