166 research outputs found
Private health care as a supplement to a public health system with waiting time for treatment
In this article the authors Michael Hoel and Erik Magnus SĂŚther consider an economy where most of the health care is publicly provided, and where there is waiting time for several types of treatments. Private health care without waiting time is an option for the patients in the public health queue. This article shows the effects of a tax (positive or negative) on private health care, and derives the socially optimal tax/subsidy. Finally, a discussion of how the size of the tax might affect the political support for a high quality public health system is provided.Private health care; public health care; health queues
Public Health Care with Waiting Time: The Role of Supplementary Private Health Care
We consider an economy where most of the health care is publicly provided,and where there is waiting time for several types of treatments. Privatehealth care without waiting time is an option for the patients in the publichealth queue. We show that although patients with low waiting costs willchoose public treatment, they may be better off with waiting time thanwithout. The reason is that waiting time induces patients with high waitingcosts to choose private treatment, thus reducing the cost of public healthcare that everyone pays for. Even if higher quality (i.e. zero waiting time) canbe achieved at no cost, the self-selection induced redistribution may implythat it is socially optimal to provide health care publicly and at an inferiorquality level. We give a detailed discussion of the circumstances in which it isoptimal to have waiting time for public health treatment. Moreover, we studythe interaction between this quality decision and the optimal tax/subsidy onprivate health care.public health care, private health care, waiting time, healthqueues.
What caused what? A quantitative account of actual causation using dynamical causal networks
Actual causation is concerned with the question "what caused what?" Consider
a transition between two states within a system of interacting elements, such
as an artificial neural network, or a biological brain circuit. Which
combination of synapses caused the neuron to fire? Which image features caused
the classifier to misinterpret the picture? Even detailed knowledge of the
system's causal network, its elements, their states, connectivity, and dynamics
does not automatically provide a straightforward answer to the "what caused
what?" question. Counterfactual accounts of actual causation based on graphical
models, paired with system interventions, have demonstrated initial success in
addressing specific problem cases in line with intuitive causal judgments.
Here, we start from a set of basic requirements for causation (realization,
composition, information, integration, and exclusion) and develop a rigorous,
quantitative account of actual causation that is generally applicable to
discrete dynamical systems. We present a formal framework to evaluate these
causal requirements that is based on system interventions and partitions, and
considers all counterfactuals of a state transition. This framework is used to
provide a complete causal account of the transition by identifying and
quantifying the strength of all actual causes and effects linking the two
consecutive system states. Finally, we examine several exemplary cases and
paradoxes of causation and show that they can be illuminated by the proposed
framework for quantifying actual causation.Comment: 43 pages, 16 figures, supplementary discussion, supplementary
methods, supplementary proof
Causal Geometry
Information geometry has offered a way to formally study the efficacy of
scientific models by quantifying the impact of model parameters on the
predicted effects. However, there has been little formal investigation of
causation in this framework, despite causal models being a fundamental part of
science and explanation. Here we introduce causal geometry, which formalizes
not only how outcomes are impacted by parameters, but also how the parameters
of a model can be intervened upon. Therefore we introduce a geometric version
of "effective information" -- a known measure of the informativeness of a
causal relationship. We show that it is given by the matching between the space
of effects and the space of interventions, in the form of their geometric
congruence. Therefore, given a fixed intervention capability, an effective
causal model is one that matches those interventions. This is a consequence of
"causal emergence," wherein macroscopic causal relationships may carry more
information than "fundamental" microscopic ones. We thus argue that a
coarse-grained model may, paradoxically, be more informative than the
microscopic one, especially when it better matches the scale of accessible
interventions -- as we illustrate on toy examples.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure
SPACs off Track: An Empirical Study on Attributes Affecting the Post-Merger Performance of De-SPAC Companies
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies ( acclaimed as a better alternative to theSPACs) âtraditional IPO for taking a company public have been booming since 2020. This thesisâanalyzes attributes affecting the post-merger performance of SPACs merging between 2020 and early 2022. Throughout this period, SPACs have massively underperformed their benchmarks, except on the first day of trading.
Multiple Linear Regression were used to investigate the relationship between independent variables and the dependent variables first-day and two-month return. We discover a significant negative relationship between performance and the redemption rates (investors withdrawal). Further, we find that the market favored young, profitable, and non-healthcare companies, which outperformed their peers in the short run. Contrary to our initial beliefs, the performance correlates similarly with the designated attributes âindependent of the time horizon of interest. Substantiated by the ârise of retail investorsâ in 2020, we further reveal that two weeks of lagged âhypeâ has a significant positive relationship with post-merger initial performance.
Based on the obtained results, we suspected that the redemption rate absorbed the effect of the other predictors. This insight was further evaluated using a variety of machine learning models which concluded two things. First, redemption rates indeed absorb the effects in the OLS models. Second, in an Ordinal Logistic Regression, the other variables were able to predict the redemption rate with an accuracy close to 75%.nhhma
Marine Spatial Planning: Norway´s management plans
Since
the
adoption
of
a
government
white
paper
on
ocean
governance
in
2001,
Norway
has
worked
on
the
development
and
implementation
of
marine
spatial
planning
in
the
format
of
regional
management
plans.
Management
plans
for
the
Barents
Sea
and
the
oceans
off
northern
Norway
and
the
Norwegian
Sea
were
adopted
in
2006
and
2009,
respectively,
and
a
management
plan
for
the
North
Sea
is
planned
for
2013.
A
key
aspect
of
the
plans
is
integrated
assessment
of
the
cumulative
impacts
on
marine
ecosystem
from
human
activities
(fisheries,
petroleum,
marine
transportation,
etc)
on
the
one
hand,
and
external
sources
(climate
change,
long
range
pollution)
on
the
other.
Another
important
feature
is
the
identification
of
valuable
and
vulnerable
areas
requiring
special
management
measures.
These
valuable
areas
have
been
used
as
input
to
define
the
spatial
measures
in
the
plans
which
includes
routing
systems
for
international
ship
traffic
and
zoning
plans
for
petroleum
activities.
Fishing
activities
is
also
partially
regulated
used
spatial
measures
such
as
MPAs
and
temporary
closed
areas.
A
monitoring
system
is
set
up
with
indicators
and
reference
levels.
The
plan
has
been
implemented
through
the
regular
governance
structure
without
the
establishment
of
new,
formal
institutions
or
new
jurisdiction.
An
inter-- ]ministerial
committee
oversees
the
work,
guided
by
three
working
groups.
A
revised
version
of
the
Barents
Sea
plan
will
be
adopted
late
in
2010,
taking
marine
spatial
planning
in
Norway
into
its
second
generation.
Key
words:
Marine
spatial
planning,
Norway,
Barents
Sea,
ecosystem
approac
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