Private Profit Research Articles

Key problems in medical research and development and proposals for changes to improve the efficiency of the current system

Background: The pharmaceutical system is failing in its role of responding to public health needs. The current R&D model is driven by profits rather than the public interest. As a result, while the public funds the highest-risk research and incentivises the industry’s involvement in the public health sector, the gap between the R&D agenda and medical needs is growing, new medicines are unaffordable for health systems and patients, and global access to new therapies is vastly unequal.
 Research purpose: The article looks into the root causes of this situation and the problems with the status quo to suggest potential solutions – from straightforward choices that are applicable within the existing system to transformative options that can bring back the balance between public and private interests.
 Methods: The reflections and recommendations presented in the article are based on scientific literature, materials developed by governmental and non-governmental organisations and discussions with experts.
 Conclusions: The article concludes that the most important factor is the increased involvement of the public sector, which should take greater responsibility for pharmaceutical R&D rather than leaving innovation, access, availability and pricing of pharmaceuticals to be driven solely by profit-maximisation strategies. At a minimum, the public sector must ensure that R&D is aligned with public needs, the end products are affordable and equally accessible, and the public gets a fair return on its investment. Structural and profound changes include altering the governance of private companies operating in the pharmaceutical sector as well as expanding the role of public institutes and companies in the system. Existing inefficiencies are not the result of scientific limitations or technical barriers, but of political choices. Ultimately, improving the pharmaceutical system comes down to choosing the public interest over private profits.

Participation of public-private partnership in housing provision in the core areas of Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria

Private-Public partnership (PPP) is a new paradigm in the development arena that involves collaborative working arrangements between the public, profit and non-profit private sectors in providing public services hitherto provided solely by the sector. This study carried out research on the impact of participation of Private-Public partnership (PPP) in housing provision in the core area of Akure with a view to suggesting effective measures to promote housing development and delivery in the study area. It examined the socio-economic characteristics of the residents, investigated the illegal dumpsites in the area, examined the system of waste disposal and management in the area, and identified the effect of illegal dumpsites on residents and the environment and possible measures to improve waste management in the area were suggested. Using simple random sampling techniques, Questionnaire was used to gather primary data from 181 respondents and an interview guild with the Director of works and housing in the Ministry of Works and Housing, Akure South Local Authority (Ondo State). Akure was interviewed on the operations of the public estate. It was gathered that the majority of the resident were female with at least a secondary school certification. The Public-Private housing schemes were not designed for the low-income class. Untarred roads, irregular electricity supply, and high cost of housing units amongst others were the challenges encountered by residents in the study areas. It was recommended that Community Based organization approach and Mortgage housing scheme should be introduced in the PPP housing schemes in the areas in order to achieve a maximum result in the housing provision business amongst others. Keywords: Participation, public, private, housing, provision.

Confiscating the Common Good: Small Towns and Religious Politics in the French Revolution by Edward J. Woell

