Broader Economic Benefits Research Articles

Assessing the Role of Financial Literacy in Enhancing Personal Financial Decision-Making among Students

As students develop long-term financial habits, financial literacy has been increasingly recognised as an essential skill for effective personal financial management. The objective of this research is to assess the impact of financial literacy on improving personal financial decision-making of students. Efficient money management is facilitated by the basic understanding of financial concepts which includes budgeting, saving, investing and managing debt. Financially literate students tend to make informed decisions in the allocation of their resources effectively to meet short-term and long-term goals. The study emphasises the importance of incorporating thorough financial literacy programmes into the university curriculum to equip students with vital skills necessary for prudent financial handling. Personal financial management is essential for students as it lays the foundation for their financial well-being both during their academic years and beyond. The need for financial literacy education among students is further underscored by broader economic benefits such as increased savings rates, lower debt levels and improved economic stability. The research explores obstacles in acquiring financial literacy such as socio-economic limitations, lack of practical financial experience and limited access to financial education resources. The data for the analysis was collected through a questionnaire from 100 respondents using a convenience sampling technique to evaluate how financial literacy helps students make better financial decisions.

Facilitating Services Trade Through the Adoption of Good Regulatory Practices: The New Reference Paper on Services Domestic Regulation

The agreement by sixty-nine WTO Members on a set of disciplines on the transparency, predictability, and efficiency of services regulation - otherwise known as the ‘Reference Paper on Services Domestic Regulation’ - marks the first negotiated outcome in the field of services trade since the extended negotiations on basic telecommunications and financial services in 1997. The outcome illustrates, on the one hand, the challenge of arriving at multilaterally agreed results in the WTO even for substantively non-controversial issues. On the other hand, it is testament to the ability of large groups of like-minded WTO Members to cooperate and deliver without political linkages with other negotiating issues. This contribution aims to provide an overview of the evolution of negotiations on domestic regulation at the WTO, and elaborates on how the main features of the new Reference Paper complement and build upon regulatory disciplines contained in the GATS. While not yet legally into force, recent evidence suggests that the new Reference Paper will become a standard building block for future economic cooperation agreements and its implementation is expected to generate broad economic benefits. services domestic regulation, WTO, Joint Initiative, preferential trade agreements, economic benefits, good regulatory practices

Biomimetic composite structural water hydraulic valve plug for erosive wear resistance based on additive manufacturing processes

Developing materials with good erosive wear properties has broad prospects and economic benefits, especially in the field of water hydraulic system. By studying key information in the online biological strategy library-AskNature, we were able to identify strategies for improving the erosive wear resistance of materials. Specifically, we developed a biomimetic composite structural valve plug (BCSVP) with erosive wear resistance based on the multi-scale observation of shellfish, realized through additive manufacturing (AM). The phase composition and microstructure were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS). The erosive wear resistance was evaluated by morphology observation and slurry erosive wear experiments. The results of these experiments indicate that the BCSVP exhibited a 26.3% higher volumetric erosive wear resistance than a 3D printed 316L stainless steel valve after 7 h of slurry erosive wear. This interdisciplinary research highlights the potential of BCSVP in applications requiring high slurry erosive wear resistance in water hydraulic applications.

An Overview on Research in a University Hospital, Using a Payback Framework Categorization Approach.

Little information is available on how to assess the impact of research studies conducted in government hospitals in Latin America and specifically in Mexico. We aimed to determine the returns on investment of the research projects that were carried out in the Hospital General "Dr. Manuel Gea Gonzalez" (HGMGG), a general university hospital located in Mexico City, using a categorization model. We conducted a study including bibliometric analyses of publications associated with all research studies performed during the period 2016-2019 in the HGMGG and investigator interviews, according to the payback framework categorization model. All studies analyzed had a positive impact based on outcomes in 5 "payback categories": (1) knowledge; (2) research targeting, capacity building, and absorption; (3) policy and product development; (4) health benefits; and (5) broader economic benefits. To date, it has not been possible to establish a set of indicators that show the results of the investigations carried out by medical specialists in training, who carry out the bulk of medical care in general hospitals and in the National Institutes of Health in Mexico. We identified, in the 5 categories of the payback framework model, different areas of opportunity to improve the benefits of the hospital's medical services through the development of scientific research projects.

