By David Suzuki with contributions from Senior Editor Ian Hanington David Suzuki Foundation By 2002, drivers in London, England, were spending as much as half their commuting time stalled in traffic, contributing to much of the city centre’s dangerous particulate … Continue reading →

We study the problem of pricing under a Multinomial Logit model where we incorporate network effects over the consumer's decisions. We analyse both cases, when sellers compete or collaborate. In particular, we pay special attention to the overall expected revenue and how the behaviour of the no purchase option is affected under variations of a network effect parameter. Where for example we prove that the market share for the no purchase option, is decreasing in terms of the value of the network effect, meaning that stronger communication among costumers increases the expected amount of sales. We also analyse how the customer's utility is altered when network effects are incorporated into the market, comparing the cases where both competitive and monopolistic prices are displayed. We use tools from stochastic approximation algorithms to prove that the probability of purchasing the available products converges to a unique stationary distribution. We model that the sellers can use this stationary distribution to establish their strategies. Finding that under those settings, a pure Nash Equilibrium represents the pricing strategies in the case of competition, and an optimal (that maximises the total revenue) fixed price characterise the case of collaboration.

Toontrack has announced the official list pricing information for EZbass as well as a new video presenting an in-depth look at the features of the program. As announced earlier, EZbass will be available on May 19th and is Toontrack’s highly anticipated bass software instrument as well as the next core title in the company’s widely […]

The post Toontrack announces EZbass list pricing and new in-depth video appeared first on rekkerd.org.

You can store and trade Pokémon for free with this cloud-service app when it launches next month, but premium users get expanded capabilities.

Today’s CapChat looks at three current issues. 

First, with horse death investigations underway at Santa Anita Park, three more deaths have occurred in recent days. Since December 2018, there have been a total of 42 deaths at the park. California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law in June of 2019 allowing the state to suspend horse racing at tracks with dangerous conditions. That has, as yet, not happened at Santa Anita.

Next, in a new pilot program, Uber is giving some of its driving contractors more control by letting them set their own rates. Drivers at the Sacramento, Palm Springs and Santa Barbara airports can increase rates in ten percent increments, with a cap. Depending on results, Uber could expand this to other airports. This is an effort to clarify that Uber drivers are independent, not employees, since the implementation of AB 5 on Jan. 1, 2020.

Third, with the impeachment trial underway in the U.S. Senate, the date of President Donald Trump’s State of the Union somewhat uncertain, Newsom has yet to set a date for his own annual State of the State address. 

Guests

• CapRadio State Government Reporter Scott Rodd

[Column written by Ade Brown] One of the most common questions I get asked is whether or not to use Airbnb’s pricing tips. Don’t! This is a very common mistake that new hosts make, even myself. I fell victim to Airbnb’s pricing band. While using smart pricing was great in getting my calendar filled, it […] (Click to read the full article)

Value-based pricing is the holy grail of freelancing. It’s how you make a lot of money by showing your clients that you can give them results. It’s also not easy to make the switch to this pricing structure!

Returning guest Ami Sanyal shares his DREAM framework for getting clients on board with paying you more! Ami walks you through:

• Discovery
• Repel
• Establish Packages
• Address Risk
• Money

Ami breaks down this approach, and how he was able to transform his agency with this approach! 

Want Ami’s script for this approach? Text EZGROW to 393939 for a step-by-step guide! 

Today’s links: 

• https://uncommonersclub.com/
• https://twitter.com/amisanyal
• https://easel.ly/infographicdesign
• Theme song by topmen.bandcamp.com!

–

Want to support the show?

Order a custom infographic from Easel.ly! Use this link (https://www.easel.ly/infographicdesign/) for a great price! 

Think you’d be a great fit for the show? Let me know at twitter.com/KCarCFH

Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or recommend us to a friend. It helps immensely.

Download here!

oscon: Last chance - today is the last day for #OSCON early registration pricing. Register by midnight PT to save http://t.co/E0JKpcj1Rp

(Paul Scherrer Institute) Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have collaborated with British economists to study how energy consumption by Swiss industry develops depending on energy pricing. To this end, they examined in particular the prices and consumption of both electricity and natural gas over the past decades. One result: For the most part, price increases have only long-term effects on energy consumption.