Reviewed by: Confiscating the Common Good: Small Towns and Religious Politics in the French Revolution by Edward J. Woell Joseph Byrnes Confiscating the Common Good: Small Towns and Religious Politics in the French Revolution. By Edward J. Woell. (Manchester: Manchester University Press. 2022. Pp. xi, 304. £80. ISBN 9781526159137.) The title requires some explanation, which the author immediately initiates in the epigraph to the book’s Introduction. “A law should be written not for private profit, but for the common benefit of the citizens” (Isidore of Seville, writing about the year 600). For “confiscate,” the common dictionary definitions will presumably do: “to seize as forfeited to the public treasury” or “to seize by or as if by authority.” The book, then, is a study of who was confiscating what in France during the early revolutionary years: local authorities in the small towns contending for the revenues of churches and monasteries by closing, seizing, or consolidating them; and national authorities ordering the closings, seizing, and consolidations in accordance with their own religio-political programs. Edward Woell vividly portrays citizens and their passions in Saint-Gaudens, on April 4, 1790, when town council members complained that any real and possible trifling with the bishopric, the seminary, and the collèges would cause spiritual as well as financial harm to the town. His thesis is that “the French Revolution`s religious politics tattered the social fabric of small towns to such an extent that it unraveled their democratic character,” because by 1789 their “institutions had become their communities` heart and soul” (p. 8). The “religious politics” of the book’s subtitle hindered the democratic process of nation building by polarizing financial and religious partis pris. Woell studies the “small towns”—five in number—of the book’s subtitle to show that their local divisions over religious politics were as salient as, or more salient than, the great nation-wide fights over the Civil Constitution of the Clergy in the religious history of France. These latter are the subject of the quasi-definitive study of Timothy Tackett, Religion, Revolution, and Regional Culture in Eighteenth-Century France: The Ecclesiastical Oath of 1791 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986). Earlier events in Pont-à-Mousson, Gournay-en-Bray, Vienne, Haguenau, and Is-sur-Tille were the vitally important harbingers of, and the key to understanding, the 1791 dramas. In Pont-à Mousson, the contribution of the religious orders was sorely missed, especially at the university, which was in the main staffed by religious. Seizure of church property was financially problematic for many of the townspeople, whether they benefitted directly or were slated to benefit from the sale of the property. The bishop of the region strongly opposed the Civil Constitution of the Clergy and the majority of the priests accepted it, but the townspeople had no voice in the election of their parish curés. Local interests, then, were primarily personal and private, which may have accounted for the lack of major public resistance to or promotion of the Civil Constitution. [End Page 210] In Gournay-en-Bray, the reduction of parishes ineluctably brought on competition for survival of two parishes, Notre-Dame and Saint-Hildevert, which had begun hundreds of years earlier. When authorities decided in favor of Saint-Hildevert, the parish leaders were first of all wary lest Notre-Dame’s parishioners turn against them, but subsequently anxious when the closure was delayed. Woell highlights this drama in light of a present-day controversy about the significance of parish closures, Tackett counting about two hundred parishes and Jean de Viguerie about four thousand. The number that Woell forefronts—warning that only estimates are possible—was 1,400–1,700. It would certainly seem that parish closure was the source of more religious tension than the oath or the two clergies. In Vienne, the “decimation of the town’s religious institutions by other reforms” (p. 121) was at the center of the town’s divisions rather than the Civil Constitution. The institutions most at issue here were the two ecclesiastical chapters with their member canons. These were originally episcopal advisory boards but had taken on their own independent lives in the 1700s. Given their reputation as dated artifacts...

Economic Sustainability in Emerging Agro-Industrial Systems: The Case of Brazilian Olive Cultivation

The economic sustainability of agro-industrial systems expresses firms’ competitive capacity and can be achieved with greater innovation, productivity and price management. The emerging olive oil agro-industrial systems in Brazil lack the information on economic and financial performance that they need to grow. The objective of this study is to evaluate the financial viability of an olive grove and the competitiveness and economic sustainability of the extra virgin olive oil using primary data collected and analyzed by the policy analysis matrix method. The main indicators considered with respect to current production and commercialization techniques are private and social profitability, added value, remuneration of domestic factors and total factor productivity. It is concluded that the emerging extra virgin olive oil agro-industrial system in Brazil has financially viable olive groves, significant competitiveness and presents economic sustainability.

Review: Historic Real Estate: Market Morality and the Politics of Preservation in the Early United States

Review: <i>Historic Real Estate: Market Morality and the Politics of Preservation in the Early United States</i>

Optimizing N Application for Forage Sorghum to Maximize Yield, Quality, and N Use Efficiency While Reducing Environmental Costs

