Deceased organ donation: comparison of opt-in versus opt-out countries

From Kidney International

Article in Press

Comparison of organ donation and transplantation rates between opt-out and opt-in systems

Adam Arshad1

,

Benjamin Anderson2

,

Adnan Sharif2,3,∗,Correspondence information about the author Adnan SharifEmail the author Adnan Sharif

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.kint.2019.01.036

Article Info

• Abstract

• Full Text

• Images
• References
• Supplemental Materials

Article Outline

1. Results
   1. Opt-out versus opt-in country stratification
   2. Differences between opt-out versus opt-in country profiles
   3. Organ donation rates (all figures per million population)
   4. Organ-specific solid organ transplantation activity (all figures per million population)
   5. Multivariate analysis
   6. Sensitivity analysis (all figures per million population)
2. Discussion
3. Methods
   1. Country selection
   2. Variables and data sources
   3. Ethics and transparency
   4. Statistical analysis
4. Disclosure
5. Supplementary Material
6. References

Studies comparing opt-out and opt-in approaches to organ donation have generally suggested higher donation and transplantation rates in countries with an opt-out strategy. We compared organ donation and transplantation rates between countries with opt-out versus opt-in systems to investigate possible differences in the contemporary era. Data were nalysed for 35 countries registered with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (17 countries classified as opt-out, 18 classified as opt-in) and obtained organ donation and transplantation rates for 2016 from the Global Observatory for Donation and Transplantation. Compared to opt-in countries, opt-out countries had fewer living donors per million population (4.8 versus 15.7, respectively) with no significant difference in deceased donors (20.3 versus 15.4, respectively). Overall, no significant difference was observed in rates of kidney (35.2 versus 42.3 respectively), non-renal (28.7 versus 20.9, respectively), or total solid organ transplantation (63.6 versus 61.7, respectively). In a multivariate linear regression model, an opt-out system was independently predictive of fewer living donors but was not associated with the number of deceased donors or with transplantation rates. Apart from the observed difference in the rates of living donation, our data demonstrate no significant difference in deceased donation or solid organ transplantation activity between opt-out versus opt-in countries. This suggests that other barriers to organ donation must be addressed, even in settings where consent for donation is presumed.

Repugnance watch: romantic relationships between faculty and graduate students

Forty plus years ago, I met and married my wife when I was an assistant professor and she was a graduate student in another department. Since then I've paid attention to changes in norms that might have made our relationship illicit, such as this recent change of policies at Princeton.

Princeton updates its policy regarding sexual and romantic relationships between faculty and graduate students
by the Office of Communications
"Princeton University has strengthened its policy regarding sexual and romantic relationships between faculty and graduate students.

"During the Faculty Meeting on Monday, April 1, faculty voted to approve a policy that prohibits all faculty from initiating or engaging in romantic or sexual relationships with graduate students. Previously, faculty were prohibited only from initiating or engaging in romantic or sexual relationships with graduate students over whom they had advising, instruction or supervisory responsibilities. The new policy includes exemptions for pre-existing relationships.

...

"Existing University policy already prohibits all romantic or sexual relationships between faculty and undergraduates.

“It is important to note that this prohibition, and therefore any disciplinary consequences, fall entirely on the faculty. That is, this policy change will not result in any disciplinary consequences for graduate students,” Dean of the Graduate School Sarah-Jane Leslie said in a statement emailed to graduate students.
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Here is the relevant paragraph from
Rules and Procedures of the Faculty of Princeton University and Other Provisions of Concern to the Faculty
As of 2019-04-03

"1. Prohibition of Consensual Relations with Students: Faculty members shall not initiate or engage in romantic or sexual behavior with undergraduate or graduate students. This prohibition encompasses both enrolled and prospective students, and includes students from other institutions who come to Princeton for pre-baccalaureate, post-baccalaureate, visiting, summer, or other programs or courses of study. For purposes of this policy, faculty members include members of the University community whose primary appointment is one of the following: tenured faculty, tenure-track faculty, nstructors, all ranks of lecturers, and visiting faculty. "

A new repugnant use of DNA information--'clarifying' Who is a Jew

The Jerusalem Post has the story:
CHIEF RABBINATE ADMITS USING DNA TESTS TO HELP DETERMINE JEWISH STATUS
Orthodox organizations denounce the use of DNA testing as contrary to Jewish law

"Chief Rabbi David Lau has admitted for the first time that the Chief Rabbinate and the state Rabbinical Courts use DNA testing in certain circumstances to help determine whether a person is Jewish.