On the 1st of May, 2018 Scotland was the first country to try a new way of reducing alcohol consumption in its population. It introduced a minimum unit prices for alcohol. Now new research just published on BMJ.com is looking at the effect of that price increase - and measuring how well it has achieved the goal of reducing drinking in...

Is it possible to have a fair price for medicines? Yes, according to a new collection just published on bmj.com. The authors set out to evaluate how we could improve the functioning of the market for medicines, to honestly compensate industry for innovation, whilst allowing the poorest to afford them. Suerie Moon, co-director of global health at...

It appears that United Airlines has stopped using a classic decoy pricing approach for in-flight wifi options.

The post Decoy Pricing: Did United Airlines Fire Their Behavioral Economist? appeared first on Neuromarketing.

Lucas Pereira Lopes, Vicente Garibay Cancho, Francisco Louzada.

Source: Brazilian Journal of Probability and Statistics, Volume 33, Number 4, 801--825.

Abstract:
Multivariate options are adequate tools for multi-asset risk management. The pricing models derived from the pioneer Black and Scholes method under the multivariate case consider that the asset-object prices follow a Brownian geometric motion. However, the construction of such methods imposes some unrealistic constraints on the process of fair option calculation, such as constant volatility over the maturity time and linear correlation between the assets. Therefore, this paper aims to price and analyze the fair price behavior of the call-on-max (bivariate) option considering marginal heteroscedastic models with dependence structure modeled via copulas. Concerning inference, we adopt a Bayesian perspective and computationally intensive methods based on Monte Carlo simulations via Markov Chain (MCMC). A simulation study examines the bias, and the root mean squared errors of the posterior means for the parameters. Real stocks prices of Brazilian banks illustrate the approach. For the proposed method is verified the effects of strike and dependence structure on the fair price of the option. The results show that the prices obtained by our heteroscedastic model approach and copulas differ substantially from the prices obtained by the model derived from Black and Scholes. Empirical results are presented to argue the advantages of our strategy.

To view more press releases, please visit http://www.snl.com/irweblinkx/news.aspx?iid=1024452.

As we enter planting season for U.S. farmers, it’s a good time to look at the structure of the agricultural...

The post What The History of Soybeans Says About Pricing appeared first on OpenMarkets.

Central Bank of Chile Working Papers by Gee Hee Hong, Matthew Klepacz, Ernesto Pasten and Raphael Schoenle

Pursuant to Clearing Advisory 20-152 that was published on April 8th, the clearing house will switch the options pricing and valuation model to Bachelier to accommodate negative prices in the underlying futures and allow for listing of option contracts with negative strikes for the set of products specified in the link below. The switch will be effective for the margin cycle run at the end of trading tomorrow April 22, 2020 and will remain in place until further notice.

Click here for the full text of the advisory

20-170

To view more press releases, please visit http://ir.wintrust.com/news.aspx?iid=1024452.

The FCA has published its interim report in relation to its market study into how general insurance firms charge their customers for home and motor insurance (Interim Report). The FCA has provisionally found that the market is not working well for ...

When evaluating public cloud providers on pricing, it is easy to get hung up on the differences. AWS and Google Cloud each have their own service catalog, terminology and purchasing variations. But do these differences actually impact the final bill?

Keep on reading: Google Cloud vs. AWS: Who Has The Best Pricing?

Informa Connect-CBI’s 22nd Annual Medicaid and Government Pricing Congress
May 19-21, 2020 | Orlando, FL
www.cbinet.com/medicaidandgovernment

Exclusive Offer: Register by April 10th and save $500* (mention promo code MDCDC5).

With a volatile healthcare system combined with an election year upon us, the stakes are incredibly high for life sciences manufacturers. Staying on the pulse of industry trends, policies and regulations has never been more critical. The 22nd Annual Medicaid and Government Pricing Congress delivers critical updates and industry best practices to effectively contract, report and comply with state and federal healthcare programs. Gain timely, up-to-the-minute insights on:

• State Invoicing and Disputes
• GTN Models
• Innovative Contracting Strategies
• State Price Transparency and Reporting Requirements
• 340B Oversight and Compliance
• Preparing, Negotiating and Implementing FSS Contracts
• Bona Fide Service Fees and FMV
• And many other critical topics

Download the complete program agenda.

