Proponents of hospital consolidation claim that mergers lead to significant cost savings, but there is little systematic evidence backing these claims. For a large sample of hospital mergers between 2000 and 2010, I estimate difference-in-differences models that compare cost trends at acquired hospitals to cost trends at hospitals whose ownership did not change. I find evidence of economically ...

Volker Weispfenning and his group in Passau have had a long interest in computer algebra. In this talk, REDUCE, one of the algebra programs they use, will be discussed. The development of this program began over forty years ago. We shall discuss the design decisions that have influenced its long-term survival, and the way in which the program has evolved with time.