Axial ablation versus terminal interruption of the reflux source (AAVTIRS): a randomised controlled trial

BackgroundTreatment of superficial venous reflux has been shown to improve ulcer healing time and reduce the risk of ulcer recurrence. Terminal ablation of the reflux source (TIRS) is an alternative to formal endovenous ablation or surgery which can be performed by injecting sclerosant foam into the peri-ulcer plexus of the veins. TIRS has been shown to be successful and in our experience is the option preferred by many patients, when offered as an alternative to axial ablation (AA).AimTo determine if the proportion of ulcers healed within 6 months of endovenous treatment differs between patients undergoing AA of varicose veins or TIRS by peri-ulcer foam sclerotherapy.MethodsAAVTIRS is an assessor-blinded randomised controlled trial. Patients will be recruited from a dedicated ulcer clinic in Roscommon University Hospital and from the vascular surgical clinics in University Hospital Galway. All patients attending the ulcer clinic will be screened for eligibility.RandomisationRandom computer-generated sequence is stratified by ulcer size. Allocation will be concealed using sealed opaque envelopes.BlindingAssessors reviewing wounds at follow -p visits will be blinded to patient allocation.Primary endpointThe proportion of ulcers healed within 6 months of enrolment.DiscussionThis will be the first time that TIRS has been evaluated with a properly powered randomised trial in the setting of venous ulcer management. Streamlining the management of venous ulcers has broad health economic benefits. If it is found that TIRS is superior or non-inferior to AA, then a less expensive, less invasive injection can be offered as an alternative to AA in an attempt to encourage the healing of venous ulcers. If AA is found to be superior to TIRS, then this would suggest that all patients undergoing ablation in the management of venous ulcers should have their superficial reflux fully treated, building on the evidence of the EVRA trial.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT04484168. Registered on 23 July 2020

Higher Education Expansion in China, 1999–2003: Impact on Graduate Employability

AbstractWe examine the impact of China's higher education expansion on labor market outcomes for young college graduates using China's 2005 1 Percent Population Sample Survey. Exploiting variations in the expansion of university places across provinces and high school cohorts between 1999 and 2003, we apply a difference‐in‐differences model and take into account the demand‐side effect by using the Bartik index. We find that the expansion of higher education in China decreased unemployment rates among males and college graduates in the short term. However, the policy decreased women's labor force participation and individual earnings in high‐skilled white‐collar jobs. We further discuss potential channels affecting the outcomes that were observed. Our results illustrate the broad economic benefits of higher education. The findings shed new light on the contribution of young skilled labor in the economic growth of China and call for policies that can alleviate the short‐term negative impact of higher education on individual students and maximize human capital. Our study also provides an interesting example of the consequences of the unequal expansion of higher education opportunities on the labor market of an emerging economy.

Optimal Service Points (OSP) for PHM Enabled Condition Based Maintenance for Oil and Gas Applications

