Can water rights trading pilot policy ensure food security in China? Based on the difference-in-differences method

Abstract Ensuring food security in China is the primary task in solving the problems of ‘agriculture, countryside, and farmers’. Based on Chinese provincial panel data from 2009 to 2018, this paper evaluates the impact of a water rights trading pilot policy (WRTPP) on food security and examines its underlying mechanism. To overcome the estimation bias existing in previous studies, we use the difference-in-differences method, which can separate time effects from policy treatment effects and is an effective tool to compare the effect before and after policy implementation. We, therefore, use this method to evaluate the net effect of the WRTPP on food security. It is found that the WRTPP can help ensure food security. This effect reaches its maximum in the fourth year after the policy's implementation. It is further found that the WRTPP can improve the adoption of agricultural water-saving irrigation technology to increase the grain yield. Our conclusions complement existing evidence on the factors influencing food security. From the perspective of improving farmers’ water-saving irrigation technology, we confirm that the mechanism of the water right trading pilot policy helps ensure food security.

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Evaluation of the impact of public investment programs on social and economic performance of territories

Voprosy Ekonomiki ◽

10.32609/0042-8736-2019-1-109-123 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 109-123

Author(s):

I. E. Limonov ◽

M. V. Nesena

Keyword(s):

Bayesian Modeling ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Public Investment ◽

Difference In Differences ◽

The Public ◽

Export Activity ◽

Regional Investment ◽

The Difference ◽

The Impact ◽

Development Institution

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of public investment programs on the socio-economic development of territories. As a case, the federal target programs for the development of regions and investment programs of the financial development institution — Vnesheconombank, designed to solve the problems of regional development are considered. The impact of the public interventions were evaluated by the “difference in differences” method using Bayesian modeling. The results of the evaluation suggest the positive impact of federal target programs on the total factor productivity of regions and on innovation; and that regional investment programs of Vnesheconombank are improving the export activity. All of the investments considered are likely to have contributed to the reduction of unemployment, but their implementation has been accompanied by an increase in social inequality.

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216. Are Automatic Antimicrobial Stop Orders an Effective Stewardship Tool for Urinary Tract and Intra-Abdominal Infections?

Open Forum Infectious Diseases ◽

10.1093/ofid/ofaa439.260 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. S110-S110

Author(s):

Christina Maguire ◽

Dusten T Rose ◽

Theresa Jaso

Keyword(s):

Urinary Tract ◽

Antimicrobial Therapy ◽

Source Control ◽

Clostridioides Difficile ◽

Days Of Therapy ◽

Before And After ◽

The Difference ◽

Tract Infections ◽

Length Of Therapy ◽

The Impact

Abstract Background Automatic antimicrobial stop orders (ASOs) are a stewardship initiative used to decrease days of therapy, prevent resistance, and reduce drug costs. Limited evidence outside of the perioperative setting exists on the effects of ASOs on broad spectrum antimicrobial use, discharge prescription duration, and effects of missed doses. This study aims to evaluate the impact of an ASO policy across a health system of adult academic and community hospitals for treatment of intra-abdominal (IAI) and urinary tract infections (UTI). ASO Outcome Definitions ASO Outcomes Methods This multicenter retrospective cohort study compared patients with IAI and UTI treated before and after implementation of an ASO. Patients over the age of 18 with a diagnosis of UTI or IAI and 48 hours of intravenous (IV) antimicrobial administration were included. Patients unable to achieve IAI source control within 48 hours or those with a concomitant infection were excluded. The primary outcome was the difference in sum length of antimicrobial therapy (LOT). Secondary endpoints include length and days of antimicrobial therapy (DOT) at multiple timepoints, all cause in hospital mortality and readmission, and adverse events such as rates of Clostridioides difficile infection. Outcomes were also evaluated by type of infection, hospital site, and presence of infectious diseases (ID) pharmacist on site. Results This study included 119 patients in the pre-ASO group and 121 patients in the post-ASO group. ASO shortened sum length of therapy (LOT) (12 days vs 11 days respectively; p=0.0364) and sum DOT (15 days vs 12 days respectively; p=0.022). This finding appears to be driven by a decrease in outpatient LOT (p=0.0017) and outpatient DOT (p=0.0034). Conversely, ASO extended empiric IV LOT (p=0.005). All other secondary outcomes were not significant. Ten patients missed doses of antimicrobials due to ASO. Subgroup analyses suggested that one hospital may have influenced outcomes and reduction in LOT was observed primarily in sites without an ID pharmacist on site (p=0.018). Conclusion While implementation of ASO decreases sum length of inpatient and outpatient therapy, it may not influence inpatient length of therapy alone. Moreover, ASOs prolong use of empiric intravenous therapy. Hospitals without an ID pharmacist may benefit most from ASO protocols. Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures

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Evaluating the Impact of Floods on Housing Price Using a Spatial Matching Difference-In-Differences (SM-DID) Approach

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13020804 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 804

Author(s):

Jean Dubé ◽

Maha AbdelHalim ◽

Nicolas Devaux

Keyword(s):

Housing Price ◽

Hedonic Pricing ◽

Environmental Amenities ◽

Sale Price ◽

Difference In Differences ◽

Hedonic Pricing Model ◽

The Difference ◽

And Control ◽

The Impact ◽

The City

Many applications have relied on the hedonic pricing model (HPM) to measure the willingness-to-pay (WTP) for urban externalities and natural disasters. The classic HPM regresses housing price on a complete list of attributes/characteristics that include spatial or environmental amenities (or disamenities), such as floods, to retrieve the gradients of the market (marginal) WTP for such externalities. The aim of this paper is to propose an innovative methodological framework that extends the causal relations based on a spatial matching difference-in-differences (SM-DID) estimator, and which attempts to calculate the difference between sale price for similar goods within “treated” and “control” groups. To demonstrate the potential of the proposed spatial matching method, the researchers present an empirical investigation based on the case of a flood event recorded in the city of Laval (Québec, Canada) in 1998, using information on transactions occurring between 1995 and 2001. The research results show that the impact of flooding brings a negative premium on the housing price of about 20,000$ Canadian (CAN).

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Institutional Reforms and Their Impact on Economic Growth and Investment in Developing Countries

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13094941 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (9) ◽

pp. 4941

Author(s):

Jin Zhao ◽

Ghulam Rasool Madni ◽

Muhammad Awais Anwar ◽

Syeda Masooma Zahra

Keyword(s):

Developing Countries ◽

Economic Prosperity ◽

Institutional Reforms ◽

Difference In Differences ◽

Human Interactions ◽

Political Reforms ◽

Vast Literature ◽

Treatment Analysis ◽

The Difference ◽

The Impact

It is widely accepted that the economic and social system may be more efficient by reforming institutions. Institutional reforms are attempts to change the rules affecting human interactions and these reforms are fundamental for development and economic prosperity. The reforms can be divided into two categories; political and economic institutional reforms. It is need of the hour to determine the category of reform that is more suitable for developing countries. Moreover, a vast literature describes the impact of institutional reforms but little focused on exploring their impacts on macroeconomic activities. So, this study is an effort to determine the impact of institutional reforms on macroeconomic variables by considering the panel data of 122 developing countries covering the time span from 1996 to 2019. The study applied treatment analysis using the difference-in-differences technique to gauge the effects of reforms. Besides, it will be interesting to know the causes triggering the institutional reforms in developing countries. The findings of the study reveal that economic reforms are more important as compared with political reforms to grow the economies. The countries focusing on political reforms are not able to overcome the economic crisis. Moreover, both types of reforms do not cause each other in these countries.

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The impact of a ‘milking the COW’ campaign in a regional hospital in Singapore

Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control ◽

10.1186/s13756-021-00948-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Surinder Kaur M. S. Pada ◽

Poh Lishi ◽

Kim Sim Ng ◽

Sarathamani Rethenam ◽

Lilibeth Silagan Alenton ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Hand Hygiene ◽

Pathogenic Bacteria ◽

Mixed Model ◽

Mixed Model Analysis ◽

Colony Forming Units ◽

Skin Flora ◽

Before And After ◽

The Difference ◽

And Control ◽

The Impact

Abstract Background Computerisation of various processes in hospitals and reliance on electronic devices raises the concern of contamination of these devices from the patient environment. We undertook this study to determine if an attached hand hygiene device that unlocks the screen of a computer on wheels (COW) on usage can be effective in decreasing the microbiological burden on computer keyboards. Methods An electronic hand sanitizer was integrated onto the COW. A prospective cohort study with a crossover design involving 2 control and 2 intervention wards was used. The study end point was the number of colony forming units found on the keyboards. Bacteria were classified into 4 main groups; pathogenic, skin flora, from the environment or those thought to be commensals in healthy individuals. We then used a mixed effects model for the statistical analysis to determine if there were any differences before and after the intervention. Results Thirty-nine keyboards were swabbed at baseline, day 7 and 14, with 234 keyboards cultured, colony forming units (CFUs) counted and organisms isolated. By mixed model analysis, the difference of mean bacteria count between intervention and control for week 1 was 32.74 (− 32.74, CI − 94.29 to 28.75, p = 0.29), for week 2 by 155.86 (− 155.86, CI − 227.45 to − 83.53, p < 0.0001), and after the 2-week period by 157.04 (− 157.04, CI − 231.53 to − 82.67, p < 0.0001). In the sub-analysis, there were significant differences of pathogenic bacteria counts for the Intervention as compared to the Control in contrast with commensal counts. Conclusion A hand hygiene device attached to a COW may be effective in decreasing the microbiological burden on computer keyboards.

