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Tariffs
Kinds of Tariffs Terms modified by Tariffs Selected AbstractsTHE COMMON EXTERNAL TARIFF IN A CUSTOMS UNION: VOTING, LOGROLLING, AND NATIONAL GOVERNMENT INTERESTSECONOMICS & POLITICS, Issue 3 2007SAMIA COSTA TAVARES Missing from the analysis of customs unions has been a consideration of collective decision-making by countries regarding the union's common trade policy. In the case of the common European external tariff, how governments voted was not public information. This paper uses a unique dataset to derive member states' tariff preferences, which are then used to establish the decision rule before 1987, when individual governments had veto power. Results indicate a principle of unanimity, as well as the presence of logrolling. The political equilibrium for the common external tariff is also illustrated to have shifted as a result of union enlargements. [source] OPTIMUM-WELFARE AND MAXIMUM-REVENUE TARIFFS IN MIXED OLIGOPOLY WITH FOREIGN COMPETITORSAUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC PAPERS, Issue 1 2010LEONARD F.S. WANG This paper re-examines the important tariff ranking issue under a linear mixed oligopoly model with foreign competitors and asymmetric costs. We demonstrate that under Cournot competition, when the size of domestic private and foreign private firms become more unequally distributed, optimum-welfare tariff will exceed maximum-revenue tariff. We also show that under Stackelberg competition, when the domestic government protects its domestic sector, it will levy higher optimum-welfare tariffs versus maximum-revenue tariffs; however, when it decides to open its doors more for foreign competitors, it will need to levy higher maximum-revenue tariffs versus optimum-welfare tariffs. The above results remain valid whether the domestic public firm acts as a leader or a follower. [source] Internet networking for pharmacists: an evaluation of a mailing list for UK pharmacistsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHARMACY PRACTICE, Issue 1 2003Mr. Anthony R. Cox teaching fellow Objective To analyse the content of messages to an internet mailing list for UK pharmacists and to ascertain if the list was performing a continuing professional development (CPD) function. Method For one month all messages to the main list were categorised by topic; details of the gender of the correspondent and their sector of the profession were noted. Members were surveyed using an internet questionnaire. Setting The population of subscribers to the mailing list at http:www.private-rx.com Key findings The top three categories of e-mails posted to the list were clinical pharmacy (20%), pharmacy politics (18%) and non-pharmacy chat (14%). Other subjects included legal issues, the Drug Tariff, government policy, business, risk management and e-mails of a personal and supportive nature. The survey obtained a 46% response rate. Ninety-eight per cent of respondents found the list valuable. Respondents reported increased face to face and Internet contact with other pharmacists after joining the list. Forty-four per cent of respondents said their practice had changed as a result of information gained from the mailing list. Qualitative data self-reported by respondents indicated increased self-perceived competence, confidence, knowledge and skills. Approaches to CPD had also been re-examined. Listening to peers' views and overcoming isolation was seen as important. Conclusion Private-Rx provided pharmacists with a rapid route for information gain, had perceived benefits and appeared to have brought about changes in practice. Internet discussion enables CPD without the restriction of time or place and reaches pharmacists who are under-represented in formal education programmes. [source] Arthur Farquhar on Economic Delusions: An Examination of the Case for ProtectionAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY, Issue 3 2010Article first published online: 24 JUN 2010, Thomas L. Martin Arthur Farquhar (1838,1929) was a successful manufacturer and exporter of mechanical steel farming implements who also took the time to participate in the day's free trade versus protectionism debate. His main contribution to the national tariff debate was the 1891 book Economic and Industrial Delusions: A Discussion of the Case for Protection. The book was written as a direct response to the McKinley Tariff of 1890 and is very much a polemic against the tariff by a disappointed former Republican. This article summarizes his economic analysis of the incidence of the tariff, the relationship between trade competitiveness and relative wages, and the tariff's effect on overall economic development. [source] Japanese Rice Market Liberalization: A Competitive Equilibrium ApproachTHE JAPANESE ECONOMIC REVIEW, Issue 4 2000Hiroshi Fujiki This paper quantifies the effect of Japanese rice imports on the Japanese rice market with special attention to the farmland market in the year 2000, based on information available in 1997. Tariff and quota policies