Markups, Gaps, and the Welfare Costs of Business Fluctuations

In this paper we present a simple theory-based measure of the variations in aggregate economic efficiency: the gap between the marginal product of labor and the household s consumption/leisure tradeoff. We show that this indicator corresponds to the inverse of the markup of price over social marginal cost, and give some evidence in support of this interpretation. We then show that, with some auxilliary assumptions our gap variable may be used to measure the efficiency costs of business fluctuations. We find that the latter costs are modest on average. However, to the extent the flexible price equilibrium is distorted, the gross efficiency losses from recessions and gains from booms may be large. Indeed, we find that the major recessions involved large efficiency losses. These results hold for reasonable parameterizations of the Frisch elasticity of labor supply, the coefficient of relative risk aversion, and steady state distortions.

City of Wapello, Independent Auditor's Reports, Basic Financial Statements and Supplementary Information, Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs, June 30, 2006

City Audit Report

Procedures’ costs related to outpatient chemotherapy treatment of women suffering from breast cancer

To identify the direct cost of procedures related to an outpatient chemotherapy treatment for women with breast cancer. Method: This is a quantitative research, using the case study methodology, performed in an outpatient chemotherapy of a private hospital. The total cost was calculated by multiplying the time spent by professionals involved in therapeutic procedures, the unit cost of direct labor, adding to the cost of materials, drugs and solutions. For performing the calculations, we used the Brazilian currency (R$). Results: The average total cost per chemotherapy session corresponded to R$ 1,783.01 (100%), being R$ 1,671.66 (93,75%) spent with drugs, R$ 74,98 (4.21%) with materials, R$ 28.49 (1.60%) with labor and R$ 7.88 (0.44%) with solutions. Conclusion: The results may support discussions and decision making for the management of costs related to chemotherapy aimed at reducing expenses and eliminating waste without harm to the care provided. 


Costs of reusable and disposable aprons in a public teaching hospital

Objective To analyze the direct cost of reusable and disposable aprons in a public teaching hospital. Method Cross-sectional study of quantitative approach, focusing on the direct cost of reusable and disposable aprons at a teaching hospital in northern Paraná. The study population consisted of secondary data collected in reports of the cost of services, laundry, materials and supplies division of the institution for the year 2012 Results We identified a lower average cost of using disposable apron when compared to the reusable apron. The direct cost of reusable apron was R$ 3.06, and the steps of preparation and washing were mainly responsible for the high cost, and disposable apron cost was R$ 0.94. Conclusion The results presented are important for hospital managers properly allocate resources and manage costs in hospitals
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City of Johnston, Independent Auditor's Reports, Basic Financial Statements and Supplementary Information, Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs, June 30, 2006

City Audit Report

Perry Community School District, Independent Auditor's Reports, Basic Financial Statements and Supplementary Information, Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs, June 30, 2006

Community School District Audit Report

Report on Impacts and Costs of the Iowa Low-Income Weatherization Program, 2005

This report summarizes state and utility low-income weatherization program activity for households weatherized to completion during calendar year 2001. The report includes state, utility, and agency summaries of calendar year 2001 spending and impacts by measure, end-use, and fuel.

Report on Impacts and Costs of the Iowa Low-Income Weatherization Program, 2001

This report summarizes state and utility low-income weatherization program activity for households weatherized to completion during calendar year 2001. The report includes state, utility, and agency summaries of calendar year 2001 spending and impacts by measure, end-use, and fuel.

Report on Impacts and Costs of the Iowa Low-Income Weatherization Program, 2002

This report summarizes state and utility low-income weatherization program activity for households weatherized to completion during calendar year 2001. The report includes state, utility, and agency summaries of calendar year 2001 spending and impacts by measure, end-use, and fuel.

Report on Impacts and Costs of the Iowa Low-Income Weatherization Program, 2003

This report summarizes state and utility low-income weatherization program activity for households weatherized to completion during calendar year 2001. The report includes state, utility, and agency summaries of calendar year 2001 spending and impacts by measure, end-use, and fuel.

Report on Impacts and Costs of the Iowa Low-Income Weatherization Program, 2004

This report summarizes state and utility low-income weatherization program activity for households weatherized to completion during calendar year 2001. The report includes state, utility, and agency summaries of calendar year 2001 spending and impacts by measure, end-use, and fuel.

Beyond Smith's rule: An optimal dynamic index, rule for single machine stochastic scheduling with convex holding costs

Most research on single machine scheduling has assumedthe linearity of job holding costs, which is arguablynot appropriate in some applications. This motivates ourstudy of a model for scheduling $n$ classes of stochasticjobs on a single machine, with the objective of minimizingthe total expected holding cost (discounted or undiscounted). We allow general holding cost rates that are separable,nondecreasing and convex on the number of jobs in eachclass. We formulate the problem as a linear program overa certain greedoid polytope, and establish that it issolved optimally by a dynamic (priority) index rule,whichextends the classical Smith's rule (1956) for the linearcase. Unlike Smith's indices, defined for each class, ournew indices are defined for each extended class, consistingof a class and a number of jobs in that class, and yieldan optimal dynamic index rule: work at each time on a jobwhose current extended class has larger index. We furthershow that the indices possess a decomposition property,as they are computed separately for each class, andinterpret them in economic terms as marginal expected cost rate reductions per unit of expected processing time.We establish the results by deploying a methodology recentlyintroduced by us [J. Niño-Mora (1999). "Restless bandits,partial conservation laws, and indexability. "Forthcomingin Advances in Applied Probability Vol. 33 No. 1, 2001],based on the satisfaction by performance measures of partialconservation laws (PCL) (which extend the generalizedconservation laws of Bertsimas and Niño-Mora (1996)):PCL provide a polyhedral framework for establishing theoptimality of index policies with special structure inscheduling problems under admissible objectives, which weapply to the model of concern.

Determinants of organizational form: Transaction costs and institutions in the European trucking industry

We explain why European trucking carriers are much smaller and rely more heavily on owner-operators(as opposed to employee drivers) than their US counterparts. Our analysis begins by ruling outdifferences in technology as the source of those disparities and confirms that standard hypothesesin organizational economics, which have been shown to explain the choice of organizational form inUS industry, also apply in Europe. We then argue that the preference for subcontracting oververtical integration in Europe is the result of European institutions particularly, labor regulationand tax laws that increase the costs of vertical integration.