The admission is likely to generate outrage among mainstream religious-Zionist and Modern Orthodox groups, given that Jewish law does not recognize the validity of DNA testing to prove Jewishness."

Brioni Legendary Minds: interviews and suits, and economists as clothing models

Brioni, the men's suit maker, has a series of video interviews called Legendary Minds, of unusually well dressed men. The videos are a bit unusual too, as the camera lingers on the suit at least as much as the speaker. You can watch me below:




The interview is also here:
https://www.brioni.com/us/legendary-minds-alvin-roth_section.

 Here are some of the accompanying stills:

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And here is the full set of Brioni Legendary Minds interviews to date:
https://www.brioni.com/us/legendary-minds_section

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As you might imagine, econ profs do fashion shoots all the time. Here are the stills from a slightly different one, involving clothing crafted by and for Stanford students, organized by Nina Buchmann, and featuring Muriel Niederle and myself, and Doug Bernheim.

Podcast on non-directed kidney donation as an act of effective altruism

Here's a very personal discussion  about becoming a non-directed donor.

The Neoliberal Podcast

Donating a Kidney with Dylan Matthews

"Jeremiah sits down with Dylan Matthews of Vox.com to discuss his decision to donate a kidney to a stranger, and Jeremiah's plans to do the same.  While our previous episode with Nobel prize winner Alvin Roth explored the economics of kidney markets and the details of kidney policy, this episode dives more deeply into the medical and personal side of deciding to donate a kidney."
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Dylan Matthews has his own podcast, called Future Perfect.

Stanford Urology Grand Rounds

I'll be speaking this evening at the medical school, to urologists, about kidney exchange.

Headlines that could be dated April 1

Green-haired turtle that breathes through its genitals added to endangered list
With its punky green mohican the striking Mary river turtle joins a new ZSL list of the world’s most vulnerable reptiles

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Clipping Study of Male Organ Size
Professor halts study on link between size and self-esteem, saying publicity hurt her effort.

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Sorry, Dutch Pastafarians, but you still can’t wear a colander on your government ID ... yet

"De Wilde, 32, is a Dutch law student who subscribes to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, or Pastafarianism. But this week, the Netherlands' Council of State determined that her belief system doesn’t count as religion and thus rejected request to keep the pasta strainer on her head in her government ID photos."
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Maine officials say getting lobsters stoned with marijuana before killing them is illegal
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Florida gas station owner’s microwave sign: ‘Do not warm urine’
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Indian airport police told to cut down on smiling
"They will move from a "broad smile system" to a "sufficient smile system", the Indian Express says."
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10 stomachs, 32 brains and 18 testicles – a day inside the UK's only leech farm
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US troops drink Iceland capital’s entire beer supply in one weekend
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Woman ticketed for not holding escalator handrail to be heard by Supreme Court [Canada]
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Blind creature that buries head in sand named after Donald Trump
"A newly discovered blind and burrowing amphibian is to be officially named Dermophis donaldtrumpi, in recognition of the US president’s climate change denial."
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Tesla Model 3 driver again dies in crash with trailer, Autopilot not yet ruled out
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A Doping Scandal In Bridge? The World's Top Player Fails Drug Test
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French couple barred from calling son Griezmann Mbappe after football heroes
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World’s Most Expensive Perfume Available for US$1.3 Million
"Dubbed SHUMUKH (meaning “deserving the highest” in Arabic), the unisex perfume sits in a bottle adorned with 3,571 diamonds (totaling 38.55 carats) and other pieces of gold, silver, pearls, and topaz, and it can be customized with even further jewels, according to the company.
The perfume is currently on display at The Dubai Mall through March 30."

Repugnance in the runup to elections

Primary elections give political hopefuls a chance to try out their views on many things, including controversial transactions and markets, that some find repugnant.  The many potential Democratic candidates should give us an opportunity to hear about some of those (although none of them are likely to be part of platforms in the general election...)