do not affect the equilibrium price of rice and rent significantly, given the current acreage controls. The removal of the acreage control programme would reduce the autarky price of rice by 30%. With free importation of rice into Japan, the price of rice would be halved, and the potential increase in the consumer surplus could be 0.3% of the 1995 Japanese GDP. JEL Classification Numbers: F14, Q17, Q18. [source] The Impact of Trade Liberalization on Regional Disparities in MexicoGROWTH AND CHANGE, Issue 1 2002Javier Sánchez-Reaza After a long period of industrialization based on import substitution (ISI), Mexico started to open up its economy by accessing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1986. The export-promotion strategy was transformed into one of regional integration with the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994. The paper explores the impact of the opening of the economy on regional disparities in Mexico using , and ,-convergence analyses. Four different samples have been employed to control for possible data bias linked to the inclusion of oil-producing and maquiladora-based states. The results show that whereas the final stages of the ISI period were dominated by convergence trends, trade liberalization (GATT) and economic integration (NAFTA) have led to divergence. In particular, the NAFTA period is related to divergence regardless of the type of analysis chosen and the sample used. [source] The Power of the Chair: Formal Leadership in International CooperationINTERNATIONAL STUDIES QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2010Jonas Tallberg This article addresses the influence wielded by the formal leaders of international cooperation,those state or supranational representatives that chair and direct negotiations in the major decision bodies of multilateral organizations and conferences. This is a topic that so far has received limited systematic attention by IR theorists, who have tended to treat bargaining parties as functionally and formally equivalent, leaving little theoretical space for formal leadership. Drawing on rational choice institutionalism, I introduce a theory that develops a coherent argument for the delegation of authority to the chairmanship, the power resources of negotiation chairs, and the influence of formal leaders over outcomes. I assess the explanatory power of this theory through evidence on formal leadership in three alternative organizational settings: the European Union, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade/the World Trade Organization, and the United Nations environmental conferences. I find in favor of the chairmanship as a source of independent influence in international cooperation. Formal leaders perform functions of agenda management, brokerage, and representation that make it more likely for negotiations to succeed, and possess privileged resources that may enable them to steer negotiations toward the agreements they most prefer. [source] Bonus-Malus Scales in Segmented Tariffs With Stochastic Migration Between SegmentsJOURNAL OF RISK AND INSURANCE, Issue 4 2003Natacha Brouhns This article proposes a computer-intensive methodology to build bonus-malus scales in automobile insurance. The claim frequency model is taken from Pinquet, Guillén, and Bolancé (2001). It accounts for overdispersion, heteroskedasticity, and dependence among repeated observations. Explanatory variables are taken into account in the determination of the relativities, yielding an integrated automobile ratemaking scheme. In that respect, it complements the study of Taylor (1997). [source] VALUE CONTENT AND PRODUCTION NETWORKS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA: APPLICATION OF AFTA AND ASEAN-PLUS-ONE FTA FORMULASTHE DEVELOPING ECONOMIES, Issue 2 2009Ikuo KUROIWA C67; F15; L60 Rules of origin are an integral part of all trade rules. To be eligible for Common Effective Preferential Tariffs under the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) agreement, a product must satisfy the conditions relative to value content. The present paper seeks to calculate value content of industries in Southeast Asia, using the formula specified by the rules of origin in AFTA, the ASEAN,China FTA, the ASEAN,Korea FTA, and the ASEAN,Japan FTA. Moreover, the paper attempts to calculate true value content of industries by applying a simple technique of input,output analysis, and to estimate error margins (i.e., overestimates) in calculating value content. The paper also examines the relationship between value content and production networks. The paper finds that many industries exhibited declines in local content during the period 1990,2000, but that the geographical spread of production networks raised the proportion of inputs supplied by the neighboring ASEAN countries, so that the contribution of the cumulative rule of origin increased. [source] Countervailing Duties, Foreign Export Subsidies and Import TariffsTHE JAPANESE ECONOMIC REVIEW, Issue 2 2004Yu-Ter Wang Given that countervailing duties and