R andomized controlled trials demonstrate that implantablecardioverter-defibrillators(ICDs)reduce mortalityincertainpatientswithsymptomaticheart failureandnohistoryof suddencardiacdeath(SCD). This trialevidencehasledtoguidelinesrecommendingplacement ofanICDforprimarySCDprevention inpatientswithheart failure meeting specific criteria. More patients are receivingICDtherapyasindicationsforthisther...

Already, the formation of the WTO did not halt the proliferation of new RTAs. There has been an enormous increase in Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) in the last twenty years. In fact, RTAs legitimacy is well recognised under GATT/WTO. By their very nature, such arrangements favour imports from members of the grouping and discriminate against imports from other countries. This departure fro...

Trade unions have an ambiguous relationship with the use of temporary agency work. A firm’s employment of agency workers may be perceived as a replacement of directly employed workers or as way to curb union power, which trade unions would oppose. Alternatively, trade unions may encourage the (temporary) employment of agency workers in a firm, if they manage to bargain higher wages for their me...

Anecdotal evidence suggests that trade unions succeed in ameliorating workplace health and safety, but no attempt has been made to link specific workplace injury rates with a respective union presence. Relying on WERS98, this paper establishes a cross-sectional link between trade unions and occupational injury rates, revealing that unions gravitate to accident-prone workplaces and react by redu...

The relationship between trade unions and the unemployed is complex and, to some extent, ambiguous. The article first presents the main features of such a relationship, synthesising evidence from various cases (historical and contemporary). Then, using a Marxist dialectical approach, it looks at the features that characterise trade unions in order to explain why they act as they do towards the ...

This paper analyses the continued decline of trade unions in Britain and examines the possible implications for workers, employers, and unions themselves. Membership of trade unions declined precipitously in the 1980s and 1990s. The rate of decline has slowed in the most recent decade, but we find that unions remain vulnerable to further erosion of their membership and influence. Acknowledgemen...

Introduction We are both former Directors ofthe Bureau ofEconomics at the Federal Trade Commission, and have studied, lectured and written on the economics of the pharmaceutical industry for many years. As such, we feel obliged to submit these comments to the Commission because, in our judgment, both the Pfizer-Wyeth and Merck-Schering Plough mergers will further retard the rate of pharmaceutic...

Noting the trend toward more independent trade unions in developing countries, this article examines whether the presence of unions strengthens or weakens the benefits to be gained from economic policy reform. We show that the presence of “passive” unions—ones that choose their wage-employment contract given the firm’s cost-minimizing strategy—increases the welfare gains from trade liberalizati...