Investigating the responses of forage crop yield, quality, and nitrogen (N) use efficiency to different N application rates is beneficial for guiding proper N fertilization regimes and for reducing reactive N environmental pollution. A field experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of different N application rates on above-ground dry matter yield, forage quality, crop N uptake, N use efficiency (NUE), and ecosystem economic benefits (EEBs) of forage sorghum cultivated on the Longdong Loess Plateau in 2019 and 2020. Five N application rates were tested, namely 0, 80, 160, 240, and 320 kg·ha−1 (referred to as N0, N80, N160, N240, and N320, respectively). The maximum above-ground dry matter yield (22.3 t·ha−1 in 2019 and 18.0 t·ha−1 in 2020) was obtained at an N application of 160 kg·ha−1. Forage sorghum crude protein (CP) content increased significantly with increasing N application rates (the CP content at N320 was 7.4% and 8.6% in 2019 and 2020, respectively). In contrast, neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) were only affected by high N application rates (NDF and ADF were significantly higher in N320 compared with N0 and N90). The relative feed value (RFV) was significantly higher in N0 compared with N320. Crop N uptake was significantly higher in N160 compared with N0 (25.7% increase to 249.4 kg·ha−1 in 2019 and 40.5% increase to 247.4 kg·ha−1 in 2020, respectively). NUE decreased linearly as N rates increased, but NO3−–N residue (0–200 cm), reactive N loss (Nr loss), and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions increased. Private profitability and EEB were the largest at N160 (private profitability at N160 was 514.2 USD·ha−1, and EEB at N160 was 392.7 USD·ha−1). Above-ground yield and optimum forage quality must be maximized, while simultaneously safeguarding farmer income and reducing environmental pollution from N fertilizers. Therefore, the optimum N application rate for forage sorghum cultivation in the dry areas of the Loess Plateau is recommended at 160 kg·ha−1.

Economic Analysis and Competitiveness of Cotton Farms in Mali, the Case of Founia District of Kita Province

In this research, it is aimed to investigate the economic performance of cotton farms and to reveal the profitability and competitiveness of cotton production in Founia district of Kita province. The research data were obtained from the questionnaires conducted with 55 farms determined according to the stratified random sampling method. Policy Analysis Matrix was used to determine profitability and competitiveness in cotton production. The results of the research showed that the farms in Founia county have an average of 10.44 da farm land. Gross production value per farm is $3519.89, agricultural income is $2197.42. According to the result obtained from PAM, private profit of cotton production in Founia district was 58.97 $/ton social profit was 1017.38 $/ton. Within the scope of the research, Specific Cost Ratio (PCR) coefficients of 0.77 and Cost Ratio of Domestic Resources (DRC) of 0.19 obtained from PAM were found. However, according to the Nominal Protection Coefficient on Output (NPCO) (0.30), Nominal Protection Coefficient on Tradable Inputs (NPCI) (0.87) and Effective Protection Coefficient (EPC) (0.20) coefficients, it is seen that the cotton price is lower than the comparable world prices and the producer earns less profit from free trade. Therefore, in the short term, incentive premiums, direct financial support, protection of cotton prices, good communication with farms and extension policies should be implemented. The increase in yield with the introduction of irrigation systems will increase competitiveness.The government and the Compagnie Malienne pour le Développement des Textiles (CMDT) should assist in the leasing and long-term purchase of modern farm machinery, which is one of the fixed capitals, in order to increase productivity.

‘We’re messing up capitalism through collaboration’: transformative labour agency in German worker-led companies

From a labour geography perspective, workers are capable of (re)shaping economic spaces, commonly understood as ‘labour agency’. This article conceptualises and discusses German worker-led companies (WLCs) as sites of ‘transformative labour agency’. It demonstrate how workers consciously alter work and production structures through collective ownership and decision-making. In concert with post-growth research, empirical findings show how workers in German WLCs intentionally align their work structures with socioeconomic transformations beyond economic growth. Examples for transformative labour agency are reductions in working time, definitions of work that include unpaid labour and social reproduction as well as limitations on private profit generation. The article explores how far collectively managing decision-making and ownership can be understood as a way of ‘commoning labour’. It further analyses how German WLCs prefigure post-capitalist work practices in a capitalist present despite institutional constraints.

Combining epidemiology and economics to assess control of a viral endemic animal disease: Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS).

