The major intent of the study was to analyze the professional preparation levels of Indiana public school certificated personnel from 1965-1966 through 1974-1975 for discernible trends and attendant economic effects, if, in fact, such trends and effects existed.Multivariate analysis of variance was utilized to analyze trends in the professional preparation levels of certificated personnel in 303 Indiana public school corporations for three variables: (1) the state as a whole; (2) three geographic regions; and (3) three wealth categories. The F-ratio for multivariate test of equality was utilized to test the significance of trends, and a Pearson Product Moment Correlation was utilized to verify that relationships did exist among the variables.The overall fiscal impact of the changing mix of preparation levels for the ten-year period was identified by multiplying the 19741975 mean, salary for each of six levels of professional preparation by the number of personnel at each level for each year of the ten-year Period. The resulting products were summed and differences computed. The fiscal impact associated with increased preparation levels was isolated by holding mean salaries and years of experience constant at 1974-1975 levels and the total number of personnel at 1974-1975 levels, with the mix of preparation levels permitted to vary by relative annual percentages for each year of the ten-year period.The findings of -the study indicated that the percentage of personnel with a bachelors degree as the highest degree held decreased from 55.88 percent in 1965-1966 to 35.91 percent in 1974-1975 while the percentage of personnel with a masters degree increased from 38.53 percent to 61.13 percent. The mean years of preparation per FTE certificated personnel increased from 4.l166 to 4.555. A very highly significant difference (.0001) was found in the mix of preparation levels of personnel across the ten-year period. Constant, linear and quadratic relationships were significant at the .05 level or above. Significant differences were not found among trends in the preparation levels for three selected geographic regions and for three selected wealth categories across the ten-year period.The following conclusions were drawn from the study:1. A very strong linear trend exists in increased preparation of Indiana public school certified personnel.2. Although the slope of the trend in increased professional preparation does not differ among northern, central and southern regions, the southern region has a slightly lower mean level of preparation than either the northern or central region.3. The slope of the trend in increased professional preparation does not differ for the three wealth categories; however certificated personnel in high wealth corporations have a slightly higher level of preparation than personnel in medium wealth corporations, and personnel in medium wealth corporations have slightly higher levels of preparation than personnel in low wealth school corporations.4. A total of approximately $156.6 million in total salary cost increases would have occurred during the ten-year period if mean salaries were the same for all ten years as in 1974-1975. 5. An estimated increase of $42.92 million or approximately 27.4-percent of the total increase, measured in current dollars, is the direct result of increased preparation levels of certificated personnel if the total number of personnel were the same for all ten years as in 1974-1975.6. At current trends of increases in preparation levels of certificated personnel, approximately four dollars per pupil in 1974-1975 dollars can be expected as an increased annual operating cost as a result of increased preparation levels of certificated personnel. Such a value will compound with inflationary increases.The strong increase in the percentage of personnel with masters or higher degrees with an accompanying decrease in the percentage of personnel with a bachelors degree provides an indication that state-mandated professional improvement has resulted in increased preparation levels of certificated personnel. A major portion. of the fiscal impact of increased preparation levels of certificated personnel can be attributed to a state mandate of increased professional certification standards.

This thesis is a theoretical study of relationships between patent races and market structure. The outcome of a patent race can be an important determinant of market structure. For example, whether or not a new firm enters a market may depend upon its winning a patent race against an incumbent firm already in that market. Moreover, market structure can be a major influence upon competition in a patent race. In the example, the asymmetry between incumbent and potential entrant has an effect upon their respective incentives in the patent race. Chapter I discusses models of R and D with uncertainty. We show that, as the degree of correlation between the uncertainties facing rival firms increases, R and D efforts increase under some, but not all, conditions, and the number of active competitors falls. Chapter II discusses the approach of representing patent races as bidding games. We examine a model in which several incumbent firms compete with a number of potential entrants in a patent race, and ask whether the incumbents have an incentive to form a joint venture to deter entry. They do so if and only if the patent does not offer a major cost improvement. In Chapter III we examine the strategic interactions between competitors during the course of a race, in an attempt to clarify (for different types of race) the idea that a race degenerates when one player becomes 'far enough ahead' of his rivals, in a sense made precise. In Chapter IV we examine the evolution of market structure in a duopoly model when there is a sequence of patent races. The nature of competition in the product market is shown to determine whether one firm becomes increasingly dominant as industry leader, or whether there is 'action - reaction' between firms.