Here's a CNN headline that cuts to the chase:

Drugs, sex work and gambling embraced by 2020 hopefuls
"A Democrat wants to legalize sex work. A Republican governor is trying to legalize sports betting in his state. The vast majority of Democrats running for President want to legalize marijuana.
...
"The effort led by Sen. Cory Booker to legalize marijuana doesn't really even feel that controversial. Not all of his potential rivals for the Democratic primary have signed on, but most have.
...
"Sen. Kamala Harris supports legalizing sex work, which she discussed with the website The Root, complaining that current law ends up hurting women more than johns and pimps who can benefit from prostitution.
"When you're talking about consenting adults, you know, yes, we should consider that we can't criminalize consensual behavior as long as no one is being harmed," she said."
...

"A 2018 Supreme Court decision cleared the way and among those pushing for sports betting is Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican successful in a blue state and who has publicly teased a primary challenge to Trump.

"The odds are good that we're going to have sports betting," Hogan joked in January."

Memorial service for Martin Shubik today at Yale

I'm in New Orleans today, which I think Martin would have enjoyed, but if you are in New Haven, here's the Yale announcement:

Memorial service for economist Martin Shubik to be held March 30

"A service honoring the life of the late economist Martin Shubik will be held on Saturday, March 30 at 11:30 a.m., at the Graduate Club at 155 Elm St.  

Shubik, who died on Aug. 22 at the age of 92, was the Seymour H. Knox Professor Emeritus of Mathematical Institutional Economics at the Yale School of Management. He had been on the Yale faculty since 1963, specializing in game theory, defense analysis, and the theory of money and financial institutions.

Memories and photographs of Shubik can be posted here for display at the memorial service.

Donations in Shubik’s memory may be made to the Inclusion Body Myositis Registry at Yale. "

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Here is a brief July 2018 "Apologia" that Martin apparently wrote shortly before  his death in August:

APOLOGIA PRO VITA SUA: THE VANISHING OF THE WHITE WHALE IN THE MISTS
Martin Shubik, July 2018

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Here is my earlier post:

Thursday, August 23, 2018  Martin Shubik, 1926-2018

Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) 2019 in New Orleans, March 28-30

As the last stop on a lecture tour at four Southern locations this week, I'm looking forward to participating this afternoon and tomorrow in the PPE 2019 conference.

I hope to both hear about familiar topics from unfamiliar angles, and to hear about new and wonderful things in the intersection of P,P and E.

Here is the whole program, and here are some Friday and Saturday sessions I'm already looking forward to (airline arrivals permitting...):

Friday
2pm
Fairness in Voluntary Exchanges
Eric MacGilvray, Moderator
Participants:
“Bargaining Based Fairness,” Ben Ferguson
“Exploitation and Unfair Pricing,” Matthew Zwolinski
“Democratic Exchange,” Thomas Christiano
Room: Storyville I

4pm
Political Philosophy Meets Experimental Philosophy
Nick Cowan, Moderator
Participants:
“Gender Equality in the Australian Workplace,” Holly Lawford-Smith
“Feasibility and Normative Encroachment,” Nicholas Southwood
“The Social Epistemology of Political Discourse: A Case Study Using Twitter
Activity,” Mark Alfano
Room: Storyville I

Saturday
9am
Matching Mechanisms and Algorithmic Fairness in Policy Design
Alex Schaefer, Moderator
Participants: “Unenviable Matches, Priorities, and Preferences: A Case Study of Matching Mechanisms,” Zoe Hitzig
“Preferential Mistreatment: Against Group Preference-Based Algorithmic Fairness,”
Lily Hu“Bridging the ‘Normative Gap’: Matching Mechanisms and Social Justice,” Kate Vredenburgh
Room: Buddy Bolden 28

2pm

Repugnant Markets

Ann Cudd, Moderator

Participants: “Does Paid Plasma Crowd-out Unpaid Blood Donations?” Peter Jaworski andWilliam English

“Paying for Plasma: Commodification, Exploitation, and Profit,” Vida Panitch and L. Chad Horne

“Paying for Kidneys? A Randomized Survey and Choice Experiment,” Nicola Lacetera

Room: Mahalia B

and here's my talk, just before drinks:

6-7 Repugnant Transactions and Forbidden Markets

Al Roth, Keynote Speaker

Room: Storyville I/II 

"My evolution as an economist," at Trinity University in San Antonio

I'll be speaking at Trinity University today. Here's the announcement:

NOBEL ECONOMIST LECTURE: ALVIN E. ROTH, 
THU MAR 28,  7:30PM,  ​TRINITY UNIVERSITY

And here's an accompanying news story by by Danyal Tahseen ‘19.

