The importance of data revisions for statistical inference

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 7-24
Author(s):  
Paulina Ziembińska

The aim of the study is a quantitative analysis of revisions conducted by means of a new, real-time macroeconomic dataset for Poland, designed on the basis of the Statistical bulletin (Biuletyn statystyczny) published by Statistics Poland, covering the period from as early as 1995 until 2017. Polish data have positively verified a number of hypotheses concerning the impact of data revisions on the modelling process. Procedures assessing the properties of time series can yield widely discrepant results, depending on the extent to which the applied data have been revised. A comparison of the fitted ARIMA models for series of initial and final data demonstrates that the fitted models are similar for the majority of variables. In the cases where the form of the model is identical for both series, the coefficients retain their scale and sign. Most differences between coefficients result from a different structure of the fitted model, which causes differences in the autoregressive structure and can have a considerable impact on the ex ante inference. A prognostic experiment confirmed these observations. For a large number of variables, the total impact of revisions on the forecasting process exceeds 10%. Extreme cases, where the impact goes beyond 100%, or situations where data have a direct impact on the forecast sign, are also relatively frequent. Taking these results into account by forecasters could significantly improve the quality of their predictions. The forecast horizon has a minor impact on these conclusions. The article is a continuation of the author's work from 2017.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahmoud Fatouh ◽  
Ayowande A. McCunn

Purpose This paper aims to present a model of shareholders’ willingness to exert effort to reduce the likelihood of bank distress and the implications of the presence of contingent convertible (CoCo) bonds in the liabilities structure of a bank. Design/methodology/approach This study presents a basic model about the moral hazard surrounding shareholders willingness to exert effort that increases the likelihood of a bank’s success. This study uses a one-shot game and so do not capture the effects of repeated interactions. Findings Consistent with the existing literature, this study shows that the direction of the wealth transfer at the conversion of CoCo bonds determines their impact on shareholder risk-taking incentives. This study also finds that “anytime” CoCos (CoCo bonds trigger-able anytime at the discretion of managers) have a minor advantage over regular CoCo bonds, and that quality of capital requirements can reduce the risk-taking incentives of shareholders. Practical implications This study argues that shareholders can also use manager-specific CoCo bonds to reduce the riskiness of the bank activities. The issuance of such bonds can increase the resilience of individual banks and the whole banking system. Regulators can use restrictions on conversion rates and/or requirements on the quality of capital to address the impact of CoCo bonds issuance on risk-taking incentives. Originality/value To model the risk-taking incentives, authors generally modify the asset processes to introduce components that reflect asymmetric information between CoCo holders and shareholders and/or managers. This paper follows a simpler method similar to that of Holmström and Tirole (1998).


2004 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 90 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Natasha Posner ◽  
Sirous Momenzadeh

A swollen limb from lymphoedema is a chronic condition that has not had a high medical profile. Very little research on how it is experienced has been carried out. This paper reports on part of the results of a survey of 137 people with lymphoedema conducted among members of the Lymphoedema Association of Queensland. One of the aims of the study was to assess the degree and nature of the impact of the condition on individual lives. Responses to two open-ended questions were analysed, revealing a considerable variation in the effects of the condition from ?minimal? to ?devastating?, and a range of impacts across functional and emotional dimensions. The condition can substantially reduce mobility and capacity for many activities, cause embarrassment and distress, and make wearing normal clothes difficult, and thus can have a considerable impact on quality of life. For many, the condition is secondary to treatment for cancer, resulting from removal of lymph nodes, and develops with no prior warning or information at a time when recovery from cancer is in prospect. This can make acceptance, participation in treatment and adjustment particularly difficult. Our data map the nature of the impact of a swollen limb (or limbs) on quality of life and body image.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucia Parisi ◽  
Teresa Di Filippo ◽  
Michele Roccella

Nowadays, quality of life is receiving an increasing attention in all scientific areas. Rett syndrome (RTT) is a rare neurological development, affecting mainly females. The congenital disease affects the central nervous system, and is one of the most common causes of severe intellectual disability. The aim of our study is to evaluate the effect of RTT on the quality of life of people who are affected. Both parents of 18 subjects, all female, diagnosed with RTT, took part in the research. Quality of life was assessed using the Italian version of the Impact of Childhood Illness Scale. This scale consists of 30 questions that investigate the effect of illness on children, parents and families. For each question, the parent was asked to rate two variables: frequency and importance. Another questionnaire was administered to obtain medical history, diagnostic and therapeutic data of the persons with RTT. Our data show that RTT has a considerable impact on both the child’s development and the entire family. Parents’ answers demonstrated that their child’s illness had consequences for the child and how the family coped with it. For this reason, attention should be directed at psychological and social aspects, as well as attitudes, manners, reactions and effects such disturbances can have on the entire family.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
P Smola ◽  
M Martuszewska ◽  
A Maciak ◽  
M Duplaga

