Disasters and Development: Part 3: Assessing Trade-offs in Investing in Vulnerability Reduction

2005 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rob S. Stephenson ◽  
Charles DuFrane
Keyword(s):  
Decision Makers ◽  
Disaster Mitigation ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Present Value ◽  
Catastrophic Event ◽  
Vulnerability Reduction ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Economic Analyses ◽  
Development Alternatives

AbstractThis lesson describes how a government decides whether and how much it should spend on vulnerability reduction. There are techniques and methods by which decision-makers compare development alternatives. The differences between the risk that a potentially catastrophic event will occur and uncertainty are described, with uncertainty providing greater difficulty in economic analyses. There is a range of methods for identifying the complex mix of competing costs and benefits associated with any restructuring of investment priorities to accomplish disaster mitigation. The possibilities are described in terms of the opportunity costs and present value. Impact and consequent losses include: (1) direct monetary effects; (2) indirect monetary effects; (3) direct, non-monetary effects; (4) indirect, non-monetary effects; and (5) loss of non-renewable natural resources. The difficulties in assigning values to these effects are described, as well as the means of judging the costeffectiveness of such interventions. An advantage of screening projects using a framework of analytical methods is that it can assist in focusing on a variety of possible outcomes and make the factors influencing these outcomes quite explicit.

Using economics to support emerald ash borer (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) detection strategies

2015 ◽  
Vol 147 (3) ◽  
pp. 329-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Campbell ◽  
Alfons Weersink ◽  
Daniel W. McKenney ◽  
Krista Ryall
Keyword(s):  
Information Economics ◽  
Emerald Ash Borer ◽  
Agrilus Planipennis ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Detection Methods ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Detection Strategies ◽  
Economic Studies

AbstractEarly detection of emerald ash borer (EAB) (Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire; Coleoptera: Buprestidae) infestation is problematic, with visual indicators not appearing until late during an infestation, and detection methods often requiring substantial trade-offs between information yielded and cost. Decision makers must determine which detection methods provide sufficiently valuable information that matches their objectives and adhere to budget constraints. Notably, decision makers from different organisations often have different objectives; hence their perceptions of costs and benefits of these choices can vary. Economic thought and analysis can provide useful insights for decision makers concerned with understanding and balancing costs and benefits associated with detection strategies. Here we provide a brief review of economic studies of EAB and present a conceptual framework on the detection strategy problem drawing on “information economics”.

The Effects of Decision Time on Perceptions of Decisions and Decision Makers in (Moral) Trade-Off Scenarios

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Katharina Spälti ◽  
Mark John Brandt ◽  
Marcel Zeelenberg
Keyword(s):  
Decision Process ◽  
Decision Time ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Process Information ◽  
Total N ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Financial Gain ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Sacred Values ◽  
Moral Context

People often have to make trade-offs. We study three types of trade-offs: 1) "secular trade-offs" where no moral or sacred values are at stake, 2) "taboo trade-offs" where sacred values are pitted against financial gain, and 3) "tragic trade-offs" where sacred values are pitted against other sacred values. Previous research (Critcher et al., 2011; Tetlock et al., 2000) demonstrated that tragic and taboo trade-offs are not only evaluated by their outcomes, but are also evaluated based on the time it took to make the choice. We investigate two outstanding questions: 1) whether the effect of decision time differs for evaluations of decisions compared to decision makers and 2) whether moral contexts are unique in their ability to influence character evaluations through decision process information. In two experiments (total N = 1434) we find that decision time affects character evaluations, but not evaluations of the decision itself. There were no significant differences between tragic trade-offs and secular trade-offs, suggesting that the decisions structure may be more important in evaluations than moral context. Additionally, the magnitude of the effect of decision time shows us that decision time, may be of less practical use than expected. We thus urge, to take a closer examination of the processes underlying decision time and its perception.

scholarly journals The costs of standardized apprenticeship curricula for training firms

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jürg Schweri ◽  
Manuel Aepli ◽  
Andreas Kuhn
Keyword(s):  
Regulatory Element ◽  
Recent Survey ◽  
Skills Development ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Apprenticeship Training ◽  
Training Costs ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Training Content ◽  
Productive Process ◽  
Productive Output

AbstractStandardized curricula define the set of skills that must be trained within a training occupation and thus are a key regulatory element of apprenticeship systems. Although clear economic rationales support the usage of such curricula, they necessarily impose costs, especially on firms that train apprentices, but do not use the full set of skills in their productive process and/or train other skills that are not covered by the curriculum. In this paper, we identify the trade-offs involved in setting up training curricula and use data from the most recent survey on the costs and benefits of apprenticeship training among Swiss firms to quantify the associated costs to training firms. On average, training firms state that they do not use 17% of the training content prescribed by the relevant curriculum, and 11% of the companies train additional skills not covered by the curriculum. We show that both kinds of misfit are associated with higher training costs and lower productive output from apprentices. This shows that the regulator imposes costs on firms in order to guarantee broad skills development for apprentices. It also cautions against overly broad curricula that may impose disproportionate costs on firms.