Nobel Prize Economist to Discuss Stable Allocations and Market Design
Alvin E. Roth to present at Trinity’s Nobel Economist Lecture Series

"Alvin E. Roth is the co-recipient of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Economics along with his colleague, Lloyd S. Shapley. As part of Trinity University’s Nobel Economist Lecture Series, Roth will speak on Thursday, March 28, 2019 at 7:30 p.m. in the Stieren Theater, located in the Ruth Taylor Theater Building. Seating is on a first-come, first-seated basis; tickets or reservations are not required.

"His free and public presentation is a continuation of Trinity’s ongoing Nobel Economist Lecture Series, “My Evolution as an Economist.” The series was started in 1984 by the late E.M. Stevens Distinguished Professor of Economics William Breit."
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In connection with the lecture, I'll be contributing an essay to the 7th edition of the MIT Press volume Lives of the Laureates, Edited by Roger W. Spencer and David A. Macpherson.

David Kaserman Memorial Lecture at Auburn University

Today I'll present a lecture in honor of David Kaserman, an Auburn U. economist who fought a long struggle with kidney disease, and who also wrote about the shortage of transplantable kidneys, and about how this was related to the legal ban on compensation for donors.


Kaserman Memorial Lecture in Economics

"On Wednesday, March 27th, the Department of Economics will present the David Kaserman Memorial Lecture, a program in honor of Professor Dave Kaserman. The annual lecture is sponsored by an endowment established in Professor Kaserman's memory. This year our speaker is one of the world’s leading intellectuals, Harvard and Stanford professor Al Roth, who won the Nobel Prize for economics in 2012. The lecture is at 2 PM in the auditorium of the JCS Museum, and is open to the public.  Roth will speak on his work on the kidney shortage..."

Congratulations to Claudia Goldin: BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award

Here are the first two paragraphs of the announcement...

The BBVA Foundation recognizes Claudia Goldin for pioneering economic analysis of the gender gap
"The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Economics, Finance and Management category has gone in this eleventh edition to the American economic historian Claudia Goldin “for her groundbreaking contributions to the historical analysis of the role of women in the economy, and for her analysis of the reasons behind gender inequality.”

"Goldin “is credited with founding the field of empirical analysis of the gender gap,” remarked the committee on announcing its decision, starting with her seminal 1990 publication Understanding the Gender Gap: An Economic History of American Women. This hugely influential book examined the roots of wage inequality between men and women, questioning the conventional explanations.

Game theory symposium at Kennesaw State

I'll be speaking at Kennesaw State University in Georgia this morning (and spending this week giving a set of lectures elsewhere in the South). Here's a link:

Symposium on the Foundations and Applications of Game Theory with Nobel Laureate Alvin Roth
Organized by the Bagwell Center for the Study of Markets and Economic Opportunity
Tuesday, March 26, 2019, Kennesaw State University, Prillaman Hall 1000

Speakers:

James Boudreau, Assistant Professor of Economics, Kennesaw State University
Sean Ellermeyer, Professor of Mathematics, Kennesaw State University
Brett Katzman, Professor of Economics, Kennesaw State University
Timothy Mathews, Professor of Economics, Kennesaw State University
Alvin Roth, Professor of Economics, Stanford University

Presentations:

“Overview of Game Theory”
"Solution Concepts for Non-Cooperative Games"
"Repeated Non-Cooperative Games"
"A Case Study in Cooperative Game Theory: The Stable Matching Problem"
“Who Gets What – And Why”

Schedule:

• Session I  8:45am - 9:15am 
  
• Session II 9:30am - 10:45am 
  
• Session III 11:00am - 12:15pm

Followup on the latest Freakonomics kidney exchange chain

Earlier this month I blogged about a kidney exchange chain at Virginia Mason Hospital, in Seattle, initiated by a non-directed donor who had heard an interview about kidney exchange on Freakonomics.  Subsequently, my colleague Elena Cryst, whose dad is a transplant nephrologist at that hospital, sent her the email below about a short talk he'd prepared, which they have given me permission to reproduce with minor edits. (They also note that "the participants OK’d sharing this so no HIPA violations.")

