CAN FISCAL POLICY EXPLAIN TECHNICAL INEFFICIENCY OF PRIVATISED FIRMS? A PARAMETRIC AND NONPARAMETRIC APPROACH

The massive interests of economic literature about the privatisation gave a notable impulse to the discussion about this theme in the pre and post privatisation firms performance. Basically in every case after privatisation the level of profit increases. Does this mean that privatisation is certainly able to increase efficiency? In this field a large part of the literature leave out the complex problem that public firms usually are subject to objectives and constraints that differently from private firms can affect the overall economic efficiency. Unfortunately many authors ignore the effects of taxation during the process of privatisation, but in real term there are significant tax issues that must be considered by public and private decision maker. In this paper we concentrate the attention on the efficiency measures with the purpose to identify and measure sources of successful performance that can be used in policy planning and allocation of resources. Several techniques to calculate these frontier functions have been used, some of them parametric, others non-parametric to empirically investigate the relationship between taxation on firm’s income and efficiency in the period pre and post-privatisation. In this work we use both econometric and mathematical programming approaches for measuring efficiency. The econometric tool provide maximum likelihood estimates of a stochastic production and cost functions to distinguish noise from inefficiency. Instead, the mathematical programming approaches are nonstochastic and they do not make strict assumptions on the functional form of production and the statistical properties of the data. The general results obtained from the 3 different tools (Stochastic Frontier, Data Envelopment Analysis and Neural Network) are consistent. In fact, we see that privatization enhanced efficiency in three out of four sample firms.Privatization, Fiscal policy, Data Envelopment Analysis, Stochastic Frontier, Neural Network

Metabolic Emergencies Related to Diabetes Mellitus: Ketoacidosis and Hyperosmolar State

peer reviewedDiabetic ketoacidosis and hyperglycaemic hyperosmolar state are relatively frequent metabolic emergencies. Such entities complicate type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus, respectively. Diagnosis is ultimately provided by blood and urine analysis. The pathophysiology is mainly based on insulin privation regarding ketoacidosis and resistance to insulin in hyperglycaemic crisis, with an additional deleterious role of counterregulatory hormones. Prognosis of such complications remains generally severe. Management is based on insulin infusion, fluid resuscitation as well as concomitant compensation for electrolytes losses

Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Due to Copd

peer reviewedIn this paper we review the current knowledge on pulmonary hypertension (PH) occurring in COPD. PH is defined as a mean pulmonary arterial pressure at rest greater than 20 mmHg measured by right heart catheterisation. PH is usually present during exercise before appearing at rest. PH in COPD increases the risk of hospitalisation and darkens the disease prognosis. Chronic hypoxemia is the major contributor to PH, but remodelling of arterial wall and mechanical factors such as hyperinflation also play a role. Transthoracic echocardiography is the most useful non invasive investigation, but right heart catheterisation is necessary to ascertain the diagnosis. Long term 02 supplementation is the basis of the treatment while vasodilatators may worsen hypoxemia

Le cas clinique du mois : intoxication accidentelle à dose potentiellement létale d'acide borique

Peer reviewe

Reliability and validity of a new French-language triage algorithm : the ELISA scale

peer reviewe

Effects of increased afterload on left ventricular performance and mechanical efficiency are not baroreflex-mediated

peer reviewedObjective: To assess baroreflex intervention during increase in left ventricular afterload, we compared the effects of aortic banding on the intact cardiovascular system and under hexamethonium infusion. Methods: Six open-chest pigs, instrumented for measurement of aortic pressure and flow, left ventricular pressure and volume, were studied under pentobarbital-sufentanil anesthesia. Vascular arterial properties were estimated with a four-element windkessel model. Left ventricular contractility was assessed by the slope of end-systolic pressure-volume relationship. Results: The effects of aortic banding on mechanical aortic properties were unaffected by autonomic nervous system inhibition. However, increase in peripheral arterial vascular resistance and in heart rate were prevented by hexamethonium. Aortic banding increased left ventricular contractility and stroke work. Left ventricular-arterial coupling remained unchanged, but mechanical efficiency was impaired. These ventricular changes were independent of baroreflex integrity. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that an augmentation in afterload has a composite effect on left ventricular function. Left ventricular performance is increased, as demonstrated by increase in contractility and stroke work, but mechanical efficiency is decreased. These changes are observed independently of baroreflex integrity. Such mechanisms of autoregulation, independent of the autonomic nervous system, are of paramount importance in heart transplant patients. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All fights reserved