This D.Phil, thesis undertakes a theoretical analysis of the microeconomic incentives for scientific and technical knowledge-creating activities at the firm-level, the channels by which these activities impinge on industrial change and economic growth, and the effectiveness of governmental policies formulated to influence these systemic linkages. The motivation for this work is explained in Chapter 2, which reviews the state of the art in new growth theory and puts forward a typology of privately sponsored RandD activities and knowledge resources defining the premises on which the thesis rests. Chapters 3 and 4 investigate the RandD allocation and output decisions of a profitmaximising monopolist investing in exploratory- and applications-oriented research, dealing separately with product and process innovations. The characteristic properties of the optimal time paths are ascertained by means of formal and numerical optimal control methods, including comparative dynamics. The complementarity between the two modes of research is shown to generate increasing returns, but these turn out to be short-lived. The model is extended in Chapter 5 to study the development of multiple product lines. Knowledge spillovers and demand-side externalities across successive product lines can provide the basis for continued spending on RandD, allowing sustained output growth and profitability. Chapters 6 to 8 turn to the challenges of modelling the irreducible elements of uncertainty in the innovation process and their bearing upon the dynamics of market competition and industry structure. In the sequential game theoretic model introduced, firms can invest in fundamentally uncertain "innovative-RandD," or wait until the uncertainty surrounding original innovation is dispelled and invest in certain but costly "imitative-RandD." These decisions are taken in a vertically and horizontally differentiated market where noninnovating firms can compete with a "traditional" product. The industry-wide scale of RandD investments and the related evolution in market structure are determined endogenously. To do so, a symmetric equilibrium concept is defined and its uniqueness established. The model can support Schumpeterian industry evolutions, in which surges of innovative entry are followed by waves of imitation, and ensuing "creative destruction" in which traditional producers are driven out of the industry and innovators' rents are eventually eroded. Numerical simulations are employed in Chapter 7 to provide further insights into the evolution of product development, market structure, pricing, firm growth, profitability, and consumer welfare. The final chapter considers the implications of this game theoretic approach for competition and innovation policies.

