Shannon K. Mitchell

Assessing social preparedness for antiretroviral therapy in a generalized AIDS epidemic: a diffusion of innovations approach.

Researchers conducted focus groups in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa concerning AIDS and treatment options. Constituent groups included adults aged 25–45, HIV/AIDS caregivers, HIV-positive adults, nurses, rural elders, teenagers, and traditional healers. This pilot work aimed to gather early evidence on perceptions about the government’s rollout of antiretroviral treatment (ART), identify potential barriers to success, and inform a subsequent pilot survey. Diffusion of innovations theory was used to interpret the data and helped identify potential obstacles to the ART rollout. AIDS stigma and a weakened healthcare system were negatively impacting the program. There was a lack of accurate knowledge about HIV/AIDS and antiretroviral treatment, with wide disparities among groups. Many people were not convinced that antiretroviral treatment is superior to other treatments, and a few people were afraid it was poisonous. There was no evidence that people were aware of the long-term difficulties of adherence to the regimen.

GATT, Dispute Settlement and Cooperation: A Note

Kovenock and Thursbys 1992 paper in this journal argued that a countrys sense of international obligation would supplement GATTs dispute settlement procedures in enforcing the Agreement. In this note I argue that international obligation plays a necessary, not just a supplementary, role in enforcing GATT or its successor, the WTO. Copyright 1997 Blackwell Publishers Ltd..

R&D policy with layers of economic integration

Domestic R&D policy is examined in the context of four successive layers of international integration: (a) trade in intermediate and final goods, (b) trade in technologies, (c) international R&D spillovers and (d) internationally-coordinated R&D policy. Positive domestic R&D spillovers are assumed throughout. A subsidy improves welfare when there is no trade in technologies or when technologies are traded but R&D policy is internationally coordinated. However, at intermediate degrees of international integration an R&D tax or subsidy might improve welfare. Trade in technologies introduces terms-of-trade effects that increase welfare for net technology importers but reduce it for net exporters.

Government Subsidies of R&D in a Product Cycle Framework: US-Japan Simulations

The welfare effects of R&D subsidies are examined using a product cycle model of trade between two developed countries. Simulations are done for steady-state welfare in Japan and the USA for high- and low-skilled labor over different combinations of subsidy rates. Japanese subsidies to R&D usually benefit Americans owing to an increase in product variety. However, because Japanese R&D reduces wages in the US high-tech sector, American high-skilled workers are hurt if Japanese subsidies are too large. Large American subsidies may cause Japanese innovation to cease. However, Japanese steady-state welfare would be maximized in this case. Copyright 1998 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Renegotiation-Proof Tariff Agreements

The institutional features of the World Trade Organization motivate the use of renegotiation-proofness as an equilibrium concept in repeated tariff-setting games. This paper shows the existence of a renegotiation-proof equilibrium that reduces tariffs below the noncooperative level. It is found that the one-shot Nash equilibrium cannot be used as a punishment to support such treaties. Punishments are either Pareto-efficient or one country barely accepts them. If the punishing country is hurt by the punishment then punishments will be as short as possible. If the agreement tariff levels are not Pareto-efficient then one country barely goes along with the agreement. Copyright 1997 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

THE ROLE OF ECONOMIES OF SCALE IN AUSTRALIAN R&D

Australia does relatively little R&D. One possible explanation is that as a small country, Australia cannot take advantage of scale economies. A schema is provided for the role of economies of scale in R&D. Case studies from the automotive, mining, and pharmaceuticals industries show examples of successful R&D in Australia. These case studies illustrate that if Australian firms are internationally competitive, then economies of scale in production need not hamper R&D. Even when at a comparative disadvantage in producing a product, Australia may still be competitive in basic research or the initial development of ideas.