Abstract Background The rankings of physicians’ services constructed on the basis of the feedback from patients became a popular form of the appraisal of their work. The main objective of the study was the assessment of predictors of the patients’ satisfaction with services provided by physicians of selected specialities. Methods The opinions about physicians of three specialties (paediatricians (P), gynaecologists (G) and family medicine physicians (FM)) who accumulated the highest numbers of opinions, were extracted from the rankinglekarzy.pl website. Only 100 physicians of each specialty who were the most frequently scored were included. Apart from the scores on six individual criteria, the data reflecting the number of opinions (NOO), the type of medical practice (TMP), number of specialties (NS) and PhD title (PhD), as well as the location of the practice (LOP) were collected. The total score was calculated as the sum of scores assigned to individual criteria. Results The final data set consisted of 9482 opinions (4234 for P, 2057 for FM, and 3191 for G). The multivariate regression model revealed that odds of obtaining the maximum total score (MTS) depended on S, NOO, LOP, and TMP. G had higher odds of receiving the MTS than P and FM (OR, 95%CI, 0.75, 0.68-0.83, and 0.72, 0.64-0.82, respectively). MTS was less frequently received by physicians practicing in medical centres (0.56, 0.49-0.62) and hospitals (0.55; 0.44-0.70) than in private practices, but not by those practicing in more than one place (3.81, 2.78-4.21). Higher NOO was related to lower odds of receiving MTS (0.992; 0.990-0.995). Conclusions There are significant differences in patients’ assessment of services provided by physicians of three analysed specialties. The type of practice has a considerable impact on the satisfaction of patients. Interestingly, it seems also that the number of specialties and PhD title do not influence patients’ opinions about the quality of the medical doctor’s services. Key messages Internet-based rankings of physicians may be an important source of information about provided medical services. Key factors influencing patients’ opinions include specialty, the type and the location of medical practice, but not scientific a scientific title and number of specialities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 144-153
Author(s):  
Potchara Kanammit ◽  
◽  
Threechada Boonchan ◽  
Pokket Sirisreetreerux ◽  
Wit Viseshsindh ◽  
...  

Objective: To investigate the impact and the incidence of nocturia on the quality of life of patients in Ramathibodi Hospital. Materials and Methods: This study was a hospital-based cross-sectional study to measure the QoL of nocturia patients using a Nocturia Quality-of-Life questionnaire (N-QoL). Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used to explore internal consistency. Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r) was used to determine the strength of the relationship between the scores for each item. Uni- and Multivariate analyses were used to explore the significant parameters. Results: One hundred and fifty-five nocturia patient were included in the study analysis. Most of the questionnaire respondents were male (80.65%) and the vast majority had at least 1 underlying disease requiring long-term follow-up by a physician (86.45%) with a median urination of 3 times per night and a 3 hour median first urination after retiring to bed. From our study questionnaire, most patients responded that they had moderate to good quality of life with a minor inconvenience from nocturia, requiring them to nap during the day on some days. An increasing frequency of urination per night and a first urination of less than 2 hours after retiring is significantly related to low levels of energy the next day, sleep deprivation, worry over treatment options, overall inconvenience and a reduction in quality of life. Conclusion: Our study demonstrated nocturia patients experience a significant reduction in quality of life, and a decrease in quality of sleep. The incidence of urination in the night and the timing of the first urination after bed had more impact on overall quality of life.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (16) ◽  
pp. 3502
Author(s):  
Magdalena Kludacz-Alessandri ◽  
Renata Walczak ◽  
Liliana Hawrysz ◽  
Piotr Korneta

Health has a significant influence on the quality of life of a society. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many countries to implement restrictive measures to prevent its wider spread, including, inter alia, the introduction of remote healthcare in the form of teleconsultations. Therefore, there is the question of how such a change affects the quality of treatment and the primary healthcare of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. The article aims to examine patient satisfaction with the access to primary healthcare and the effectiveness of treatment in a condition of remote medical care caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We also analyse the impact of access to primary healthcare on the treatment effectiveness. Patient satisfaction was measured using a questionnaire assessing the quality of primary medical care. Of the 36 items studied, seven were related to the accessibility dimension and four were related to the treatment effectiveness dimension. Our results suggest that the treatment effectiveness and the access to primary healthcare services during the COVID-19 pandemic through telemedicine are quite highly rated by patients. Hence, further implementation of telemedicine in primary healthcare should improve the quality of lives of the wide society. We have also identified the access to primary healthcare has a considerable impact on the treatment effectiveness. Therefore, we recommend increasing the contact between patients and GPs via telemedicine under lockdown conditions.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Kopecky ◽  
Silvia Boschetti ◽  
Jaroslav Flegr