This thesis explores the role economic analysis can play in policy formulation in the British National Health Service. The historical allocation process in the NHS is based on the idea of meeting fully the 'need' for health care of each individual. However, 'need' has never been comprehensively defined nor universally applied but has been interpreted by numerous, isolated judgements, often by doctors and others at the point of delivery of the service. These decisions have been strongly influenced by local availability of resources and since these have been distributed unevenly, the result has been a wide variation in standards of service, eg hospital cases per head of population and costs per case. While the perceived objective was to give everyone all the health care 'needed', it was not necessary to consider problems of distribution, between individuals and geographical areas, or problems of effectiveness, that is the relative efficiency of different forms of intervention. However, in reality the NHS budget is constrained and a rational decision-making mechanism must incorporate a rationing device which contains a consideration of distribution and effectiveness and these aspects comprise the two parts of the thesis. PART A THE ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES BETWEEN AREAS It has been the declared objective of the NHS since its creation that health resources should be equitably distributed. However, there has always been considerable variation in the per capita expenditure of the 14 regions because the system of incremental budgeting meant that the existing level of services was always financed. Even in 1971 when a formula was introduced for hospital expenditure, 50% of revenue funds was still distributed according to factors influenced by historical provision. Moreover no consideration was given to the allocation process below regional level though it was suspected that variations sub-regionally were greater than between regions. The objective of this study is to explore the concept of an 'equitable distribution' at the disaggregated level of Area Health Authorities, to see if it can be defined and quantified in operational terns suitable for policy recommendations. 'Equal treatment opportunity for patients of similar risk' is taken as the initial definition. The re-organisation of the NHS in 1974 made it feasible to relate services to geographical Areas. Data for the Oxford region in 1971-2 were analysed and applied to the post 1974 structure. Dividing general hospital expenditure by the population of each Area gave co-efficient of variation of 20%. Tests were then applied to see if there were factors, consistent with a 'equitable distribution', which explained part of the variation. The most important factor was found to be the flow of patients across boundaries. These flows were used to derive notional catchment populations and when these were divided into expenditure, the co-efficient of variation fell to 10%. An attempt was made to see if the variation was explained by differences in the morbidity characteristics of the populations. Various indicators were considered but the age-sex structure was found to be the only discriminator for which it was possible to obtain data on differential health service use. While nationally old people make greater use of services, there was no evidence that in the Oxford region more resources had been made available to the Areas with a greater proportion of elderly. Others factors considered include the cost of regional clinical specialties, the cost of teaching hospitals, psychiatric hospital provision and community health care. (These costing exercises themselves have been a useful spin-off). At each stage of the analysis an attempt was made to relate the expenditure differences between Areas to indicators of quantity and quality of services. It was found for example that the Area with least expenditure had the lowest acute-hospital provision but not the lowest provision for the chronic sick. It was concluded that while the variation was not as great as originally suggested, nevertheless taking into account all the factors, a re-allocation of 3% of the regions expenditure would be necessary to bring about 'equality of opportunity'. However, even at this level some differences would remain. For example, if cross-boundary flows were perpetuated, some people would travel further than others to receive care, and while the special funding of teaching hospitals and regional specialties nay be justified on efficiency grounds, this conveys special benefits for local residents. Despite these reservations, in operational terms much can be done to reduce 'basic' inequalities. No work had previously been undertaken on sub-regional variations and, already, at the request of the Minister of State for Health, this analysis has been extended to all 90 Areas in England and the results have added impetus to the formation of the Resource Allocation Working Party, on which the author has served as technical adviser. PART B COST-EFFECTIVENESS ANALYSIS OF THE COMMUNITY HOSPITAL PROGRAMME The objective of this part is to examine how far analysis can help the choice of efficient methods of delivering health care. It comprises an appraisal of the Oxford region's Community Hospital (CH) Programme, a system of peripheral acute hospitals surrounding a District General Hospital (DGH). Originally a full cost-benefit study was planned but the practical problems of quantifying, valuing and aggregating benefits could not be overcome. Preliminary results suggested that differences in benefits were not measurably significant and so a cost-effectiveness approach was used. Firstly a regression analysis of the costs of 525 existing small hospitals showed that average costs vary with size, the curve being a tilted 'L' shape. The minimum cost size was 25 beds though when the sample was later disaggregated to remove hospitals which treat more complex cases this rose to 35 beds. This result was important for subsequent analysis since the two experimental CHs are in the higher cost range. Secondly the capital costs of CHs were compared with hypothetical DGH ward equivalents, arguing that with a rising population, building a CH is an alternative to building an additional DGH ward of the same size. CH construction costs were lower because less space per bed was used and certain features simplified. Land costs per bed, on the other hand, were higher because a low plot ratio was used which more than offset the relatively cheaper land on peripheral sites. The cheapest way, hov/ever, of providing CH services is to convert existing hospitals which have no alternative use and hence low opportunity cost. The main part of the cost-effectiveness exercise entailed a comparison of each component service, considered in terms of the type of patient, with the service which would have been provided without the CH. For example, surgical patients transferred after their operations would otherwise have been retained in the DGH. Some medical patients would have been treated in the DGH, others at home. No evidence was found to suggest that length of stay in the CH differed from the DGH, though this could not be proved and the conclusions were contingent on this. The CH had higher resource costs than the DGH alternative because of high nursing levels, and this was partly the result of the small scale. Also for the surgical patients the transfer by ambulance increased the cost. No account was taken of possible differences in benefits. It was concluded that the CH in-patient services could be cost-effective only if nursing staff were reduced or if converted hospital buildings with a low opportunity cost were used. A comparison of the CH service with domiciliary care entailed a detailed study of the cost of domiciliary services.

This thesis examines the technological economics of glass recycling in Britain. Attention was focused on recovery schemes operated within Scotland, comparisons being made with schemes in the rest of Britain and in Europe. An examination was made of general recycling problems and of glass recycling problems in particular. The various systems for glass recycling were reviewed and were put in the context of the waste management system as a whole. A survey was undertaken of Local Authorities operating glass recycling schemes. The aim was to provide a comprehensive data set to enable a consistent assessment of glass recovery schemes to be taken. This emphasised the importance of taking a standard approach to assessing the viability of recovery schemes. This needs to be done in terms of both private and social costs and benefits to provide a full economic assessment of the system. A general computer model has been developed to allow local authorities to check the viability of their on-going operations. As they operate under different conditions this model was split into separate assessment of a Bottle Bank scheme and a trade collection scheme. In addition, an investment appraisal model was developed to cover both situations. These allow managers to assess the viability of their schemes and can be used to highlight key costs. An International review was undertaken to see what lessons may be learned and what actions may be taken by the local authorities, industry, the general public, and by central government.