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Assessment of the Construction of a Climate Resilient City: An Empirical Study Based on the Difference in Differences Model

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18042082 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (4) ◽

pp. 2082

Author(s):

Zifeng Liang

Keyword(s):

Significant Contribution ◽

Evaluation Method ◽

Regional Climate ◽

Chinese Government ◽

Infrastructure Development ◽

Grey System ◽

Difference In Differences ◽

Climate Resilience ◽

The Difference ◽

The Impact

Facing climate risks has become a common problem for mankind and a topic of great importance for the Chinese government. To thoroughly implement the overall requirements for the construction of an ecological civilization and effectively improve the capacity of cities to adapt to climate change, China launched the pilot construction of “Climate Resilient Cities” in 2017. In this paper, 16 prefecture level cities in Anhui Province of China were selected as the research objects, and the multi-level grey system evaluation method was used to measure the climate resilience of these regions. We used the difference in differences method to evaluate the effect of the pilot policy of “Climate Resilient Cities.” The pilot policies of the “Climate Resilient Cities” showed a significant contribution to the regional climate resilience, and, after isolating the impact of other factors on the regional climate resilience, the pilot policies of the “Climate Resilient Cities” increased the climate resilience of the pilot cities by four percentage points. The pilot policies of the “Climate Resilient Cities” had a significant contribution to the urban infrastructure development and ecological space optimization, as well as non-significant impacts to the urban water security, emergency management capacity-building, and science and technology innovation initiatives.

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Impact of Louisiana’s HPV Vaccine Awareness Policy on HPV Vaccination Among 13- to 17-Year-Old Females

Health Education & Behavior ◽

10.1177/1090198116684766 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 44 (4) ◽

pp. 548-558 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Dudith Pierre-Victor ◽

Mary Jo Trepka ◽

Timothy F. Page ◽

Tan Li ◽

Dionne P. Stephens ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Hpv Vaccine ◽

Hpv Vaccination ◽

Female Adolescents ◽

Physician Recommendation ◽

Vaccination Rates ◽

National Immunization ◽

Before And After ◽

The Difference ◽

Vaccine Information ◽

The Impact

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends routine human papillomavirus (HPV) immunization for 11- to 12-year-old adolescents. In 2008, Louisiana required the school boards to distribute HPV vaccine information to parents or guardian of students in Grades 6 to 12. This article investigates the impact of this policy on HPV vaccination among 13- to 17-year-old female adolescents using National Immunization Survey-Teen (NIS-Teen) data. Drawing on the data from the 2008 to 2012 NIS-Teen, we compared the difference in proportions of females who have been vaccinated before and after the policy. Using difference-indifference estimation, we explored the change in vaccination rates before and after the policy implementation in Louisiana compared with Alabama and Mississippi, two states that did not have such a policy in place. The difference-in-differences estimates for HPV vaccination were not significant. Physician recommendation for HPV vaccination was significantly associated with vaccination among females in Louisiana and Alabama (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 7.74; 95% confidence interval [CI; 5.22, 11.5]), and for those in Louisiana and Mississippi (aOR = 7.05; 95% CI [4.6, 10.5]). Compared to the proportion of female adolescents who had received physician recommendation in Alabama or Mississippi, the proportion in Louisiana did not increase significantly in the postpolicy period. HPV vaccination rates did not increase significantly in Louisiana compared to Alabama or Mississippi following the implementation of the policy. Despite Louisiana’s policy, physician recommendation remains the key determinant of HPV vaccination. HPV vaccine awareness does not necessarily result in HPV vaccination.