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is an extremely contagious disease that causes great damage to the U.S. pork industry. PRRS is not subject to official control in the U.S., but most producers adopt control strategies, including vaccination. However, the PRRS virus mutates frequently, facilitating its ability to infect even vaccinated animals. In this paper we analyze how increased vaccination on sow farms reduces PRRS losses and when vaccination is profitable. We develop a SIR model to simulate the spread of an outbreak between and within swine farms located in a region of Minnesota. Then, we estimate economic losses due to PRRS and calculate the benefits of vaccination. We find that increased vaccination of sow farms increases the private profitability of vaccination, and also transmits positive externalities to farms that do not vaccinate. Although vaccination reduces industry losses, a low to moderate vaccine efficacy implies that large PRRS losses remain, even on vaccinated farms. Our approach provides useful insight into the dynamics of an endemic animal disease and the benefits of different vaccination regimens.

Not an ordinary bank but a great engine of state: The Bank of England and the British economy, 1694–1844

AbstractFrom its foundation as a private corporation in 1694, the Bank of England extended large amounts of credit to support the British private economy and to support an increasingly centralised British state. The Bank helped the British state reach a position of geopolitical and economic hegemony in the international economic order. In this paper, we deploy recalibrated financial data to analyse an evolving trajectory of connections between the British economy, the state, and the Bank of England. We show how these connections contributed to form an effective and efficient fiscal–naval state and promote the development of a system of financial intermediation for the economy. This symbiotic relationship became stronger after 1793. The evidence that we consider here shows that although the Bank was nominally a private institution and profits were paid to its shareholders, it was playing a public role well before Bagehot's doctrine.

Che as minister: the promotion of science and technology for Cuba’s socialist development

ABSTRACT As Minister of Industries in Cuba between 1961 and 1965, Che Guevara addressed the challenge of increasing production and labour productivity in conditions of underdevelopment and in transition to socialism, without relying on capitalist mechanisms that undermine the formation of new consciousness and social relations integral to socialism. Under capitalism, Guevara noted, competition for private profit drives the application of science and technology to industrial development, revolutionising the productive forces. Socialist governments must find alternative methods. To these ends, Guevara set up nine research and development institutes, focussing on sugar cane derivatives, minerals and metals, the chemical industries, agricultural by-products, the mechanical industry, technological innovations, and automation. He established an institutional framework to begin experimentation at different ends of the production chain simultaneously. The short-term results were inevitably limited, but more significant than the productive achievements attained was the methodology introduced, the application of science and technology to production.

Reinventing Hollands Kroon: Dynamics of Strategic Change and Legitimacy in Public Sector

Managers of public organizations face cutting-edge technological opportunities and management practices that may enable their organizations to provide substantially higher value to citizens. However, in the absence of financial incentives and strong institutional pressures to sustain status quo attempts for strategic change are likely to face legitimacy challenges and fail. Using a multi-year qualitative study, we show how a Dutch municipality managed to undertake a major strategic change initiative while navigating legitimacy issues that emerged in relation with internal and external stakeholders. Taking a ‘legitimacy-as-process’ - perspective we offer a temporal model that explains how strategic change can endogenously happen in a public sector organization. We describe how evolving combinations of strategy, identity and institutional work where used by senior managers to kick-start, execute and preserve the change by securing legitimacy in relation with different audiences across time. We complement the strategic change research that is often focused on for profit private organizations by incorporating the unique challenges of change in public sector organizations and propose a multi-stage process model for navigating legitimacy issues during strategic change. Rather than taking an incremental approach towards change to minimize tensions, we suggest how a multi-stage, non-linear approach may be applied that 1) initially focuses on creating acceptance for a new philosophy among local stakeholders, hence creating receptiveness towards a major change, 2) then it moves to implementation of distinctive strategic initiatives based on liminal legitimacy risking issues and backlash, and 3) curbing the scope of the change initiative to satisfy the broader institutional audience while maximally using the space that is created in the previous steps.