This thesis topic is the evaluation of recycled water in Crete, Greece. Recycled water is a derivative of fresh water and as such it can be regarded as a good of a similar nature to fresh water (at least for some of its uses such as irrigation). The departure point for this research was given by specific articles and principles of the 60/2000 Water Framework Directive. According to them, recycled water evaluation can be viewed as a corollary of this directive. Since Crete is a European region with intense water shortage problems, this was a good opportunity to apply the suggestions of the directive: solve the problem of water shortage internally (i. e. in Crete, with the island's own means and plans, since Crete can be regarded as a single river basin district), make the most of marginal waters while at the same time enhancing the environment. The evaluation of recycled water has been implemented through the involvement of two distinctive groups of people: farmers and consumers. Therefore, on the one hand, the research asks farmers whether they would be willing to use recycled water of certain qualities for the irrigation of olive trees and tomatoes and on the other hand, the research asks consumers whether they would be willing to use and pay for food products irrigated with recycled water. Results show there is social acquiescence on recycled water usage. This is confirmed by the correspondence of willingness to use recycled water between farmers and consumers. Conclusions from the willingness to use and willingness to pay models provide useful pricing and marketing signals for recycled water. Besides the evaluation of recycled water, another part of the research dealt with the role water plays in the production of olive oil and the confirmation of irrigation water shortages.

Extract from the introduction: The effect on the local economy of the establishment of a new University at Stirling will be equivalent to the introduction of a major new industry to the region. Given the nature of the employment offered by the new University, it is likely that there will occur a significant wave of immigration to the area. Since the growth and development of the University will have considerable repercussions on the local employment situation and on population, it is therefore necessary to provide, for practical planning purposes, a series of detailed estimates of these repercussions. With the University taking the nature of a catalyst in this situation, the main objective of the thesis is to analyse and attempt to quantify the economic effects of its development on the local economy. Equally, however, during the period of University expansion, there will be further growth from the continuing development of the local economy in its own right; the second main objective of the thesis must therefore be to study the various internal aspects of the local economy and provide from this further estimates of its growth or decline during the period. It is only by amalgamating the forecasts of both the internal and the University sources of development over the period, that final estimates can be made of the overall situation in the local economy. The provisions of these estimates should be of some interest and assistance to Local Authorities in their planning decisions for future provision of housing, schools, hospitals, roadworks etc, as well as their allocation of space for private industrial development in the area.

In this thesis, I trace the evolution of the rap market from its emergence in 1979 in New York City to its development into a national industry in 1990. I analyze the motivations of the producers of rap and the mechanisms that led to their current organization. Independent labels were the primary producers of rap records until they made distribution deals with major record companies in the second half of the eighties. I argue that the division of labor between production and distribution, which became the most common context for the production of the music, is both the result of an organizational strategy initiated by the majors and of the negative perception their executives had of rap artists.

The objective of this study was to derive new selection indices for swine production in Quebec. First economic values were derived as change in profit per market pig for a one unit change in a trait while all other traits remain unchanged. Production figures and prices used were taken from Quebec figures. Comparing with the currently used economic values, the responses showed the same range for the sire line with a higher emphasis on age to 100 kg for the new values. The same trait, response in age to 100 kg was much smaller in the maternal line for the newly derived economic values but showed higher responses for backfat and litter size. Lean yield was found to have higher responses if used directly as a selection criterion for carcass composition instead of backfat. Feed intake was found to have unfavourable responses in the maternal line but did not change the responses for the paternal line. Including farrowing interval in the maternal line resulted in favourable responses for lean yield and litter size. Regulating the backfat level using a restricted index in the dam line had no effect on the other traits in the index.

In Cuba, the act of growing flood in the city has become a way of life. Since the beginning of the "Special Period in Time of Peace", brought about by the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, Cubans have engaged in many forms of urban agriculture (UA) to cope with the food crisis affecting the Island. In Havana, the popular garden movement occupies 8% of total urban land in agriculture (3.4% of urban land) and is practiced by 18,000 gardeners who produce vegetables and fruit, and raise small livestock to increase food security and generate income. The purpose of this study was to provide estimates of the user benefits of UA, as well as qualitative and quantitative information related do this activity. The contingent valuation method (CVM) was used to elicit users' willingness to pay (WTP) for the land they use, that is currently provided at no charge by the stale. The average WTP was estimated at 23.5 pesos/1000 m2/month under current conditions and 34.4 pesos/1000 m2/month with improvements in water and anti-theft services. These amounts represent about 11% and 14% of monthly household income, respectively. Aggregate WTP for popular gardens in the city of Havana was estimated to be 6.88 million pesos/year (344,000 $US) and 10.07 million pesos/year (503,500 $US) with the proposed improvements. The study has produced important results that give an indication of the use and non-use value of UA for gardeners of Havana. Results also suggest that CVM is a non-market valuation technique that can be successfully applied in Cuba, and can provide information to be integrated in cast-benefit analysis frameworks that assess the importance of UA.