Do-it-yourself digital: the production boundary, the productivity puzzle and economic welfare

Part of the debate about the ‘productivity puzzle’ concerns potential mismeasurement of GDP due to digital activities. This paper discusses some measurement issues arising from digitally-enabled substitutions in activity across the conventional production boundary. Production boundary issues are not new, as conventionally defined GDP statistics account for the monetary cost but not the time cost of consumption and production. This means changes in the way time is allocated between market and home production affect measured growth and productivity. Just as technological innovation in domestic appliances led to a substitution from home production into market consumption in the second half of the 20th century, today’s digital innovations are driving some reverse substitution out of the market into home production. Statistical agencies do not currently collect the data needed to measure the scale of the switch, but the available evidence suggests it may be enough to make a contribution to understanding the puzzling behaviour of measured productivityEconomics Statistics Centre of Excellenc

Applying Benford’s law to detect accounting data manipulation in the banking industry

We utilise Benford’s Law to test if balance sheet and income statement data broadly used to assess bank soundness were manipulated prior to and also during the global financial crisis. We find that all banks resort to loan loss provisions to manipulate earnings and income upwards. Distressed institutions that have stronger incentives to conceal their financial difficulties resort additionally to manipulating loan loss allowances and non-performing loans downwards. Moreover, manipulation is magnified during the crisis and expands to encompass regulatory capital

Revisiting the relevance of economic theory to hotel revenue management education and practice in the era of Big Data

Abstract This paper explores the role of economics in hospitality education and industry practice, with a particular focus on revenue management, and puts forward an argument for a return to the inclusion of economic theory in UK hospitality education, not seen since the 1990s. Given the increasing amounts of pricing data available to both managers and customers and the consequent market complexities now seen, developing economic literacy is demonstrated to be a crucial skill required for future hospitality graduates, allowing them to make successful revenue decisions and sense-check with confidence the decisions made by automated revenue systems. Economic literacy is defined as a balanced understanding of economic theory that can be applied in real-life business scenarios, extending beyond simple consideration of supply and demand to a mixture of neoclassical and behavioural approaches to economics

Internet of Things for Sustainable Mining

The sustainable mining Internet of Things deals with the applications of IoT technology to the coupled needs of sustainable recovery of metals and a healthy environment for a thriving planet. In this chapter, the IoT architecture and technology is presented to support development of a digital mining platform emphasizing the exploration of rock–fluid–environment interactions to develop extraction methods with maximum economic benefit, while maintaining and preserving both water quantity and quality, soil, and, ultimately, human health. New perspectives are provided for IoT applications in developing new mineral resources, improved management of tailings, monitoring and mitigating contamination from mining. Moreover, tools to assess the environmental and social impacts of mining including the demands on dwindling freshwater resources. The cutting-edge technologies that could be leveraged to develop the state-of-the-art sustainable mining IoT paradigm are also discussed

Oncoplastic Breast Consortium consensus conference on nipple-sparing mastectomy.

Purpose Indications for nipple-sparing mastectomy (NSM) have broadened to include the risk reducing setting and locally advanced tumors, which resulted in a dramatic increase in the use of NSM. The Oncoplastic Breast Consortium consensus conference on NSM and immediate reconstruction was held to address a variety of questions in clinical practice and research based on published evidence and expert panel opinion. Methods The panel consisted of 44 breast surgeons from 14 countries across four continents with a background in gynecology, general or reconstructive surgery and a practice dedicated to breast cancer, as well as a patient advocate. Panelists presented evidence summaries relating to each topic for debate during the in-person consensus conference. The iterative process in question development, voting, and wording of the recommendations followed the modified Delphi methodology. Results Consensus recommendations were reached in 35, majority recommendations in 24, and no recommendations in the remaining 12 questions. The panel acknowledged the need for standardization of various aspects of NSM and immediate reconstruction. It endorsed several oncological contraindications to the preservation of the skin and nipple. Furthermore, it recommended inclusion of patients in prospective registries and routine assessment of patient-reported outcomes. Considerable heterogeneity in breast reconstruction practice became obvious during the conference. Conclusions In case of conflicting or missing evidence to guide treatment, the consensus conference revealed substantial disagreement in expert panel opinion, which, among others, supports the need for a randomized trial to evaluate the safest and most efficacious reconstruction techniques