Dr. Cryst writes:

"I’m a transplant nephrologist, and  I’m  sharing this story on the insistence of these four patients who want to get their story out and encourage others to participate in organ donation and increase the options for kidney transplants in our country”

This is a photo of 4 people – I hope you can see them as you read this.

Three out of four of these folks in the picture just so happened to have appointments in my Monday AM clinic.  I’ve been taking care of kidney transplant patients for thirty years, but by the end of clinic, I was astounded by seeing how much this meant for each one of them and the different reasons why.  As this morning went on I heard this story from three of the four points of view.  It very much took me by surprise how much had changed for all four.…  It was just another day in the office, but this story is striking and they all wanted to share it with everyone in hopes more people can receive transplants.

THE PHOTO: 

THE STORIES:  First with hat on backwards is DC my patient.  A naturally shy and private person.   Happiest I’ve seen him in three years but has had many disappointments.   It has been an emotional roller coaster, as three years ago he thought he was passing a kidney stone- only to learn he had an advanced kidney disorder and soon would either need to get a transplant  or start on dialysis.  There had been lots of struggles to get to the point of transplant…. one by one, donors came forward but were disqualified due to minor health issues.  Finally one did  get through testing and qualify to donate, only to find out she was not a match.  He was devastated again.  After working with our program, we were poised for a paired donor exchange but with time running out…we needed a non-directed donor to step forward.  If someone could donate for DC, his donor would give a kidney for the next person on our waiting list and he would not have to start the process of dialysis. 

Next to DC’s left is Steve, healthy tugboat pilot who commutes to his home inland and on the way listens to lots of podcasts.  Freakonomics Radio had one about Al Roth, a Nobel prize winning economist at Stanford who researches how to create markets for things that don’t have a price.  He was the economist who worked to redesign the resident matching program to accommodate couples in the 1990’s and was fascinated by the challenge of how to allocate kidneys from live donors.  This is another problem of how to make a market for something that could not be exchanged for cash.  He and colleagues designed the system and did the math.  And won the Nobel prize!  Steve caught on to a few facts in the story – like the huge number of potential living donors in this country, and the benefit that could be afforded to those waiting for a kidney from a deceased donor.  The fact that the number of such paired donor exchange transplants has grown from only 2  in 2000 to 1000 in 2018, and said sign me up.  His generosity and courage started this chain of events.  Al Roth’s work is changing the way we are doing kidney transplants at my hospital and bringing in more and more living donors together with recipients they don’t know. The process was hugely important to Steve and it was icing on the cake that he was able to meet DC after it was done.  They all mutually agreed to make the process open rather than confidential which was their personal choice.

Next is Debbie from Ukqiagvik Alaska (formally Barrow)  – the literal ‘end of the earth’ the northern most point in the USA above the arctic circle in Alaska.   Debbie is an Alaska native who toughed it out with barely enough renal function for many  years but time was running out for her as well.  She was at the very top of the waiting list and she was waiting for a deceased donor kidney at our far away transplant center. The logistics of urgent travel to a faraway city fast enough to get a kidney transplant from a deceased donor -- while the clock was ticking -- made it much more better for her to have a living donor transplant that could be scheduled.  As you can tell Debbie has been delighted with her new kidney.  She is a long way from home for a few months, but enjoying the challenges of being in the city, even trying foods not part of her diet - like cucumbers (“not my favorite” she says) - not often available above the arctic circle!  She is here with family for a few months recovering and adapting to having normal kidney function again.

Next is Wendy – Journalist, community organizer and friend of DC.  She did gently insist that he let her get tested to donate.  He was apprehensive and certainly did not want to ask her.  But, as usual, Wendy prevailed.   In exchange her kidney went to Debbie who now feels better than she has in years.  Wendy is being ‘adopted’ by the women in Ukqiagvik and in clinic that morning, she was wearing the traditional hoodie blouse with big pockets that Debbie’s sisters back home had specially made for Wendy.  She is thinking about how to make the trip up north to see her new family of friends.  It was Wendy who also gently admonished me for not doing a better job of telling our story to others.  She strongly felt that we need to point out that her life and Steve’s are forever changed for the better - -  as well as the obvious benefit for DC and Debby. 

