Enhancing Participation in Probability-Based Online Panels: Two Incentive Experiments and Their Effects on Response and Panel Recruitment

This article investigates how mail-based online panel recruitment can be facilitated through incentives. The analysis relies on two incentive experiments and their effects on panel recruitment, and the intermediate participation in the recruitment survey. The experiments were implemented in the context of the German Emigration and Remigration Panel Study and encompass two samples of randomly sampled persons. Tested incentives include a conditional lottery, conditional monetary incentives, and the combination of unconditional money-in-hand with conditional monetary incentives. For an encompassing evaluation of the link between incentives and panel recruitment, the article further assesses the incentives’ implications for demographic composition and panel recruitment unit costs. Multivariate analysis indicates that low combined incentives (€5/€5) or, where unconditional disbursement is unfeasible, high conditional incentives (€20) are most effective in enhancing panel participation. In terms of demographic bias, low combined incentives (€5/€5) and €10 conditional incentives are the favored options. The budget options from the perspective of panel recruitment include the lottery and the €10 conditional incentive which break-even at net sample sizes of 1000.

Temporal trends of adverse events and costs of nivolumab plus ipilimumab versus sunitinib in advanced renal cell carcinoma

Aims: To assess grade 3/4 adverse events (AEs) and costs of first-line nivolumab plus ipilimumab (NIVO + IPI) versus sunitinib in advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Methods: Individual patient data from the all treated population in the CheckMate 214 trial (NIVO + IPI, n = 547; sunitinib, n = 535) were used to calculate the number of AEs. AE unit costs were obtained from US 2017 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project and inflated to 2020 values. Results: The proportion of patients experiencing grade 3/4 AEs decreased over time. Patients who received NIVO + IPI had lower average per-patient all-cause grade 3/4 AE costs versus sunitinib (12-month: US$15,170 vs US$20,342; 42-month: US$19,096 vs US$27,473). Conclusion: Treatment with NIVO + IPI was associated with lower grade 3/4 AE costs than sunitinib.

CRECIMIENTO IMPULSADO POR LOS SALARIOS EN MÉXICO: UN ANÁLISIS DE REGRESIÓN UMBRAL

<p>En este artículo proponemos que la actividad económica de México puede estimularse cuando los salarios progresan en relación directa con la productividad laboral y las tasas de inflación objetivo. Para ello, aplicamos regresiones de umbral para mostrar que, después de un cierto valor, los salarios no son inflacionarios en absoluto y que, si la productividad laboral aumenta, los niveles de ocupación o empleo aumentan. Entonces, esto conlleva a un aumento en la actividad económica (considerando otras variables, a saber: los costos unitarios comparativos del trabajo en la industria manufacturera, las condiciones críticas de ocupación —precariedad—, la tasa de interés interbancaria de equilibrio y el índice de tipo de cambio real). Mostramos esto para la economía mexicana con datos mensuales del periodo 2007/01-2019/05.</p><p align="center"><strong> </strong></p><p align="center">WAGE-LED GROWTH IN MEXICO: A THRESHOLD REGRESSION ANALYSIS</p><p align="center"><strong>ABSTRACT</strong><strong></strong></p>In this article we propose that the Mexican economic activity can be boosted when there are progressive wages in direct relation to labor productivity and targeted inflation rates. To this purpose, we apply threshold regressions to show that, after a certain threshold value, wages are not inflationary at all and that, if labor productivity increases, occupation or employment levels increase. Then, this leads to an enhancement in economic activities (controlling for other variables, namely: comparative unit costs of labor in the manufacturing industry, critical employment conditions —precariousness—, the equilibrium interbank interest rate and the real exchange rate index). This is shown for the Mexican economy with monthly data during the period 2007/01-2019/05.