Working capital management and financial health of private hospitals of India after COVID-19 pandemic

The main objective of this study is to reduce working capital requirements, and to reduce the investments of private healthcare providers in their operating activities .A fundamental research was conducted by conducting a survey of 55 non- profit private hospitals of India in the period (2018-2021). Authors conceptualized a research model to develop hypotheses. Correlation between financial elements and the capital structure relevance was found out. Result indicates that, during Covid -19 pandemic, private hospitals made balance in working capital by allowing capital gap while adopting a delay payment strategy. Operating activities of the hospitals were financed by profit and working capitals of the hospitals are varying according to their financial need. It was suggested that the government needs to change healthcare policy, and give some funding and tax waiving hospitals. This study will be very helpful for the healthcare providers, hospital managers, medical staffs and other stake holders.

Competency Assessment in Focused Cardiac Ultrasound—Can the Use of Sequential Testing Help Tailor Training Requirements?

OBJECTIVES:Varying numbers of scans are required by different professional bodies before focused cardiac ultrasound (FCU) competence is assumed. It has been suggested that innovation in the assessment of FCU competence is needed and that competency assessment needs to be more individualized. We report our experience of how the use of sequential testing may help personalize the assessment of FCU competence.DESIGN:This was a planned exploratory reanalysis of previously prospectively collected data. FCU was performed sequentially by an intensive care trainee and expert on the same patient. Assessment of left ventricular (LV) function by the trainee and expert was compared. Sequential testing methods were used in the analysis of this data to see if they could be used to help in the assessment of competence. Each trainee had completed a 38-hour teaching program and a logbook of 30 scans prior to enrollment.SETTING:Tertiary Australian not for profit private academic hospital.MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS:Two hundred seventy paired echocardiograms were completed by seven trainees. For trainees to achieve greater than 90% accuracy in correctly assessing LV function when compared with an expert, a variable number of scans were required. This ranged from 13 to 25 (95% CI, 13–25) scans. Over the study period, the ability to correctly identify LV function was maintained, and it appeared there was no degradation in skill.CONCLUSIONS:Using the Sequential Probability Ratio Test demonstrates a variable number of scans were required to show greater than 90% accuracy in the assessment of LV function. As such, the use of sequential testing could help individualize competency assessments in FCU. Additionally, our data suggests that over a 6-month period, echocardiographic skill is maintained without any formal teaching or feedback. Further work assessing the utility of this method based on larger samples is required.

Designing Policy Mixes to Address the World’s Worst Devastation of a Rural Landscape Caused by Xylella Epidemic

The socio-economic consequences of the Xylella fastidiosa epidemic represent a global problem that can only be addressed through tailored, local solutions. The selection of public interventions is not a trivial task for policy makers, as they must weigh many different interests (e.g., private profit, ecosystem services, usability, preservation and growth of real estate value, amenities, and land protection). The present paper addresses this challenge by building participatory scenarios based on “fuzzy cognitive maps,” with the aim of identifying effective, acceptable, and efficient policy mixes to address the Xylella epidemic. The work investigates the case of southern Salento (Italy)–an olive production area at the epicentre of the global Xylella outbreak–to identify the most suitable actions for regenerating the landscape. To this end, the most efficient policy mixes are determined according to three possible policy perspectives, which provide different weights for effectiveness and acceptability. The results show that the proposed methodological approach may assist policy makers in coping with multifaceted policy challenges.

The Effect of Key Indicators on the Operation Costs for Public Toll Roads

At the end of the build-operate-transfer road concession period, an optimal model for the operation of public toll roads is created based on user heterogeneity regarding the values of time for different road users. The impact of user heterogeneity on operation costs for government and private firms is subsequently analyzed on the following critical variables: user values of time, road volume/capacity ratio, and road capacity. Concerning the values of time for different road users, the mean residual and failure functions are established to describe three optimization hypotheses: maximization of social welfare with operation by the government, two extreme cases with operation by a private firm, and a Pareto-optimal solution with operation by a private firm. It is concluded that the mean residual values of the time function are a linear function of the user values of time under a Pareto-optimal operation by the government. It is also determined that private profit is related to the demand-related operational cost of the government and private firm under a Pareto-optimal operation by a private firm. These conclusions suggest relevant recommendations for the government on policymaking for the operation of public toll roads.