Although this is the kind of work we do every day, we would like to do many more living donor transplants for people and take more people off the waiting lists and out of the dialysis units.  There are a lot of moving parts and a lot of people who contribute, but we can scale it up.  The more scheduled procedures we do, opposed to deceased donor surgeries which are by necessity emergency surgeries, the greater our impact  can be. Each living kidney transplant also frees the deceased donor kidney to go to someone else - in effect doubling the benefit.  Thanks to Al Roth, there is now a new market for getting our willing donors together with recipients they do not know.  We always respect privacy and our default is to keep this process of ‘entering the market’ safe and anonymous.  But, as in this case, the participants can decide to share their experience, meet each other and . . . as Wendy said, “get the word out.”   In fact this photo captured the moment after surgery where this group organized a first meeting on their own and went off for lunch.  As a kidney transplant physician, I know we have the systems in place to grow this work.  Facilitating living kidney donation benefits not only more recipients, but it positively  changes lives of these donors.  It really positively affects lives of everyone involved. . .even the doctors like me…and I bet even the economists! 

Cyrus Cryst MD FASN

Special issue of NRL in honor of Uri Rothblum, February 2019

Occasionally an Operations journal can bring memories flooding back: here's a special issue in honor of my old friend Uri Rothblum, who passed away in 2012. (We met in 1971, when we entered the Ph.D. program in Operations Research at Stanford.)

 The Journal Naval Research Logistics 
Volume 66, Issue 1, Special Issue:Uriel Rothblum, Pages: 1-102, February 2019

Here is the introduction, and the first paper, coauthored by Uri...

Introduction

• Michael Katehakis

• Pages: 3
 
• First Published: 26 December 2018

• Full text
 
• PDF
 
• Request permissions

RESEARCH ARTICLES

Free Access

Constant risk aversion in stochastic contests with exponential completion times

• Pelin G. Canbolat
 
• Uriel G. Rothblum

• Pages: 4-14
 
• First Published: 24 January 2017

• Abstract
 
• Full text
 
• PDF
 
• References
 
• Request permissions
• ***************************

The previous issue was in honor of Pete Veinott, Uri's Ph.D. advisor:
Volume 65, Issue 8 Special Issue:Pete Veinott 

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Here are other posts of mine remembering Uri.

The journal used to be called the Naval Research Logistics Quarterly, and I published three papers there from 1977 to 1982.

Do cashless stores hamper access by the poor?

Are cashless stores discriminatory?  There's concern about that in Philadelphia, Massachusetts and elswhere.  The WSJ has the story:

Philadelphia Is First U.S. City to Ban Cashless Stores
Lawmakers move to maintain access to marketplace for lower-income consumers; Amazon and other businesses express concern about limits on innovation

"Philadelphia is the first major U.S. city to ban cashless stores, placing it at the forefront of a debate that pits retail innovation against lawmakers trying to protect all citizens’ access to the marketplace.

"Starting in July, Philadelphia’s new law will require most retail stores to accept cash. A New York City councilman is pushing similar legislation there, and New Jersey’s legislature recently passed a bill banning cashless stores statewide. A spokesman for New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, declined to comment on whether he would sign it. Massachusetts has gone the farthest on the issue and is the only state that requires retailers to accept cash.
...
"Businesses that have gone cashless point to greater efficiency for employees, who don’t have to make change or count cash at closing time, and improved safety because workers don’t have to carry large bank deposits.

"But backers of measures forcing stores to accept cash say they worry about people who don’t have credit or debit cards. Supporters also say some consumers prefer to pay with currency for privacy reasons.

“I think it’s more the future than a fad, and that’s why there is a need for a legislative response,” said New York City Councilman Ritchie Torres, a Democrat, who is sponsoring legislation to ban cashless stores."
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See also:
San Francisco could ban Amazon’s cashier-free stores
"San Francisco is considering a ban on cashless Amazon stores as it weighs a bill that would make it one of a growing list of cities forbidding cashless retailers.

Just this week, New Jersey followed Philadelphia’s lead in signing into law a cashless store ban. Lawmakers argue that cashless stores can effectively discriminate against low-income consumers, who may not have a bank account or credit card. But businesses say going cashless is good for consumers and reduces the risk of robbery and the ability to evade taxes."