In recent times, the oil and Gas industry has faced many challenges resulting from a tightening climate policy environment on oil and gas exploration, as well as the increasing risk of oversupply due to new discoveries globally. This has given stakeholders in the industry an incentive to integrate new technologies to optimize the operational efficiency of their assets, leading to the optimal recovery of hydrocarbons especially in marginal fields. Various Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) now provide different service offerings using data driven methods to provide condition monitoring of assets for oil and gas operators. However, a significant part of the value proposition by OEMs in their service delivery focuses on value generated at the component level with a reduction in asset downtime. This limits the broad economic benefits that a condition-based approach can provide, at the enterprise level. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to develop a cost benefit analysis framework for assessing the implementation of condition and performance monitoring of oil and gas assets used in surface applications. The framework utilizes a combined technical-economic approach to determine a minimum predictive requirement for the implementation of condition-based principles to maintenance of assets in a hydrocarbon project from first oil to abandonment. This financial analysis framework uses a condition monitoring approach based on prognostics as well as a regression approach for fault detection and system performance. The paper will present a case study to evaluate the costs and benefits associated with implementing a condition-based maintenance approach for a set of valves in a Christmas tree subsystem, as part of a typical onshore production system. The framework illustrated using the case study compares a constant failure rate Time-Based approach to the PHM enabled condition-based maintenance. The results demonstrate that a prognostic enabled system can provide commercial benefits at the component level for a Condition Based Maintenance strategy but not necessarily at the enterprise level for an oil and gas project. The cumulative reduction in downtime at the component level over a project lifecycle offsetting the present value of the total cost of integrating a PHM enabled system into the overall maintenance strategy creates the ideal situation for commercial viability. However, the commercial viability of the PHM integration would depend on the accuracy of predicting failure events and monitoring asset degradation by the PHM enabled system which ultimately defines the performance of the condition-based maintenance approach. The accuracy level of asset failure therefore provides OEMs with a benchmark for executing their condition-based maintenance services with a minimum performance threshold. Secondly, an enterprise level financial viability, as well as OEM profitability in the implementation of a condition-based maintenance approach, requires an Optimal Service Point (OSP) which is a function of the minimum predictive requirement of the PHM system. The utility that the OSP provides is that, it gives the minimum value of the framework’s decision criteria that an operator can use a basis for incorporating a condition-based approach in its maintenance strategy. It also provides the maximum Annual Service Fee (ASF) derived from the cumulative OEM NPV needed for structuring and pricing servitization agreements with operators. This OSP cost benefit analysis approach ultimately provides OEMs and operators with a practical guide in the provision as well as the adoption of condition-based maintenance strategies respectively. It balances the risk of PHM integration by operators with a minimum PHM system performance threshold required for commercial viability for project lifecycle.

The Societal Value of Vaccination in the Age of COVID-19.

In recent years, academics and policymakers have increasingly recognized that the full societal value of vaccination encompasses broad health, economic, and social benefits beyond avoided morbidity and mortality due to infection by the targeted pathogen and limited health care costs. Nevertheless, standard economic evaluations of vaccines continue to focus on a relatively narrow set of health-centric benefits, with consequences for vaccination policies and public investments.The COVID-19 pandemic illustrates in stark terms the multiplicity and magnitude of harms that infectious diseases may inflict on society. COVID-19 has overtaxed health systems, disrupted routine immunization programs, forced school and workplace closures, impeded the operation of international supply chains, suppressed aggregate demand, and exacerbated existing social inequities.The obvious nature of the pandemic's broad effects could conceivably convince more policymakers to identify and account for the full societal impacts of infectious disease when evaluating the potential benefits of vaccination. Such a shift could make a big difference in how we allocate societal resources in the service of population health and in how much we stand to gain from that spending.

Tissue-specific transcriptome analysis of drought stress and rehydration in Trachycarpus fortunei at seedling.

BackgroundTrachycarpus fortunei has broad economic benefits and excellent drought resistance; however, its drought response, adaptation, and recovery processes remain unclear.MethodologyIn this study, the response, tolerance, and recovery processes of T. fortunei leaves and roots under drought stress were determined by Illumina sequencing.ResultsUnder drought stress, T. fortunei reduced its light-capturing ability and composition of its photosynthetic apparatus, thereby reducing photosynthesis to prevent photo-induced chloroplast reactive oxygen damage during dehydration. The phenylpropanoid biosynthesis process in the roots was suppressed, DHNs, LEA, Annexin D2, NAC, and other genes, which may play important roles in protecting the cell membrane’s permeability in T. fortunei root tissues. During the rehydration phase, fatty acid biosynthesis in T. fortunei roots was repressed. Weighted correlation network analysis (WGCNA) screened modules that were positively or negatively correlated with physiological traits. The real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) results indicated the reliability of the transcriptomic data.ConclusionThese findings provide valuable information for identifying important components in the T. fortunei drought signaling network and enhances our understanding of the molecular mechanisms by which T. fortunei responds to drought stress.

