Forces behind China's Surging Trade: Competitiveness or Policy Driven?

This paper delves into China's differential growths in trade flows with high income countries by focusing on bilateral content of trade data over the time period 1962-2005. Unlike other studies, we account for end use of traded goods ranging from primary, intermediate, and finished goods because China's policies impact all segments China's trade flows. China's trade growth patterns with major high income countries clearly indicate that the adjacency-neighborhood partners alone is unlikely to explain its unprecedented growth in exports and imports. China's outstanding performance in trade growth can be traced back to the 1970s with changes in its policies and increased involvement in the international segmentation of production processes and preferential tariff treatment to assembling and processing activities.China, international trade, growth, policies, International Relations/Trade,

Gender Trends in Dental Leadership and Academics: A Twenty-Two-Year Observation

The purpose of this study was to examine gender disparities in dental leadership and academics in the United States. Nine journals that represent the dental specialties and high published impact factors were selected to analyze the percentage of female dentists’ first and senior authorship for the years 1986, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2008. Data on appointment status and female deanship were collected from the American Dental Association (ADA) survey, and the trends were studied. The proportion of female presidents in ADA-recognized specialty organizations was also calculated. Overall, the increase in first female authorship was not statistically significant, but the increase of last female authorship was statistically significant in a linear trend over the years. The percentage of tenured female faculty members and female deans in U.S. dental schools increased by factors of 1.7 and 9, respectively, during the study period. However, female involvement in professional organizations was limited. Findings from this study indicate that female participation in authorship and leadership has increased over time. Nevertheless, females are still a minority in dental academics and leadership

A TRADE LIBERALIZATION IN INTERNATIONAL DAIRY MARKETS

International dairy industries remain among the most distorted agricultural sectors. Dairy average bound tariffs remain among the highest of all agricultural commodities, and dairy trade is characterized by a large number of megatariffs and tariff-rate quotas (TRQs). The objective of our study is to examine how the international dairy markets might respond to policy changes under various assumptions, using a partial equilibrium, multiple-commodity, multiple-region model of agricultural policy and trade. Our results indicate that liberalization will reduce supplies, increase dairy trade, and raise world prices.Dairy Markets, Trade Liberalization, Model, Policy, International Relations/Trade,

Economic evaluation of rotavirus vaccination:an important step of the introduction to the national immunization program in Thailand

Introduction World Health Organization recommends rotavirus vaccine for all national immunization programs (NIPs). To provide country-specific evidence, we conducted economic evaluation of a monovalent rotavirus vaccination using specific data of the pilot phase in Thailand. Method A Markov model was adopted to compare the 2020 birth cohort once receiving rotavirus vaccination versus no vaccination from healthcare and societal perspective over five years. Data on disease burden, vaccine effectiveness, costs, and utilities were taken from a cohort study in two provinces of Thailand. Sensitivity analyses were performed to test the robustness of the results. Results Rotavirus vaccination would reduce rotavirus diarrhea and costs of illness by 48% and 71%, respectively, over the first five years of life. At USD 13 per dose, vaccine was cost-effective with the ICERs of USD 4,114 and USD 1,571per QALY gained from healthcare and societal perspective, respectively. Results were sensitive to incidence and vaccine cost. The budget for vaccine purchasing was estimated at USD13 million per year. Conclusion Incorporating rotavirus vaccination into the NIP substantially reduced health and cost outcomes and was cost-effective for both perspectives. However, the government needs to negotiate vaccine price prior to program implementation to achieve favorable budget impact

Effects of Monetary and Fiscal Policy on U.S. Agriculture

General economic conditions heavily influence the well-being of U.S. agriculture. U.S, and world interest rates, inflation, national income, and exchange rates are linked to U.S. agricultural prices and production levels and farm sector financial conditions. Characteristics specific to the farm sector, such as highly flexible commodity prices and large initial production costs, make agriculture especially sensitive to general economic changes. Although monetary and fiscal policies are typically decided and evaluated with general economic performance in mind, these policies can have unintended effects on the farm sector. The outlook for the next several years is for faster growth in the money supply and a lower Federal budget deficit, a situation that would benefit U.S. agriculture

Hotels and Resorts Rent Intention Via Online Affiliate Marketing

Nowadays, competition in the online business of tourism esp. hotels and resorts is noticeably fierce. Using a kind of cyber brokerage system, called affiliate, in conducting marketing becomes more and more popular marketing weapon for tourism industry. it is viewed as an effective marketing tool that can raise the exposure of products and chance to establish credibility and strength of brand image. The objective of this research is to study relationships between factors in the system of affiliate marketing and the rent intention. Online questionnaire-based data were collected from Thai consumers who used to make room reservations via affiliate marketing system. Experimental results show that the trust in publisher in the affiliate system is the key factor significantly affecting the rent intention

Economic burden of rotavirus diarrhea in Thailand:Report from a pilot study on rotavirus vaccination

BACKGROUND: Rotavirus diarrhea is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in young children in both developed and developing countries. Hospitalization costs are a significant burden of both governments and households. The objective of this study was to estimate the economic burden associated with the hospitalization of children with non-rotavirus and rotavirus diarrhea in two provinces in Thailand. METHOD: A prospective incidence-based cost-of-illness study was conducted on children under five years old with acute diarrhea who had been admitted to public hospitals in two provinces during October 2012 and June 2013. Caregivers were interviewed to estimate costs from a societal perspective at 2014 values. Stool samples were examined for rotavirus antigens. Multivariate regression analysis was used to assess the relationship of predictor variables to costs. Annual economic burden of rotavirus hospitalization was estimated by multiplying the number of hospitalized children and the hospitalization cost per episode. The costs were converted to international dollars (I$) using purchasing power parity (PPP) (1 USD = 12.36 baht for the year 2014). RESULTS: Seven hundred and eighty-eight cases of acute diarrhea were included in the analysis. Of the total, one hundred and ninety-seven (25%) were detected as being rotavirus positive. Total societal costs of inpatient care per episode were 822.68 USD (10,165 Baht). The average costs of children with and without rotavirus were 903.39 USD (11,162 Baht) and 795.40 USD (9,827 Baht), respectively. Based on the multiple regression analysis, rotavirus infection, severity, and younger age were significantly associated with the higher costs. CONCLUSION: Diarrhea, rotavirus diarrhea in particular, represents of a substantial economic burden in the society in Thailand. The accurate estimates that societal costs of the rotavirus diarrhea hospitalizations provide valuable input for considering a preventive program

Forces behind China's Surging Trade: Competitiveness or Policy Driven?

This paper delves into China's differential growths in trade flows with high income countries by focusing on bilateral content of trade data over the time period 1962-2005. Unlike other studies, we account for end use of traded goods ranging from primary, intermediate, and finished goods because China's policies impact all segments China's trade flows. China's trade growth patterns with major high income countries clearly indicate that the adjacency-neighborhood partners alone is unlikely to explain its unprecedented growth in exports and imports. China's outstanding performance in trade growth can be traced back to the 1970s with changes in its policies and increased involvement in the international segmentation of production processes and preferential tariff treatment to assembling and processing activities