Adam Bingaman and kidney exchange are celebrated (once again) in San Antonio

Kidney exchange is thriving in San Antonio: here are two stories celebrating Adam Binghaman's work at Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital:

Adam Bingaman, M.D.; Medical Director of Solid Organ Transplants, HCA Healthcare; Director, Abdominal Transplant Program, Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital; Transplant Surgeon, Director Live Donor and Incompatible Kidney Transplant Programs, Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital

The gift of life: HCA Healthcare leads nation in live donor kidney transplants
FEBRUARY 22, 2019
“Paired exchange has provided remarkable opportunities for the kidney transplant community,” says Dr. Bingaman. “During the first year in 2008, we did a total of 10 paired donations. Now, fast forward to 2019, we are closing in on our five hundredth paired exchange transplant at Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital.”
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and
The Match Game: DR. ADAM BINGAMAN has created a groundbreaking
program that, for the 30 million people suffering from kidney disease, is very good news  
by timothy dumas, photography by hulya
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Here are all my posts referring to Dr. Bingaman:  https://marketdesigner.blogspot.com/search?q=bingaman&max-results=20&by-date=true

School choice in Denver, 2019 report

Here's the latest report from Denver's unified school choice:
Record High Participation In District’s Round 1 of SchoolChoice
Mar. 21, 2019

 

DPS marks eighth year of providing equitable, transparent enrollment through unified system

Denver –Thousands of Denver families took an active role in selecting the best-fit school for their student during another successful SchoolChoice enrollment season. Denver Public Schools (DPS) this week sent out over 27,000 emails and text messages notifying families of their students’ school assignments for 2019-20. Round 2 of SchoolChoice opens on April 3.

The goal of SchoolChoice is to level the playing field by giving all DPS students access to a quality education, regardless of their address or socio-economic background. And SchoolChoice is succeeding. This year, SchoolChoice placed 92% of kindergarteners and 95% of sixth-graders in their first-, second- or third-choice school. Ninth-graders were placed in one of their top three choices 94% of the time. For all three grade levels, match rates for first or second choices were also strong: 89% percent for kindergarten; and 93% for sixth and ninth.

In a continuing effort to provide the best service to Denver families, DPS shifted the timing of the Choice window to close in mid-February, allowing the district to release results nearly a month earlier than in 2018. And the district opened a new walk-in enrollment center in the southwest area to better support families. The DPS SchoolChoice process allows families to rank their top school choices on a single online application. The district then runs a computer algorithm designed to maximize the number of students getting their most-preferred option, subject to availability. The system is based on the 2012-Nobel Prize-winning work of Stanford and Harvard professor Dr. Alvin Roth.

DPS is one of the only large districts in the country in which all its schools, whether traditional, innovation or charter, participate in its choice program. Prior to 2011-12, families had to complete different applications for different schools on different timelines. SchoolChoice is primarily for families with students who will be transitioning into a new school next year, including those entering kindergarten, middle school and high school. The process is also open to families who are not necessarily in a transition year but would like the opportunity to choose a new school for their student.

Because virtually every school is an option in this single enrollment process, DPS provides families with the tools they need to adequately research schools and make informed decisions. These tools include the annual Great Schools Enrollment Guides, School Finder online school search tool, the Great Schools Regional Expo series, and individual school tours.

SchoolChoice is not limited to the Round 1 window that closed Feb. 20. Round 2 of SchoolChoice begins April 3 and will provide opportunities for families who did not participate in Round 1, or who participated in Round 1 but want to re-explore their options or who are new to DPS.

SchoolChoice Data

SchoolChoice participation rates by transition grades:
Kindergarten – 89%
Sixth-grade – 84%
Ninth-grade – 76%
TOTAL – 84%

SchoolChoice Match rates:

Grade	2019: 1stChoice	2018: 1stChoice	Change	2019: 1stor 2nd	2018: 1stor 2nd	Change	2019: 1st-3rd	2018: 1st-3rd	Change
K	81%	80%	1.6%	89%	88%	0.9%	92%	92%	0.5%
6	83%	83%	-0.2%	93%	94%	-2.0%	95%	97%	-2.1%
9	85%	80%	5.0%	93%	93%	0.0%	94%	95%	-0.6%
K,6,9	83%	81%	1.8%	91%	92%	-0.4%	94%	94%	-0.7%