Efficient Crushing of Malt in Small Enterprises

Современные малые пивоваренные предприятия имеют более простое аппаратурное оснащение по сравнению с большими. Поэтому выход готовой продукции меньше, а затраты на единицу продукции выше. Важная для производства сусла стадия дробления солода и другого зернового сырья осуществляется, как правило, на 2-валковых солододробилках. Цель работы - дать сравнительный анализ различных способов дробления солода и рассмотреть возможность применения 4-валковой дробилки вместо 2-валковой на предприятии малой производительности. Проведен сравнительный анализ сусла, полученного из одной партии солода, измельченного на 2-валковой и 4-валковой дробилках. Использованы традиционные для пивоварения методы анализов. Показатели сусла, полученного из солода после дробления на 4-валковой дробилке, лучше по технологически значимым показателям: выше содержание экстракта в сусле, его степень сбраживания, диастатическая сила, стойкость пива; ниже продолжительность осахаривания, вязкость и цветность сусла. Замена 2-валковой солододробилки на 4-валковую позволит повысить выход продукта более высоких качества и потребительских свойств из единицы сырья. Modern small breweries have simpler equipment compared to large ones. Therefore, the output of finished products is less, and unit costs are higher. The stage of crushing malt and other grain raw materials, which is important for the production of wort, is carried out, as a rule, on two-roll malt grinders. The purpose of the work is to give a comparative analysis of various methods of crushing malt and to consider the possibility of using a four-roll crusher instead of a two-roll one at a low-productivity enterprise. The analysis of wort obtained from one batch of malt crushed on two-roll and four-roll crushers was carried out. Traditional methods of analysis for brewing were used. The indicators of the wort obtained from malt after crushing on a four-roll crusher are better in terms of technologically significant indicators: the extract content in the wort is higher, its degree of fermentation, diastatic strength, beer durability; the duration of saccharification, viscosity and color are lower.

An Economic Evaluation of the Impact of Using Rapport-Based Interviewing Approaches With Child Sexual Abuse Suspects

Two studies examined whether rapport-based interviewing with child sexual abuse (CSA) suspects provides greater interview yield that could result in overall cost-savings to the investigation. First, multi-level modelling was applied to 35 naturalistic CSA suspect interviews to establish whether rapport-based interviewing techniques increase “yield” – defined as information of investigative value. The Observing Rapport Based Interviewing Technique (ORBIT coding manual was used to code interviews; it includes an assessment of both interpersonal adaptive and maladaptive rapport-based interviewer engagement as well as motivational interviewing (MI) strategies. The impact of these two strands (interpersonal and MI) on extracting information of investigative value (including strengthening a case for court and safeguarding) were examined. Adaptive interpersonal strategies increased case strengthening and safeguarding yield, with motivational interviewing having the largest impact on safeguarding yield. Both strategies increase the likelihood of gaining additional types of economic yield. Maladaptive interviewer strategies reduced case strengthening and different types of economic yield. In study two, literature-based economic estimates were applied to establish the potential cost benefits from following national ORBIT rapport training. Further training in adaptive and motivational interviewing could contribute cost savings between £19 and £78 million (annual unit costs) increasing to £238–£972 million (lifetime costs) for online CSA across England and Wales; and £157–£639 million (annual unit costs) increasing to £2–£8 billion (lifetime costs) for all CSA. Failure to commit training resource to this, or an alternative strategy, could mean the cost burden attributable to maladaptive interviewing (between £1 and £6 million for online CSA and £12 and £48 million for all CSA) is not successfully averted.

Cost of TB services in healthcare facilities in Kenya (No 3)

BACKGROUND: The reduction of Kenya´s TB burden requires improving resource allocation both to and within the National TB, Leprosy and Lung Disease Program (NTLD-P). We aimed to estimate the unit costs of TB services for budgeting by NTLD-P, and allocative efficiency analyses for future National Strategic Plan (NSP) costing.METHODS: We estimated costs of all TB interventions in a sample of 20 public and private health facilities from eight counties. We calculated national-level unit costs from a health provider´s perspective using bottom-up (BU) and top-down (TD) approaches for the financial year 2017–2018 using Microsoft Excel and STATA v16.RESULTS: The mean unit cost for passive case-finding (PCF) was respectively US$38 and US$60 using the BU and TD approaches. The unit BU and TD costs of a 6-month first-line treatment (FLT) course, including monitoring tests, was respectively US$135 and US$160, while those for adult drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) treatment was respectively US$3,230.28 and US$3,926.52 for the 9-month short regimen. Intervention costs highlighted variations between BU and TD approaches. Overall, TD costs were higher than BU, as these are able to capture more costs due to inefficiency (breaks/downtime/leave).CONCLUSION: The activity-based TB unit costs form a comprehensive cost database, and the costing process has built-in capacity within the NTLD-P and international TB research networks, which will inform future TB budgeting processes.