Despite a large volume of research on the impact of religion on different aspects of life, there is still a lack of studies from post-communist countries. In the current study, we aimed to fill this gap by investigating the relationship between religion and wellbeing, physical and mental health, education, sexual behavior and biological fitness among the Czech population. We managed to collect responses from 31633 participants and divided the sample into seven categories based on the type of religious belief and denomination (nonbelievers, believers without denomination, Catholics, Evangelicals, Hussites, Buddhists, Jews). We focused on the wellbeing as our main factor, which we define as composed of a number of sub-variables: physical and mental health, economic situation, self-attractiveness and the quality of the romantic relationship. In contrast to previous studies, we found a negative correlation between religiosity and physical and mental health. On the other hand, religiosity was connected to higher fitness, higher self-rated honesty and altruism, and lower sexual activity, which is in accord with the data from the western countries. Our findings suggest that even though Czechs had experienced years of oppression during the Communist regime, religion and religious beliefs still have considerable impact on their quality of life.


2002 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel David ◽  
Mark Moore ◽  
Anca Domuta

This study directly evaluates the visibility and the impact of Romanian academic psychology on the international scene using bibliometric indicators from the PsychoINFO, the MEDLINE, and the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI). It is also intended to use this evaluation of its international impact as an indirect estimate of the quality of Romanian academic psychology and to allow a consideration of future possible directions in its development. Such information would be useful for Romanian psychology programs in making future developmental policy and would further also be informative for our international colleagues in choosing Romanian partners for various projects and for the international institutions for a better allocation of the international psychological resources. The preliminary conclusion is that although Romanian psychology is visible—an important point, considering the obstacles during the communist period—its products (i.e., publications) are still less competitive and play a minor role in international psychology. A supplementary analysis identifies the major players in Romanian academic psychology and in clinical psychology.


2009 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
É. Pouliot ◽  
C. Gariépy ◽  
M. Thériault ◽  
C. Avezard ◽  
J. Fortin ◽  
...  

The goal of this study was to evaluate the impact of winter rearing environment on the growth performance and meat quality of heavy lambs. Half of sixty-four Dorset lambs (32 males and 32 females) were raised in each of two different environments: warm and cold with average temperature of 10.9 ± 0.7 °C and -2.0 ± 5.2 °C, respectively. The lambs were slaughtered at live weights of 41-45 kg for females and 46-50 kg for males. Cold environment had no adverse effect on either growth performance or carcass quality. The rate of longissimus dorsi muscle deposition (P = 0.049) and its depth at slaughter (P = 0.027) were rather greater in lambs reared in the cold environment and a higher proportion of oxido-glycolytic fibres (P = 0.047) was also observed in this muscle. Rearing environment had only a minor effect on the organoleptic qualities, with the cold environment promoting juiciness of the meat (P = 0.043). Therefore, cold environment rearing such as used in this study represents an economic advantage for lamb producers by reducing the costs associated with the construction of insulated barns, while maintaining growth performance, as well as carcass and meat quality. Key words: Lamb, rearing environment, temperature, growth, carcass, meat quality


2016 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvia Kirchengast ◽  
Beatrix Putz

Abstract Homo sapiens is a typical cooperative breeder and grandparents are among the most important caregivers besides the mothers. Grandparental investment however differs markedly between maternal and paternal grandparents but also between grandmothers and grandfathers. From an evolutionary viewpoint this differential grandparental investment is mainly explained as a result of paternity uncertainty. On the other hand emotional support and child care help from grandparents may also be associated with sociocultural factors. The present study focused on the impact of grandchild’s gender, but also grandparental age and occupation on discriminative grandparental investment, i.e. solicitude, contact frequency and quality of relationship. 272 adults persons between the age 18 and 35 years (x= 23.5yrs; ±3.7) were enrolled in the study. Patterns of grandparental investment during childhood as well as quality of the grandparent- grandchild relationship were collected retrospectively using a 57 item questionnaire. As to be expected maternal grandmothers showed the highest contact frequency and the highest solicitude while -as to be expected - the paternal grandfather exhibited the lowest degree of investment. Grandparental investment was independent of grandparent category mainly influenced by residential distance. Grandchild’s gender and sociodemographic characteristics of the grandparents in contrast had a minor impact on grandparental caregiving and contact frequency. Contrary, grandchild’s gender was related significantly with the quality of relationship and emotional closeness.


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