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Biomedical subjects

B S Ferguson

Publications and source records attributed to B S Ferguson.

13 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Can alcohol price policies be used to reduce drunk driving? Evidence from Canada.

Drunk driving is one of the more serious negative consequences of alcohol consumption. Since consumption of alcohol is sensitive to the price of alcohol, and the occurrence of drunk driving is sensitive to the level of alcohol consumption, the possibility exists for alcohol pricing policies to be used to reduce drunk driving in the population. This paper reviews the evidence on this possibility in the literature and adds results based on data from the Canadian province of Ontario. Multiple regression analysis of time series data for Ontario from 1972 to 1990 indicate that, controlling for income, the proportion of young males in the population, changes in the minimum drinking age, and other confounding variables, increasing the price of alcohol has a significant effect in reducing alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents (elasticity = - 1.2, p < .05) and alcohol-related traffic offenses (elasticity = -0.50, p < .05). Overall, the evidence strongly supports the view that alcohol tax and pricing policies can be used to reduce the extent of drunk driving.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed2000

Interpreting the rational addiction model.

The rational addiction (RA) model of Becker and Murphy (Becker GS, Murphy KM. A theory of rational addiction. J Pol Econ 1988; 96(4): 675-700) has rapidly become one of the standard models in the literature on addictive behaviour. This paper reviews some theoretical issues surrounding its use, and indicates areas in which caution should be used in applying this model.

Behavior, Addictive↗
PubMed1996

Does allowing the sale of wine in Quebec grocery stores increase consumption?

OBJECTIVE: To determine if allowing wine sales in corner grocery stores, beginning in 1978 for domestic Quebec wines and then in 1983 for imported wines, in addition to sales in government monopoly stores, led to an increase in alcohol consumption. METHOD: Aggregate retail sales data for the period 1953 to 1990 were analyzed using econometric regression techniques. Time series (unit root) analysis and structural modeling were used to take into account the effect of price, income and other social, economic and demographic factors in order to determine the effect of factors underlying consumption behavior in both the long and short term. RESULTS: In the post-intervention period, wine consumption continued along the rising trend established in the pre-intervention period, with an apparent shift in favor of domestic wine consumption. The increase in wine consumption was highest in the period immediately following privatization, but the increase eventually dampened down within a few years. There was no fundamental change in the responsiveness of wine consumption to price. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that the level of wine consumption can be controlled through price changes when alcohol availability increases through increased sales outlets.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Community-based facilities may be replacing hospitals for the treatment of alcoholism: the evidence from Ontario.

We examined hospital utilization and use of community facilities for the treatment of alcohol problems in Ontario using Statistics Canada, Hospital Medical Records Institute records, and other administrative records. Between 1974 and 1986 there was a large drop in utilization of hospital services for treatment of alcohol problems. Rates of alcohol inpatient cases in general hospitals dropped by 47% and in mental hospitals by 33%. At the same time, there was an increase in overall availability of hospital beds and bed-days of care for all medical conditions, and no change in the total number of hospital discharges (1.3 million) and occupancy rates (80-85%). Also at the same time, the number of community-based programs for the treatment of alcohol problems increased, as did the number of persons or cases treated by them. This was associated with a drop of inpatient cases treated for alcohol problems in 38 out of 48 counties in Ontario (P < .0005). Multiple regression techniques were used to take into account the effect of the slight decline in overall alcohol consumption in this period. We found that after controlling for changes in alcohol consumption, the addition of one community-based alcohol treatment program was associated with a reduction in the number of cases treated on a hospital inpatient basis for alcohol-related problems, with a short-run drop of 27.1 hospital cases within 1 year of a community facility's availability and a long-run reduction of 52.2 cases. (P < .005).

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Comparison of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and high-performance liquid chromatography for the analysis of atrazine in water from Czechoslovakia.

Twenty-two water samples from Bohemian Paradise in Czechoslovakia were analyzed for atrazine (2-chloro-4-ethylamino-6- isopropylamino-1,3,5-triazine) by enzyme immunoassay (EIA) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Three samples were drinking water, the others were creek water. The amount of atrazine found by EIA ranged from 0.2 to 12,700 ng/ml and 0.10 to 10,300 ng/ml by HPLC. Agreement between the methods was good. Nine samples containing the highest concentrations of atrazine were used to check the day-to-day reproducibility of both methods at high atrazine levels. The percent coefficients of variation (% CVs) ranged from 5.9 to 26.2 for the EIA and 1.5 to 33.2 for the HPLC. Day to day % CV values for each calibrator concentration ranged from 5.7 to 10.9 for EIA and 9.9 to 13.9 for HPLC. Sensitivity of the EIA was 0.2 ng/ml while it was 0.1 ng/ml for solid phase extraction HPLC and slightly less than 60 ng/ml for direct injection HPLC.

Atrazine↗
PubMed1990

Optimal population control with uncertain output.

"This note has shown how the techniques of stochastic control theory can be used to analyze the impact of uncertainty about non-labour inputs on optimal population control expenditure. While we have chosen very simple structure, it has allowed us to isolate the channels through which uncertainty affects the optimal plan, in this case causing expected expenditure on control to rise more slowly or fall more rapidly than its deterministic counterpart. Given the long-term implications of changes in population growth at any instant, and the stochastic nature of the environment in which control decisions are made, it is likely that useful insights could be obtained by extending the stochastic control approach to more complicated population control structures."

Demography↗
PubMed1985

Physician objectives and resource allocation.

This paper examines the theoretical incentives affecting physicians input use in the case of fee-for-service practice. It establishes that while the price taking physician, acting as a utility maximizer, may use inputs relating to his own time efficiently, he may not be efficient in his use of other inputs.

Canada↗