Cost of TB services in the public and private sectors in Georgia (No 2)

BACKGROUND: Patient-centred care along with optimal financing of inpatient and outpatient services are the main priorities of the Georgia National TB Programme (NTP). This paper presents TB diagnostics and treatment unit cost, their comparison with NTP tariffs and how the study findings informed TB financing policy.METHODS: Top-down (TD) and bottom-up (BU) mean unit costs for TB interventions by episode of care were calculated. TD costs were compared with NTP tariffs, and variations in these and the unit costs cost composition between public and private facilities was assessed.RESULTS: Outpatient interventions costs exceeded NTP tariffs. Unit costs in private facilities were higher compared with public providers. There was very little difference between per-day costs for drug-susceptible treatment and NTP tariffs in case of inpatient services. Treatment day financing exceeded actual costs in the capital (public facility) for drug-resistant TB, and this was lower in the regions.CONCLUSION: Use of reliable unit costs for TB services at policy discussions led to a shift from per-day payment to a diagnosis-related group model in TB inpatient financing in 2020. A next step will be informing policy decisions on outpatient TB care financing to reduce the existing gap between funding and costs.

Economic burden of varicella in Europe in the absence of universal varicella vaccination

Background Though the disease burden of varicella in Europe has been reported previously, the economic burden is still unknown. This study estimated the economic burden of varicella in Europe in the absence of Universal Varicella Vaccination (UVV) in 2018 Euros from both payer (direct costs) and societal (direct and indirect costs) perspectives. Methods We estimated the country specific and overall annual costs of varicella in absence of UVV in 31 European countries (27 EU countries, plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom). To obtain country specific unit costs and associated healthcare utilization, we conducted a systematic literature review, searching in PubMed, EMBASE, NEED, DARE, REPEC, Open Grey, and public heath websites (1/1/1999–10/15/2019). The number of annual varicella cases, deaths, outpatient visits and hospitalizations were calculated (without UVV) based on age-specific incidence rates (Riera-Montes et al. 2017) and 2018 population data by country. Unit cost per varicella case and disease burden data were combined using stochastic modeling to estimate 2018 costs stratified by country, age and healthcare resource. Results Overall annual total costs associated with varicella were estimated to be €662,592,061 (Range: €309,552,363 to €1,015,631,760) in Europe in absence of UVV. Direct and indirect costs were estimated at €229,076,206 (Range €144,809,557 to €313,342,856) and €433,515,855 (Range €164,742,806 to €702,288,904), respectively. Total cost per case was €121.45 (direct: €41.99; indirect: €79.46). Almost half of the costs were attributed to cases in children under 5 years, owing mainly to caregiver work loss. The distribution of costs by healthcare resource was similar across countries. France and Germany accounted for 49.28% of total annual costs, most likely due to a combination of high numbers of cases and unit costs in these countries. Conclusions The economic burden of varicella across Europe in the absence of UVV is substantial (over 600 M€), primarily driven by caregiver burden including work productivity losses.

Can standardisation of the unit costs of wood extraction be applied in the financial system of the State Forests?

The paper presents a method for grouping forest districts that are characterised by similar natural and forest conditions and the results of standardisation of wood extraction costs for forest districts and regional directorates of the State Forests. The adopted standard costs referred to the costs which determine the reasonable level of costs necessary to perform a specific management task in the given natural, forest and economic conditions of forest districts. Forest districts were grouped based on the forest habitat types and the land diversity index (Wtri), which were determined with statistical methods to be the factors that shape wood extraction costs. In order to determine the standard unit costs of wood extraction, source materials for the year 2017 have been used, which had been obtained from the State Forests Information System for all forest districts in the country. The method of standardising wood extraction unit costs on the basis of forest district groups with similar natural and forest conditions was reduced in 2017 to the designation of eight uniform forest district groups in terms of forest habitat type structure and Wtri index. Standard unit costs of wood extraction, determined on the basis of the methodology presented in the paper, should be used in the State Forests’ financial system.

Costs of TB services in India (No 1)

BACKGROUND: There is a dearth of economic analysis required to support increased investment in TB in India. This study estimates the costs of TB services from a health systems´ perspective to facilitate the efficient allocation of resources by India´s National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme.METHODS: Data were collected from a multi-stage, stratified random sample of 20 facilities delivering TB services in two purposively selected states in India as per Global Health Cost Consortium standards and using Value TB Data Collection Tool. Unit costs were estimated using the top-down (TD) and bottom-up (BU) methodology and are reported in 2018 US dollars.RESULTS: Cost of delivering 50 types of TB services and four interventions varied according to costing method. Key services included sputum smear microscopy, Xpert® MTB/RIF and X-ray with an average BU costs of respectively US$2.45, US$17.36 and US$2.85. Average BU cost for bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccination, passive case-finding, TB prevention in children under 5 years using isoniazid and first-line drug treatment in new pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB cases was respectively US$0.76, US$1.62, US$2.41, US$103 and US$98.CONCLUSION: The unit cost of TB services and outputs are now available to support investment decisions, as diagnosis algorithms are reviewed and prevention or treatment for TB are expanded or updated in India.