Using the payback framework to evaluate the outcomes of pilot projects supported by the Georgia Clinical and Translational Science Alliance.

The Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) program of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) seeks to improve population health by accelerating the translation of scientific discoveries in the laboratory and clinic into practices for the community. CTSAs achieve this goal, in part, through their pilot project programs that fund promising early career investigators and innovative early-stage research projects across the translational research spectrum. However, there have been few reports on individual pilot projects and their impacts on the investigators who receive them and no studies on the long-term impact and outcomes of pilot projects. The Georgia CTSA funded 183 pilot projects from 2007 to 2015. We used a structured evaluation framework, the payback framework, to document the outcomes of 16 purposefully-selected pilot projects supported by the Georgia CTSA. We used a case study approach including bibliometric analyses of publications associated with the selected projects, document review, and investigator interviews. These pilot projects had positive impact based on outcomes in five "payback categories": (1) knowledge; (2) research targeting, capacity building, and absorption; (3) policy and product development; (4) health benefits; and (5) broader economic benefits. Results could inform our understanding of the diversity and breadth of outcomes resulting from Georgia CTSA-supported research and provide a framework for evaluating long-term pilot project outcomes across CTSAs.

The Elusive Search for Rights-Centred Public Health Approaches to Drug Policy: A Comment

While it is common for United Nations member states in international meetings to espouse ‘public health approaches’ to drug policy, actual policies appear not to have caught up with this rhetoric. There is a lingering over-emphasis in narcotic drug policies on policing and incarceration at the expense of urgently needed investment in health and social services for people who use drugs. These policies have lethal consequences in the transmission of potentially fatal infections and preventable overdose deaths, and they impede progress in social and economic development. The experience of a number of countries, mostly in the European Union, highlights that bringing public health evidence into the center of drug policy decision-making can have broad social, economic and public health benefits.

PIN18 ARE WE FULLY CAPTURING THE SOCIAL IMPACT OF VACCINES?

Vaccination may confer broad health and economic benefits that extend beyond traditional elements included in cost-effectiveness analyses (CEAs). However, CEAs often omit consideration of impacts such as productivity, caregiver impact, education, and income loss. We assessed the frequency of measurement of such broader impacts of vaccination in published CEAs of vaccines and examined factors associated with their inclusion.

Employing the Payback Framework to Assess Implementation Science Research Utilization: Lessons From the USAID's PEPFAR HIV/AIDS Implementation Science Awards.

Stakeholders question whether implementation science (IS) is successful in conducting rigorous science that expedites the inclusion of health innovations into policies and accelerates the pace and scale of health service delivery into clinical and public health practice. Using the Payback Framework (PF) for research utilization (RU), we assessed the impact of USAID's IS investment on a subset of studies examining HIV prevention, care, and treatment. Selected USAID-funded IS awards implemented between 2012 and 2017 in 9 sub-Saharan African countries. A modified version of a RU framework, the PF, was applied to 10 USAID-funded IS awards. A semistructured, self-administered/interviewer-administered questionnaire representing operational items for the 5 categories of the modified PF was used to describe the type and to quantify the level of payback achieved. The raw score was tallied within and across the 5 PF categories, and the percentage of "payback" achieved by category was tabulated. Distribution of payback scores was summarized by tertiles. Knowledge production had the highest level of payback (75%), followed by benefits to future research (70%), benefits to policy (45%), benefits to health and the health system (18%), and broader economic benefits (5%). All awards achieved some level of knowledge production and benefits to future research, but translation to policy and programs was low and variable. We propose the use of policy, health system, and economic monitoring indicators of RU throughout the research process to increase IS studies' impact on health practice, programs, and policy.

