Tag: economics
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Report: Tech Industry Clusters Help Build Regional Economies
A new report from the Brookings Institution, a public policy research institute in Washington, D.C., urges the nation’s governors to create innovative new businesses in their states by building on current clusters of enterprises rather than trying to steal companies from other states. The report says this strategy, documented with examples of science and technology-based…
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U.S. Cancer Care Costs to Rise 39 Pct by 2020
The cost of caring for U.S. cancer patients is expected to rise sharply in the 2010 to 2020 decade, according to an analysis published online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The combination of population aging and rising expense rates are projected to push the cost for cancer care to $173 billion, a…
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Danish Pharma Company Restructures, Cuts Workforce
NeuroSearch, a biopharmaceutical company in Copenhagen, Denmark said today the company would restructure its operations to focus more on developing drugs for the central nervous system. This reorganization of the enterprise, says NeuroSearch, will lead to a 20 percent reduction in its workforce. The goal of the restructuring is to accelerate development of its lead…
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Engineering Prof. Computes Available Biofuel Crop Lands
A detailed land analysis by researchers at University of Illinois in Champaign found that biofuel crops cultivated on available land could produce up to half of the world’s current fuel consumption, without affecting food crops or grazing land for livestock. Engineering professor Ximing Cai and two colleagues published their findings last month in the journal…
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Report: Nanotech Can Cut Green Energy Costs
In a new report, a technology research company estimates the use of available nanotechnologies can significantly reduce the cost of producing energy from renewable sources. ABI Research in New York says that worldwide investment in renewable energy will top $2 trillion on a cumulative basis from 2010 through 2015, but over that same period using…
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Consumers Want, Will Pay for Predictive Health Tests
In a national survey conducted by researchers at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, consumers indicated they place a high value on information to predict their future health, and may be willing to pay out of pocket to get it. The they survey was funded by the Institute for Health Technology Studies. The findings appear…
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Study: Longer Drug Exclusivity Hikes Costs, Adds Approvals
A new study in the January 2011 issue of the journal Health Affairs (paid subscription required) calculates the financial and social costs of regulations that limit access to pharmaceutical companies’ clinical trial data, used in the manufacture of generic drugs. The study suggests that extending the term of exclusive access for that data would likely…
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Researchers to Study Hip Replacement, Jobs, Retirement
Researchers in Italy, the U.K., and the U.S. will study the impact of hip replacement therapy on the employment and retirement decisions of older adults. The project with participants from Università Bocconi in Milan, University of York in the U.K., and Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland is funded by a…
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Community Management Can Sustain Small Fisheries
Small-scale commercial fishing operations, the kind that often feed millions of people worldwide, can be sustained when managed cooperatively with their communities. This conclusion is drawn from a study published 5 January in the online issue of the journal Nature (paid subscription required). Nicolas Gutiérrez, a University of Washington fisheries scientist and lead author of…
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Math Model Developed for Non-Economic Power Costs
A doctoral student in Spain developed a mathematical model for calculating electrical power generation costs, including environmental and societal variables usually difficult to measure. Macarena Larrea at the University of the Basque Country in Usurbil, Spain devised the Electra II mathematical model, as she calls it, in her dissertation for a doctoral degree in engineering.…