Publications

Fear of escalating input prices in response to retail success is a commonly discussed phenomenon affecting supply chains. Such a ratchet effect arises when a retailer feels compelled to modify its investments to better serve the end customers in order to hide positive prospects and restrain future wholesale price hikes. In a two-period model of supply chain interactions, the authors dem- onstrate that such an endogenous ratchet effect can have multifaceted reverberations. A retailer fearing price hikes may be tempted to curtail near-term profits to ensure favorable long-term pricing. In response, the supplier can use deep discounts in its initial wholesale prices to convince the retailer to focus on its short-term profits rather than long-term pricing concerns. These deep discounts not only encourage mutually beneficial investments but also alleviate double marginalization inefficiencies along the supply chain. In light of these results, the authors show that a mandatory information disclosure policy to reduce the ratchet effect decreases total channel efficiency compared with no information disclosure, precisely because mandatory disclo- sure interrupts the healthy tension among supply chain partners. Thus, the model presents a scenario in which ratcheting con- cerns can create a degree of self-enforcing cooperation that results in socially beneficial responses in supply chains

Monitoring the progression of SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks requires accurate estimation of the unobservable fraction of the population infected over time in addition to the observed numbers of COVID-19 cases, as the latter present a distorted view of the pandemic due to changes in test frequency and coverage over time. The objective of this report is to describe and illustrate an approach that produces representative estimates of the unobservable cumulative incidence of infection by scaling the daily concentrations of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater from the consistent population contribution of fecal material to the sewage collection system.

A shortage of contrast material has made weighing value an urgent aspect of imaging decisions and provided a stark example of the consequences of low-value imaging for public health and health equity.