Gaining and sustaining ‘hospitable’ employment for disability youth

As the hospitality industry globally suffers persistent skills shortages, organisations are increasingly looking to non-traditional labour markets to fill vacancies. Indeed, hospitality has a long tradition of employing from society’s margins [1]. Research has shown hospitality firms are more likely than other industries to hire people experiencing disability [2]. Therefore, hospitality has the need, the tradition and the capacity to implement and support lasting change in the employment of disability youth.
 The Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), which is overhauling the sector and transforming the way persons experiencing disability access services, is modelled on research demonstrating the broader economic benefits of greater inclusive workforce participation [3]. The scheme is also consistent with the fact that employment is the key to exits from disadvantage for most people of working age [4]. Yet Australia ranks 21st out of 29 OECD nations in disability employment rates [5]. These poor rates of providing inclusive employment are often levelled at firms’ unwillingness to hire applicants with a disability [6].
 In late 2016, a disability services provider (DSP) and a registered charity partnered in a mobile coffee cart social enterprise to create open employment pathways for a group of disability youth previously employed in the ‘sheltered workshop’ model. A 360-degree ethnography combining interview and observational methods [7] was designed to investigate the holistic experiences of the youth and to gain insights into the levers and barriers regarding open employment. The agency/structure dualism framed the study, as it is recognised that agency is in itself not sufficient when its expression is constrained by an individual’s social deficits and the legacies of their entrenched disadvantage [8]. In all, five ‘baristas’ experiencing disability (across 10 interviews), 11 co-workers/managers from the DSP and the charity, and 21 customers comprised the sample.
 Previous research has identified industry’s reticence to employ people with disability as a key barrier, despite ability and willingness to work [5]. This study, however, identified a complex range of structural factors inhibiting the agency of disability youth to self-determine towards open employment. These included a history of poor experiences in institutional settings (e.g. schooling and sporting), the safety and security of sheltered workshops, parental oversight and the staffing requirements of DSP social enterprises. Surprising individual-level factors were also manifest, including the inability to responsibly manage new- found workplace independence and an absence of extrinsic motivators to work – given that the disability youth enjoyed financial security regardless of earnings.
 This research challenges the conventional wisdom that organisations alone need to revisit their willingness, capacity and preparedness for providing accessible employment, and rather suggests that deep-seated structural factors, and their impacts on youth, require concomitant attention.
 Corresponding author
 Richard Robinson can be contacted at: richard.robinson@uq.edu.au
 References
 (1) Baum, T. Human Resources in Tourism: Still Waiting for Change? A 2015 Reprise. Tourism Management 2015, 50, 204–212.
 (2) Houtenville, A.; Kalargyrou, V. Employers’ Perspectives about Employing People with Disabilities. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly 2014, 56(2), 168–179.
 (3) Deloitte Access Economics. The Economic Benefits of Increasing Employment for People with Disability; Australian Network on Disability: Sydney, Australia, 2011.
 (4) McLachlan, R.; Gilfillan, G.; Gordon, J. Deep and Persistent Disadvantage in Australia; Productivity Commission Staff Working Paper: Canberra, Australia, 2013.
 (5) Darcy, S.A.; Taylor, T.; Green, J. 'But I Can Do the Job': Examining Disability Employment Practice through Human Rights Complaint Cases. Disability and Society 2016, 31(9), 1242–1274.
 (6) Lysaght, R.; Cobigo, V.; Hamilton, K. Inclusion as a Focus of Employment-Related Research in Intellectual Disability from 2000 to 2010: A Scoping Review. Disability and Rehabilitation 2012, 34(16), 1339–1350.
 (7) Sandiford, P. Participant Observation as Ethnography or Ethnography as Participant Observation in Organizational Research. In The Palgrave Handbook of Research Design in Business and Management; Strand K. (Ed.); Palgrave Macmillan: London, 2015; pp 411–446.
 (8) Graham, J.; Shier, M.; Eisenstat, M. Young Adult Social Networks and Labour Market Attachment. Journal of Social Policy 2015, 44(4), 769–786.

