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This chapter considers the analysis of a cost-effectiveness dataset from an econometrics perspective. We link cost-effectiveness analysis to the net benefit regression framework and explore insights and opportunities from econometrics and their practical implications. As an empirical illustration, we compare various econometric techniques using a cost-effectiveness dataset from a published study. The chapter concludes with a discussion about implications for applied practitioners and future research directions.

This paper analyzes the impact of economic downturns on the revenue and expense sides of city financing for the period 2003 to 2009 using a convenience sample of the audited end of year financial reports for thirty midsized US cities. The analysis focuses on whether and how quickly and how extensively revenue and spending directions from past years are altered by recessions. A seven year series of Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) data serves to explore whether citiesʼ revenues and spending, especially the traditional property tax and core functions such as public safety and infrastructure withstood the brief 2001 and the persistent 2007 recessions? The findings point to consumption (spending) over stability (revenue minus expense) for the recession of 2007, particularly in 2008 and 2009.

Public and private sector managers make investment decisions under uncertainty. Economic efficiency requires that managers who wish to maximize expected utility use NPV. A field test reports that a lower proportion of public managers (20%) utilize NPV than private managers (46%). This difference is significant at p = .01 in both logistic regression and chi-square tests for three competing, but not mutually exclusive, reasons. First, taxpayers are a primary source of capital. Taxation decisions are primarily political events and inefficiency is less likely to be disciplined by capital withdrawal. Second, it is more difficult to estimate expected benefits and costs. Third, investment decisions are often the result of political, not economic, processes. The objective may not be maximization of NPV.

This study investigates the incremental value‐relevance of non‐pension postretirement benefit obligations and expenses (disclosed by firms pursuant to SFAS 106). Our study is motivated by previously published evidences that investors value the SFAS 106 measure of postretirement benefit obligations. However, prior research does not address incremental value‐relevance of the SFAS 106. We address two related questions. First, “do the SFAS 106 measures of non‐pension postretirement benefit obligations and expenses provide incremental value relevance (after controlling for information available from non‐SFAS 106 sources).” Second, “under what circumstances are the SFAS‐106 measures more likely to provide incremental value relevance.” The key findings of this paper are: (i) on average, SFAS 106 measures of postretirement benefit obligations and expenses have no significant incremental value‐relevance after controlling for non‐SFAS 106 information; and (ii) labor intensity and the magnitude of postretirement benefit obligation increases the incremental value‐relevance of SFAS 106 measures.

This study aims to explore whether the usability of user experience for mobile library application plays a mediating role in the relation between the success factors of information systems and net benefit.

The theoretical model of “information system success factor–user experience usability–net benefit” was constructed. A questionnaire was conducted at the Nankai University. The mediating effects of the usability of the mobile library application on information system success factors and net benefit were examined using hierarchical linear regression and structural equations.

First, the usability of user experiences is positively correlated to information quality, system quality and service quality. Second, user experience usability has a significant mediating effect on the relation between information system success factors and net benefit.

This study improves upon the DeLone and McLean model, connects the usability of user experience with the model and constructs the success factor mechanism of the mobile library application. It provides a theoretical basis for interpreting the relation between the mobile library application and users.

Employment rates fell dramatically between March and April 2020 as the initial shock of the COVID-19 pandemic reverberated through the US labor market. This paper uses data from the CPS Basic Monthly Files to document that the employment decline was particularly severe for immigrants. Historically, immigrant men are more likely to work than native men. The pandemic-related labor market shock eliminated the immigrant employment advantage. After this initial precipitous drop, however, the employment recovery through June 2021 was much stronger for immigrants, and particularly for undocumented immigrants. The steep drop in immigrant employment at the start of the pandemic occurred partly because immigrants were less likely to work in jobs that could be performed remotely and suffered disproportionate employment losses as only workers with remotable skills were able to continue working from home. The stronger employment recovery of undocumented immigrants, relative to that experienced by natives or legal immigrants, is mostly explained by the fact that undocumented workers were not eligible for the generous unemployment insurance (UI) benefits offered to workers during the pandemic.

This study aims to apply the information system success model (ISSM) to examine the relationships among actual use, use continuance intention, user satisfaction and net benefits in the context of quick-service restaurant (QSR) patrons using two contactless technologies (CT): self-service kiosks (SSK) and mobile applications (MA) for food ordering. The study also investigates the moderating roles of social interaction anxiety (SIA) and language proficiency (LP) in the abovementioned relationships.

Survey data from 421 QSR patrons with experience using McDonald's SSK and MA were collected and analyzed through a seemingly unrelated regressions (SUR) technique.

Research findings reveal positive associations among actual use, use continuance intention and satisfaction with CT (i.e. SSK and MA). The actual use and satisfaction with CT are positively associated with individual benefits, leading to improved patron satisfaction with QSR. Findings also reveal that, in the case of MA, SIA positively moderates relationships between actual use/satisfaction and individual benefits and between satisfaction and organizational benefit, while LP shows negative moderating effects on those relationships.

This study is one of the first attempts to present empirical evidence of constructs in the ISSM (actual use, use continuance intention, satisfaction and individual/organizational benefits) in the context of QSR patrons using SSK and MA. It also shows that using MA can address some patrons' psychological problems interacting with others in their food-ordering processes.

In this article, fiscal redistribution in the European Union (EU) of 15 member states and the enlarged EU is analyzed. Specifically, net fiscal transfers between EU member states are analyzed, i.e. which countries are net beneficiaries, which are net contributors and what factors affect countries' net fiscal balances. The results show that, at present, fiscal transfers among EU member states are partly explained by differences in countries' relative economic prosperity and partly by institutional features that systematically favor smaller EU member states. Small member states can use their overrepresentation in the Council votes to obtain more benefits than their level of economic development alone would justify. If the pre-enlargement level of redistribution is extended to include the new member states, the net costs could amount to 60 billion euros. This means that the net fiscal balance of the current member states would decrease significantly. Furthermore, the Treaty of Nice does not change the malapportionment of Council votes and European Parliament seats, which gives an advantage to small member states in bargaining for transfers