scholarly journals From Bitcoin to Central Bank Digital Currencies: Making Sense of the Digital Money Revolution

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 165
Author(s):  
Paulo Rupino Cunha ◽  
Paulo Melo ◽  
Helder Sebastião
Keyword(s):  
Central Bank ◽  
Practical Implication ◽  
Grey Literature ◽  
Central Banks ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Extensive Search ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Digital Money ◽  
Open Issues

We analyze the path from cryptocurrencies to official Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), to shed some light on the ultimate dematerialization of money. To that end, we made an extensive search that resulted in a review of more than 100 academic and grey literature references, including official positions from central banks. We present and discuss the characteristics of the different CBDC variants being considered—namely, wholesale, retail, and, for the latter, the account-based, and token-based—as well as ongoing pilots, scenarios of interoperability, and open issues. Our contribution enables decision-makers and society at large to understand the potential advantages and risks of introducing CBDCs, and how these vary according to many technical and economic design choices. The practical implication is that a debate becomes possible about the trade-offs that the stakeholders are willing to accept.

scholarly journals Using Deliberative Democracy for Better Urban Decision-Making through Integrative Thinking

Urban Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 3
Author(s):  
Janette Hartz-Karp ◽  
Dora Marinova
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Deliberative Democracy ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Capital City ◽  
City Region ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Urban Issues ◽  
Sustainability Challenges

This article expands the evidence about integrative thinking by analyzing two case studies that applied the collaborative decision-making method of deliberative democracy which encourages representative, deliberative and influential public participation. The four-year case studies took place in Western Australia, (1) in the capital city Perth and surrounds, and (2) in the city-region of Greater Geraldton. Both aimed at resolving complex and wicked urban sustainability challenges as they arose. The analysis suggests that a new way of thinking, namely integrative thinking, emerged during the deliberations to produce operative outcomes for decision-makers. Building on theory and research demonstrating that deliberative designs lead to improved reasoning about complex issues, the two case studies show that through discourse based on deliberative norms, participants developed different mindsets, remaining open-minded, intuitive and representative of ordinary people’s basic common sense. This spontaneous appearance of integrative thinking enabled sound decision-making about complex and wicked sustainability-related urban issues. In both case studies, the participants exhibited all characteristics of integrative thinking to produce outcomes for decision-makers: salience—grasping the problems’ multiple aspects; causality—identifying multiple sources of impacts; sequencing—keeping the whole in view while focusing on specific aspects; and resolution—discovering novel ways that avoided bad choice trade-offs.

scholarly journals Between Market Failures and Justice Failures: Trade-Offs Between Efficiency and Equality in Business Ethics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlie Blunden
Keyword(s):  
Business Ethics ◽  
Private Firms ◽  
Market Failures ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Efficiency Losses ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Hybrid Theory ◽  
Market Failures Approach ◽  
Ethical Obligations

AbstractThe Market Failures Approach (MFA) is one of the leading theories in contemporary business ethics. It generates a list of ethical obligations for the managers of private firms that states that they should not create or exploit market failures because doing so reduces the efficiency of the economy. Recently the MFA has been criticised by Abraham Singer on the basis that it unjustifiably does not assign private managers obligations based on egalitarian values. Singer proposes an extension to the MFA, the Justice Failures Approach (JFA), in which managers have duties to alleviate political, social, and distributive inequalities in addition to having obligations to not exploit market failures. In this paper I describe the MFA and JFA and situate them relative to each other. I then highlight a threefold distinction between different types of obligations that can be given to private managers in order to argue that a hybrid theory of business ethics, which I call the MFA + , can be generated by arguing that managers have obligations based on efficiency and duties based on equality to the extent that these latter obligations do not lead to efficiency losses. This argument suggests a novel theoretical option in business ethics, elucidates the issues that are at stake between the MFA and the JFA, and clarifies the costs and benefits of each theory.

