ON THE RENTAL PRICE OF CAPITAL AND THE PROFIT RATE: THE PERILS AND PITFALLS OF TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH

This paper considers the implications of the conceptual difference between the rental price of capital, embedded in the neoclassical cost identity (output equals the cost of labour plus the cost of capital), and used in growth accounting studies; and the profit rate, which can be derived from the national income and product accounts (NIPA). The neoclassical identity is a "virtual" identity in that it depends on a series of assumptions (constant returns to scale and perfectly competitive factor markets). The income side of the NIPA also provides an accounting identity for output as the sum of the wage bill plus the surplus. This identity, however, is a "real" one, in the sense that it does not depend on any assumptions and thus it holds always. It is shown that because the neoclassical cost identity and the income accounting identity according to the NIPA are formally equivalent expressions, estimations of aggregate production functions and growth accounting studies are tautologies. Likewise, the test of the hypothesis of competitive markets using Hall's (1988) framework gives rise to a null hypothesis that cannot be rejected statistically.

CORRECTING FOR BIASES WHEN ESTIMATING PRODUCTION FUNCTIONS: AN ILLUSION OF THE LAWS OF ALGEBRA?

this paper argues that the true cause of the endogeneity bias that allegedly appears when estimating production functions, and which the literature has tried to deal with since the 1940s, is s imply the result of omitted-variable bias due to an incorrect approximation to an accounting identity. As a result we question recent attempts to solve the problem by developing new estimators.

A community pharmacy weight management programme: an evaluation of effectiveness

<p>Background: Community pharmacies may offer an accessible way of delivering weight-management programmes but there have been few trials that use clinically significant weight loss outcomes, objective measures of weight and follow-up to 12 months. We aimed to evaluate weight change among patients who used the Counterweight weight management programme delivered by community pharmacies.</p> <p>Methods: The Counterweight Programme was introduced into community pharmacies in Fife, Scotland in 2009 for patients with a BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2 or a BMI ≥ 28 kg/m2 with a co-morbidity in localities in which Counterweight was not available at GP practices. The aim was to achieve an energy deficit of 500-600 kcal per day. Counterweight specialist dietitians delivered training, support and patient information materials to community pharmacies. Patient weight was measured by pharmacy staff at each weight management session. Weight data recorded at each weight management session were used to estimate weight change and attendance at 3, 6 and 12 months.</p> <p>Results: Between March 2009 and July 2012, 458 patients were enrolled by the community pharmacies. Three-quarters of patients were women, mean age was 54 (SD 7.4) years and mean BMI 36.1 (SD 5.9) kg/m2. Of 314 patients enrolled for at least 12 months, 32 (10.2% on an intention to treat basis) had achieved the target weight loss of ≥5%; this was 41.6% of those who attended at 12 months representing a mean weight loss of 4.1 kg. Using Last Observation Carried Forward, 15.9% achieved the target weight loss within 12 months of enrolling. There was no significant effect of sex, baseline BMI or age on weight loss.</p> <p>Conclusions: The Counterweight pharmacy programme has a similar effectiveness to other primary care based weight management programmes and should be considered as part of a range of services available to a community to manage overweight and obesity.</p&gt

Thermal imaging assessment of drystone retaining walls:some case studies

Drystone retaining walls form an essential part of the infrastructure in hilly and mountainous regions around the world, by providing platforms for roads, buildings and for agricultural terraces. Research carried out in England and in France has led to a good understanding of their behaviour, but it is difficult to determine the details of the construction of individual walls without dismantling them – so it can be hard to tell if apparent defects and deformations are a threat to stability. Replacing every apparently defective or deformed wall would be a waste of resources, yet dismantling a wall would obviously be completely disruptive to its function. Invasive investigation, such as drilling, could easily cause damage to the wall structure and destabilise the wall. There is therefore a pressing need for non-intrusive methods of investigation that can reveal critical aspects of a wall’s construction. Thermal imaging can reveal important information about aspects of a wall’s construction that are critical to its stability. This paper presents case studies and numerical modelling that have contributed to the development of this technique, and demonstrate its potential