Competitiveness and impact of government policy on chili in Indonesia

Abstract Indonesian chili faces some problems in increasing production, added value, and competitiveness of chili products, mainly in terms of quantity, quality, and continuity. The objectives of this study are (1) to analyze the private and social profitability of chili farming, (2) to analyze the chili competitiveness from both competitive and comparative advantage perspectives, (3) to examine government policy impact on chili performance, and (4) to formulate strategies to encourage chili development in Indonesia. The results of the policy analysis matrix revealed that chili farming in Indonesia’s production centers is profitable, both privately and socially. It also has competitiveness, both competitive and comparative advantages. The highest competitiveness occurs in Bandung district, West Java, with a coefficient of private cost ratio (PCR) of 0.416 and a domestic resource cost ratio (DRCR) of 0.269. Meanwhile, the lowest competitiveness occurs in Tabalong district, South Kalimantan, with a PCR coefficient of 0.857 and a DRCR of 0.556. This study also concluded that for Indonesia, it is more profitable to increase domestic chili production than importing from abroad. Strategic policies for chili development can be implemented by using hybrid seeds, complete and balanced fertilization, improving irrigation infrastructure and farming roads, increasing the capacity of farmers’ resources, and expanding the objectives and market segments.

Financialization of Eldercare in a Nordic Welfare State

AbstractThe increasing presence of for-profit service providers in publicly-funded eldercare has transformed care in Nordic welfare states which have a strong tradition of public care provision. Macro-level research on care policies has mainly focused on public institutions, national policies, and marketization. The financialization of eldercare has not received much scholarly attention, and existing studies mostly focus on the UK. The financialization of eldercare refers to the ways in which care is both a site of profit extraction and financial engineering. The Nordic system is relatively universal, and, with rapidly ageing demographics, there is a secured demand for eldercare services. However, these services have been heavily marketized over the past two decades, opening up lucrative possibilities for financialized actors who have established a stronghold over the markets. We analyse these processes through selected empirical examples from Finland, and argue that the financialization of eldercare in the Nordic context demands attention as we are witnessing a new configuration between the constitutional order of the welfare state, public finances, and private profit which is neither transparent, nor democratic.

Innovative Finance for Development? Vaccine Bonds and the Hidden Costs of Financialization

Innovative finance is now considered essential to mobilize the trillions projected as required to meet the sustainable development goals. The International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm), which issues vaccine bonds, is an emblematic example of innovative finance in global health and development. Since its launch in 2006, IFFIm has played a leading role in developing social bonds and funding global health, securing over $8 billion in donor commitments, and disbursing over $3 billion to date to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Adopting a follow the money approach, we set out a significant, evidence-based challenge to some of the dominant development claims around innovative development finance more widely and IFFIm in particular. We find evidence of nontrivial private profit making, hiding in plain sight, at the expense of beneficiaries and donors. Through advanced critical financial analysis, we reveal precisely who benefits and by how much. Furthermore, our analysis shows in detail how financialization reduces political control over aid, and the uneven spatial distribution of material rewards and political power. While IFFIm delivers on its claim to front-load aid commitments and makes a significant contribution to global health, the article asks whether the economic and political costs of innovative financing mechanisms are worth it. We finish by showing that alternative models for vaccine finance are possible. A postscript provides a brief account of how IFFIm has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Privatisation policy with different oligopolistic competition in the public utilities market

This study constructs an oligopoly model in public utilities sector to explore the optimal privatisation policy and the factors affecting equilibrium outcomes and explores the optimal proportion of state-owned shares. We also offer empirical evidence of China’s public utilities from 1985 to 2019 to prove the applicability of model results. The results show that, depending on product differentiation, cost variance, technical level, nationalisation, partial or full privatisation can be optimal. Improving capital efficiency increases social welfare in Model PP, but not in Model PS. Product differentiation improves social welfare at the expense of profits in SS model. In Model PM, technical improvements boost private enterprise profits but induce a decrement in social welfare. A high proportion of state-owned shares fail to improve social welfare in Model SM. In a word, the value range of parameters and competition modes in public utilities sector affect market players’ welfare distribution, which identifies with the empirical analysis of China’s public utilities development.