The 2020 agenda features 75+ speakers and 50+ sessions customizable by company type and size, as well as 10 hours of dedicated networking. Bio/pharma, regulatory and government experts representing HHS, Pfizer, Daiichi Sankyo, Sobi, Maryland Department of Health, BMS, Jazz, Novartis, Amneal, J&J, Sunovion, Gilead, VA, Granard, Insmed, UCB, Alnylam, Louisiana Department of Health, AstraZeneca, CMS, CSL Behring, Astellas, Lilly, Oklahoma Healthcare Authority, Theravance, Indivior, Sandoz, Alvogen, Takeda, OIG, AMAG, Aimmune, Exelixis, South Dakota Department of Healthcare Services, Regeneron, Sun Pharma, Teva and many others are set to drive the dynamic dialogue.

Drug Channels readers can register today and use promo code MDCDC5 to save $500.

*Discount offer valid through 4/10/2020; applies to standard rates only and may not be combined with other offers, categories, promotions or applied to an existing registration. Offer not valid on workshop-only or non-profit registrations.

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The content of Sponsored Posts does not necessarily reflect the views of Pembroke Consulting, Inc., Drug Channels, or any of its employees.

First, let me say thank you to all of the healthcare workers who are putting themselves at risk during this crisis.

As I noted last week, many of the crucial issues for our healthcare system will remain after we all get through this challenging period. In that regard, here’s a look at some noteworthy news from the past month:

• Sanofi discloses new data about insulin prices

• Excellent new academic research on list vs. net drug prices

• Three notable researchers overturn their earlier research on drug costs

• Amazon switches PBM vendors for some of its employees

Plus, we unveil the teaser trailer for Drug Channels Video!

P.S. Join the more than 9,000 followers of my daily links to neat stuff at @DrugChannels on Twitter. My recent tweets have highlighted such topics as:

• How GoodRx shares patients’ prescription data
• 2019 drug trend at Prime Therapeutics
• Controversy about the independent pharmacy market
• A new $5 generic mail order program, Medicare Part D reform
• Retail pharmacy’s future
• Job openings at Amazon 
• Frozen cookie dough
• And much more!

I have also been tweeting many under-the-radar stories about how the coronavirus affects drug channels.
Read more »

Rumor has it that Spring has finally reached our worldwide headquarters here in beautiful downtown Philadelphia. (See photo at right.) While we wait to go outside, please enjoy this month’s selection of noteworthy news:

• The outlook for drug prices

• A outstanding (and free!) resource for tracking COVID-19 daily data

• What’s up with community oncology practices?

Plus, I share my favorite chart of 2020 (so far).

P.S. Join the more than 9,200 followers of my curated links to neat stuff at @DrugChannels on Twitter. My recent tweets have highlighted: Prime Therapeutics new gene therapy offering, AmerisourceBergen’s laudable deal with the Justice Department, the Costco/Instacart deal, Rite Aid’s new CEO, clinical trial trends, vaccine pricing, and much more! I have also been tweeting under-the-radar stories about how the coronavirus is affecting drug channels.

Tomorrow (May 1), Drug Channels Institute will host the first of two live video webinars: Industry Update and COVID-19 Impact: Retail & Specialty Pharmacies. We'll host the second video webinar—Industry Update and COVID-19 Impact: PBMs & Payers—on May 8. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE AND SIGN UP. Contact Paula Fein (paula@drugchannelsinstitute.com) for our special promo codes for multiple viewing sites. DCI will donate 20% of all profits from these events to The Center for Disaster Philanthropy’s COVID-19 Response Fund.

Read more »

Newark, N.Y.-based Ultralife Corporation, formerly known as Ultralife Batteries Inc., has agreed to pay $2.7 million to resolve allegations that the battery manufacturer violated the False Claims Act.

In one of the first False Claims Act settlements involving Medicare’s Prescription Drug Program, known as Part D, RxAmerica LLC. has entered into a civil settlement agreement with the United States in which it has agreed to pay the government $5.25 million to resolve allegations that it made false submissions to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Justice Department announced today. RxAmerica, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CVS Caremark Corporation, provides prescription drug benefits to Medicare beneficiaries pursuant to a prescription drug plan.

The International Competition Network (ICN) adopted new recommended practices for predatory pricing analysis and competition assessment, and approved new work product on international merger enforcement cooperation, confidentiality protections during investigations, leniency policy and digital evidence gathering.

The Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will hold a joint public workshop to explore the economic and legal analysis of conditional pricing practices among firms in a supply chain.

The Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have issued the agenda for their joint public workshop, which will be held on June 23, 2014, to explore the economic and legal analysis of conditional pricing practices among firms in a supply chain.

The Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have extended the deadline for submitting comments on their recent Conditional Pricing Practices Workshop from Aug. 22, 2014, to Sept. 22, 2014

The perennial drug pricing debate has reached a fever pitch, as loud as it’s ever been over the past few decades. Politicians on both sides are bashing the drug industry with the typical talking points about exorbitant prices, countered of

The post Venturing A Perspective On The Drug Pricing Debate appeared first on LifeSciVC.

SECOND UPDATE: On July 8, 2019, the judge issued an order setting aside the CMS rule. The full opinion is available here.

UPDATE: On July 8, 2019, the judge in this suit is due to provide a ruling on whether the rule will take effect on July 9. The judge might issue a stay on the rule's implementation. For more details, see this report from MM&M.

On June 14, 2019, Amgen, Merck, Lilly, and the Association of National Advertisers filed a complaint challenging the CMS rule requiring TV ads to include drug pricing information.

Here's a link to the original complaint: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w5I5kvuYIedGaFGOYzl_VtzZEDFGA7vQ/view

If there is no action on this complaint, the rule will go into effect on July 9.

UPDATE 2: On August 21, 2019, the government filed a notice of appeal in this case.

UPDATE: On July 8, 2019, the judge in the pending litigation described below issued an order setting aside the CMS rule. The full opinion is available here.

If nothing changes, the new rule about including drug pricing in TV ads from CMS will go into effect one week from today on July 9, 2019.

There are a few wrinkles to keep in mind as we approach this deadline. First, there's a lawsuit pending that could delay the rule's implementation. Second, the operational challenges of abiding by the rule are the biggest hurdle including the expanded 2253 filing requirements. Third, the rule's scope is still unclear. Fourth, the rule doesn't preclude or preempt the PhRMA Principles change from April. Finally, the overlapping but non-identical scope of the rules could lead to some confusion and compliance hiccups. This post addresses each of these points in turn.

Pending Litigation

Operational Challenges 

Rule Scope Unclear

CMS Rule Adds to (Doesn't Replace) PhRMA's Pricing Requirements

TL;DR

By Karin F.R. Moore —

Dec 10, 2019

As negotiators from around the world arrived in Madrid for the second week of the 25th UN Climate Change Conference (COP-25), the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements hosted an official COP side event on Dec. 9 focusing on the potential for reducing greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions through the use of carbon pricing.

Dec 10, 2019

As negotiators from around the world arrived in Madrid for the second week of the 25th UN Climate Change Conference (COP-25), the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements hosted an official COP side event on Dec. 9 focusing on the potential for reducing greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions through the use of carbon pricing.

Jan 8, 2020

Jos Delbeke, Professor at the European University Institute in Florence and at the KU Leuven in Belgium, recounted the evolution of carbon pricing and voiced his optimism for further international efforts to combat climate change in the newest episode of “Environmental Insights: Discussions on Policy and Practice from the Harvard Environmental Economics Program.”

Think about a day in the life of a typical office worker in the Washington, D.C. area. They take Metro to get to the office on time, order lunch to be delivered from the busy restaurant down the street, purchase tickets to a weekend matinee film, and call a Lyft home as hockey fans swarm…

Tucked in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act – the sweeping economic relief package signed into law on March 27, 2020 – are a pair of provisions addressing payment for COVID-19 testing. The first of these (Sec. 3201) clarifies a requirement enacted in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, passed a week…

Tucked in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act – the sweeping economic relief package signed into law on March 27, 2020 – are a pair of provisions addressing payment for COVID-19 testing. The first of these (Sec. 3201) clarifies a requirement enacted in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, passed a week…

Carbon pricing is an important policy tool for reducing greenhouse gas pollution. The Stanford Energy Modeling Forum exercise 32 convened eleven modeling teams to project emissions, energy, and economic outcomes of an illustrative range of economy-wide carbon price policies. The study compared a coordinated reference scenario involving no new policies with policy scenarios that impose…

Traders on Thursday priced in a negative federal funds rate by December 2020, lasting at least to January 2022

Jim Cramer gets a preview of J.P. Morgan's upcoming health-care conference with the firm's top health-care analyst, Lisa Gill.

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