Filling the intervention gap: service evaluation of an intensive nonsurgical weight management programme for severe and complex obesity

Background: Weight management including formula total diet replacement (TDR) is emerging as an effective intervention for severe and complex obesity, particularly with respect to type 2 diabetes (T2DM). However, no prospective audit and service evaluation of such programmes have been reported. Methods: Following initial feasibility piloting, the Counterweight‐Plus programme was commissioned across a variety of healthcare providers. The programme includes: Screening, TDR (formula low energy diet), food reintroduction and weight loss maintenance, all delivered by staff with 8 h of training, in‐service mentoring, ongoing specialist support and access to medical consultant expertise. Anonymised data are returned centrally for clinical evaluation. Results: Up to December 2016, 288 patients commenced the programme. Mean (SD) baseline characteristics were: age 47.5 (12.7) years, weight 128.0 (32.0) kg, body mass index 45.7 (10.1) kg m−2, n = 76 (26.5%) were male and n = 99 (34.5%) had T2DM. On an intention‐to‐treat (ITT) basis, a loss of ≥15 kg at 12 months was achieved by 48 patients, representing 22.1% of all who started and 40% of those who maintained engagement. For complete cases, mean (95% confidence interval) weight loss was 13.3 (12.1–14.4) kg at 3 months, 16.0 (14.4–17.6) kg at 6 months and 14.2 (12.1–16.3) kg at 12 months (all P < 0.001), with losses to follow‐up of 10.8%, 29.3% and 44.2%, respectively. Mean loss at 12 months by ITT analyses was: single imputation –10.5 (9.5) kg, last observation carried forward –10.9 (11.6) kg and baseline observation carried forward –7.9 (11.1) kg. The presence of diabetes had no significant impact on weight change outcomes. Conclusions: This nonsurgical approach is effective for many individuals with severe and complex obesity, representing an option before considering surgery. The results are equally effective in terms of weight loss for people with T2DM

INCOME INEQUALITY AND GROWTH: PROBLEMS WITH THE ORTHODOX APPROACH

Abstract. This paper discusses the main issues about increasing inequality, whether it matters and its impact on economic activity and growth. It starts by briefly considering the empirical evidence of the share of income going to the top one percent since 1945 in the advanced countries. It then considers whether this represents an increase in the productivity of the top one percent or merely an extraction of economic rent. The empirical evidence suggests the latter is generally the case and, as a consequence, there is not likely to be a trade-off between greater income equality and efficiency (the latter being reflected in a lower economic growth rate). This is reinforced by considering the mainstream explanation of the distribution of income and by a consideration of the argument as to whether labor is paid its marginal product, which is found to be problematic. Hence, some reservations about the use of the aggregate production function are raised. The paper turns next to the question of whether or not a greater degree of inequality causes a slower economic growth, both for the advanced and the developing countries. It next considers if the increasing gap between the top one percent and the rest of the income distribution has been either responsible for, or exacerbated, the Great Recession. It concludes that the degree of inequality is an important factor in determining economic activity and one that has been ignored for too long in macroeconomics

ω-3 oil intake during weight loss in obese women results in remodelling of plasma triglyceride and fatty acids

Previous studies have shown that a combination of weight loss and fish oil supplementation reduce cardiovascular disease and diabetes risks by increasing adiponectin and reducing triacylglyceride concentrations, while weight loss alone significantly improves insulin sensitivity and reduces inflammation. Here, a metabolomic approach, using a combination of 1H-Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy, and gas and liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry, was employed to elucidate the metabolic changes in blood plasma following weight loss and fish oil supplementation. The intervention study was conducted over 24 weeks, with 93 female subjects randomised to one of three groups. Two groups followed a 12-week weight loss program, followed by a 12-week weight maintenance period and were randomised to fish or placebo oil capsules; a control group did not follow the weight loss program and were given placebo oil capsules. Lipid profiles changed dramatically upon fish oil intake and subtly across the two weight loss groups. While the fish oil supplementation increased the proportion of various phospholipid species, previously reported reductions in total triacylglycerides (TAGs) upon fish oil intake were shown to be driven by a reduction in a specific subset of the measured TAGs. This remodelling of triglycerides may represent further beneficial effects of fish oil supplementation