import tariffs are set in different ways and for different purposes, I re-examine the relationship between countervailing duties, foreign export subsidies and import tariffs under imperfect competition. I find that (i) the optimal countervailing duty depends on the existing import tariff level; (ii) the optimal import tariff is so high that the optimal countervailing duty is zero and hence foreign export subsidization occurs; and (iii) it is more likely for countervailing duties to be imposed on a foreign firm whose government takes no action when other foreign countries reduce or eliminate their subsidies on exports. [source] Free Trade Agreements and the Prospects for Regional Integration in East AsiaASIAN ECONOMIC POLICY REVIEW, Issue 2 2006Razeen SALLY Trade policy in East Asia has switched from non-discriminatory unilateral liberalization, reinforced by General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade/World Trade Organization (GATT/WTO) commitments, to discriminatory free trade agreements (FTA). The paper surveys the FTA activity of the major regional players: China, the ASEAN countries, Japan, and South Korea. It concludes that emerging FTAs are weak and partial. A hub-and-spoke pattern of dirty FTAs will not drive regional economic integration or further integration with the global economy. Rather, it could be a force of regional economic disintegration , especially if the multilateral trading system weakens further. At the same time, FTA activity is distracting attention from the WTO, and, more fundamentally, from unilateral liberalization and domestic structural reforms. Hence, East Asian trade policies need to be rebalanced, with better-quality FTAs and more focus on the WTO. However, more important than the WTO and FTAs is a fresh spurt of unilateral liberalization and structural reform outside trade negotiations. [source] The ,Enfant Terrible': Australia and the Reconstruction of the Multilateral Trade system, 1946,8AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW, Issue 1 2000Ann Capling In recent years Australia has been recognized as a prominent player in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and its successor, the World Trade Organization (WTO). Less well known is Australia's activism during the establishment of the GATT. This article, based on archival sources and contemporary accounts, examines Australia's role in the birth of the multilateral trade system. It seeks to nuance the two conventional interpretations of this period, the first which argues that countries joined the GATT because it was in their economic interests to do so, and the second which suggests that the United States hegemony imposed its trade liberalization objectives on less powerful allies and trade partners. [source] Revenue Mobilisation in Sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges from Globalisation I , Trade ReformDEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 5 2010Michael Keen This is the first of two articles evaluating the nature and extent of, and possible responses to, two of the central challenges that globalisation poses for revenue mobilisation in sub-Saharan Africa: trade liberalisation, and corporate tax competition. Both articles use a new dataset with the features needed to address these issues meaningfully: a disentangling of tariff from commodity tax revenue, and a distinction between resource-related and other revenues. This first article describes that dataset, and provides a broad picture of revenue developments in the region between 1980 and 2005. Countries' experiences have varied, but the overall picture is of non-resource revenues having been essentially stagnant. Within this, however, and with exceptions, reductions in trade tax revenue have been largely offset by increased revenue from domestic sources. [source] How ideology shapes the evidence and the policy: what do we know about cannabis use and what should we do?ADDICTION, Issue 8 2010John Macleod ABSTRACT In the United Kingdom, as in many places, cannabis use is considered substantially within a criminal justice rather than a public health paradigm with prevention policy embodied in the Misuse of Drugs Act. In 2002 the maximum custodial sentence tariff for cannabis possession under the Act was reduced from 5 to 2 years. Vigorous and vociferous public debate followed this decision, centred principally on the question of whether cannabis use caused schizophrenia. It was suggested that new and compelling evidence supporting this hypothesis had emerged since the re-classification decision was made, meaning that the decision should be reconsidered. The re-classification decision was reversed in 2008. We consider whether the strength of evidence on the psychological harms of cannabis has changed substantially and discuss the factors that may have influenced recent public discourse and policy decisions. We also consider evidence for other harms of cannabis use and public health implications of preventing cannabis use. We conclude that the strongest evidence of a possible causal