Lessons From Spectrum Auctions: A Benchmark Approach

An examination of spectrum auctions in a number of countries in Africa and beyond, suggests that many have failed, while others can be viewed as problematic. In many cases auctions have failed because reserve prices were set too high, and because the amount of spectrum on offer was limited. Most spectrum that was auctioned landed in the hands of incumbent licensees, effectively strengthening market concentration and benefitting dominant operators. Most attempts to secure new entrants through spectrum auctions have failed. Most auctions have failed to pay attention to universal access and service, and to ensuring that auction outcomes were in the public interest and promoted broader economic growth, social development and benefits for consumers. It is, therefore, clear that a focus on revenue maximisation through the auctioning of spectrum is short-sighted and detrimental to the sector. Instead, it is the ready availability of spectrum that generates long-term economic benefits. Further, auctions rarely increase competition and usually entrench market dominance. In addition, universal access and service imperatives are too often overlooked in auctions, whilst high auction fees may increase the cost to communicate. Finally, poor auction design can lead to auction failure and log-term harm to the economy and the sector.

2218 An application of the payback framework to evaluate the outcomes of pilot projects supported by the Georgia Clinical and Translational Science Alliance from 2007 to 2014

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: We will use a structured evaluation framework, the payback framework, to document the outcomes of 15 case studies of pilot projects supported by Georgia CTSA from 2007 to 2014. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: We will use a case study approach including bibliometric analyses of publications associated with the selected projects, document review (e.g., investigator curriculum vitae, biannual project reports) and investigator interviews. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: We will document outcomes in 5 “payback categories”: (1) knowledge, (2) research targeting, capacity building, and absorption, (3) policy and product development, (4) health benefits, and (5) broader economic benefits. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: This study will aid in characterizing the returns resulting from this research funding and identify its strengths and weaknesses. This study will inform our understanding of the diversity and breadth of outcomes resulting from Georgia CTSA-supported research, and the value pilot projects provide to clinical and translational science and the broader community.

Measuring research impact: a large cancer research funding programme in Australia

BackgroundMeasuring research impact is of critical interest to philanthropic and government funding agencies interested in ensuring that the research they fund is both scientifically excellent and has meaningful impact into health and other outcomes. The Beat Cancer Project (BCP) is a AUD $34 m cancer research funding scheme that commenced in 2011. It was initiated by an Australian charity (Cancer Council SA), and supported by the South Australian Government and the state’s major universities.MethodsThis study applied Buxton and Hanney’s Payback Framework to assess research impact generated from the BCP after 3 years of funding. Data sources were an audit of peer-reviewed publications from January 2011 to September 2014 from Web of Knowledge and a self-report survey of investigators awarded BCP research funding during its first 3 years of implementation (2011–2013). Of the 104 surveys, 92 (88%) were completed.ResultsThe BCP performed well across all five categories of the Payback Framework. In terms of knowledge production, 1257 peer-reviewed publications were generated and the mean impact factor of publishing journals increased annually. There were many benefits to future research with 21 respondents (23%) reporting career advancement, and 110 higher degrees obtained or expected (including 84 PhDs). Overall, 52% of funded projects generated tools for future research. The funded research attracted substantial further income yielding a very high rate of leverage. For every AUD $1 that the cancer charity invested, the BCP gained an additional AUD $6.06. Five projects (5%) had informed policy and 5 (5%) informed product development, with an additional 31 (34%) and 35 (38%) projects, respectively, anticipating doing so. In terms of health and sector and broader economic benefits, 8 (9%) projects had influenced practice or behaviour of health staff and 32 (34%) would reportedly to do so in the future.ConclusionsResearch impact was a priority of charity and government funders and led to a deliberate funding strategy. Emphasising research impact while maintaining rigorous, competitive processes can achieve the joint objectives of excellence in research, yielding good research impact and a high rate of leverage for philanthropic and public investment, as indicated by these early results.