Tales of lizard tails: effects of tail autotomy on subsequent survival and growth of free-ranging hatchling Uta stansburiana

1997 ◽  
Vol 75 (4) ◽  
pp. 542-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. H. Niewiarowski ◽  
J. D. Congdon ◽  
A. E. Dunham ◽  
L. J. Vitt ◽  
D. W. Tinkle
Keyword(s):  
Natural Populations ◽  
Reproductive Investment ◽  
Experimental Manipulation ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Growth And Survival ◽  
Large Sample ◽  
Uta Stansburiana ◽  
Tail Autotomy ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Free Ranging

Potential costs and benefits of tail autotomy in lizards have been inferred almost exclusively from experimental study in semi-natural enclosures and from indirect comparative evidence from natural populations. We present complementary evidence of the costs of tail autotomy to the lizard Uta stansburiana from detailed demographic study of a natural population. On initial capture, we broke the tails of a large sample of free-ranging hatchlings (560) and left the tails of another large sample (455) intact, and then followed subsequent hatchling growth and survival over a 3-year period. Surprisingly, in 1 out of the 3 years of study, survival of female hatchlings with broken tails exceeded that of female hatchlings with intact tails. Furthermore, no effects of tail loss on survivorship were detected for male hatchlings. However, in 2 years when recaptures were very frequent (1961, 1962), growth rates of hatchlings with broken tails were significantly slower than those of their counterparts with intact tails. We discuss our results in the broader context of estimating the relative costs and benefits of tail autotomy in natural populations, and suggest that long-term demographic studies will provide the best opportunity to assess realized fitness costs and benefits with minimum bias. We also describe how experimentally induced tail autotomy can be used as a technique to complement experimental manipulation of reproductive investment in the study of life-history trade-offs.

A Study about Factors Influencing the University Performance

2013 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosman Md. Yusoff ◽  
Faisal Khan ◽  
Asad Mubeen ◽  
Kamran Azam
Keyword(s):  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Empirical Relationship ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
High Tech ◽  
Data Correlation ◽  
Correlation And Regression Analysis ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
University Performance ◽  
The University ◽  
The Relationship

The purpose of this study is to find out the empirical relationship and influence of Research Environment, Integration of the university with Industry, High-tech Employment and Professional & Managerial Development on the University Performance.A Questionnaire has been used to collect the data. Correlation and Regression analysis were used to determine the relationship and influence of identified dimensions over the University Performance.The findings of the study show that the identified dimensions significantly relate and influence the University Performance. This study would be helpful for the university administration while making policies to upgrade its performance. Less work has been done in Pakistan for the development of universities. This study distinctively identifies and represents the variables and their influence over the university performance. The findings increase the value of the study as it would help the decision makers at the universities to think ‘out of the box’.

Key principles for the improved conduct of health technology assessments for resource allocation decisions

2008 ◽  
Vol 24 (03) ◽  
pp. 244-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael F. Drummond ◽  
J. Sanford Schwartz ◽  
Bengt Jönsson ◽  
Bryan R. Luce ◽  
Peter J. Neumann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Resource Allocation ◽  
Health Technology ◽  
Resource Allocation Decision ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Allocation Decision ◽  
Health Technologies ◽  
System A ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Allocation Decisions

Health technology assessment (HTA) is a dynamic, rapidly evolving process, embracing different types of assessments that inform real-world decisions about the value (i.e., benefits, risks, and costs) of new and existing technologies. Historically, most HTA agencies have focused on producing high quality assessment reports that can be used by a range of decision makers. However, increasingly organizations are undertaking or commissioning HTAs to inform a particular resource allocation decision, such as listing a drug on a national or local formulary, defining the range of coverage under insurance plans, or issuing mandatory guidance on the use of health technologies in a particular healthcare system. A set of fifteen principles that can be used in assessing existing or establishing new HTA activities is proposed, providing examples from existing HTA programs. The principal focus is on those HTA activities that are linked to, or include, a particular resource allocation decision. In these HTAs, the consideration of both costs and benefits, in an economic evaluation, is critical. It is also important to consider the link between the HTA and the decision that will follow. The principles are organized into four sections: (i) “Structure” of HTA programs; (ii) “Methods” of HTA; (iii) “Processes for Conduct” of HTA; and (iv) “Use of HTAs in Decision Making.”

scholarly journals Exploring the Potential Factors Influencing the Adoption of M-Government Services in Saudi Arabia: A Qualitative Analysis

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raed Alotaibi ◽  
Luke Houghton ◽  
Kuldeep Sandhu
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Intention To Use ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Government Services ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Tam Model ◽  
Potential Factors

<p>In Saudi Arabia, Mobile government (m-government) is in its infancy. This study aims to explore potential factors influencing adoption of m-government services in Saudi Arabia to improve future implementation. The review of the relevant literature revealed a lack of research regarding the factors that may potentially influence the adoption m-government services in Saudi Arabia by using TAM model based on the perspective of experts in Yesser. To examine relationships between external factors and behavioural intention to use (BIU) in the TAM model, a qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with five experts from Yesser. Analysis demonstrated that the factors of trustworthiness, usage experience, awareness and security might influence the adoption of m-government services in Saudi Arabia. The results of the qualitative study also demonstrated that enjoyment does not influence the adoption of m-government services in Saudi Arabia. These findings may help decision makers in Saudi government to improve future implementation of m-government services.</p>

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