relation between cannabis use and schizophrenia emerged more than 20 years ago and that the strength of more recent evidence may have been overstated,for a number of possible reasons. We also conclude that cannabis use is almost certainly harmful, mainly because of its intimate relation to tobacco use. The most rational policy on cannabis from a public health perspective would seem to be one able to achieve the benefit of reduced use in the population while minimizing social and other costs of the policy itself. Prohibition, whatever the sentence tariff associated with it, seems unlikely to fulfil these criteria. [source] Regulation of an Open Access Essential FacilityECONOMICA, Issue 300 2008AXEL GAUTIER A vertically integrated firm owns an essential input and operates on the downstream market. There is a potential entrant in the downstream market. Both firms use the same essential input. The regulator's objectives are (i) to ensure financing of the essential input and (ii) to generate competition in the downstream market. The regulatory mechanism grants non-discriminatory access of the essential facility to the entrant provided it pays a two-part tariff to the incumbent. The optimal mechanism generates inefficient entry. The inefficient entry captures the trade-off between market efficiency and infrastructure financing resulting from incomplete information and non-discriminatory access. [source] THE COMMON EXTERNAL TARIFF IN A CUSTOMS UNION: VOTING, LOGROLLING, AND NATIONAL GOVERNMENT INTERESTSECONOMICS & POLITICS, Issue 3 2007SAMIA COSTA TAVARES Missing from the analysis of customs unions has been a consideration of collective decision-making by countries regarding the union's common trade policy. In the case of the common European external tariff, how governments voted was not public information. This paper uses a unique dataset to derive member states' tariff preferences, which are then used to establish the decision rule before 1987, when individual governments had veto power. Results indicate a principle of unanimity, as well as the presence of logrolling. The political equilibrium for the common external tariff is also illustrated to have shifted as a result of union enlargements. [source] A new transmission pricing approach for the electricity cross-border trade in the ASEAN Power GridEUROPEAN TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRICAL POWER, Issue 2 2007C. Adsoongnoen Abstract The electricity cross-border trade is presently introduced among the member countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). The ASEAN Power Grid (APG) is a plan to interconnect transmission networks among the ASEAN countries to optimize the use of energy resources; to operate the power network in an efficient, economical, and reliable manner; and to provide a close relation among the member countries by electric power interconnection. Transmission pricing is one of the controversial tasks to achieve the APG objectives. In this paper, a transmission pricing method for the electricity cross-border trade based on a combination of postage stamp method and sensitivity indices is proposed. The postage stamp pricing is a uniform tariff expected to recover the project investments, and the operation and maintenance costs. With the combination of the postage stamp method and sensitivity indices, the proposed pricing method sends proper incentive signals to power traders, which are based on system usage and congestion management. To demonstrate its effectiveness, the proposed method is applied to a 12-bus test system. The nodal tariffs at the particular injecting points, payments of the users, and revenues of transmission owners are computed. The simulation results indicate that the proposed method ensures a recovery of the investment costs and the concurrent costs of operation and maintenance in an efficient, fair, and simple manner. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] DRG prospective payment systems: refine or not refine?HEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 10 2010Elin Johanna Gudrun Hafsteinsdottir Abstract We present a model of contracting between a purchaser of health services and a provider (a hospital). We assume that hospitals provide two alternative treatments for a given diagnosis: a less intensive one (for example, a medical treatment) and a more intensive one (a surgical treatment). We assume that prices are set equal to the average cost reported by the providers, as observed in many OECD countries (yardstick competition). The purchaser has two options: (1) to set one tariff based on the diagnosis only and (2) to differentiate the tariff between the surgical and the medical treatment (i.e. to refine the tariff). We show that when tariffs are refined, the provider has always an incentive to overprovide the surgical treatment. If the tariff is not refined, the hospital underprovides the surgical treatment (and overprovides the medical treatment) if the degree of altruism is sufficiently low compared with the opportunity cost of public funds. Our main result is that price refinement might not be optimal. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Health care reform in BelgiumHEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue S1 2005Erik Schokkaert Abstract Curbing the growth of public sector health expenditures has been the proclaimed government objective in Belgium since the 1980s. However, the respect for freedom of choice for patients and for therapeutic freedom for providers has blocked the introduction of microeconomic incentives and quality control. Therefore , with some exceptions, particularly in the hospital sector , policy has consisted mainly of tariff and supply restrictions and increases in co-payments. These measures have not been successful in curbing the growth of expenditures. Moreover, there remains a large variation in medical practices. While the structure of health financing is relatively progressive from an international perspective, socioeconomic and regional inequalities in health persist. The most important challenge is the restructuring of the basic decision-making processes; i.e. a simplification of the bureaucratic procedures and a re-examination of the role of regional authorities and sickness funds. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Optimization models and solution methods for load managementINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGY RESEARCH, Issue 4 2004Stig-Inge Gustafsson Abstract The electricity market in Sweden has changed during recent years. Electricity for industrial use can now be purchased from a number of competing electricity suppliers. Hence, the price for each kilowatt-hour is significantly lower than it was just two years ago and interest in electricity conservation measures has declined. However, part of the electricity tariff, i.e. the demand cost expressed in Swedish Kronor (SEK) for each kilowatt, is almost the same as before. Attention has thereby been drawn to load management measures in order to reduce this specific cost. Saving one kWh might lead to a monetary saving of between SEK 0.22 and SEK 914; this paper demonstrates how to eliminate only those kWh that actually save a significant amount of money. A load management system has been installed in a small carpentry factory that can turn off equipment based on a pre-set priority and number of minutes each hour. The question now is what level of the electricity load is optimal in a strictly mathematical sense, i.e. how many kW should be set in the load management computer in order to maximise profitability? In this paper, we develop a mathematical model that can be used as a tool both to find the most profitable subscription level and to control the choices to be made. Numerical results from a case study are presented. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Energy conservation conflicts in district heating systemsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGY RESEARCH, Issue 1 2003Björn Rolfsman Abstract In Sweden, district heating of buildings is in common use. This paper deals with the district heating tariff. Many economists argue that the tariff should be based on short-range marginal costs, but in practice this never occurs. Traditionally instead, the prices are set so they are lower than the alternatives. A case study is presented dealing with a residential building in Navestad, Norrköping. For this building, the life-cycle cost with extra wall insulation and the introduction of a heat pump has been calculated. A comparison of two perspectives, the present tariff and a tariff-based short-range marginal cost, is done. It is shown that there is a conflict between the two perspectives. For the tariff based on short-range marginal cost, neither extra insulation nor an introduction of a heat pump is profitable. However, with the present tariff, a bivalent system with a heat pump and district heating is profitable. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Technical Barriers to Trade in the European Union: Importance for Accession CountriesJCMS: JOURNAL OF COMMON MARKET STUDIES, Issue 2 2001Paul Brenton With trade in industrial products between the EU and the countries of central and eastern Europe (CEECs) now essentially free of tariff and non-tariff restrictions, the principal impact of accession to the EU on trade flows will be through access to the single market of the EU. A key element of this will be the removal of technical barriers to trade. In this article we try to highlight the potential importance of technical barriers to trade between the EU and the various CEECs, distinguishing between sectors according to the different approaches to the removal of these barriers in the EU: mutual recognition, detailed harmonization (old approach) and minimum requirements (new approach). We use two sources of information on technical regulations: a sectoral classification from a previous study of the impact of the single market and our own detailed translation of EU product-related directives into the relevant tariff codes. The analysis suggests that the