Budidaya Kepiting Soka dengan Metoda Sangkar Massal

Mangrove forest stores enormous economic potential. Economic activity in the mangrove forest village Dabong was catching mangrove clams, fish, shrimp and mud crab. Cultivation of soft-shelled crabs can be done with simple methods such as single cage and mass cage combained moulting pool to facilitate moulting monitor the change of the crab skin. Advantages of moulting pool are ease moulting time monitoring and crab moulting secure against attack other animals.Cultivation of soft-shelled crabs need to be developed extensively for broad economic benefits for the sailor. The results indicate that the development of aquaculture activities shelled crabs using mass cage and moulting pool provide greater benefits. Labor productivity with the same can be increased up to 4- fold compared to a single cage aquaculture way. Excellence moulting pool caused by intensive monitoring for skin exchange both day and night.

The full benefits of adult pneumococcal vaccination: A systematic review.

BackgroundPneumococcal disease causes substantial morbidity and mortality, including among adults. Adult pneumococcal vaccines help to prevent these burdens, but they are underused. Accounting for the full benefits of adult pneumococcal vaccination may promote more rational resource allocation decisions with respect to adult pneumococcal vaccines.ObjectivesUsing the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, we conducted a systematic review to assess the extent to which the literature has empirically captured (e.g., through measurement or modeling) the full benefits of adult pneumococcal vaccination.MethodsWe systematically searched PubMed and Embase to identify studies published between January 1, 2010 and April 10, 2016 that examine adult pneumococcal vaccination. We included articles if they captured any health or economic benefit of an adult pneumococcal vaccine administered to adults age ≥ 50 or ≥ 18 in risk groups. Finally, we summarized the literature by categorizing the types of benefits captured, the perspective taken, and the strength of the evidence presented. Our protocol is number 42016038335 in the PROSPERO International prospective register of systematic reviews.ResultsWe identified 5,857 papers and included 150 studies for analysis. While most capture health gains and healthcare cost savings, far fewer studies consider additional benefit categories, such as productivity gains. However, the studies with a broader approach still exhibit significant limitations; for example, many present only abstracts, while others offer no new measurements. Studies that examine the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine focus more on broad economic benefits, but still have limitations.ConclusionsThis review highlights the need for more robust empirical accounting of the full benefits of adult pneumococcal vaccination. Literature outside this realm indicates that these broad benefits may be substantial. Failing to investigate the full benefits may lead society to undervalue vaccines' contributions and therefore underinvest in their development and adoption.

The longer term effects of federal subsidies on firm survival: evidence from the advanced technology program

The goal of this paper is to conduct a survival analysis to determine the causal impact of federal R&D subsidies on firms’ long-term survival. The data are small firms which applied to the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) in 1998 and 2000. The ATP’s focus was on ensuring that early stage, high-risk research was eventually commercialized successfully and resulted in broad economic benefits for society overall. This paper therefore explores whether the knowledge and benefits the ATP initially provided to a firm allowed it to more successfully transition future research projects from development and testing to commercialization. This paper utilizes a variant of the Heckman (Econometrica 47(1):153–161, 1979) research design to control for inherent pre-award differences between awarded and non-awarded firms. By using administrative data on reviewer scores, this analysis shows that the impact of ATP on small firm survival is robust to sample selection. This paper’s findings suggest that recei ving an ATP award can have a significant and positive causal effect on firm survival.