Thermal imaging assessment of drystone retaining walls:some case studies

Drystone retaining walls form an essential part of the infrastructure in hilly and mountainous regions around the world, by providing platforms for roads, buildings and for agricultural terraces. Research carried out in England and in France has led to a good understanding of their behaviour, but it is difficult to determine the details of the construction of individual walls without dismantling them – so it can be hard to tell if apparent defects and deformations are a threat to stability. Replacing every apparently defective or deformed wall would be a waste of resources, yet dismantling a wall would obviously be completely disruptive to its function. Invasive investigation, such as drilling, could easily cause damage to the wall structure and destabilise the wall. There is therefore a pressing need for non-intrusive methods of investigation that can reveal critical aspects of a wall’s construction. Thermal imaging can reveal important information about aspects of a wall’s construction that are critical to its stability. This paper presents case studies and numerical modelling that have contributed to the development of this technique, and demonstrate its potential. </jats:p

Type 2 diabetes remission: economic evaluation of the DiRECT/Counterweight‐Plus weight management programme within a primary care randomized controlled trial

Aim: The Counterweight‐Plus weight management programme achieved 46% remission of Type 2 diabetes at 1 year in the DiRECT trial. We estimated the implementation costs of the Counterweight‐Plus programme and its 1‐year cost‐effectiveness in terms of diabetes remission, compared with usual care, from the UK National Health Service (NHS) perspective. Methods: Within‐trial total costs included programme set‐up and running costs (practitioner appointment visits, low‐energy formula diet sachets and training), oral anti‐diabetes and anti‐hypertensive medications, and healthcare contacts. Total costs were calculated for aggregated resource use for each participant and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were based on 1000 non‐parametric bootstrap iterations. Results: One‐year programme costs under trial conditions were estimated at £1137 per participant (95% CI £1071, £1205). The intervention led to a significant cost‐saving of £120 (95% CI £78, £163) for the oral anti‐diabetes drugs and £14 (95% CI £7.9, £22) for anti‐hypertensive medications compared with the control. Deducting the cost‐savings of all healthcare contacts from the intervention cost resulted an incremental cost of £982 (95% CI £732, £1258). Cost per 1 year of diabetes remission was £2359 (95% CI £1668, £3250). Conclusions: Remission of Type 2 diabetes within 1‐year can be achieved at a cost below the annual cost of diabetes (including complications). Providing a reasonable proportion of remissions can be maintained over time, with multiple medical gains expected, as well as immediate social benefits, there is a case for shifting resources within diabetes care budgets to offer support for people with Type 2 diabetes to attempt remission. (Clinical Trial Registry No.: ISRCTN03267836)

Syntenic relationships between Medicago truncatula and Arabidopsis reveal extensive divergence of genome organization

Arabidopsis and Medicago truncatula represent sister clades within the dicot subclass Rosidae. We used genetic map-based and bacterial artificial chromosome sequence-based approaches to estimate the level of synteny between the genomes of these model plant species. Mapping of 82 tentative orthologous gene pairs reveals a lack of extended macrosynteny between the two genomes, although marker collinearity is frequently observed over small genetic intervals. Divergence estimates based on non-synonymous nucleotide substitutions suggest that a majority of the genes under analysis have experienced duplication in Arabidopsis subsequent to divergence of the two genomes, potentially confounding synteny analysis. Moreover, in cases of localized synteny, genetically linked loci in M. truncatula often share multiple points of synteny with Arabidopsis; this latter observation is consistent with the large number of segmental duplications that compose the Arabidopsis genome. More detailed analysis, based on complete sequencing and annotation of three M. truncatula bacterial artificial chromosome contigs suggests that the two genomes are related by networks of microsynteny that are often highly degenerate. In some cases, the erosion of microsynteny could be ascribed to the selective gene loss from duplicated loci, whereas in other cases, it is due to the absence of close homologs of M. truncatula genes in Arabidopsis