importance of technical barriers varies considerably across the CEECs. The adjustment implications of access to the single market are likely to be greatest for those most advanced in their accession negotiations. [source] Ethical issues in biotechnologies and international tradeJOURNAL OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY & BIOTECHNOLOGY, Issue 5 2002Joseph H Hulse Natural and physical sciences are based on determinable facts. What is ethical, as distinct from illegal, is largely a matter of opinion. Scientific and industrial activities related to ancient and modern biotechnologies are among the most critically scrutinised for ethical probity by social activists and journalists. The practices and products of biotechnologies should be judged both deontologically , by motivation and intention, and teleologically , by determinable consequence. Bioethical criteria have been proposed by governments, medical practitioners and philosophers for many centuries. During the past decade, various scientifically competent organisations, national and international, have formulated comprehensive protocols by which to determine effectiveness and safety of novel foods, pharmaceuticals and other biologicals, including those derived from genetically modified organisms. Means and opportunities by which to satisfy the health and nutritional needs of impoverished nations and communities differ significantly from those who enjoy greater affluence. It is distinctly unethical for Europeans and North Americans, whose food and health securities are not at risk, to impose their ethical predilections on poorer nations. Equally reprehensible are the diverse tariff and non-tariff barriers to equitable international trade, and acts of biopiracy inflicted upon poorer nations. As a wise Asian sage has observed, the planet's resources and scientific ingenuity are sufficient to satisfy everyone's need, but not everyone's greed. Present and predictable world-wide demand for bioscientists and bioengineers exceeds best estimates of supply. Systematically planned, long-term investments by governments and bioindustries to generate adequate qualified men and women are urgently needed. © 2002 Society of Chemical Industry. [source] ,Condemn a Little More, Understand a Little Less': The Political Context and Rights' Implications of the Domestic and European Rulings in the Venables-Thompson CaseJOURNAL OF LAW AND SOCIETY, Issue 3 2000Deena Haydon In 1993 Jon Venables and Robert Thompson were found guilty of the abduction and murder of two-year-old James Bulger. Aged ten at the time of the offence, the children were tried in an adult court before a judge and jury amidst a blaze of publicity. They were named by the trial judge and sentenced to detention at Her Majesty's Pleasure [HMp]. The Home Secretary set a minimum tariff of fifteen years imprisonment. In December 1999 the European Court of Human Rights held that, in the conduct of the trial and the fixing of the tariff, the United Kingdom government was responsible for violating the European Convention on Human Rights. This article maps how the case became a watershed in youth justice procedure and practice influencing Labour's proposals for reform and the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act. Examining the progression of appeals through the domestic and European courts, it explores the dichotomous philosophies separating the United Kingdom and European approaches to the age of criminal responsibility, the prosecution and punishment of children, and the influence of political policy on judicial decisions. Finally, the ,backlash' against ,threatening children', the affirmation of adult power and knowledge, and the implications of the European judgments in the context of a rights-based agenda are analysed. [source] The Determinants of Foreign Direct Investments: Sensitivity Analyses of Cross-Country RegressionsKYKLOS INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, Issue 1 2001Avik Chakrabarti A vast empirical literature has used ad hoc linear cross-country regressions to search for the determinants of FDI. The literature is extensive and controversial. Can policy-makers use this body of research to learn anything that can help them stimulate FDI? The author uses Extreme Bound Analysis (EBA) to examine if any of the conclusions from the existing studies is robust to small changes in the conditioning information set. The EBA upholds the robustness of the correlation between FDI and market-size, as measured by per-capita GDP, but indicates that the relation between FDI and many of the controversial variables (namely, tax, wage, openness, exchange rate, tariff, growth, and trade balance)bare highly sensitive to small alterations in the conditioning information set. The author also studies the distribution of the estimated coefficients of the controversial explanatory variables to rank them in order of their likelihood of their being correlated with FDI. [source] The Hopkinson tariff alternative to TOU rates in the Israel Electric CorporationMANAGERIAL