Econ Lit Research Articles

When will a Dictator be Good?

Dictatorship is the predominant political system in many developing countries. However, different dictators act quite differently: a good dictator implements growth-enhancing economic policies, e.g., investment in public education and infrastructure, whereas a bad dictator taxes her citizens for her own consumption. The present paper provides a theoretical model by deriving underlying determinants of dictatorial behavior. We assume that the engine of economic growth is private investment. It can increase the productivity of individuals who invest, as well as the aggregate technological level. A good dictator encourages this investment in order to tax more. However, the cost of this encouragement is that the ensuing higher growth rate will induce earlier democratization. In this paper we will illustrate the risk of choosing a growth-enhancing policy, while leading to additional tax revenues in the short-run will also increase the likelihood of a revolution resulting in the eventual overthrow of the dictator. Furthermore, we will find that the higher the return from private investments the less likely the dictator will be a good one. Contrary to McGuire and Olson (J Econ Lit 34:72–96, 1996) we find that a long life-time does not always induce positive incentives among dictators.

Discharge planning from hospital to home.

Discharge planning is a routine feature of health systems in many countries. The aim is to reduce hospital length of stay and unplanned readmission to hospital, and improve the co ordination of services following discharge from hospital thereby bridging the gap between hospital and place of discharge. Sometimes discharge planning is offered as part of an integrated package of care, which may cover both the hospital and community. The focus of this review is discharge planning that occurs while a patient is in hospital; we exclude studies that evaluate discharge planning with follow up care. To determine the effectiveness of planning the discharge of patients moving from hospital. Relevant studies were identified using Medline, Embase, SIGLE database for grey literature, Bioethics database, Health Plan, Psych. Lit, Sociofile, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Econ Lit, Social Science Citation Index, EPOC register. The review was updated using the EPOC trials register in August 2002. randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that compare discharge planning (the development of an individualised discharge plan) with routine discharge care. all patients in hospital. the development of an individualised discharge plan. Data analysis and quality assessment was undertaken independently by two reviewers using a data checklist. Studies are grouped according to patient group (elderly medical patients, surgical patients, and those with a mix of conditions), and by outcome. Three new studies were included in this update. In total we included eleven RCTS: 6 trials recruited patients with a medical condition (2,368 patients), and four recruited patients with a mix of medical and surgical conditions (2,983 patients), one of these four recruited medical and surgical patients as separate groups, and the final trial recruited 97 patients in a psychiatric hospital and from a general hospital. We failed to detect a difference between groups in mortality for elderly patients with a medical condition (OR 1.44 95% CI 0.82 to 2.51), hospital length of stay (weighted mean difference -0.86, 95% CI -1.9 to 0.18), readmission rates (OR 0.91 95% CI 0.67 to 1.23) and being discharged from hospital to home (OR 1.15 95% CI 0.72 to 1.82). This was also the case for trials recruiting patients recovering from surgery and those recruiting patients with a mix of medical and surgical conditions. One trial comparing a structured care pathway for patients recovering from a stroke with multidisciplinary care reported a significant rate of improvement in functional ability and quality of life for the control group (median change in Barthel score between 4 to 12 weeks of 2 points for the treatment group, versus 6 for the control group, p<0.01); (Euroqol scores at 6 months 63 for the treatment group, vs. 72 for the control group, p<0.005). Two trials reported that patients with medical conditions allocated to discharge planning reported increased satisfaction compared with those who received routine discharge. No statistically significant differences were reported for overall health care costs. The impact of discharge planning on readmission rates, hospital length of stay, health outcomes and cost is uncertain. This reflects a lack of power as the degree to which we could pool data was restricted by the different reported measures of outcome. It is possible that even a small reduction in length of stay, or readmission rate, could have an impact on the timeliness of subsequent admissions in a system where there is an shortage of acute hospital beds.

The price‐concentration relationship in grocery retailing: Retesting Newmark

AbstractA study by Newmark is one of two price‐concentration studies of U.S. grocery retailing that has failed to find a positive relationship. We examined four possible sources of experimental error in this study. The most important source of error was the failure to exclude noncompeting grocery retailers in the construction of the concentration measure. The relationship was also sensitive to controlling for a subgroup of observations from one state, to alternative data sources, and functional form. When these changes were made, concentration was found to be positively associated with the cost of groceries across cities. The relationship was significant despite a small nonrandom sample of cities and unscientifically sampled prices. [Econ Lit citations: L130, L810, L100] © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Market concentration and vertical coordination in the pork industry: Implications for public policy analysis

AbstractConcentration in the pork industry has increased and spawned concerns over market power. Agricultural policy instruments operate differently under imperfect competition. This article analyzes the impacts of policy instruments when the pork industry is assumed to be imperfectly competitive. The arguments are made that policy instruments can be categorized into those with impacts independent of market conduct and those with impacts dependent on market conduct. If the policy objective is to raise swine grower welfare, markets need to remain open to trade, the use of quantitative policy instruments should be avoided, and domestic subsidies to packers must be effective. [Econ Lit citation: L130, L660, Q118] © 2001 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Inc.