The aggregate utility function for the region is specified over per capita private household consumption, per capita government spending and per capita savings.
Media and printing were inelastic with respect to GDP per capita, with a positive correlation, while the utilities had a surprisingly negative relationship.
One indication of this is an increase, on a per capita basis, in the number of so-called utility patents awarded by the U.S. patent office to inventors from various countries.
Furthermore, compared with the Gross Domestic Product per capita (in Finland $37,200 2007 [ 35]) the cost-utility (as €/QALY) was lower in all subgroups of ARF patients.
The other significant correlates were per capita GDP, proportion of urban residents, illiteracy rate (60+), fewer household utilities, and health care resources (P < 0.01).
"We've got more restaurants per capita than the other big cities," said Denis Qualls, a planner for Dallas' water utility service.
Thus, the utility of the item outweighs the possible limitations of low per capita GDP; people will pay up for the opportunity to be more productive, and when they are more productive their income, and per capita GDP, will both rise.
Weighted by a logarithmic utility function, the present value of the certainty equivalent level of mean per capita consumption would fall by more than five times the efficiency gain if global trading were allowed instead of limited Annex B trading.
The Center for Global Development study contains surprises: South Africa's government-owned Eskom ranks as the world's second most polluting utility, with 214 million tons of carbon dioxide released this year, and Australians emit more CO2per capita than any other nation.
But in Connecticut, the state with the highest per-capita income in the country, there are still pockets of people without broadband, perhaps the keystone utility of the digital age.