AND DECISION ECONOMICS, Issue 1 2002C.K. Woo This paper determines three alternative Hopkinson tariffs to replace the Israel Electric Corporation's time-of-use (TOU) energy rate. The first apportions any system residual revenue requirement between customer classes, based on their respective historic peak demands. The second collects the same revenue as the current TOU rates. The third allocates generation revenue requirements for base-load and peaking generation plants in proportion to the base-load and peak-period energy consumption of each class, and allocates transmission and distribution revenue requirements in proportion to the connected load of each class. We show that a Hopkinson tariff with demand subscription is an attractive alternative to TOU rates, especially when quantity rationing is essential to maintaining a balance between the provision of energy and the demand for it. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Arthur Farquhar on Economic Delusions: An Examination of the Case for ProtectionAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY, Issue 3 2010Article first published online: 24 JUN 2010, Thomas L. Martin Arthur Farquhar (1838,1929) was a successful manufacturer and exporter of mechanical steel farming implements who also took the time to participate in the day's free trade versus protectionism debate. His main contribution to the national tariff debate was the 1891 book Economic and Industrial Delusions: A Discussion of the Case for Protection. The book was written as a direct response to the McKinley Tariff of 1890 and is very much a polemic against the tariff by a disappointed former Republican. This article summarizes his economic analysis of the incidence of the tariff, the relationship between trade competitiveness and relative wages, and the tariff's effect on overall economic development. [source] Latest news and product developmentsPRESCRIBER, Issue 6 2008Article first published online: 24 APR 200 Government responds to NICE report The Government has published its response to the Health Select Committee's report into NICE, broadly arguing that the Committee's recommendations are either already being dealt with or are not appropriate. The Committee recommended appraisals for all new drugs, shorter, rapid appraisals to coincide with their launch, and improved mechanisms for setting drug prices. The Government says its negotiations on the PPRS preclude a detailed response but suggests a rapid system may not be transparent or legally robust. It is exploring how high-cost drugs can be brought within the payment-by-results tariff. While defending NICE's reliance on QALYs, the Government accepts the need to explore how wider economic factors can be considered. As for the threshold cost per QALY by which NICE defines cost effectiveness, it says this is being validated scientifically and NICE will continue to determine the threshold. More topically, the Committee criticised the quality of clinical trial data available to NICE. The Government sees no need to compel pharmaceutical companies to disclose information and says NICE is already becoming more involved with research programmes. All clinical trials must be registered (confidentially) with the EU and the Government believes mandatory registration in the UK would be ineffective and illegal. Prescription charge up again from April The Government has raised the prescription charge by 25p to £7.10 per item with effect from 1 April. Prescription prepayment certificates will cost £27.85 for three months and £102.50 for 12 months. The increase, below the annual rate of inflation for the 10th successive year, will be levied on the 12 per cent of prescriptions that are liable for the charge: 5 per cent via prepayment certificates and 7 per cent from other prescriptions. The charge will generate £435 million in England in 2008/09; this excludes money from prescriptions written by dispensing doctors, which is retained by the PCT. Following criticism of the charge by the Health Select Committee, the Government says it has reviewed the charge and is now consulting on ,cost-neutral' options. MHRA safety update The MHRA warns of possible dose errors associated with Boots Medisure Domiciliary Dosage System in its latest issue of Drug Safety Update (2008;1:issue 8). One case has been reported in which incomplete sealing allowed tablets to mix between compartments. No other cases are known and the MHRA says no harm was reported but the risk is serious. The system should be carefully sealed and inspected visually and physically. The MHRA reaffirms its plans to reclassify all pseudoephedrine and ephedrine products to prescription-only status in 2009 if the new restrictions on sales do not reduce misuse. Other topics in this month's Update include revised indications for oral ketoconazole (Nizoral), restricting its use to selected conditions unresponsive to topical therapy; reformulation of the injectable antibiotic Tazocin (piperacillin plus tazobactum); the risk of peripheral neuropathy associated with pegylated interferon