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A Case–Control Study Evaluating the Impact of Dedicated Palliative Care Training on Critical Care Interventions at the end of Life

Journal of Palliative Care ◽

10.1177/08258597211037436 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 082585972110374

Author(s):

Jee Y. You ◽

Lie D. Ligasaputri ◽

Adarsh Katamreddy ◽

Kiran Para ◽

Elizabeth Kavanagh ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Palliative Care ◽

Critical Care ◽

High Risk ◽

End Of Life ◽

Poor Prognosis ◽

Medical Interventions ◽

Risk Of Death ◽

Before And After ◽

The Difference ◽

The Impact

Many patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) are at high risk of dying. We hypothesize that focused training sessions for ICU providers by palliative care (PC) certified experts will decrease aggressive medical interventions at the end of life. We designed and implemented a 6-session PC training program in communication skills and goals of care (GOC) meetings for ICU teams, including house staff, critical care fellows, and attendings. We then reviewed charts of ICU patients treated before and after the intervention. Forty-nine of 177 (28%) and 63 of 173 (38%) patients were identified to be at high risk of death in the pre- and postintervention periods, respectively, and were included based on the study criteria. Inpatient mortality (45% vs 33%; P = .24) and need for mechanical ventilation (59% vs 44%, P = .13) were slightly higher in the preintervention population, but the difference was not statistically significant. The proportion of patients in whom the decision not to initiate renal replacement therapy was made because of poor prognosis was significantly higher in the postintervention population (14% vs 67%, P = .05). There was a nonstatistically significant trend toward earlier GOC discussions (median time from ICU admission to GOC 4 vs 3 days) and fewer critical care interventions such as tracheostomies (17% vs 4%, P = .19). Our study demonstrates that directed PC training of ICU teams has a potential to reduce end of life critical care interventions in patients with a poor prognosis.

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Optimal Water Allocation Based on Water Rights Transaction Models with Administered and Market-Based Systems: A Case Study of Shiyang River Basin, China

Water ◽

10.3390/w11030577 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 577 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Lizhen Wang ◽

Yong Zhao ◽

Yuefei Huang ◽

Jianhua Wang ◽

Haihong Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Resources ◽

River Basin ◽

Water Allocation ◽

Water Rights ◽

Water Saving ◽

Allocation Model ◽

Transaction Model ◽

Shiyang River Basin ◽

The Impact ◽

Optimal Water Allocation

Water-rights trade has proved to be an effective method for coping with water shortages through the transfer of water resources between users. The water allocation system is classified into two categories based on information transparency and water rights transaction goals: administered system (AS) and market-based system (MS). A multi-agent and multi-objective optimal allocation model, built on a complex adaptive system, was introduced to direct the distribution of water resources under an AS in the Shiyang River Basin; it was compared with a market-based water rights transaction model using the bulletin-board approach. Ideal economic agent equations played a dominant role in both models. The government and different water users were conceptualized as agents with different behaviors and goals in water allocation. The impact of water-saving cost on optimal water allocation was also considered. The results showed that an agent’s water-saving behavior was incentivized by high transaction prices in the water market. Under the MS, the highest bid in the quotation set had a dominant influence on how trade was conducted. A higher transaction price will, thus, result in a better benefit ratio, and a lower one will result in inactivity in terms of water rights trade. This will significantly impact the economic benefit to the basin.

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The impact of COVID 19 pandemic on pattern of cancer mortality in Najran, Saudi Arabia: a single-cancer center experience

10.21203/rs.3.rs-305960/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ahmed M Badheeb ◽

Mohamed A Badheeb ◽

Hamdi A Alhakimi

Keyword(s):

Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽

Saudi Arabia ◽

Cancer Treatment ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Cancer Mortality ◽

Cancer Center ◽

Anti Cancer ◽

Before And After ◽

The Difference ◽

The Impact

Abstract Background: The aim of this paper is to compare the patterns and determinants of cancer mortality in Najran region before and after the COVID-19 epidemics. The association between cancer mortality and each of age, sex, site of cancer, stage, and the 30-days survival rate after the last dose of chemotherapy were assessed.Materials & Methods: Adult cancer patients who died of cancer in King Khalid Hospital in Najran Saudi Arabia, were included in this retrospective observational study. We compared mortality patterns in a period of 6 months in 2020 (March to August) with the corresponding period of 2019.Results: 50 dead adult cancer patients were included, 24 in 2019 and 26 in 2020. Among them, 21% vs 42% were younger than 65 years of age; 61% vs 62% were males, for the years 2019 & 2020 respectively. The top three killers in 2019 were colorectal, gastro-esophageal cancers, and hepatocellular carcinoma, while in 2020 were colorectal, hepatocellular carcinoma, and lymphomas. About 16.7% of patients died within 30 days of receiving anti-cancer treatment in 2019 in comparison with 7.7% in 2020. The difference in the 30-days mortality after receiving anti-cancer treatment was not statistically significant between 2019 and 2020 (p = 0.329).Conclusion: The Year 2020, the time of the COVID-19pandemic, was not associated with a significant increase in short-term mortality among patients with malignancy in Najran, Saudi Arabia. Our results generally reflect the crucial role of strict preventive national measures in saving lives and warrants further exploration.

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