Testing the General Validity of the Heckscher-Ohlin Theorem: The Natural Experiment of Japan

We exploit Japan's 19th century move from autarky to free trade to provide the first test of the general validity of the price formulation of the Heckscher-Ohlin theorem. In this formulation a country's autarky factor price vector imposes a single refutable prediction on the economy's factor content of trade. Our test combines factor price data from Japan's late autarky period with Japan's factor content of trade calculated with the technologies of the country of origin of traded goods. The direct and indirect input requirements are constructed from many historical sources, including a major Japanese survey of agricultural techniques and a rich set of 19th century comparative cost studies. Evaluating Japan's factor content of trade during 1865-1876 at autarky factor prices, we fail to reject the Heckscher-Ohlin hypothesis in each sample year

Delayed colorectal cancer care during covid-19 pandemic (decor-19). Global perspective from an international survey

Background The widespread nature of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been unprecedented. We sought to analyze its global impact with a survey on colorectal cancer (CRC) care during the pandemic. Methods The impact of COVID-19 on preoperative assessment, elective surgery, and postoperative management of CRC patients was explored by a 35-item survey, which was distributed worldwide to members of surgical societies with an interest in CRC care. Respondents were divided into two comparator groups: 1) ‘delay’ group: CRC care affected by the pandemic; 2) ‘no delay’ group: unaltered CRC practice. Results A total of 1,051 respondents from 84 countries completed the survey. No substantial differences in demographics were found between the ‘delay’ (745, 70.9%) and ‘no delay’ (306, 29.1%) groups. Suspension of multidisciplinary team meetings, staff members quarantined or relocated to COVID-19 units, units fully dedicated to COVID-19 care, personal protective equipment not readily available were factors significantly associated to delays in endoscopy, radiology, surgery, histopathology and prolonged chemoradiation therapy-to-surgery intervals. In the ‘delay’ group, 48.9% of respondents reported a change in the initial surgical plan and 26.3% reported a shift from elective to urgent operations. Recovery of CRC care was associated with the status of the outbreak. Practicing in COVID-free units, no change in operative slots and staff members not relocated to COVID-19 units were statistically associated with unaltered CRC care in the ‘no delay’ group, while the geographical distribution was not. Conclusions Global changes in diagnostic and therapeutic CRC practices were evident. Changes were associated with differences in health-care delivery systems, hospital’s preparedness, resources availability, and local COVID-19 prevalence rather than geographical factors. Strategic planning is required to optimize CRC care

EVS Trend File 1981-2017 – Sensitive Dataset

The European Values Study is a large-scale, cross-national and longitudinal survey research program on how Europeans think about family, work, religion, politics, and society. Repeated every nine years in an increasing number of countries, the survey provides insights into the ideas, beliefs, preferences, attitudes, values, and opinions of citizens all over Europe. The EVS Trend File 1981-2017 is constructed from the five EVS waves and covers almost 40 years. In altogether 160 surveys, more than 224.000 respondents from 48 countries/regions were interviewed. It is based on the updated data of the EVS Longitudinal Data File 1981-2008 (v.3.1.0) and the current EVS 2017 Integrated Dataset (v.5.0.0). For the EVS Trend File, a Restricted-Use File (ZA7504) is available in addition to the (factually anonymised) Scientific-Use File (ZA7503). The EVS Trend File – Sensitive Dataset (ZA7504) is provided as an add-on file. In addition to a small set of admin and protocol variables needed to merge with the SUF data, the Sensitive Dataset contains the following variables that could not be included in the scientific-use file due to their sensitive nature: W005_3 Job profession/industry (3-digit ISCO88) - spouse/partner EVS 2008W005_3_01 Job profession/industry (3-digit ISCO08) - spouse/partner EVS 2017W005_4 Job profession/industry (4-digit ISCO88) - spouse/partner EVS 2008X035_3 Job profession/industry (3-digit ISCO88) – respondent EVS 1999, EVS 2008 X035_3_01 Job profession/industry (3-digit ISCO08) - respondent EVS 2017X035_4 Job profession/industry (4-digit ISCO88) – respondent EVS 1999, EVS 2008 x048c_n3 Region where the interview was conducted (NUTS-3): NUTS version 2006 EVS 2008X048J_N3 Region where the interview was conducted (NUTS-3): NUTS version 2016 EVS 2017X049 Size of town (8 categories) EVS 2008, EVS 2017 Detailed information on the anonymization process in the EVS Trend File is provided in the EVS Trend File Variable Report