and telbivudine (Sebivo) in the treatment of hepatitis B; and serious adverse events associated with modafinil (Provigil). First oral anticoagulant since warfarin In January this year the EMEA issued a positive opinion to recommend marketing authorisation of the oral, fixed-dose, direct thrombin inhibitor dabigatran etexilate (Pradaxa) for the primary prevention of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in adult patients that have undergone elective knee or hip replacement surgery. Marketing authorisation for the EU (including the UK) is expected from the European Commission in the next few weeks, making dabigatran the first oral anticoagulant since warfarin was introduced in 1954. Dabigatran etexilate has been shown to be as safe and effective as enoxaparin (Clexane) with a similar adverse event profile in the noninferiority phase III RENOVATE (Lancet 2007;370: 949-56) and RE-MODEL (J Throm Haemost 2007;5:217885) trials, which investigated the efficacy and safety of dabigatran compared to enoxaparin in reducing the risk of VTE after total hip and knee surgery respectively. Dabigatran has the practical advantage over low-molecular-weight heparin of oral postoperative administration and no risk of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia and, unlike warfarin, does not require monitoring or dose titration. Risk scale predicts anticholinergic effects US investigators have developed a scale for predicting the risk of anticholinergic side-effects from older patients' medicines (Arch Intern Med 2008;168: 508-13). The scale assigns a score from 1 (low) to 3 (high) for the risk of anticholinergic effects such as dry mouth, constipation and dizziness associated with commonly prescribed medicines. Checking the scale retrospectively in older patients in residential care, a higher score was associated with a 30 per cent increased risk of side-effects after adjustment for age and number of medicines. When this was repeated prospectively in a primary-care cohort, the increased risk was 90 per cent. HRT cancer risk persists The latest analysis of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) trial of HRT shows that the small increase in the risk of cancer persists for up to three years after stopping treatment (J Am Med Assoc 2008;299:1036-45). WHI was stopped after 5.6 years' follow-up when it became clear the risks of HRT outweighed its benefits. This follow-up after a further three years (mean 2.4) involved 15 730 women. The annual risk of cardiovascular events was similar for HRT (1.97 per cent) and placebo (1.91 per cent). Cancers were more common among women who had taken HRT (1.56 vs 1.26 per cent), in particular breast cancer (0.42 vs 0.33 per cent). All-cause mortality was higher, but not statistically significantly so, with HRT (1.20 vs 1.06 per cent). Tight glycaemic control may increase falls Maintaining HbA1C at or below 6 per cent with insulin is associated with an increased risk of falls, a US study suggests (Diabetes Care 2008;31:391-6). The Health, Aging and Composition study involved 446 older people with type 2 diabetes (mean age 74) followed up for approximately five years. The incidence of falls ranged from 22 to 30 per cent annually. Comparing subgroups with HbA1C of ,6 per cent and >8 per cent, an increased risk of falls was associated with insulin use (odds ratio 4.4) but not oral hypoglycaemic drugs. Copyright © 2008 Wiley Interface Ltd [source] Countervailing Duties, Foreign Export Subsidies and Import TariffsTHE JAPANESE ECONOMIC REVIEW, Issue 2 2004Yu-Ter Wang Given that countervailing duties and import tariffs are set in different ways and for different purposes, I re-examine the relationship between countervailing duties, foreign export subsidies and import tariffs under imperfect competition. I find that (i) the optimal countervailing duty depends on the existing import tariff level; (ii) the optimal import tariff is so high that the optimal countervailing duty is zero and hence foreign export subsidization occurs; and (iii) it is more likely for countervailing duties to be imposed on a foreign firm whose government takes no action when other foreign countries reduce or eliminate their subsidies on exports. [source] The Choice of Optimal Protection under Oligopoly: Import Tariff v. Production SubsidyTHE JAPANESE ECONOMIC REVIEW, Issue 3 2002Tsuyoshi Toshimitsu Economists researching the area of optimal protection have tended to analyse the ranking of alternative policy tools in the presence of perfect competition, either when the government in an importing country achieves a non-economic target, or when there is a market distortion. Assuming international oligopolistic competition, I reconsider the choice of optimal policy instruments, i.e. an import tariff and a production subsidy. I show that the choice of optimal policy instruments depends on the relative number of home firms and foreign ones and on the magnitude of international cost differences. JEL Classification Numbers: F12, F13. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||