Kompal Sinha

Modelling utility weights for the Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL)-8D

AbstractPurposeThe objective of this paper is to describe the four-stage methodology used to obtain utility scores for the Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL)-8D, a 35-item 8 dimension multi-attribute utility instrument, which was created to achieve a high degree of sensitivity to psycho-social health.MethodsData for the analyses were obtained from a representative group of 347 members of the Australian public and from 323 mental health patients each of whom provided VAS and time trade-off valuations of multiple health states. Data were used initially to create multiplicative scoring algorithms for each of the instrument’s 8 dimensions and for the overall instrument. Each of the algorithms was then subject to a second-stage econometric ‘correction’.ResultsAlgorithms were successfully created for each of the AQoL-8D’s dimensions, for physical and mental ‘super-dimensions’ and for the overall AQoL-8D instrument. The final AQoL-8D algorithm has good predictive power with respect to the TTO valuations.ConclusionsThe AQoL-8D is a suitable instrument for researchers conducting cost utility analyses generally but, in particular, for the analysis of services affecting psycho-social health.

Calculating Rural-Urban Food Price Differentials from Unit Values in Household Expenditure Surveys: A Comparison with Existing Methods and A New Procedure

While purchasing power parity (PPP) between countries has received a great deal of attention, PPP calculations within countries have received less attention. The idea that one unit of currency has the same purchasing power in all regions in large countries is false. This paper addresses this limitation by proposing a methodology for calculating rural-urban PPP in India. The paper introduces a concept of item-specific PPP that exploits the analogy with an item-specific equivalence scale. The methodology relies on demographically-varying preferences to estimate PPP. The results underline the need to incorporate spatial differences in PPP calculations in countries with heterogeneous preferences. Copyright 2012, Oxford University Press.

Maximising health versus sharing: Measuring preferences for the allocation of the health budget

Empirical evidence indicates that people consider sharing health resources to be important even in the absence of the attributes usually associated with equity (age, social class, ethnicity, disease severity or geographic location). If government is to take account of these preferences then survey methods are needed which allow their measurement. The present paper presents a new technique for measuring these preferences and reports the results of a representative survey of 626 Australians which employed the technique. The online and postal survey did not include any of the attributes usually associated with equity but was designed to quantify the respective importance of sharing life years (outcome egalitarianism), resource sharing per se and the changing importance of total health as other attributes varied. Results indicate respondents were primarily concerned with outcome egalitarianism, and that cost per life year had a relatively small effect upon their allocative decisions.

Utility weights for the vision-related Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL)-7D instrument.

Purpose: To obtain utility weights consistent with the needs of economic evaluation for the Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL)-7D, a generic instrument created to increase the sensitivity of the measurement of quality of life amongst people with impaired vision. Methods: Two extant instruments were combined, the Vision-related Quality of Life Index (VisQoL) and the AQoL-6D. Utilities were obtained from patients with visual impairment and from the general population using time trade-off (TTO) methodology. Dimensions were combined and an econometric adjustment used to eliminate the effects of instrument redundancy. Bias was tested by comparison of holistic TTO values with utility scores predicted from the AQoL-7D scoring formula. Results: The AQoL-7D instrument consists of 26 items and 7 dimensions each with good psychometric properties. Their combination into a single instrument resulted in significant redundancy which was successfully eliminated. Utility formulae for both the public and patients produced bias-free estimates of the utility of holistic health states describing visual impairment. Results imply differing valuations of health states by the public and by people with impaired vision. Conclusions: The AQoL-7D can detect changes in health states affecting people with impaired vision which are likely to be overlooked by other generic instruments due to content insensitivity. The utilities it produces are generated using a “mainstream” methodology, the TTO. Quality-adjusted life year values based on the AQoL-7D may therefore be used for economic evaluation of programs.

A longitudinal study of the cost of food in Victoria influenced by geography and nutritional quality

Objective: To monitor the cost and affordability of a nutritious diet and to assess the influence of distance from the capital city and socioeconomic status on the cost of nutritious food in Victoria.

SPATIAL COMPARISONS OF PRICES AND EXPENDITURE IN A HETEROGENEOUS COUNTRY: METHODOLOGY WITH APPLICATION TO INDIA

This study addresses two significant limitations in the literature on cross-country expenditure comparisons: (a) treatment of all countries, large and small, as single entities with no spatial differences inside the countries, and (b) use of Divisia price indices, rather than preference based “exact price” indices, in the expenditure comparisons. This paper proposes alternative preference consistent methods for estimating spatial price differences in a large heterogeneous country such as India. Unlike the conventional price indices, the use of demand systems based methods allows the incorporation of price induced substitution effects between items. The paper illustrates the usefulness of the methodology by using the “exact” spatial price indices, in conjunction with the inequality sensitive welfare measure due to Sen, to rank the Indian states and examine changes in ranking duirng one of the most significant periods in independent India. The results have methodological and empirical implications that extend much beyond India.

Multidimensional deprivation in China, India and Vietnam: A comparative study on micro data

Abstract This study compares living standards in China, India and Vietnam using the recent multidimensional approach. A distinguishing feature of this study is the use of unit record datasets containing household-level information on access to a wide range of dimensions. The study uses the methodology of principal component analysis to measure household wealth. The wealth index is then used to examine the distribution of deprivation and poverty by wealth percentiles. The study distinguishes between multidimensional deprivation and multidimensional poverty and compares the living standards in these countries based on both measures. This paper also presents comparative evidence on the percentage contribution to total deprivation by the various dimensions in each country, and reports several differences between China, India and Vietnam.

Interaction between HIV awareness, knowledge, safe sex practice and HIV prevalence: evidence from Botswana.

This paper makes methodological and empirical contributions to the study of HIV in the context of Botswana, a country with high HIV prevalence. Comparable evidence is presented from India to put the Botswana results in perspective. The results point to the strong role played by affluence and education in increasing HIV knowledge, promoting safe sex and reducing HIV prevalence. The study presents African evidence on the role played by the empowerment of women in promoting safe sex practices such as condom use. The lack of significant association between HIV prevalence and safe sex practice points to the danger of HIV-infected individuals spreading the disease through multiple sex partners and unprotected sex. This danger is underlined by the finding that females with multiple sex partners are at higher risk of being infected with HIV. These results take on special policy significance in the context of Botswana, where the issue of multiple sex partners has not been adequately addressed in the programme to contain the spread of HIV.

The Effect of Introducing a Minimum Price on the Distribution of Alcohol Purchase: A Counterfactual Analysis

We use counterfactual analysis techniques to evaluate the impact of a

A unified framework for the estimation of intra and inter country food purchasing power parities: India, Indonesia and Vietnam

2 minimum unit price (MUP) on the distribution of Australian (Victorian) household off-trade alcohol purchases. Our estimates suggest that a