Cost-Benefit Analysis as a Statistical Hypothesis Test: An Example from Urban Transportation

1970 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-339
Author(s):  
J. O. Ledyard

A method to evaluate the estimated social benefits and costs of many urban transportation decisions is presented, based on the techniques of statistical hypothesis testing. After a slight critique of current practice in cost-benefit analyses, a general equilibrium model is formulated that includes many of the relevant variables and decisions which interact with an urban transportation system. The model is based on individual behavior assumptions (as opposed to macro-behavior) and uses the concept that commodities provide attributes. The significant omissions are mentioned and discussed. It is next shown that if the model is true, then hypotheses involving the Pareto-superiority (and Pareto-optimality) of various decisions with respect to transportation systems imply hypotheses restricting the values of parameters of a single linear equation. This allows the testing (i.e. falsification) of the original hypotheses by using the familiar T and F tests of regression analysis. These tests are based on a single-equation regression only using observations on the rates of use of, the attributes provided by, and the inputs to, the transportation system. The simplicity of the tests seems to indicate that revisions of the model towards reality would be very productive.

2014 ◽  
Vol 970 ◽  
pp. 172-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Parinya Chakartnarodom ◽  
Nutthita Chuankrerkkul

The aim of this paper is to propose the approach for applying statistical methods (linear regression and statistical hypothesis testing) to study the behavior of binder during binder removing (debinding) step in powder injection molding (PIM) and also the parameters that affect the binder removing rate. In this work, the binder system under the investigation is the composite binder of 85wt% polyethylene glycol (PEG) and 15 wt% poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) where PEG can be removed from the green product by using warm water while PMMA is removed later during sintering. At 0.05 level of significance, the linear regression method and the statistical hypothesis test prove that the dissolution behavior of PEG can be described using Avarami equation. Furthermore, the dissolution rates of PEG were independent of all parameters used in this study including binder contents in the green products, temperatures, and powder sizes.


2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 804-812 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Fox

Purpose – Erroneous perceptions of relevance contribute to business projects not being successful. Although the importance of relevance is recognized in the project management literature, thus far there has not been a formal framework for addressing erroneous perceptions of relevance. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a framework for identifying and counteracting erroneous perceptions of relevance. Design/methodology/approach – The research comprised review of the literature relating to factors that contribute to, and methods that counteract, erroneous perceptions of relevance. Findings – Contributory factors to erroneous perceptions of relevance include cultural cognition, path dependencies, lock-ins, fads, and hype. Mediating factors include priming and questioning, counterfactual reasoning, and optimal stopping. Research limitations/implications – A classification of erroneous perceptions of relevance is introduced Type III (inept positive) errors, Type II (false negative) errors, and Type I (false positive) errors. This terminology has the advantage of already being known to academics through statistical hypothesis testing, and to practitioners through process capability studies. Practical implications – The introduction of a framework for identifying and counteracting erroneous perceptions of relevance can better enable practitioners to make the selection of relevant concepts and technologies for projects – a capable process. Originality/value – The originality of this research note is that it provides a framework that can be applied to increase objectivity in perceptions of relevance. The value of this research note is that it introduces a framework for identifying and counteracting erroneous perceptions of relevance before the application of methods such as cost-benefit analysis.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-140
Author(s):  
Baek-Ju Sung ◽  
Sung-kyu Lee ◽  
Mu-Seong Chang ◽  
Do-Sik Kim

Author(s):  
Venkata R. Duddu ◽  
Srinivas S. Pulugurtha ◽  
Praveena Penmetsa

State agencies, regional agencies, cities, towns, and local municipalities design and maintain transportation systems for the benefit of users by improving mobility, reducing travel time, and enhancing safety. Cost–benefit analysis based on travel time savings and the value of reliability helps these agencies in prioritizing transportation projects or when evaluating transportation alternatives. This paper illustrates the use of monetary values of travel time savings and travel time reliability, computed for the state of North Carolina, to help assess the impact of transportation projects or alternatives. The results obtained indicate that, based on the illustration of the effect and impact of various transportation projects or alternatives, both improved travel time and reliability on roads yield significant monetary benefits. However, from cost–benefit analysis, it is observed that greater benefits can be achieved through improved reliability compared with benefits from a decrease in travel time for a given section of road.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhijit Mahesh Chinchani ◽  
Mahesh Menon ◽  
Meighen Roes ◽  
Heungsun Hwang ◽  
Paul Allen ◽  
...  

Cognitive mechanisms hypothesized to underlie hallucinatory experiences (HEs) include dysfunctional source monitoring, heightened signal detection, or impaired attentional processes. HEs can be very pronounced in psychosis, but similar experiences also occur in nonclinical populations. Using data from an international multisite study on nonclinical subjects (N = 419), we described the overlap between two sets of variables - one measuring cognition and the other HEs - at the level of individual items, allowing extraction of item-specific signal which might considered off-limits when summary scores are analyzed. This involved using a statistical hypothesis test at the multivariate level, and variance constraints, dimension reduction, and split-half reliability checks at the level of individual items. The results showed that (1) modality-general HEs involving sensory distortions (hearing voices/sounds, troubled by voices, everyday things look abnormal, sensations of presence/movement) were associated with more liberal auditory signal detection, and (2) HEs involving experiences of sensory overload and vivid images/imagery (viz., HEs for faces and intense daydreams) were associated with other-ear distraction and reduced laterality in dichotic listening. Based on these results, it is concluded that the overlap between HEs and cognition variables can be conceptualized as modality-general and bi-dimensional: one involving distortions, and the other involving overload or intensity.


Computation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Delnevo ◽  
Silvia Mirri ◽  
Marco Roccetti

As we prepare to emerge from an extensive and unprecedented lockdown period, due to the COVID-19 virus infection that hit the Northern regions of Italy with the Europe’s highest death toll, it becomes clear that what has gone wrong rests upon a combination of demographic, healthcare, political, business, organizational, and climatic factors that are out of our scientific scope. Nonetheless, looking at this problem from a patient’s perspective, it is indisputable that risk factors, considered as associated with the development of the virus disease, include older age, history of smoking, hypertension and heart disease. While several studies have already shown that many of these diseases can also be favored by a protracted exposure to air pollution, there has been recently an insurgence of negative commentary against authors who have correlated the fatal consequences of COVID-19 (also) to the exposition of specific air pollutants. Well aware that understanding the real connection between the spread of this fatal virus and air pollutants would require many other investigations at a level appropriate to the scale of this phenomenon (e.g., biological, chemical, and physical), we propose the results of a study, where a series of the measures of the daily values of PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 were considered over time, while the Granger causality statistical hypothesis test was used for determining the presence of a possible correlation with the series of the new daily COVID19 infections, in the period February–April 2020, in Emilia-Romagna. Results taken both before and after the governmental lockdown decisions show a clear correlation, although strictly seen from a Granger causality perspective. Moving beyond the relevance of our results towards the real extent of such a correlation, our scientific efforts aim at reinvigorating the debate on a relevant case, that should not remain unsolved or no longer investigated.


2015 ◽  
Vol 117 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Baltaxe ◽  
Peter Meer ◽  
Michael Lindenbaum

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